Kauai Day 3: Hoopii falls and Wedding bells

I took this picture in Haena, from the side of the road.  

Kauai is gorgeous.  

Hanalei is a cute little town, and is the closest town to Haena where we are staying.  

We didn't see a soul on our Hoopii falls hike until we were almost back to the car.  It was very different from the hike we did yesterday.  

We much prefer to be outside with nature without the crowds.  

Don't you want this spider for a pet?  It is so cool... and tough looking.  

Luckily the muddy path that lead to the larger waterfall was covered with branched to hold on to.  What a fun hike!

It hadn't rained in hours where we were but when we got to the car there was an emergency news report telling people if they did not want to stay in Hanalei get out because the bridge was going to close.  

This didn't seem right.  It hadn't hardly been raining... 

We planned on having some friends over for snacks and a drink before the wedding but when they tried to cross the bridge police were there to send people away.  This was bad news considering the wedding was on our side of the bridge and everyone else was staying on the other side.  

The Hanalei bridge status is updated regularly.  Once the water level reaches 8 feet it closes.  Notice how quickly the water level changes.  

Luckily the bridge opened back up thirty minutes before the wedding.  (Since it started raining again and we were both dressed up the owner of the place, Keiko, ran out to open the gate for our friends.)  

When we arrived at Hanalei Colony Resort it was raining (big surprise, huh?).  The wedding was outside, and there was no backup plan.  We waited inside the restaurant for the rain to stop.  As soon as it started to die down we were told to quickly go outside and take a seat (they were toweled off).  

What a beautiful venue.  It was their choice to not have a backup plan.  

They were set on getting married outside, on the beach.  

Their getting hitched went off without a hitch.  

You can see why they were insistent on the location.  

When Erin was turned around by the police he tried to get a helicopter across (but they wouldn't fly in that weather) so he tried a zodiac (with the same result).  

Luckily the bridge opened, and the skies cleared.

Erin is a lucky guy.

Congratulations Yuki and Erin!