22 Apr Life on Kaua’i – Celebrating 10 years

Last year on our anniversary, the pandemic was in full swing and we knew all our future travel plans were likely dashed. I looked at Aaron and said “I don’t care how we do it but next year, we are spending our anniversary traveling somewhere amazing.” When we decided to come to Kauai last November, I had a pretty strong feeling that Kauai would be a perfect place to celebrate our tenth anniversary.

Originally, we’d plan to start our final two week vacation on our anniversary – giving us the full freedom of being off the farm to celebrate. But as our dates shifted around we ended up booking our return tickets later than we originally thought, and so our anniversary fell a week before our vacation would start. So we kept our plans easy and local: we borrowed the farm car and left the farm around 1pm to hit a beach, followed by dinner at the wine bar. The sun was out and we went to Kalihiwai Beach, just west of Kilauea. Kalihiwai is Luna’s favorite beach and she pointed out some local tips the first we went there. The road snakes up to a bluff overlooking the beach, with gated, landscaped driveways of the wealthy and famous (“Zoolander” as he’s known on island). Before the road descends to the beach, there’s a short path to a lookout that we took. The path was only 25 yds long, but full of dramatic views! The path sits on top of a ridge wall, looking out to the Kalihiwai bay to the left, and over the rocky, cliff shoreline to the right. With a sheer drop on either side, the path isn’t for the faint of heart!

We went down to the beach a found a spot to put our bamboo mat and towels, and waited for a sunny stretch in the clouds to go for a beach walk n swim. The waves were gentle and the swimming was lovely, and we sat and shared a couple of beers on the sand while we air-dried.

We left the beach at 4:45 to make it to the wine bar by happy hour @ 5pm. We got two flatbreads, the pepperoni happy hour special and the daily special of artichoke, mushroom, sausage and bleu cheese. Paired with the $5 wine of the day, and we had a lovely dinner!

We took half our flatbreads to go and left the wine bar in time to park at the local sunset spot. There’s a section of the road between Kilauea and the Kilauea lighthouse that has a beautiful view of Hanalei bay, the mountains, and the setting sun. There’s always at least 15-20 cars parked on the sides of the roads, full of locals that are out enjoying their own sunset happy hour. Aaron and I finished our pizza, and reflected on our ten years together.

The first few years in Minneapolis: both of us thoroughly immersed in our respective social scenes, getting to know each other’s friends and favorite city spots. So many days and nights seeing live music, theater, and exploring the Minneapolis art scene.

Late 2013 is when I began planning on moving to Denver, and we spent the subsequent months discussing the possibility of Aaron moving there, and while we couldn’t definitively say what would happen when I left Minneapolis, we couldn’t stand the idea of us spending any time apart before I left. Aaron ended up helping me move to Denver September of 2014, so he could see the city and scout its potential for livability. He decided at the end of the week he felt like it was a good fit for him, but he had to return to Minnesota to prepare for his big move. Six weeks later, Aaron was officially a Denverite like me.

We both loved living in Denver. The bar and restaurant scene was ever expanding as Aaron worked his way through an impressive lineup of local beer cafes, cocktail bars, wine bars, and tiki bars. I built my freelance business and grew to love working from home and the flexibility of taking my time off to ski or hike on weekdays and plan epic Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana camping trips. We also lived our entire 6 years in Denver without a car, gleefully biking around the city that was always basking in the desert sun, and rarely had a snow-covered street we couldn’t bike through.

We’ve never put distant future expectations on each other, believing that if we’re happy together in the now, that’s all that really matters. However, we check in frequently to reevaluate our personal goals, and see if they are still aligned. Neither of us has ever felt a desire to get married, nor do either of us want children. Ten years later, we’re still on the same page and still choosing the next adventures together. We both feel so grateful for the things we’ve gotten to do, the things we’ve brought to each other’s lives that we wouldn’t have otherwise experienced if we hadn’t been together. Like most people, 2020 was a big upheaval and I’m so proud of how we navigated it together, choosing a new path that we both feel excited about. As we often say whenever anyone asks us about our relationship: “It just keeps getting better and better!”

Cheers to the next ten years!