Columbus Day of Hiking and Adventures

So before I tell you what actually happened yesterday on Columbus day, I was to tell you what the plan was so that you can see how easily things can change and we must adapt around here.

The Plan:  Matthew was on kennel duty this weekend so he was going to get up and go take care of the dogs at the kennel while I was cooking us a big, sustainable breakfast at home.  When Matthew came home we were going to eat then leave to drive up to Anderson AFB to order the bedroom set that they have.  After Anderson we were going to go to our hike called "Double Reef Beach".  Finally the drive home and relaxing the night away.

What Actually Happened:  It started off as planned with the kennel duty and cooking/eating breakfast.  We left to go to Anderson around 8:50 am.  We got to Exchange on Anderson at about 9:20 and discovered that since it was Columbus day they were not opening until 10:00 am.  So we were faced with our first dilemma:  wait for them to open or go ahead on our hike and come back after.  We did not want to be coming all the way back up to Anderson after our hike so instead we went to the 'scenic overlook' that is on Anderson to kill some time.  We had been there before but we hadn't taken any pictures.  So here are some pictures of the scenic overlook:

By the time we got back to the Exchange it was right after they had opened.  We went straight to the furniture sales desk and knew exactly what we wanted.  We figured we would be able to get in and get out quickly...that was wishful thinking we soon found out.  There was no one at the desk, we waited patiently for about 5 minutes but then after seeing workers walk right by us without stopping we started to get frustrated.  We called the store and asked for the furniture department and of course the phone that we were 2 feet from started to ring.  Called again and asked if they could page someone to the department.  Long story straight it went like that for about 40 minutes before we had a manager there and a worker to help us.  Once they got there we did complete the transaction in about 10 minutes!  By the time we left it was almost 11:00 and our big breakfast was wearing off.  

We stopped at Dunkin Donuts and got a couple doughnuts to eat and started for the hiking trail.  Luckily it only took us about 10 minutes to get to the spot where the hike was going to be.  It was on an on-base location so we had to show our IDs at the gate.  The guy at the gate kindly let us know that the hiking trails might be closed.  We had to call the authorities to the trails and check to see if they were open.  Unfortunately we discovered that the trail that we were going to do was closed.  So here is the second dilemma:  Do we forget doing a hike or find another one near by?

Of course we were going to find another hike!  We have the book "Best Tracks on Guam" that has a lot of different hikes in it.  We plan on doing every hike in the book before we leave here.  We found our next hike and headed out to find the trail head.  It wasn't to difficult to find because the book does a really good job of telling you how to get there.  So we got our gear on and started our hike.  This hike was labeled as medium difficulty, 1.2 miles total, 380 feet down and then back up.  It was called the Taguam hike and it had a cave too!

We climbed down 256 steps and then across a lot of harsh coral to get to the ocean.  We tried to find the cave but it was so rough out there (the reason the other hike was closed btw) and the waves were pretty harsh.  Apparently it is easier to get to the cave during low tide and when it is not so rough out.  But we had a lot of fun walking along the ocean and seeing all the awesome fish!  Here are some pictures and a video:

This is one of the many sets of steps as we were going down.

Just wear you see the white of the waves is the drop off of the reef.  It drops a good 20 feet in most places.

Found out that our new camera takes some pretty good underwater pictures! :)

This was our stopping point for going to find the cave.   The ledge was too narrow and the waves were way too rough to try and get past this part of the path.

But that doesn't mean we didn't try!!  Matthew and I both took a turn at it and felt like we were going to be dropped into the ocean on a huge bed of coral because the current was so strong.

We are pretty sure that the cave is over there! lol.  Couldn't get to it though.

You could stand on the edge at some points and get sprayed with water as the waves hit the coral.

Some fish were hiding out on the flat coral rocks until another wave would come and give them enough water to swim away.  

Pretty cool picture of a wave splashing around me! :)

We took a little break in the coral after walking around in the sun before heading back up the hike.  I am glad we did too because while it was easy to walk down 256 steps it was SO HARD walking back up them after all that energy that we spend before.  I was spent by the time we reached the top!  Exhausted!  I didn't get any pictures going back up because I was so focus on just getting myself back up there and keeping up with Matthew! lol.

By the time we got to the car it was about 2:30 and we were hungry!!  We went to WENDY'S!!!  We came out at the shopping center where the one and only Wendy's on Guam is located.  You have no idea how excited I was to get some of their spicy chicken!  I literally "whooped" when I saw it! (And I'm not the kinda of girl to whoop at everything)  :)  I was so excited.  We got some good lunch and even went next door to Yogurtland to get some frozen yogurt.  

Finally we were on our way home and planning on spending the rest of the evening being couch potatoes.  But, like thing do, those plans changed too!  When I checked facebook I found that we were invited to a BBQ at a friends house down the street.  It ended up being a blessing because I didn't have to cook dinner and we got to spend time with friends and have fun.  We didn't stay too long though, just a couple hours because we were exhausted and Matthew had to work in the morning.  

We got back home around 9pm and pretty much crashed soon after that!  It was a fun day and very eventful.  We get our bedroom set delivered tomorrow and I am hoping to do a post on how the house is looking soon.  So keep an eye out for that one.  Thanks for reading!!