As I write this blog I’m sitting in the car, looking out the window, totally captivated by the lush greenery contrasted with the bright colors of the homes, the sky, the clothes hanging on the line. Occasionally the road winds back out along the coast and the ocean is visible. The sheer number of colors in the ocean is astounding. Who knew there were so many shades of blue? Horses wander along the side of the road, the biggest cows I’ve ever seen also casually grazing.

We are headed east along the Coral Coast, toward Pacific Harbor. We adopted the Boyer road trip rule- that each person in the car gets to pick one stop, no questions asked, and everyone has to go along with it. Our first stop was picked by Paul- a little inlet where a river met the ocean. Volcanic rock along the shore made for some blow holes, local kids played in the water, women bathed. Paul jumped in the water with the locals right away. They joked about eels and alligators and sharks (at least we think they were joking about the eels).

We got back into the car just in time for the skies to open up and pour down rain. More beauty passed by the windows in front of us.

When we arrived in Pacific Harbor we tried to find a boat to go out to some of the local islands. No luck. Instead, we decided to pick up a paddleboard and some kayaks from the Pearl Resort and paddle up steam in a remote, uninhabited area. It was beautiful.  Yet another highlight.

The paddle was followed by lunch in the Arts Village, and through conversations with the guys who worked there we figured out a route to a “secret” waterfall. Phone calls were made and one guy called another and we got the “all-clear”. And so we headed out in our little Kia.

When we got to the part in the road where the loose gravel turned to dirt and rock we sought confirmation that we were headed in the right direction from a local man we saw roadside (note: this was the last human we saw on this journey the rest of the trail was completely desolate- just us and a whole whole lot of trees and mountains). The man affirmed that we were headed in the right direction and then remarked (under his breath a bit), “you should be able to make it up there in that car.” Paul was undeterred. What happened next is best told by the video Amanda captured where we were all yelling, laughing, clutching whatever we could find to stabilize ourselves, and making threats about what we would do if we didn’t make it up (or down) the next hill. We reached a point in the road that Paul deemed unsafe and so, to our relief (and our dismay) we had to turn around.

We ended up at the Warwick Resort where we enjoyed a little sunset happy hour and our survivor stories from the day.