Here is the story that I wanted to have re-written in conversational French, as it would be described by a French resident with their forms of speaking and idioms and phrases used, versus a word for word translation which is what I think I already have from a program used.

Last summer, I took a trip out to Kaua’i, HI, where my parents live to visit them and see remaining old friends from when I used to live there a few years earlier. I was interested in being more active this time out there and didn’t want to be inside the house as often as I had been before in the past. So, I left my laptop here in Virginia, packed more realistically for what I wanted to do, such as mountain biking, kayaking, a re-venture of surfing, any hiking that might be possible to get others to come along for, and hopefully a day of paintball. The biking is what I did on the days when nothing else could be planned to do. The first time was an invite from a friend from my old church who asked me if I’d want to hit some trails with him the next town over. So I agreed, happy at the idea to have a challenging trip out with someone else, and saw new spots of my former island that I’d never seen before, which was really cool because I like seeing new places, especially of what I thought I already knew.

I went out biking another day on my own and revisited the same tracks and had a great workout while soaking in what ended up being too much sun. At the end of that ride, I walked the bike through the sand of a popular beach that was on the way back and washed the sweat off me and swam around briefly in the surf. I had had ideas of getting in one of my parents’ kayaks and going on a solo tour around part of the coast, but that never happened and mostly for the reason that I’m not at the same par to paddle the sensitive-to-rolling kayaks that they’ve always owned in open ocean as I once was, as I was raised doing with them on rivers back when we all lived in Virginia. I also never got to do any paintballing, but I had done that the last trip when I was there for my birthday and still had good memories from that to suffice until my next visit.

What I did get invited out to join, that was already being planned, which I had had no prior knowledge of until friends of parents informed them of and asked if I’d want to join in, was a 4 day camping trip at this secluded beach and ground that one has to hike 12 miles in to get to, with everything they plan on bringing to eat, drink and sleep with hiked in. I had always heard wonderful things about the beauty of the valley they were planning on staying at, called Kalalau, and had wanted to go and so agreed. It was a very difficult hike and I was one of the slowest of the group, who most mostly comprised of youth younger than me who could navigate the steep and narrow trails (if some of what we were walking on could even be called that) with ease and enthusiasm. I had a great time out and had some important times by myself while I was out there, reflecting on the beauty of the nature and the mountains just behind us, with the dark clouds of another mountain sprinkle at the ready to activate perpetually hovering halfway down them, and the vast ocean to our front which was always there ready to greet your thoughts and stand as company in agreement to your conclusion of the moment. It was a good time out overall for me, but not because of happy circumstances that I had while out there, but because it further reaffirmed to me that where I’m at now is my element and where to continue on from, and that as beautiful as the island is, it is not my home and I am not its kind of person, of whose priorities and views are a part of their identity and mine, which would clash, would not make any sort of a peaceable living there possible- which is the importance of finding where you fit.

—– And my acquired verbatim translation that I fear is not entirely how it would be expressed from one France resident to another.. —–

L’été dernier, j’ai pris un tour au Kaua’i, HI, où mes parents vivent à leur rendre visite et voir encore de vieux amis de quand j’avais l’habitude d’y vivre quelques années plus tôt.
Je me suis intéressé à être plus actifs de ce temps là-bas et je ne voulais pas être à l’intérieur de la maison aussi souvent que je l’étais avant dans le passé. Alors, j’ai laissé mon portable ici, en Virginie, emballées de façon plus réaliste de ce que je voulais faire, comme le VTT, le kayak, une ré-venture de surf, de randonnée pédestre qui tout pourrait être possible d’amener les autres à venir le long de, et, espérons – une journée de paintball. Le cyclisme est ce que j’ai fait les jours où rien ne pouvait être planifié de faire. La première fois, c’était une invitation d’un ami de mon ancienne église qui m’a demandé si j’avais veulent frapper quelques pistes avec lui la ville d’à côté. Alors j’ai accepté, heureux à l’idée d’avoir un voyage difficile avec quelqu’un d’au