Hawaiian Adventure

I spent my Christmas and New Year's in beautiful Hawaii. Not a bad way to escape the weird weather that we have had here in Vancouver. With almost a month and a half of snow and ice it was just too much. 

Hawaii was amazing. We rented a condo in Lahaina, Maui and it was pretty sweet. We had a beautiful cove just steps from our door that was semi private. You would not know it was there if you weren't staying around it. This cove had spectacular snorkeling. There were so many turtles!! In the evening if you went out you would see at least 7 on any night. They would swim up to the rocks and sit in the sun during the day sometimes too. It was interesting and some of them were huge. I am not that big of a fan of snorkeling so I mostly swam around on the boogie board. We went to the beach just down the road with the boogie boards and would ride the waves up the shore. It was crazy fun. You could get some good distance up the beach on some of the bigger waves. Only downside was that you would have sand everywhere. In every crack and crevice. My hair was more sand the one day than it was

Hair full of sand!

hair (took 3 washes to get the sand out of my hair). My brother took some really good videos of us riding the boogie boards up the beach and getting pummeled by the waves when you weren't on them. If you laid on your back you could ride the waves up the beach without a boogie board too!!  I drank so much salt water those days, which tastes really nasty, but clears out your sinuses fantastically. 

Black Sand Beach

We spent one whole day driving up the Road to Hana. It was about a 10 hour car ride round trip in the third row of the Santa Fe we rented. Doesn't sound that bad until you realize that the third row is pretty much in the trunk of the car and the seat sits on the ground. I am short and my knees weren't quite to my chest but it was not the most comfortable ride of my life. The drive was beautiful and we saw some amazing views. We stopped at a lava tube that you can walk down in. It was a little scary since it is pitch black inside and all you have is a little flashlight. At one part you have to duck down to get to the next section. If you are claustrophobic you would not want to do that, but it opens up about 3 steps after that. It was cool to walk around in. We stopped at the black sand beach as well. It's not really sand though. It is tiny lava rocks that have been smoothed down by the waves. It was a stunningly beautiful beach. It was really tiny, but still very neat to see. The scariest part of the whole drive was when we actually got to the town of Hana. I am sure most people will think my family is crazy, but bare with me. We were terrified of the hill people. It's a hilly place and small town, but we felt like we didn't want to be there after dark. You would just disappear. There were so many abandoned vehicles that were burnt up and it just felt like a place that you don't go to at night. Even the people at the worst beach side, food vendor thing (I can't classify it as a restaurant) were super weird and rude. Food was not very good there either and they didn't have anything that was one the menu. Everything that we ordered they were out of, so we got a really crappy meal. It was an adventure to say the least about the Road to Hana. I understand why they have shirts that say "I survived the Road to Hana" though they should say I survived the hill people of Hana. 

A major highlight of the trip was going on a helicopter ride around Maui. Maui is a stunningly beautiful place and to get to see it from a helicopter is breathtaking. We got to see the valley where a scene from Jurassic Park was filmed, which was super cool since I am a big fan of those movies. It was neat to see the island from up above and see parts of the island that you can't drive to and waterfalls that you wouldn't know were there if you weren't in a helicopter.  I was sitting by the window and I had my dad's camera so I got to take some very cool pictures. 

We spent one morning on a boat, whale watching. We were there during the beginning of the whale migration to Hawaii for mating season. We were fortunate to see quite a number of whales and some dolphins decided to come visit us too! One of the whales swam right under the boat. From a distance the whales looked huge, but when it swam under the boat you could see just how big it was. I was standing at the very back of the boat and saw it swim out. I was blown away seeing how huge it was. I enjoy seeing animals in their natural habitat. I don't like zoos. I feel like they are cruel. Animals shouldn't be in cages. Anyways little off topic there, but oh well. 

My brother in law, brother and I did go for a hike while we were there as well! We went to the Haleakala Crater and hiked down a ways. It was strange in the fact that there was frost on the ground up that high and we found an icicle! The landscape at the crater was bizarre. It looked like you were on Mars. Most of the dirt was red and there wasn't much for vegetation in some areas. Going down the crater was the easy part, coming back up I nearly didn't make it. It was cold up there like 0°C, I was wearing a hoodie and wind breaker.

Hiking back up I was down to just my workout tank top. The looks and comments I got from all the people going down was ridiculous. There was sweat pouring off my face I was sweating so badly. If you felt my arms they were cold to the touch but I was just sweating. The really cool thing about Haleakala is that it was craved by the mist/fog that rolls in and out of it. As we were walking it was like walking into a cloud and then suddenly it would be gone. It was fascinating. I am very glad my brother in law got my butt out of bed bright and early to go check it out. 

Most of the trip we just chilled out and relaxed. It was a much needed break from the craziness of this last year. I was stressed to the max trying to find a new job and being miserable at the one I was working. It just happened that before we left I got a new job and that relieved a little stress. I am a firm believer in time off. Everybody needs a vacation to just get away and not worry. 

Reading by the pool

Have a wonderful weekend everybody!!  

Song of the Day: You Make It Real by James Morrison