Hawaii

I have been avoiding writing this post for almost two weeks. I wanted to come back and rave about how great my trip was and how we had such a wonderful time...

Well, we didn't. I guess I didn't really consider the fact that my dad and I get on each others nerves. It started the morning we left for the trip at the airport when my luggage was overweight. (I knew I over packed but didn't think my suitcase would be over 50 pounds! Our trip was only 14 days!)

The flight was SO long. We left Connecticut at 6am and arrived in Maui at 7pm Hawaii time. That is 1 am CT time. We flew from CT to Atlanta, then to Seattle, then finally to Maui. We flew over the Rocky Mountains which was SO cool. I randomly glanced out the window and saw them in the distance and was so shocked. We were 30,000 feet up and could see them clearly. We took tons of pictures of it!

The trip was exhausting but we made it to our hotel, the Napili Surf Beach Resort, and got to sleep. Our hotel was cheap but so nice. We had our own kitchen and lanai, and the bathroom was so nice! The next day we checked out the beach at our hotel... which ended up being our only chance to see it.
We spent the day exploring Lahaina and Ka'anapali and went snorkling at some nature preserve. I cut my knee on one of the rocks (injury #1) but we saw some really cool fish. (I have an underwater camera that I haven't developed yet.)

The following day we drove up the road to the top of Mount Haleakala. It is over 10,000 feet at the top and the road has switchbacks, where you go one direction then turn completely around to go up the volcano. It took a long time because you have to go slow. Here is Matt showing off above the clouds.
We checked out the crater at the top of the volcano and watched the sun set at the top.

The next day we snorkeled and then drove the Road to Hana. This is a crazy winding road to this tiny town. It is 30+ miles long and takes HOURS. Here is a picture of us by one of the gulches on the road. At the end of the road we stopped at a black sand beach.
On our third day in Maui, we spent some time at the Maui Ocean Center (an aquarium) and then we went to see Iao's Needle. It is this randomly shaped part of the mountain. The ancient Hawaiians used to push their enemies off the top during battles. Here is a picture of us by Iao's needle.
After Iao's Needle, we went to the airport and flew to the Big Island (Hawaii.) We were not excited for this island because there isn't much that we wanted to do on this island. We also stayed in a hotel that had no TV, no phones, no AC, and had waves crashing on the rocks directly beneath our lanai. It was so loud that I had to sleep with ear plugs. We drove to the top of Mauna Kea (white mountain) on Saturday, it was cold up there (in the 40s!) and there was snow!! We got a tour of the telescopes and saw some amazing views. However, my dad wanted to stay up there for sunset after our tour ended at 3pm. I protested because I was feeling quite dizzy and the air was thin so I wasn't feeling well. Finally my dad and his girlfriend dealt with it and we drove down. They bitched and moaned about this throughout the entire trip, and while I felt bad that they weren't able to see the sunset up there, I didn't care because they had seen it last year. I know it is beautiful and all but come on! 4 hours of doing nothing when I am having trouble breathing? Unacceptable.

The next day was one of my favorite days on the trip. My dad lived in Hawaii in the late 1970s through the early 1980s. He was a photographer at many different places, including a boat called the Fairwind. Well, we met up with my dad's old friend Puhi (means fish in Hawaiian except he was born in California) and he brought us on his boat. We snorkeled, ate, tanned, and learned about fish. We bought a video from the adventure that was clips of us snorkeling along with video of the fish that have visited the boat. On Sunday, we drove to the end of the road on the North West side of the Big Island. It ends because the terrain is so difficult that they couldn't build a road. But, at the end of the road is a black sand beach. There is a path to get down there but a few years ago there was an earth quake and it destroyed the path, so we didn't go. Here is Matt showing you why...We went to Hilo, a town on the other side of the island for the next two days. This is where the throw-down happened. Matt and I got into a fight with my dad and his girlfriend because they were frustrated with us not wanting to do what they wanted to do, but we were fed up with just following along and not being allowed to go see things that we wanted to do. We were miserable for the next few days and seriously considered leaving my dad and his girlfriend behind and just doing things on our own. We didn't however, and even though we were still irritated, my dad pretended nothing had happened. This made our memories of the big island, nothing but bad. Also, I ended up with about 55 bug bites that made me even more miserable.

Kauai was the next island we visited and it was beautiful. Our hotel was amazing, Hanalei Bay Resort. It had AC, a sand bottom pool, a gorgeous private beach, and a king sized bed! We visited Waimea Canyon, which is the "grand canyon of the islands" But to be honest, it was a little boring. I mean it was nice and all but it all looked the same. And then, my dad wanted to hike... I don't hike. I barely even do "outside."

We spent the next day on a boat sailing by the Napili Cliffs. They were so cool to see. There are no roads out there but there are hiking trails... again, I don't hike. But seeing it by boat made it even better. We then went snorkeling off the boat and actually saw a white tipped reef shark. I saw it first and took a picture but quickly turned around and swam away. It wasn't coming near us, it was about 20 feet below, but it was still terrifying! After we were done snorkeling, we sailed back, and saw bottle nose dolphins! I ran to get my camera but in the process stubbed my toe so bad that I heard a crack and honestly thought I broke it. I cried and didn't get a picture of the dolphins. I could barely walk and slowly over the next few days it turned black and blue and still hurt horribly. I tolerated it though.

When we got back from snorkeling, we showered and got ready to go to this amazing restaurant called Tidepools. I limped all the way into the restaurant but hoped that no one noticed. We ordered some amazing food. I had a macadamian nut crusted mahi mahi stuffed with crab meat and served with mashed potatoes and veggies. Matt had a filet and it was also amazing. Our bill was outrageous but it was so worth it, the food was to die for.

We spent the next few days limping around the island and checking out all of the sights. We found tons of fun souviners on this island, including a beautiful painting of the Hanalei Pier by a man who is paralyzed from the neck down... he paints with a paintbrush held in his mouth. We also discovered Shave Ice, it is everywhere on this island and I think we had it 3 times in 4 days. YUM.

We then flew from Kauai to Oahu... our last island. When we arrived, we were in shock, it was just what we imagined. Waikiki beach!!!! It was gorgeous and had every designer shop you could think of along the street. We stayed at the Waikiki Circle hotel on the 11th floor overlooking the ocean. It was amazing and we were upset that we only got 1 full day here. We could have spent the whole time there and had a wonderful time.
We got to go Pearl Harbor and visit the USS Arizona memorial. It was beautifully done and was shocking to see the ship just a few feet below the water. It is sad that there were over 1000 people killed on that ship and most bodies never were recovered. Also, it was interesting to learn that those who did survive have the option of being cremated and brought back to the ship to join their fallen comrades. Here we are with an aircraft carrier and the USS Arizona memorial in the background.
Overall, it was a decent time, but my dad stressed me out beyond belief and caused me to not enjoy the trip as much as I should have. However, the time that Matt and I spent together was priceless and I can't even express how much I love him! He is my best friend and we have had so many adventures and this was just another one to add to our memories. We even talked about going back again!

That is all for now... even though I am sure it was unbelievably long!