Anyways, we started off our trip with a late short flight to Oakland, then spent the night in the airport. That was pretty rough, but we saved a lot of money so it was probably worth it. The flight to Hawaii was nice, I was able to nap a bit and we got some yummy breakfast stuff with guava jelly! it was so yummy I ended up buying a small jar to take home as a souvenir. When we got off the plane the warmth and humidity hit like a wall, it felt so good! My dad's suitcase got lost, ended going up to portland (?!) but we were told it would get there soon.The first day was pretty chill, we basically just slept and ate.
The second day we went to explore the town of Lahaina. We didn't rent a car, so we took the bus then walked about 15 minutes to the town. Lahaina is a pretty cute ocean front town, some really good history and lots of restaurants and shops. We went to all the historic sites and learned about the town and the culture of hawaii. There was a really cool courtyard with a banyan tree, which is basically multiple trees that are all connected to make one big tree. All the branches were connected in a canopy overhead, it was really cool. I definitely got sunburned that day because I didn't anticipate being in the sun for that long.
The next day we took the road to Hana, which is a really curvy road along the coast with lots of beautiful hawaii scenery. The town of Hana itself isn't anything special, it's all about the journey! Before we even got to "the" road we were driving along the coast and saw a whale! At first it just looked like smoke on the water, which is what it looks like when they come up to breathe. We watched it for a bit, it was pretty far into the cove so we could see it's back and sometimes it's tail when it came up. It was a really cool experience, it made me feel really connected to the whales and their history. The road was absolutely gorgeous! My favorite part was a peninsula off the road. there was a really rocky coastline and the ocean was rough that day, which made it even more beautiful.The waves would break against the rocks and spray up, kindof like the little mermaid. I wish I could share the pictures because I think I got some good ones. We stopped to get some fresh made banana bread at a roadside stand, best decision ever! It was still warm when we got it! After that we stopped at the black sand beach. We walked around for a bit, saw a blowhole, forgot to see the petroglyphs (DUR!) and then headed down to the beach. I wanted to get in, but I didn't want to go by myself (I'm irrationally afraid of sharks...) so I managed to convince my dad to go with me! We went far enough out that we could just float on the waves and do some body surfing. We coaxed my mom in for a bit even though she really doesn't like the water. she didn't get past the wave breaks so she ended up getting knocked on her butt... kindof funny! I did feel bad though so we left soon after that. I was proud of myself because I am pretty nervous about being in the open ocean but I really had a good time! We continued on to the back side of the island where the lava flows are and the landscape is very arid. Then up into the mountains, which looked kindof like home! We ended the day with more whale watching and Panda express.
I can't really remember the rest of the trip day by day, I just kindof went with the flow. But we had a few dinners with the electrical association my dad is part of, ended up talking to some cool people. We went snorkeling, which wasn't that amazing, but I think I might have heard the whales. It was pretty eerie, it just sounded like a deep rushing sound. I though it was just the ocean because it came and went, but I didn't hear it at all after a while. Maybe it wasn't the whales, but I like to think it was them :) don't crush my delusional dreams. One day we got to go stand up paddle boarding, which was an absolute blast! I wanted to try surfing, but it involves being out in the open water more which I was still nervous about. I'm proud to say that I didn't fall once! It was really tiring though, the first few times I stood up my legs shook like a chihuahua and I could only stay up for a few minutes before I had to go back down to my knees. After a while my legs got used to it and I could stay up longer. I loved literally paddling circles around my parents and riding the waves. I wish I could have gone again because I wanted to go out farther. My mom fell once, couldn't get back on the board without help, then stayed sitting down the rest of the time. My dad fell about 30 times! He doesn't have very good balance so he had a hard time, but it was entertaining for us! It was really cool though because he wouldn't give up and eventually he stood up and didn't fall! perseverance :) We also went to a luau where we watched the great dancers and had the best pork I've ever had.
I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing, but I'll come back and post again if there's anything else! Hopefully I'll be able to post again soon because my life is going pretty good right now and I'd like to share some of my experiences! Here are some pics!
 |
| Beautiful waterfall on the way to Hana |
 |
| Random Marley quote, I thought it was fitting |
No comments:
Post a Comment