Hawaii part 3

 And the final post of the VERY BELATED Hawaii posts.  At last!

The last couple of days, we spent whale watching, going to the aquarium, shopping, a luau, and one last trip to the beach before heading home.  Let me just say that if your going to do a luau, book it before you go.  And book the "Old Lahaina" because the next highly rated one was NOT worth $100.  The food was okay, and the show was entertaining, but not spectacular.  I didn't think it was worth it, and got sick later in the night from either the cheap liquor which I couldn't drink very much of or the less than spectacular food.

The aquarium was a fun trip.

 Whale watching was probably the highlight, although we didn't get as close to any of the whales as we had when we whale watched in Equador.  Each whale watching trip is different though and the captains of the boats cannot force the whales to do anything they don't want to do, including get close to the boats.

 This little fella gave us a nice show though.

 We also went to a dinner show, it was a Christmas show by a musician by the name of Willie K.  This was way better than the luau and I would recommend one of his shows.

 Shopping in Old Lahaina was a great day trip for the whole family.

At the Banyan Tree Square, a banyan tree first planted in 1873 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the missionaries' arrival, has grown 12 new trunks and stretches over an area of 200 feet (61 m).

 We had a fun time at the Luau despite it not being worth the money, in my opinion.

 Our last day at the beach, the surf was rough.  Kyle loves to snorkle, so we used the snorkle gear from our hotel, including flippers, and snorkeled away.

 

Our plane ride home was dissappointing. Although we had a "window seat" there was no window.  And we had our Christmas Eve dinner in an airport, but it wasn't too bad. We were home for Christmas Day.

Overall, Hawaii was a VERY FUN trip.  It wouldn't be my first choice in destinations, mostly because I've now visited many BEAUTIFUL beaches, and most were less expensive than Hawaii's. But all in all, it wasn't too shabby and it was fabulous to get to spend so much time with our family.

Hawaii 2

We went to Hawaii nearly a year ago.  I found this half finished post waiting in my drafts and decided it was time to finish this post once and for all. I find it a difficult task to write about trips.  I put it off and by the time that I actually start to work on it, I forget what we did.  So I'm going to post some pictures of our family vacation.  I'll make a few comments, but the details, well, they can be left to your imaginations.

Kyle found a coconut, and broke it apart to prove his manliness

It was suggested that we stop at a roadside to eat some of the local banana bread and snow cones. Both delicious.

He made grass stuff. It was pretty cool.

A cool black beach with a pressure cave where surf would force all the trapped air and water up through the geyser hole.

a neat cave my mom and I explored

Hawaii

This is part one in a series of Hawaii posts which will probably be spread out.

So, we took a vacation the week before Christmas to Hawaii, Maui, to be exact, and I am finally getting around to posting pictures about it.  We flew into Maui on a relatively short, seven hour flight, from Korea.  It was the first time we'd been back in the USA in a year. Kyle's mom, and my mom's favorite traveling friend, met us at the airport with leis. Kyle's parents had gone to the grocery store and stocked us on food for the entire week.  Mark, Kyle's dad was the chef, and he and Kyle slaved away in the kitchen concocting amazing meals.  Hawaii is incredibly expensive spot in which to vacation, so we chose to economize by saving on food costs by cooking at home for the majority of our meals.  Considering the quality of food that came out of our kitchen, I'd venture to say that we made the right choice.  The restaurants in Maui are not only overpriced but also not very exciting or good.

The first day, we decided to take an easy day, relaxing on a near by beach.  It was gorgeous weather, considering we were in our bathing suits in December.  The mountain in the background was lovely.

My mom, who has an alergy to the sun, enjoyed the scene tucked away in the bushes.

Later on, we went shopping in an artisans market.  One of the most exciting of these stores was the hot sauce and other food goodies store.  We spent a long time sampling.

We then went to a BBQ restaurant which was surprising wonderful considering our distance from Texas.

The second day we traveled the Road to Hana.  Because we rented cars, we were able to make this trip with a self guided tour on our own.  The CD buying experience was a trip in itself, as it took us nearly an hour to find a decent CD, but once we did, we were on the road. Mark was the driver, God bless him.  The road was a treacherously windy road.  It is actually only 68 miles long, and I don't think we even drove half of it before turning around to avoid nightfall, but we were on the road for 12 hours.  The real reason it took so long however was because we made stops every few miles along the way.  The road to Hana, isn't really about getting to Hana, but about the stops along the way.  Its a beautifully scenic, unblemished paradise littered with waterfalls, volcanic cliff sides, and teeming rain forests.  It's what one thinks of when they think of Hawaii, flourishing green wildlife.

Our first stop.  Dad n son.

My mom and Mayin, her traveling buddy

We were quite lucky that it didn't rain a ton on us, however because it hadn't rained in days, the waterfalls were a little less powerful.

We made a stop at a botanical garden.  I loved feeding the duck and chasing the peacock for a picture.

frightening spider

rainbow eucalyptus tree