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