Maui Wowie

Adam’s parents watched Clara and we headed off to Maui to celebrate our 4^th anniversary and just because why not, right?  We are happy to be back home now and see Clara again, but we really had a great time.

Thursday and just played in the ocean, swimming pool, got something to eat, and just relaxed.  We also looked around Lahaina and saw the big Banyan tree.  So amazing!

On Friday we rented snorkel gear and went to 3 different beaches to look around.  We saw a bunch of beautiful fish and some big turtles.  One looked straight at me and started following me.  I swam back to Adam and held on to his arm.  He just laughed at me.  Later that day we also swam out to the black rock and did some cliff jumping. 

Saturday we drove up and did a few hikes and some site seeing.  There were a bunch of rocks in one area that we climbed around and saw crabs and some small tide pools and such.  The second one had a couple blow holes and tons of HUGE waves.  We saw a turtle floating in the waves which was kind of cool to see.

Sunday we went to church, then were pretty lazy all day.  Just walked around, took naps, laid in the sun, etc.

Monday we did the drive to Hana.  It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  The whole thing took us 12 hours because we stopped and did a few hikes.  The first one you had to walk through a bamboo forest and then up a stream for 1/3 mile to get to the waterfall.  1/3 of a mile sounds like nothing, but the rocks we had to walk on were seriously so slippery and sketchy.  I finally just started walking in the stream with my tennis shoes on because I didn’t want to fall anymore.0  It didn’t really have a trail, but our book told us how to get there.  We made it after lots of mosquito bites, falling on the slippery rocks, and wondering if this was a great idea.  It was fun though and we probably will never forget it. 

The second waterfall we saw was huge and it didn’t look like you could really hike to it, then we heard people down this “trail”, so we started going down.  They told us how to get down and said we would have to use a rope that is down there to scale down the last part of the trail.  So, we decided to go for it.  Just when we got to the ropes it started pouring rain, so we decided to turn around because the trail was already getting super muddy and all we had to get us back up was to hold onto roots and climb up the mud…Of course, as soon as we got back to the car the rain stopped.

So, our next stop was washing off our legs in the ocean and eating homemade banana bread and a smoothie.  Yum.

Then we went to another waterfall that was pretty, but our book said to hike up higher and there was a better one that you could swim in.  So, we did.  On the way up the muddy trail (like losing your shoes muddy) we saw a couple coming down.  They said that the waterfall was beautiful, but they couldn’t figure out how to get down to the water to swim in it and they thought they saw a fresh water sting ray so they wouldn’t have wanted to swim in it anyway.  Huh?  Never heard of such a thing.  So, we kept going and if you just kept going on the trail it took you right down to the side of the water…not sure how they missed that.  Then we saw some wavy weeds or something that they probably thought was the sting ray…sillies.  So we swam in it – it was pretty frigid, but beautiful and worth it.  I looked up fresh water sting rays on Adam’s phone as soon as we got back to the car and found they do exist, but in Malaysia and in huge rivers, not up in a spring fed pool…hilarious!

By this time we were pretty tired and all waterfalled out, so we just kept driving through Hana and didn’t stop until we came to the 7 sacred pools.  They were pretty and we did some cliff jumping and climbing around. 

After that we just drove home.  It was pretty interesting to drive around pretty much the whole island because the road to Hana was beautiful and tropical and lush, then you turn the corner to come back and it looks like you’re driving from Boise to Mountain home – everything’s dead and dry.  Crazy that the two extremes are within minutes of each other.  It was beautiful seeing the ocean the whole drive though – which makes it better than driving to Mountain Home!

Tuesday we were pretty sore and tired from Monday, but we had plans…we were learning to surf in the morning!  We both did pretty well and eventually caught waves on our own.  When we were done with that we went back to the beach by our hotel and saw a few people surfing over there, so we rented a board and took turns trying to surf again.  We weren’t so successful…I think it was because it was a different board and because we’re tired…or maybe it was because we suck, but I don’t think that’s possible! Ha!  We didn’t realize it until later, but we got SUPER sunburned on the back of our legs from surfing.  We still had lots of fun though, so I’m not complaining.  When we got done surfing we went down and snorkeled by the black rock because we had heard it was a great spot…we did see a turtle, but both agreed the other beaches we went to before were better.  Next we went back to the hotel and got ready for a Luau.  We went to Westin’s luau because someone told us it was a MUST DO is Maui.  Well, it was good, but for the price I don’t think I would really recommend a luau just for the record unless maybe you drink because drinks are included all night…so there’s my two cents.

Wednesday was time to come home and we were ready.  I didn’t think I would get to the point where I wanted to come home from Hawaii, but we missed Clara and were sore and sunburned and had all the fun we could take for the week!   We didn’t get in to Boise until midnight because of the time difference and travel time.  I brought Clara into bed with us when we made it back and I think she grew up a little when we were gone.  She had a lot of fun with her grandparents and cousins, but once when we talked to her on the phone she said, “Take me wis (with) you mommy…I want to go on the plane”.  It was sad.  In the morning when she woke up next to me she said, “You off airplane?”  She was so happy.  Adam had already left for work when she woke up so we went to his work for lunch.  On the way I said, “You were happy to see me, huh?” and she said, “No, I grumpy”…then started laughing.  What a stinker! J 

Now we’re back to normal life which is wonderful.  I love vacations and it’s been 4 years since we’ve really gone on a vacation (other than weekend trips or something) so it was much needed, but I also love real life and am happy to be back.