vacation adventuring

Aloha Ohana,

Our Hawaiian vacation is wrapping up tomorrow and it's back to reality as we fly in on Sunday. If all goes well we will be picked up by Kendra's parents and the twins from the baggage claim and immediately dump Oma and Opa off at the departure terminal for their flight home. We are sad the timing isn't working out for us to spend a day catching up with them and hanging out, but that's the way things worked out.

No matter what happens in the next two days, this vacation to Maui is the best vacation i've ever experienced. Not perfect, but island living is so awesome that it's difficult NOT to have a great time.

I've been keeping a travel log every day and may publish some of it, but for now here are a few highlights and sights we experienced so far.

The Old Lahaina Luau was intriguing and supposedly the best Luau on the island. Since I've never been to one prior to this night, I have no comparison. Lots of history, mythology, and native dances.



We rode bikes down from the Haleakala crater / volcano. The ride down wasn't exhilarating because I'm used to bombing down National trail on South Mountain with white knuckles and wide eyes. Today's ride was as advertised: a leisurely cruise with scenic views and cool weather.


The yellow bio-hazard looking suits are just wind breakers because it was super chilly at the top. Before the bike ride we woke up at 2:30 AM and rode in a van up to the 10,000 ft. altitude level anticipating the sunrise. the only word I can use to describe it is: spectacular. you can see the colors behind us as the sun creeps up over the horizon.


The colors weren't much different than the sweet sunsets we get in Phoenix, but the magnitude and view of watching the sun rise above the clouds was... spectacular. My Canon S90 did really well to take good pictures in low light conditions. I'm very happy with its performance.

One other grand scene we found was the Nakalele Blowhole. The extreme power of the ocean was on full display. If I had to pick a "best scenic picture" of our vacation, this is it. Turned out very well in my opinion.


I changed my laptop wall paper to this picture because it looks more incredible than the Microsoft chosen landscape pictures.

Tomorrow we are hoping to fly standby to Honolulu so we can spend the afternoon with my friend Hal who lives there. Then we catch the red-eye home and will be able to wrap our arms around the twins, who we miss more and more as the days go by.

Mahalo and I'll see you soon!