Hawaii vacation

How was the weather recently in Iowa?

We spent a solid week in Hawaii recently with Allison's parents (Dave and Jeanne) and Allison's sister and brother-in-law (Erin and Jason). We had a great time the whole week. Jeanne had done a lot of research and planning to make it a fun trip for everyone. Even our luggage all made it. Amazing.

We arrived in Maui on Friday afternoon and went to our condo right off a great snorkeling beach. Maui has a really laid back feeling; no one really hurries, not much traffic, and no "city" feel. Here is a view from our deck.....


The first full day we got up early and traveled the "Road to Hana." It is a very picturesque drive with many potential stops for hikes and sightseeing opportunities. Hana isn't really a destination as it is just a tiny town, but is a somewhat ending point for the trip.

(one of several waterfalls on the trip and a black sand beach)

On Sunday, we woke up even earlier (about 1:00 am) to travel to the top of one of the mountains for the sunrise and a 25 mile bike trip down the mountain.


In the afternoon and during the next couple days, we enjoyed boogie boarding, snorkeling, exploring around the beach areas and hitting up the local towns for some entertainment and food.



We went to a lot of local shops looking at things local people had to sell. We stopped at the Ukulele shop and I found myself holding a 1000 dollar ukulele. I ended up buying a significantly cheaper one (one of the ones on the table). It's a lot different than guitar, but still fun to mess around with.


After 4-5 days in Maui, we flew to the island of Oahu where we were received a Lei greeting.


We hiked to the top of Diamond Head (where military lookouts used to be located). A view looking toward Honolulu. Pearl Harbor is way in the background.

On the way back down from Diamond Head, our camera batteries died, so we will have to rely on more pictures from someone else to complete our album.

I think maybe my favorite part of the trip was the last day during our time at Pearl Harbor. We watched a short film on the history of the days leading up to that famous day, then were boated out to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. It was a very solemn feeling being on the harbor imagining what it might have been like to be a soldier under attack. I can't describe it much better than that, but on that day, I was so proud to be an American.

That was our trip in a nutshell. If you are interested, we would be happy to show you the rest of our pictures and tell a ton more stories sometime. But one last picture of my beautiful wife and me our last night in Hawaii.