Maui, HI

In 2011 when I graduated from the University of Washington with my master's degree, my parents took my sister and I on a cruise to Alaska. Well, this year, my sister was the one wearing the funny square hat, and my lovely parents planned yet another celebratory vacation, this time to the beautiful island of Maui!

But before we headed to that tropical sun-scape, we stopped in San Fransisco to watch my sister collect her diploma and finalize all that hard work. I am so proud of her and wish her all the success in the world as she steps into the next chapter of her life. Enjoy the ride, sis!

With diploma in hand, we made no hesitation and flew our collective booties over the Pacific Ocean the very next morning. We landed mid-morning Hawaiian time and picked up the rental cars. I'm glad I decided to rent a car because I don't think our big group of 8 (and everyone's luggage) would have all fit in one SUV. Everyone present on the trip included myself, Carolyn, my sister Gina, her boyfriend Dani, my Aunt Kim, cousin Kara, and my parents.

Once we had some wheels, we headed south west from Kahuhlui to Lahaina, where our ocean front condo awaited. The sky was overcast and dreary, and it began to rain, with gentle but firm breezes rustling the palm trees that bordered the thru-way. We eventually rounded a bend and drove along the coast, where we were allowed our first glimpse of the pacific ocean. A group of surfers were in the water, catching waves into shore, unfazed by the rain.

When we reached Lahaina, the rain subsided, and a peck of sunshine sneaked out through the low hanging clouds. The condo was amazing, two floors, with a wonderful view of the ocean and a lanai that had a few reclining chairs and a table. We unpacked the groceries and dumped our things in our room, cracked open frosty beers, and began to enjoy.

The next morning we went on a little car adventure around the west shore of Maui, to go on a small hike in search for something called the Blow Hole. The road was twisty and spindly, providing magnificent views of the shoreline. A short hike down hill offered us glimpses of the blow hole, a unique rock formation where water from oncoming waves gets pushed and pressurized into this hole, sending it bursting into the heavens like a whale blowing water out of its head.

The next day, half of the gang was content lounging by the ocean and working on their tans, while myself, Carolyn and my Dad decided to go on a hike into the western Maui mountains on the Waihee Ridge Trail. It was a very scenic and pleasant 5 mile round trip hike, where we get elevated views of the ocean...

Saw a neat far off water fall...

 And witnessed some unique wild life.

The next morning, I went to Bikram Yoga with Carolyn, and then spent the remainder of the day trying our luck at stand up paddle boarding, without much success. It is very difficult to learn the technique when there are waves to negotiate, making it very difficult to keep any sort of balance. My sister, unfortunately, got pummeled by a series of waves and had the board fins smash in and slide across her chest. This resulted in a trip to the emergency room in fear of a cracked rib. Luckily it was only bruised, and she prompty returned to the shoreline to work on her beach tan. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I didn't take any pictures of these festivities.

The following morning my parents, sister, Dani, Carolyn and myself left early to go on the infamous drive to Hana. Hana is a small town on the very eastern edge of the island, and the adventure is more about the journey than the final destination. The road to Hana is a tangled, jagged, windy and swervy mess of a road that follows the coastel ridges through dense rain forest, magnificent ocean views, and several waterfalls. It was very scenic and spectaluar, and I'm glad we had a chance to make the journey, but the only downfall was spending pretty much 8 or so hours driving in the car. I think everyone was a bit car-sick when we finally made it back to the condo.

 

Carolyn and I took it easy the following morning and lounged around reading. I soon became restless and dragged her on another adventure in the afternoon, this one involving a neat feature called the Olivine Pools on the Northwestern tip of the island.

Olvine is a type of mineral that is embedded in many of the rocks there, and the pools are made out of lava rocks filled with overflow water from the ocean. The pools sit right next to the shore, which is in a small cove, with turbulent waves crashing into and out from the rocks. We spent a half our jumping into the pools and swimming with a school of yellow and black striped fish.

On our way back to the car, Carolyn even thanked me for forcing her to go on another excursion!

An then, alas, we found ourselves in our final day before departing the island and returning to our jobs. And it was epic. There is a National Park on Maui called Haleakala NP, and, naturally, I needed to go there and hike the best parts of it. The National Park is at the top of the tallest mountain on the island, which hovers at around 10,000 ft, and is accompanied by a gigantic crater which sits roughly 2,000 feet from the summit.

The road getting there was nuts, kind of like the road to Hana, except with a lot more vertical rise and absence of guard rails at key locations. The hike we chose to do was a U shaped loop where we started at the top, descended into the crater, and climbed back out. We parked our car where we would end and tried hitch-hiking to the top of the mountain to start the hike. We ran into another couple trying to do the same thing, so I propositioned that I drive us all to the top and then they could drive us back to my car once we were all done. Brilliant.

The hike was spectacular, and the colors of the rocks were some of the most unique I've ever seen. Being at the top and in the crater felt like I was more in the great basin of Wyoming than on a Hawaiin island. It was bizzare and magnificent, and an excellent way to end the week.

 

And then, the following day, it was time to say goodbye. 

I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit Hawaii, as it is a place I had always wanted to visit. I had a wonderful time creating memories with Carolyn and my family, and enjoyed Maui very much. Perhaps I should have relaxed a bit more, but there was just too much to see!

Wouldn't be a Hawaiian vacation without a pic like this!

 Mahalo!