Hawaii

Since McKenna's imminent graduated from Weber State was...imminent... we've been planning a trip to Hawaii as a big graduation present.  I've always been hesitant about vacations because I always need a vacation from my vacation.  Kenna was super excited from the get-go, and yes, of course I thought that Hawaii would be fantastic, but I walked with a bit of trepidation as we planned our trip.

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

We got on a plane and then we were in Hawaii.  Moving right along.

We stayed on the island of Maui for 3 nights and then on Oahu for 3 more nights.





Tuesday was the "Road to Hana."  Sort of.  A wonderful way to see the island.  We got started a little bit later than is necessary to drive the entire road, and the hundreds of switchbacks were making McKenna carsick and me super cranky, so we decided we had gone far enough and turned around.

We did make a couple of quality stops along the way, though.  One in particular where where we had to hike in a mile or so to a nice little pool and waterfall.  It felt like something right out of "Lost".  Y'know, that one episode where Kate and Sawyer dive down to get the haliburton suitcase with the guns and.... nevermind.

Anyway, it was cool.  The water was wicked good.













Jungle.

Beach.

Well, rocks actually.  But cool rocks.  And a wife.

Wednesday we spent the morning with Hawaii Mike.  Now, Hawaii isn't populated entirely by hippies, but there are quite a few, and Mikey was the embodiment thereof.  Long hair, sandals, and about a dozen different terms for the special plants he told us he had growing in his backyard.  Why did we spend a day with Hawaii Mike?  He was our guide that drove us to the summit of Mt. Haleakala to watch the sunrise.  We had to get up at 2AM to get there on time, but it was totally worth it.

 After watching the sunrise we biked back down the volcano.

 Dole Whip from the pineapple plantation.

 Itty-bitty pineapple.

 Pearl harbor.

Big freaking gun at Pearl Harbor, complete with Kenna's sound effects.











 Maui wasn't as tropical and jungle-y looking as Oahu.  This was the view from the highway on Oahu.

Before going to the Polynesian Cultural Center we swung by the LDS temple just around the corner.  We packed so light we decided not to pack Sunday clothes, but once we were there we kind of wished we had so that we could go in.  It was still nice to walk around the grounds, though.  In the visitor's center the missionaries came over and talked to us and we met a Sister Li from Korea who knew my friend Tserennyam from his mission to Korea and also from right there in Laie.  He graduated from BYU-Hawaii and headed back to Mongolia only weeks before we got there.

Just a guy climbing a big freaking palm tree.  nbd












And there's a pretty wife looking very Hawaiian.












Easily the best vacation I've ever been on.  Sometimes we (as in people in general) just get so wrapped up in making sure that we enjoy every little thing we can when we go somewhere new, different, exciting, or expensive that we forget to actually enjoy where we are.  With all the cool things to do in Hawaii, we thought the coolest part was just being there.  So rather than scrambling to and fro trying to get our money's worth, Kenna and I decided to take a step back, plan a few fun things and then just enjoy the sun, the beach, and the time together.





Can you spot the beached whale in this picture?







Oh, and how could I forget?  Here are some quality shots of us surfing.  We actually got up almost every time.  And yes, I made that face in every gosh darn picture.

Here's us falling... 

and not falling.  Go us.