Maui

I know it has been forever since I posted the first part of our trip, but just in case there is anyone out there that still cares, here I am with the second half.  We start right off with the flight over there, which was most likely the shortest trip of my life.  I thought this captured the spirit of Aloha quite nicely!

We stayed in Kaanapali, so we bummed around Lahaina for our first evening there and ran into a celebrity.  Well, I'm sure it probably wasn't him, but doesn't he look an awful lot like Chuck Norris?!?!

Aaron worked the next morning while I was busy getting a sunburn and reading the super-depressing-I'm-so-glad-I'm-an-American A Thousand Splendid Suns.  He thought he would teach me to surf, hence the long board but my back wasn't up for the challenge.  Maybe next time!  I was content just chilling in the gorgeous water, working a little more on my sunburn.

We hit up Duke's that night and took this picture just for you Erica!  The infamous Hula Pie came courtesy of our condo, so we couldn't resist.  It was the only thing that made Aaron partially forget about the tiny rock that had imbedded itself in his foot that afternoon.

He asked me to look at his foot for him to see if there was a cut there, but there was much more than a cut!  Poor guy...I had to pretend I had any nursing skill whatsoever and try to dig it out with tweezers and a needle from a basic first aid kit.  We think there may even be a little piece left in there now a month later!

At least he had an excuse to drive this around the grocery store.  He was having a BIT too much fun with it I think.

Because I get car sick so easily, we did not commit ourselves to the Road to Hana.  But we had a little extra time the next day after our boat excursion so we decided to head out there to see what all the fuss was about.  The bark on these Eucalyptus trees was so cool and they smelled amazing.

I thought it would help if I drove, but wow those turns were unbelievable!!  I was loving the scenery, but we decided to head home after hitting our first waterfall.  

This was the view from our balcony.  So beautiful!  And we didn't have to make any sharp turns to see it, just roll over in the morning and open the eyes.

Since I was feeling all the Asian love, I figured a visit to the Giant Buddha in Lahaina before heading out was a must.  Apparently it is the largest of its kind outside of Japan.

Speaking of giant, we had to snap a photo of the ridiculously huge Banyan tree they have there as well.  When it was first planted, it was 8 feet tall, but now is close to 60 feet tall and spreads out to cover over a 200 ft area.  Crazy. 

We also visited the Iao Valley, home to this Iao Needle, a famous landmark of Maui and a formal sacred burial ground.  Apparently this was an important location anciently and was where the battle to unify the Hawaiian Islands was lost by Maui's people.  

The rest of these pictures are all from the boating adventure that we took.  When deciding which little splurge we would do, i said I wanted to see turtles and dolphins, and supposedly this one saw both.  We weren't prepared for how rough the ride was--it was a pontoon boat that felt like a jet ski ride on the open waters.  It was awesome, though a bit nail biting at times!

This ride (Blue Water Rafting) was also unique in that it took us down around the southern tip of the island, the Kuhio Coast, where the lava flowed into the ocean most recently.  If I were a geologist, I am sure I would have gotten excited about the formations.  We just thought they were gorgeous.  And don't you love the color of the water?!

Of course we got to do some snorkeling while we were out there.  This is us at the Molokini Crater.  Try not to be scared by my snorkeling face.  Or my weird finger formation.  Yikes.  I thought the reflection on the underside of the water was pretty cool.

We thought the snorkeling was better when we were down in Key West, but some people on our boat saw a shark and the scuba divers saw an eel, so maybe we just weren't sleuthy enough!  I WAS glad that there weren't millions of tiny jellyfish and barracuda though like in Key West.  This was much more relaxing.

Aaron got pretty far down.  We had thought about trying out that Snuba thing, but the water was so clear there that we were glad we didn't.  Anyone tried it before?

 So yes, we did manage to see some turtles!  We saw quite a few of them at this place they aptly call Turtle Town.  Aaron and I followed this one for a long time before he decided he was bored with us and dove back down to the bottom.  I was surprised at how fast they are.

Not on the list of things to do: have a bird eat right out of my hand.  But it happened and we captured it for posterity.

And finally the moment came that I had been most anticipating: DOLPHINS!!!  Ever since I was a little kid visiting Galveston, TX in the summers, I have wanted to see one up close.  One time we were down there and someone spotted them in the distance and I swore one came and nibbled at my feet because it wanted to be my friend.  

The excitement in the video is 18-22 seconds in.  That's when Aaron got smart and decided to just stick the underwater camera down into the water to see if we could get a better glimpse of something more than the dorsal fin.  So cool!

Anyway, we had a great time and really appreciate Michelle for watching the kiddos while we were gone and making it all possible.  I think I am ready to do something like that again as soon as she gets back from BYU next summer.  I don't know how we are going to get along without her. :(