Hawaii-Thursday

For Mother's Day, my brother, Todd gifted his wife Savannah, our mom, and me with a trip to Hawaii. (Marie was invited, but couldn't make it.) It was such a fun trip.

 Mom and I flew to SLC, then to LAX (worst airport ever), then to Maui. ^This is our first picture in Hawaii just after landing.

Savannah had arrived before us, so she had already gotten the rental car and we were out of there pretty quick. She took us to a beach right by the airport for our first beach/ocean view in Hawaii.

 Let the adventures begin!

We stayed at an airbnb condo at the Kealia Resort at the very north end of Kihei. It was perfect. This picture was taken from our back porch.

 If you follow that sidewalk down about 30 yards you are at the beach and 5 steps further you are in the ocean.

We went to bed still on Mountain Standard Time and woke up really early, Hawaii time. It gave the two runners (not me) a chance for a run on the beach and a relaxing morning before we went on our first adventure: kayaking.

 Savannah got her very own kayak, while Mom and I shared. The weather was perfect with no wind and a very calm ocean, so it was perfect for us first-time kayakers.

 I thought I would be sore the next day from using muscles I don't usually use, but I wasn't really at all.

 We kayaked to a few places our guide knew were good to find sea life and finally settled on one where we dropped anchor and put on our snorkeling gear. There were sea turtles swimming so close, just chilling by the coral reef.

 This guy was drifting so close to us that we had to back up. The current was pushing him towards us and apparently it is against the law to touch a Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle, as they're protected, but it looked like he was trying to touch us.

 The ocean floor was pretty close here and we could see some cool fish, pokey sea urchins (or something) and cool brain-like coral.

 It really is a whole different world down there. So cool!

Snorkeling was so fun, though I kept getting salt water in my mouth. I would dive down to see something under water, and forget that I couldn't breathe like normal down there. Apparently I need more practice.

When we got tired we hopped back in our kayaks and paddled back to where we had begun. It was a super fun experience.

Our early morning caught up with us, so we went back to our place for a nap, then headed over to Lehaina for some Shave Ice and to find some cold medicine. I got a scratchy throat the day before we left for Hawaii. Thankfully the congestion held off until after we went snorkeling, but it hit pretty hard that afternoon. Once the medicine kicked in, though, it helped a lot. And the cold was a lot quicker than I had worried it would be. A lot of prayers and in a day and a half I was past the worst of it.

 The Shave Ice (not shaved ice) was delicous. And a lot bigger than we thought it would be. But it was perfect as the heat was picking up and the humidity was a lot more than us Arizonans are used to.

From Lehaina we continued on around the west end of the island to go see the Nakalele blowhole where water shoots up a little hole in the lava rock as the surf pounds the rocks.

 You can see the blowhole shooting up water in these two pictures.

 The view towards the east from here was beautiful.

 Little did we know that the road continuing on in that direction (instead of turning around and heading back to Lehaina) was insane. Most of it was one lane with a cliff down to the ocean on the left side and a mountain rising sharply on the right side. It was very curvy, too. And when I say it was one lane, I mean one car with maybe a foot or two on each side. It was nerve-wracking watching ahead for cars coming the other direction. Savannah drove it like a champion, though. And eventually we made it back to civilization and ate at Da Kitchen in Kahului. It was good food, but I wasn't feeling great because of my cold, so I was more than ready to get back to our place and crash for the night.