Our second leg of the journey was in Oahu on the North Shore.  This time, instead of staying in another resort, we lodged in an adorable three-room beach house.   The backyard was literally the beach, which meant every morning we got to wake up to the sight of the ocean through the windows.  We decided to chill more than run around, so we'd spend a lot of time relaxing by reading, kayaking, tanning, eating dried pineapple. I found that I was able to break through a mental block and begin writing a new novel, which was really exciting for me.  At night, we flicked on flashlights and crab-hunted. 
Our parents spoil us when we vacation.  At least food-wise.  They cooked up Spam {since apparently that's a Hawaiian thing to do} and Kalua pork and hooked us up with plenty of shaved ice, friend bananas and macadamia nut ice cream.  Oh, and we found out that birds like food a lot too when this little duo would not leave us alone and even snatched a bag of Doritos.
  We were only five minutes away, so we visited both BYU campus and the temple.  Man, would I love to go to college here.  Us older people had the opportunity to do baptisms for the dead; the design is beautiful and as always the Spirit could be felt.
Snorkeling and scuba diving were most definitely amazing experiences.  Like I've said, it was magnificent catching a glimpse of some exotic sea animal, even if sea urchins crowed the rocks and we had to swim carefully.  But look!  I never thought I was a good swimmer till I swam all the way to that cove in the photo below and back, probably a distance of 1-1.5 miles altogether.  Angel fish, sea turtles, sea stars, unicorn fish, ten dozen creatures I can't name... I've definitely never experienced anything like that. 
  On the last morning, Mom and I decided to get up early and watch the sunrise.  Boy was it worth it.

  One of the days we sailed away on a catamaran.  Maybe it's just because I'm from the desert, but I didn't get over the gorgeousness of the blue seas, the refreshment of the salty breeze, the loveliness of the jungle mountains the entire time.  We snorkeled, fighting over frozen peas to feed swarms of enthusiastic and not-so-shy fish.  I've never seen so many aquatic creatures in my life, but they were all fascinating in their beautiful or just plain bizarre shapes, colors, and habits.

  Another time we took a hike.  Japanese influence embellished the lands before the trail, as did strange types of plants-- lots of gruava trees-- and streams.  Even though we accidentily left our bag of tennis shoes at the hotel and had to hike in flipflops, the air was so pure that it was much more exhilerating than difficult.  Now see, I was smart and wore a swimsuit underneath.  Sure enough we encountered water, and even though my siblings could only stick their feet in, I plunged into the gurgling stream with no regrets.
  Now I must dedicate a photo section to the flowers.  Because they were lovely.

For our first full day of the trip, we got up early, ate some Costco muffins {such a delicious vacation delicacy}, and jammed ourselves in the minivan.  Anyone vacationing to Maui knows that they can't skip out of the Road to Hana, so that's precisely what we spent the day doing.
  People are always singing about how life is "about the journey," and this was a perfect example to make that true.  Although Hana itself was small and simply, it was the drive itself-- looking out the window, listening to Selena Gomez's Star Dance album-- and taking the little stops along the road that made the experience one of the best of the entire trip.
  It started with the city melting into more wilderness.  On one side lay the sapphire sea and on the other the emerald land, which then scrunched up into densely-forested mountains.  We all took medicine beforehand to prevent carsickness {except Rachel, who refuses to swallow pills} because the road was extremely windy and pathetically-railed and often one-lane.  After an hour, hour first stop was a tiny village with a centuries-old church and black volcanic rock strewn with crabs and sea snails.
We kept driving.  On vacation you are always hungry for something exotic, so we stopped at a rustic shack for coconut-pineapple bread, Cuban bananas and dried coconut candy.   The shack filled with hundreds of pictures on every wall of tourists who had stopped by.  The lady was sweet like the treats she sold, even if her kitten jumped up and snatched Eric's bread.
  While driving through another village, all of a sudden one of the kids shouted "Look! A HORSE!" The other kids all got excited, until someone older moaned, "Are you kidding me?  That's a dog."  And as if this wasn't enough, a few hours later Adam gasped, "A bear!  Look!  A bear!"  Olivia chimed in, "Oh my goodness it's a bear!"  All the kids started shouting, despite mom trying to tell them that bears don't live on the island.  They ignored that fact.  Until one of the older people once again pointed out the flaw in their argument:  "Uhhh... That would be a cow."  We didn't let that one go the rest of trip, yelling out "Look!  A herd of bears!" every time we saw some cows.

  One stop we knew would be pretty important was the black sand beach.  One of my first memories was when I was two, picking up a handful of the strange black substance and not being able to get it off my hands {apparently I resorted to sticking it in my mouth, though I don't remember that}.  It was a lovely place-- the sand that sifted between our toes was the product of thousands of years of volcanic rock being dashed to bits by stunningly blue waves.  We hiked around and found a gorgeous view where the water tumbled into the side of the black cliff and exploded in a high spray of blue mist, where distant mountains faded into the background.  The kids couldn't get enough of the water and were delighted at the sight of crabs camouflaged in the rocks.  By chance I even found a huge cavern; though it looked like just a little hole in the side of a hill, when you ducked inside the ceiling rose and the place extended to the water out the other side.
   One of my mom's favorite stops from our last trip was the Seven Sacred Pools, so we crossed our fingers we could visit.  Crossed fingers doesn't work though-- this famous landmark was still victim of the stupid government shutdown.  Ughhhh.  The ironic thing was, despite the fact that almost no one supervises the place when it's open, there were several people being paid to make sure no one got it.  Oh well.  We stopped for a picnic at the side of a little church and also visited the grave of Charles Lindbergh, a man revolutionary in the aviary world.
  Then we saw a little path from a tiny opening in a fence and decided to be adventurous explorers.  We squeezed through and found people cliffjumping.  Jackpot!  I felt like such a wuss having to be lured into jumping, but my brother was jumping from 45 feet with this guy we found out was a trapese artist.  Crazy right?  I did jump 35 feet after a while and it turned out fun and didn't kill me by hitting rocks or something as my brain expected.  The kids did flips and yelled animal noises such as "Cockadoodle-meow!" {???}

We didn't get to the hotel till dark.  The way back seemed longer despite the fact that we didn't take any stops like the way up, but maybe that's just because we were so sad to leave.  But seriously, even though my lame descriptions must have dulled the heck out of the story, it was honestly one of the most fun days my family has ever spent together.

We didn't get a lot of sleep that night.
  First off, trying to get eight people ready for a week-and-a-half long trip kept us up late enough.  But the plane was scheduled to leave at 4:45 AM, which meant we had to get up at 3.  Not as if we minded.
  I love airports.  There is something about the suitcases, the smell of coffee {even if I don't drink it}, the vast types of people scattered through pricey gift shops and exciteable boarding lines.  Maybe it's just nostalgic for me.  Whatever it is, I could hardly contain my excitement, especially when we took our seats aboard the plane and opened up the windows.  With our luggage stored overhead and seatbelts fastened, we listened to the sound of the pilot on the intercom and braced ourselves for the takeoff.   Whoosh!  Our stomachs lurched with that beautiful feeling of leaving ground and then we were soaring.

  Several hours later, the plane touched ground.    When we stepped outside the airport... well, our jaws dropped.  The air was cool with a breeze {if slightly humid} and the world was green.  We certainly weren't in Phoenix anymore.
  Hawaii is as tropical island as any tropical island in the movies-- but better.  Even in the many urban areas, you just get that sense of exotic.  It's jungly with an abundance of thriving trees, lots of coconuts and passion fruits strewn about, and a bouquet of rainbows.  Little fruit stands are scattered along the roads and you get to eat lots of seafood and macadamia nuts.  The water is so blue that it literally looked like someone had photoshopped it, post-card perfect.    
  The resort?  Oh my freaking gosh am I ruined.  It was seriously the most beautiful little hotel in the world, a Westin in Maui to just make you feel tropical and romantic and relaxed and like you never ever want to leave.  I fear I've been too spoiled to ever be able to stay in another hotel again.
  The top two picutres are the views from different sides of the hotel.  We stayed on the tenth floor, so it was gorgeous.  The back of the resort included five pools, a slide, a waterfall, three or four restaurants, venders, a connected mall and whale museum, and not to mention the beach.  Oh, and the flamingos.
When we weren't exploring the hotel, we were enjoying the hotel proudly.  We slept in beyond-comfortable beds, read/tanned next to the pool {we were all arguing over The House of Hades}, ate Hawaiian donuts and tropical smoothies, talked to birds that said "Aloha" when you said "Hello" and "Hello" when you said "Aloha," got tossed by the waves, meandered around the lovely place barefoot.  Etc.  At night I'd sit on the tiny balcony and chat with Bryan till my phone locked.  Oh man the painful irony... We were in Hawaii at the SAME FRIGGEN time but went to Oahu on different legs of our trips!  


People ask me what my favorite vacation has been.  Here's my response to that question:  Are you stupid?  I am absolutely in love with the East Coast, with California, with Colorado, with Escalante, with Peru, with Hawaii.  To have to choose a favorite between so many amazing moments of my life is simply impossible because they were all unique.  I have a passion for travel because setting foot in some place new emerges me in new knowlege, new adventure, new soul.  Hawaii was very  breathtaking though, I will give you that.