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.