Laie Falls and Pearl Harbor

We've been having another fun-filled week here in paradise! Matt and I went hiking one morning to Laie Falls, one of the hikes that everyone over here seems to have done. We just had to do it! My sister told us it was only 3 miles round trip, we're pretty sure it was 3 miles each way . . . but either way, we loved it. Most of our hikes together have been Utah, National Park, deserty, pine foresty hikes. This whole jungle thing is all new to me (Matt's been hiking through the Amazon so it's no big for him) but I was getting excited about every little thing! The misty air, the fresh breeze cutting through the humidity, green green green everywhere you turn, the giant dripping leaves, and wild orchids?? Growing in nature?? Amazing.

Dad, Becca, Stephen, Matt, and I also made it out to Pearl Harbor. Finally! First we went through one of the submarines, the USS Bowfin. All I have to say about that is those guys were champs for squeezing so many guys into that little space and actually being able to run the submarine effectively. Then we went out to the location of the USS Arizona. Did you know Pearl Harbor is a national park? I love those national park people. They have done such a wonderful job with the memorial there. I mean, the memorial itself is beautiful, but they also have you watch a movie before you take the ferry out to the site. It contains a lot of actual footage and photographs, and it's pretty sobering to watch that and then go straight out to the ferry and into the harbor. I had forgotten a lot of the history so it was nice to have an overview. Matt and I will be going back next week to see the USS Missouri and go through another one of the museums.

Dole Plantation

My parents have had their van for years. A giant, 15-seater Ford that has seen all fifty states and most of the Canadian provinces. It's also the van I drove quite a bit in high school. It's huge and getting more rattly by the day. But it works great, most of the time, and it's a welcome alternative to the bus! We're so grateful to them for letting us take it on our outings, even though I get a little nervous driving it sometimes . . .

Today we went out to the Dole Plantation! It's a mega tourist-y destination, so much so that most of the locals haven't even been there, but we actually had a lot of fun.

Rode the Pineapple Express and learned some interesting facts.
Did you know it takes like 3 years for pineapple to grow and ripen?

Finally got to see how pineapples grow! They come up right in the middle of these spiky plants.

And my personal favorite, the pineapple ice cream. Yum!

Ps--I'm not quite sure how I managed to end up in every single picture today . . . I'll be sure to get plenty of Matt in the next post :)

Underwater Adventures

Matt's parents were kind enough to let us borrow their GoPro camera for the trip so we've had fun taking underwater pictures and movies! Here are a couple gems from our adventures at Waimea Bay and Goat Island. 

Here is a close up of the eel we saw on Goat Island.

A view from above. We're pretty sure it was a Moray Eel.

A movie of one of the turtles we saw while we were snorkeling at Waimea. Short but sweet!

I'm pretty much in love with sea turtles these days.

Is there such a thing as too much sun?

Most days here have had cloudy moments, usually some rain, but we have had two gloriously sunny beach days in a row this week. I have a red back and shoulders to prove it! Yesterday we spent the day at Waimea Bay. Our first day there was fun, but the water was a bit cloudy. This time, though, the water was clearer than any water we've been in so far. We were out pretty deep and you could see the bottom perfectly. It was hot, the water felt perfect, we snorkeled for almost an hour and saw so many amazing fish. We even got to swim with a sea turtle!

I borrowed this picture from a travel website, but it seriously looks like this!

Today we walked out to Goat Island during low tide. The walk out there was pretty tricky--lots of uneven coral, slippery rocks, and strong currents--but it was worth it! Poking around in the coral we found some cool shells, saw crabs, lots of little fish, even an EEL.

All ready for our walk out to the island



This is how we're tanning these days...

Crouching Lion

We went on the craziest hike today! After a few failed attempts at finding a trail head, we found ourselves looking up at a trail that literally went straight up the mountain. It was funny, as we were standing there looking at it a couple of people came by to give us their input. First was a woman who tried to convince us not to do it and gave us a couple of alternate hikes that were "so much better." She seemed pretty worried about us. Then an old guy introduced himself and after about 30 seconds of small talk asked if we had made our last will and testament. It was a rather ominous introduction to our hike, but we decided to be brave. And we made it! The trail up was insane, but random old guy was watching us the whole time. Creepy, but comforting in a way. It was definitely more of a climb and he'd be able to call 911 quicker than we would. Plus he looked like Santa, which made me feel better. We felt like real adventurers and I kind of loved it. The view from the top was amazing!


This is halfway up the trail.
No switchbacks here, my friends.
STRAIGHT UP THE MOUNTAIN!

 

Hawaii Part 1

We're here! After months and months of waiting (7 to be exact) we are in Hawaii to spend the next 4 weeks with my family. They moved here last summer when my dad was hired as an accounting professor at BYU Hawaii. They love it here, but we haven't seen most of them since the move. It was about time!

The trip over was so long. We dealt with a cancelled flight, being rejected on standby, and at one point Matt and I were going to have to take seperate flights from San Francisco to Honolulu, but it all worked out and we made it one piece. I won't bore you all with too many words, but I'll be posting a few pictures just to make you all jealous :) This place is paradise!

On our 7th hour in the San Francisco airport . . .

Together again! (Missing Johnny and Michael on their missions)

Hiking Haulla Loop



"Sponging" at Hukilau Beach






Waiting for the canoe parade at the PCC

Rowing our boat

Our awesome tats...they washed off in the rain about five minutes
after this picture was taken.

Lanikai Beach

Shave ice at Matsumotos--the standard that all other shave ices are
measured against. Pretty darn good!

Garlic shrimp at Giovanni's. We'll be tasting garlic for days.

Amazing Banyan forest. There are about 14 trees here, all connected.

Haleiwa Harbor

Haleiwa Canal

Me jumping off Waimea Rock. Terrifying.

Matt and Stephen jumping.

We hiked to the western tip of the island--Kaena Point

Almost to Kaena Point!



More to come!

Mesa Verde



Can you tell I was excited?



So I finished teaching on Friday May 25th. Where were Matt and I by 3 pm that afternoon? On the road to Mesa Verde of course! We decided to squeeze in this trip before Hawaii and it was so worth it. The drive is pretty long, about 6 hrs, but it went by faster than I expected. We went straight to the campground when we arrived on Friday night, but Saturday morning we were up with the sun (after a looong, windy night) and ready to see some cliff dwellings. By Sunday afternoon we had seen pretty much all there was to see--cliff dwellings, hikes, various sites and ruins, lots of deer and wild turkey--and had treated ourselves to an amazing dinner at the lodge. We highly recommend this trip, especially for those of you with little kiddos in tow. The ranger's presentations were actually entertaining, the cliff dwellings are amazing, and the trails were very well kept. We give this place a two thumbs up.                                                                                                               



This is Cliff Palace. They estimate that about 100 people lived here, and they think it also served as a gathering place for residents of the other communities.



These next few pictures were taken at Balcony House. This place was one of our favorites!

We liked crawling through the tunnels . . .

Seeing all the "kivas". . .

And climbing ladders!



Matt at Long House.



Hoorah for camping trips and national parks!