Entry tags:

travel, wedding

The Honeymooners
We're back. Hawaii was an amazing experience and I had a great time (although two weeks is a long time to be away from home). Some of the highlights:

• We spent a week on Maui in the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel where we were visited every night by the cookie fairy. We played Scrabble, lazed on the beach, and drank IPA from a can. We also were adopted by a one-legged pigeon who spent two nonconsecutive nights on our balcony.
• On Maui, we had a couple of ambitious days. We drove to the top of Haleakala and enjoyed a hike at 10,000 feet. We visited the Maui Ocean Center in lieu of a snorkling trip and played with the sharks. We hiked out to the northernmost point on the island to see the Nakalele Blowhole.
• We then flew to Hilo for two nights so that we could learn about tsunamis and see an active volcano. We hiked through the Kiluaea Iki crater where the lava from a 1959 eruption was still warm. We walked on a lot of lava flows. We walked through the Thurston Lava Tube. And we saw lava exploding as it dripped into the Pacific Ocean.
• Finally, we spent the last few nights in the super-ritzy Waikoloa resort in a very nice condo located near some gorgeous beaches. We went swimming in the ocean. We saw archeological artifacts. We enjoyed beautful sunsets. We were adopted by (and subsequently had to free) a baby gecko.

Needless to say, it was a ton of fun. It feels kinda weird to be home, though, since the house is pretty much exactly as we left it after the wedding so it feels like the wedding just happened. We're diving right back into "real life" by heading back to work tomorrow and making weekend plans...and so it begins.  :-)