Maui and the Big Island

The bottom of Seven Sacred Pools waterfalls and hike on Maui.


The freshwater runs into the ocean here.

On the hike with Jay and Sara. Such fun hanging out with old friends. Later on, Jay took spme pics from here of Neil and I sitting at the top of the waterfall in the background!

This is one of those pics; we are the tiiiinnnyy people sitting on the rock; some dumb kids came up to look over the edge (and ruin our picture; AND totally freak me out that they might fall). They're the ones standing.






The reward at the end of the hike -- the start of the falls!!!!

Everyone needs a sexy pose under a waterfall. Or at least Neil does.

Throwing my PhotoPoly shaka.

We camped with Jay and Sara, and these are pics they took with their camera at night.

Their big truck and tent on the left, our tent and glaring rental on the right. They swung a nightlight around for the effect here. Pretty sweet!

OK, this kid was a BABY -- he couldn't talk, and the lady (his tutu?) fed him from a bottle and burped him, but CHECK HIS HAIR!!!! Whaaat? Even a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant walking by stopped to coo over him and said, in true Pidgin, "He get plenny hair, yeah?!"

Waikiki, on our way to the Big Island.

On the Big Island of Hawaii, steam vents on the volcano.

I thought the volcano would be like this definite peak, with lava shooting out, but it's really such a huge island and such a gradual slope, there is no "peak" sticking up. It's more like a vast, desolate wasteland of lava field, with craters.

OK, seriously, next post -- hot lava. I just loaded those pics from the other camera, so I will post those next time.



OK, OK, sneak preview:

Cold lava.

Getting warmer.

Getting hot.

Eruptions to come in the next post!

Oahu and some of Maui

When we got to Oahu, we headed up to the North Shore. We stopped for some ono grinds along the way. You know that truck across from 7-11 on Kam Highway in Kaneohe?

The poke was delish. You can't get fish like that in BA.

The next day, we walked along the beach, starting at Hukilau and coming out by Gunstock Ranch. Here I am nostalgically looking at my old house on the Point. Ladies of the Quiet House, do you feel me?!

We saw this turtle along the way. Then we saw how jacked up his eyes were and realized that I think he was dead.Speaking of yum, we had to go to Matsumoto's in Haleiwa! (Sorry, awkward segue.)

We stayed with my family (Aunt, Uncle, cousin's fam) in Laie. We had a great time with them, as always. Ambrose just wants to help remodel the house! Notice the latch way up high on the door :(
That's OK, he honed his photography skills instead with some portrait sittings.
We went to Sunset Beach for -- you guessed it:

And the West Side of Oahu, which Neil observed looks less like "Hawaii" and more like his home state of Arizona.
We spent an afternoon at my all-time favorite beach, Yokohama Beach.
And went into town to visit the Bishop Museum. This is Duke Kahanamoku's favorite board. Don't worry, I wasn't ACTUALLY touching it.

Once Samoa was out of the question, off we went to Maui.
We hiked through bamboo forests.


And stopped at scenic lookouts on the Road to Hana.

This pic cracks me up: His pained smile and our hair -- same style but mine is going down (for once) and his is going straight up like a bundt cake of hair.

We went to a black sand beach, one of my favorite sights on the trip.
Who are these people? I don't know.


I do know this guy.




We walked in a seaside lava tube.
Tomorrow (or when I get around to it): Seven Sacred Pools in Maui and lava on the Big Island.

I've Missed You

Kipahulu, Maui

It's been awhile!

My parents came to Buenos Aires to visit us three days after we got back from our vacation in Hawaii, so it's been a busy month.

We had a great time on vacation. As you may have guessed, we didn't end up going to Samoa as planned. We stayed in the Hawaiian Islands for the whole time, but we just changed our plans a bit and ended up hitting Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii in addition to Oahu. Neither of us had ever been to Maui or the Big Island, so it was pretty cool.

On Maui, we met up with an old college friend and coworker of mine and his wife, and spent a few days with them and on our own hiking, camping and touring around. Neil and I drove the Road to Hana -- 52 miles of hairpin turns crossing over as many one-lane bridges -- which, although not for the faint of heart or easily carsick, was extremely beautiful and worth doing (once).

On the Big Island, we went to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, hiked around, went through an underground lava tube, and at night, we hiked through a lava field where we could see lava glowing at the surface in the distance, and watched the volcano pouring red-hot lava into the ocean -- amazing!!!!

Oahu was of course so much fun because I lived there for a couple years and knew my way around and all the places I wanted to visit and where I wanted to eat. We hung out with my family most of the time and saw old friends, too.

When we got back to BA, having my parents come visit was so nice and we had a great time just relaxing, enjoying the city and each other's company.

Pictures to come!