The end of Sept.-beginning part of October, Josh and I took a enjoyable vacation with our great friends Bryan and Brooke. The four of us went to Maui and Kona, HI for a week. For us, it was a trip to celebrate Josh finishing residency and for them, it was in celebration of their 10 yr Anniversary.We all had a great time, even with both Brooke and I being in the first trimester of our pregnancies. The guys were pretty understanding with our tiredness and limitations. We will just have to come back to do the things we couldn't do. We shared some great times in paradise.
We enjoyed a sunset sail around Molikini Island.
The sun setting behind Molikini was beautiful.
The start of "Road to Hana" experience. We witnessed a beautiful sunrise on the North Shore of Maui. The waves were amazing.
We spent a while just watching surfers ride these big waves.
On our way, we drove through a forest of trees that had rainbow colored trunks.
We took a little hike to a black sand beach and admired the sink holes in the lava rock on the coast of the north shore.
Josh got a surprise when the tide came in. :)
Soaked, but feeling refreshed.
One of the neatest parts of our 2 mile hike up to the big waterfall was the amazing bamboo forest.
We finally made it to the waterfall!
Beautiful and worth the effort it took to get here.
We spent a day of just enjoying the beach. Tthe guys liked body surfing. We also did a lot of snorkeling and kayaking.
A night in Lahina to shop and go to a luau.
Our last night on Maui, so we ended it with a fun luau.
Enjoying our lava flows and all the other virgin drinks we could drink at the Luau.
Sunsets are just spectacular here.
The coi that could be found in the ponds around our hotel.
We arrived in Kona and even with the surprising scenery, the sunsets were still spectacular. We enjoyed this one from our hotel.
Walking to breakfast one morning, we met a friend on the railing.
The hotel we stayed at, was known for the sea turtles that reside at its beaches. They were neat. They were everywhere ... in and out of the water.
This is some of what you saw when driving in Kona. Just a tad different from your paradise image. Although, it was beautiful in different ways.
We found a beach with great waves for the guys to enjoy.
Can you say .... Lobster!
The biggest thing we did on Kona was take a helicopter ride to see the volcanoes.
From a distance ...
getting closer ...
now looking right beneath us into the active volcano. Lava was spurting in spots and glowing red. Amazing!!
One of many skylights that could be seen on the floor. It was amazing to see the lava flowing inside these holes.
Getting a look at a new entry of lava flow into the ocean that had just started a few months prior.
The coastline.
Another skylight with visible lava flowing inside.
We had a wonderful time in the air!
We stopped to see another waterfall on our drive back to Kona.
More of our turtle friends that we swam with at the beach of our hotel.
The lava rock and dried lava beds were just amazing to see while driving. The paths of the flow could clearly be seen down to the ocean.
our last stop on our way to the airport ... The Kona Temple. With the rain clouds closing in and the sun going down, we caught a beautiful pic of this magnificent building. What a way to end our wonderful trip. We all had a great time in HI. Now we were looking forward to getting back to our little ones. :)
