Really long Hawaii Post

So, here we are two days into our trip when we finally remembered to pull the camera out. We didn't take too many pictures because most of the time we didn't bring the camera. And, really it was difficult and frustrating to try and capture the beauty and vivid colors of Maui. It was the best trip!! Maui is so peaceful, or did it just seem that way without the kids? Whatever, it worked! I feel refreshed and renewed. A couple of surprises about Hawaii. Where was the fruit? I thought we would be eating plates of exotic fruit every meal. No. One time at a breakfast buffet I found some decent pineapple, but nothing exceptional. Weird! Also, not crowded at all. Most of the beaches we went to there were only a handful of people, and sometimes we were alone. Fabulous. Also, very windy. I know this should not have been a surprise, but it was really windy! Except for the day we rented our own little sailboat, a hobiecat. No wind. Thats life I guess. It was really nice actually, just awesome hanging out on the boat together as we slowly drifted by some sea turtles.

Jeremy's favorite thing of the week. Snorkeling is his true calling in life I think. We went every day, and it was amazing! This was a big crater reef thing we took a sail boat trip out to. It was really a highlight, especially the trip back with the winds, we were soaked and loving it.

Thanks to our excellent guide book, we hiked out to some remote beaches.

And, here is where the fun began. We hiked up to this waterfall over these big boulders. Our guidebook said we might have a chance of being alone up here since it was one of the lesser known waterfalls. He was right, and I think we found out why. It was so beautiful hiking up there, and we were so excited to do some swimming in the pool below the waterfall. As soon as we got up there, the exact moment we arrived we heard this loud cracking noise. Then it sounded like an earthquake. It was so confusing and scary and then the rocks started to fall. You can see there are rock walls on both sides of the waterfall. Huge rocks started to come down. Thanks to my earthquake training in Cali I dove under a large boulder and tried to protect my head. Jeremy was stuck out in the open and tried to cover his head. Rocks were falling all around us, and it seemed to go on forver. The scariest part was not knowing how long it was going to last or how much of the rock wall was going to come down. You know those falling rock signs on the roads you see sometimes? Yeah, I guess they actually mean something. It was completely terrifying and really a miracle that neither of us got hit. As soon as it stopped showering rocks we moved as fast as we could out. Halfway back another rock slide started and we tried to duck again. I really didn't think we were going to make it out. So, here we are to tell the tale. We were so in shock we kind of just had to sit in the car for awhile. We abondoned the rest of our plans for the day and just went back to the beach by our hotel, with lots of open space and no rock walls.

This is a picture or our hotel. It was right on the beach. We usually went to other beaches during the day, but would always come back here at night and walk around. We did do some good bodysurfing on this beach one afternoon though.

We ate at a lot of great restaurants thanks to lots of research before out trip. We always forgot to bring the camera. We had it this time when we stopped for a little refreshment. You know, it is important to try and stay hydrated.