Turns out, I love Hawaii. While there are a lot of beautiful places, Hawaii is a different kind of beauty, one that's almost transcendent. I imagine Alaska as being the "forest-y" equivalent to Hawaii's "tropical" beauty, not properly describable in petty words. The vibe there is unlike anywhere else I've ever been. It's basically a different world if you're used to the bustle-and-flow of daily life in the continental forty-eight.
The first time we went there, we didn't do a whole lot, because we mainly just wanted to take it all in and spend a lot of time on the beach. We under-utilized our rental car and had a lot of down-time we could have better passed. The trip was further marred a bit by an irritation on my thighs, a puking incident while snorkeling Black Rock, and a hellishly long final day waiting for our plane flight home. However, none of this was much of a deterrent. I still want to go back.
I'm hoping we can return in March 2011, during humpback whale season. One of the few things I really want to do in life is see the whales in Hawaii. I also want to see the volcanoes on the Big Island, but I think overall, there's more of an interest to go back to Maui and do some of the things we skipped on the first time: going to the Old Lahaina Luau, riding bikes down the Haleakala volcano, and of course going to whale-watch. I also want to go snorkeling at Molokini crater, but I don't think Jess will go for snorkeling again, given the experience last time.
We'll see if this trip actually comes to fruition. There are other places we have in mind for vacation, and Maui is really expensive. The hotel/airfare is not too much worse price-wise than a lot of other luxury-type vacations, but once you're on an island, everything else costs A LOT -- particularly if you're going to do any organized outdoor pursuits.
I leave you with some particularly beautiful shots of Maui:
Kaanapali Beach
Haleakala:
Molokini crater:
