After each tax season, which has been two, we have decided to blow off some steam by going on a vacation. Last year we went on a cruise, and we were leaning towards doing that again this year. However, an opportunity came along where we got a chance to go to HAWAII...and of course we took it. We previously went for our honeymoon and always wanted to go back. Vacations for us are all about relaxing, eating, and seeing cool things. The first thing we do when we land in Hawaii is go to the store and load up on fruit, drinks, and other goodies they don't have on the mainland. Camille is so happy to be drinking POG (Passion fruit, orange, guava juice) that she is about to pour the entire jug down her mouth. Never mind she is wearing a dress...we were about to go to church.
One of the things Camille looked forward to the most was seeing the Volcanoes. We drove almost three hours to the southern end of the island. It was a breezy, but nice day. We got to the musuem, watched a video and thought...ok, lets go see some lava. When we came out of the musuem a dense fog had come in, and we couldn't see ten feet in front of us. But, for good times sake, we took a picture of Camille with the Volcano.
The coolest thing we did at the Volcanoes was go to some lava tubes, where lava had once flowed (it was just a long, creepy cave. Adam kept looking up expecting a big boulder to come rolling down...like Indiana Jones. Sadly, no boulders rolled.). On this day, the only thing flowing was Adam's vibe...he is dead sexy.
We went all the way to Hawaii to eat something portugese. Malasadas are pretty much 100% pure goodness...it is a sweetbread roll with sugar all over it (essentially it is doughnut roll). We ate many and had no regrets...at least not until we got home and got on the scales.
Another one of our favorite foods is Scandanavian Ice. It is shaved ice with a bunch of ice cream in the middle. We EACH ordered a medium, but quickly decided to share one when we saw how large they were. Notice the same lustful eyes Adam has in this picture that Camille had for the malasadas...Food lust was a common theme to our vacation.
On one of the days we went up North to see a very cool valley with a hard name to spell (Pololu Valley), so you get "The Cool Valley." It has jagged cliffs and a black sand beach. Camille read a brochure about the valley and it said there was a "warrior" hike that is spectacular. We felt chipper and decided to take said "warrior" hike. In this picture, it is a good thing you cannot see us up close. It was so long, so far, and so so HOT. Adam had sweat through his shirt and looked like he had played basketball for hours. Camille claims to only have sweated a drop or two because she is in that good of shape.
This is the trail for the WARRIORS. Adam gave us each Hawaiian warrior names as we hiked. He was of course Warrior Shark...While Camille was Complains About Long Hikes Shark. Note: Camille was not fond of her hawaiian warrior name.
After our long Warrior hike, we were still extremely sweaty and so tired. We were also famished. Luckily for us, one of the best, if not THE best restaurant on the island was near where we were hiking. It is called the Bamboo. It was an old Hotel that was built in the early 1900's and was converted into an eatery. They serve what they claim to be traditional Hawaiian dishes. Adam claims it to be the best food he has ever eaten. If you look closley you can see that Adam's shirt is still covered in sweat, and this was almost two hours later...He claimed that sweat gets chicks with cool Hawaiian warrior names.
The next day we went to the Wai Pi'o Valley, which was a very short hike and we could spell the name. Because of the short hike, there were no Hawaiian warrior names to be had (and Adam didn't have to sweat). It was absolutley gorgeous!!
After we visited and hiked around the valleys we decided to look for some civilization. We went to the "City of Refuge." It was not only a very beautiful place, but also had a lot of history. Camille was trying to get some directions from some of the locals, but it was like talking to a wall...
It was so pretty there, we decided to get a good picture of us for our next Christmas card. However, we decided that we looked stiff as boards.
We walked around the City of Refuge, which is a sacred area for the Hawaiians. So, we weren't really allowed to go to certain places...but it was a very neat place, and even more exciting for us was that someone volunteered to take our picture (we find all our pictures are never of the two of us.)
Camille's absolute favorite thing (besides the foggy Volcanoes) was the turtles. We saw tons of them and got within one foot of them. Adam called this guy "Turd," which was short for Turtle. However, Camille said that he probably wouldn't prefer that name.
Of course, we also had to go swim with all the Turds...Turtles. Camille looks very focused and uncomfortable...She is so ready to swim with Turds.
Because we live in Wyoming, we both decided that every night we would attempt to eat something with seafood in it. Adam even got courageous and had some raw ahi that was slightly seared. He said it tasted ok, but prefered the Macadamian Nut crusted mahi mahi...heaven!!
Camille avoided the raw fish and decided her bold step into the unknown would be purple mashed potatoes...however, upon arrival she failed to eat any.
Of course, our favorite part of the entire trip was THE BEACH!! We went boogie boarding mainly. Adam would sit out in the water for almost 3-4 hours at a time. Camille liked to lay out a bit more, but we just loved it. Adam loved boogie boarding so much, that he decided to show off some leg and flex his bulging biceps. He swore he saw a few women faint at the sight.
We took a ton more pictures...about 300 to be precise. So, we may put some more up, but we had such a fun trip...upon our return to Wyoming, and within hours of driving into our driveway, Adam's tan flaked off and his true white-self emerged. He cried a little...both about losing the tan, but more about having to go back to work....Maholo and Aloha!! 