"gee, it really does look like hawaii here."

anyone who has traveled with me (and many people who haven't) can attest to the fact that i get a little camera happy sometimes. hawaii was no exception. i managed to convince myself that 2 cameras and 4 memory cards was enough, so that's all i took, but i kinda wish i had taken a holga (or 2...). i guess my 2 cameras were probably enough since i took about a thousand pictures (and that's after i deleted the bad ones and the repeats!). i'm not about to post them all here, that's just ridiculous, but i am going to share a few more of my favorites because, well, because i want to. i do what i want...

"as you can see, it's a beautiful day, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time"

okay, where did we leave off? oh, yeah, i remember.
so thursday, dad and i got up really early and went snorkeling at hanauma bay. it was pretty epic. i saw a sea turtle, an octopus (which changed colors when it moved. freaky), and a whole bunch of fish i couldn't begin to name.

i know i look awful, but gimme a break, i just got out of the water.

after a shower and some itch cream (my new best friend, since this little chain of events) we drove down the coast a bit and saw the blowhole and some other stuff not far from the bay.

 

it's like old faithful, only not as faithful or as big or a geyser. so i guess it's really not like old faithful at all...

don't judge me, i'm on vacation

this is max. he's a sea turtle. just in case you didn't notice that on your own.

after some time at the track we went shopping at the international marketplace which has this huge banyan tree growing right in the middle of it. someone told me it was illegal for them to cut it down so they just let it grow. 

the shopping is good too. it's just a bunch of vendors who like to haggle. little do they know, i do too. 

friday we drove around the island. first we went to the dole pineapple plantation where i discovered that pineapples grow on bushes, not trees.

then we went up toward the north shore and stopped at shark cove. i didn't see any sharks, but i did see these little guys

and decided i would live here

i was hoping to get some pics of the banzai pipeline, but the waves were lame, so we stopped by the temple instead.

view of the temple

view from the temple

i was looking for a big conclusion to my trip and i found it across the street from my hotel. turns out, the hilton does a fireworks show every friday night. nice. fireworks in paradise? check. done and done.

we left really early on saturday and i was NOT happy about it, but the honolulu airport is the coolest airport i've ever been in. and i've been in a lot of airpoirts, so that's saying something. ever seen something like this in your airport?

i didn't think so.

i want to go back. maybe forever.

"you guys drop out and be illiterate. i'm going to hawaii and be tan."

didn't work. i'm not tan. but it's not hawaii's fault, i'm just pasty white. probably always will be. contrary to my last post, hawaii wasn't all bad. actually, it was pretty great. here is the reader's digest version of the trip. actually it's more like the dick and jane version since it includes pictures. is there some variety of book with both substance and pictures? if you find one, please let me know, just for future reference.

okay, on monday we drove up the pali. the pali is this sweet lookout point where you can see for miles and take some great pictures. like this:

 

i vaguely remember hearing/reading something about king kameha-something pushing a bunch of people off a cliff too. seriously. google it.

as previously mentioned we spent the rest of the day at the pcc. i could have pent like three days there. i'm just sayin'. 

"one of these things is not like the others..."

 

booger calls this the jackson five tiki set

and the "ha:breath of life" show is AMAZING!!! here's a little taste of what i mean:

tuesday i hiked diamondhead with dad. diamondhead is a volcanic crater and the hike isn't actually all that long, but it does include 203 steps worth of really steep staircase. the views are quite rewarding though, even if you have to crawl through a bunker to see them

wednesday we went snorkeling near the hotel (no pictures because i'm wearing a bathing suit and i just don't think you need to see that) then spent a bug chunk of the day watching my brother win the decathlon at the wac championship track meet. yay boogs!!

that's the face of a champion right there

 to be continued...
(surprised? yeah, me too. i didn't know i was gonna write 2 volumes either. bear with me though, there's a lot of good stuff to come)
p.s. if you can name the movie i quoted in the post title i will give you a prize. i don't know what yet, but it will be awesome. cross my heart.

if it wasn't for bad luck, i wouldn't have any luck at all

remember that little bad luck streak i mentioned? well, it wasn't little. story of my life. we landed in hawaii on sunday and things were going great until i took my shoes off and found that my brand new pedicure was ruined. waste of time and money. boo! i woke up monday morning all sorts of itchy. i ignored the itch and went about my day, had a fabulous time at the polynesian cultural center where i decided to marry this guy:

but i digress. got up tuesday morning and hiked diamondhead

spent some time at the booger's track meet

went back to the hotel itching something awful and discovered that i had developed a lovely case of hives! if that wasn't bad enough, i lost my waterbottle and got a sunburn on wednesday. oh, and it's not over yet. dad and i went snorkeling again on thursday and i cut my foot on some coral

i know it doesn't look bad, and it really wasn't. until it got infected. then it was BAD! it was a good thing i was on a beautiful tropical island

because i couldn't fit my foot into regular shoes. i went to bed thursday night feeling gross. woke up friday morning feeling grosser. i had a migraine and relief was no where in sight. i didn't even go surfing. sad day. saturday wasn't great either. i had to get up at the buttcrack of dawn to catch a flight back to the mainland. then our flight was delayed by the stupid tsa people and we were late arriving in seattle. this wouldn't have been such a big deal except that we landed right about the time our connecting was meant to leave. someone should have thought that through a little better. we managed to make the flight (no doubt due to someone else's luck and NOT mine).

in case you were wondering, the hives are gone, my sunburn has healed and my foot is back to it's normal shape and size. let's hope it stays that way :)

Ua Mau ke Ea o ka 'Āina i ka Pono

hawaii was AWESOME!!! as if there was any doubt. aside from the fact that traveling with my parents is not always my favorite thing, and in spite of my streak of bad luck, i had a great time. i want to go back. like, tomorrow. don't be surprised when you read that i have moved.

don't they look excited?

that's more like it!

sitting outside the car rental place and i see this building which has been painted to simulate the view you they are blocking. genius.

speedo spotting first day at the beach

sneak attack pic of the sweetest set of mohawks i've ever seen

this is my "what have i gotten myself into face"

oh yeah. this is happening. totally unplanned.

expect more details (and pictures) in following posts. i am too tired to write anymore tonight. okay, one more:

aloha-oe

i don't know how closely y'all look at this little blog of mine, but i added a countdown widget a while back. a countdown to what? to my vacation in HAWAII!!! that's right. my first really real honest to goodness vacation. the kind you have to plan more than a week in advance and take time off work for and bring back souvenirs from and all that stuff. i'm pretty stinkin' excited. especially since the numbers on that little countdown widget are getting really small. really, really small even.
it's okay to be jealous. i would be if i was you.