Home safely

After a two hour delay in Maui we are home safely in Chicago - land of the thunderstorms and cold weather :)

Maui days 4 and 5

How lucky we were to end this remarkable trip in Maui. We are at the airport now to catch our flight back to Chicago (apparently it's finally warm there now) and send off one last blog post before we leave.

We had a relaxed morning yesterday, getting up, finding a great, cheap bagel and schmear (Simon), and watching the U.S. Men's National Team beat the Netherlands in soccer. Then, our day really took off as we headed back to Lahaina town for our surf lesson with Josh at the Royal Hawaiian Surf Academy. 

As Erika puts it, we didn't just have a surf lesson, but we actually learned to surf. We were both pretty apprehensive before the lesson and made it our modest goals to catch one wave before the morning was up. After some excellent and concise tutelage on the sand, we both trudged and then paddled into the water and caught (and stood up on) our first waves! Our instructor made it easy, explaining how to carefully navigate between lying down and standing on the board. We even both moved past the beginner waves and headed for deeper water and larger waves as the two (but actually three) hour lesson went on. Overall, we were able to stand up on about 2/3 of the waves we tried, which we didn't expect, but really enjoyed!

After the long surf session we drove back to our hotel, got some lunch, and then hit the beach for the afternoon. We spent time under the sun, in the ocean, and also in the pool.

In the early evening we went down to the Royal Lahaina Luau on the resort grounds and loved it. The food was excellent (that pork, though!), the drinks were great and the performance was even better than we thought. The dancing was excellent and the fire spinning was very impressive. The show lasted for several hours and then we spent time walking around the resort for the last time. 

This morning we got up and I watched the Champions League Final (woo Barcelona!) while Erika admirably went to a one on one cardio barre training session. Then, we packed up, checked out, spent a bit more time on the beach, and headed to a final lunch in, and then walked around, Lahaina Town. 

We had a tremendous trip. Thank you to all of our friends and family for their generous donations and support, which made our honeymoon possible! We love you all and can't wait to share our fun experiences with you.

-Erika and Simon

Maui Days 2 and 3

Yesterday afternoon we headed in to Lahaina Town after getting back from our snorkeling trip. We drove the four miles down, parked, and then walked around the old port district for an hour and a half.

We went back to the hotel for a Pilates class for Erika, and a run for me. Then we went back into Lahaina for a great seaside dinner at Lahaina Fish Co.

This morning we got up early and drove two hours to Haleakala National Park. The last forty minutes was almost completely uphill. After we entered the park we continued up from 7,200 to 9,800 feet to the Haleakala Crater visitor's center. First, we went up to the summit at 10,027 feet and got amazing views all the way to Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the big island. 

 

Then we went back down the visitor's center and to the Shifting Sands trail head. From there we went down 1,400 feet into the Haleakala Crater over 2.5 miles. The landscape was like nothing that we had ever seen. It was the closest we would get to walking on Mars, and it was closer to the Grand Canyon than anything else we had seen in Hawaii. 

Finally, we took more time climbing the 2.5 miles and 1,400 feet out of the canyon and afterwards, exhausted, started the long drive back to Lahaina.

Now we are back at the hotel getting some yoga and walking in (as if I didn't get enough) before dinner. 

Maui Day 1

The Yesterday morning Erika and I got up early and drove to the airport for our quick flight to Maui. We met several Ironman competitors at the airport and talked to one of them before getting in the flight. After we landed, we picked up our car and then drove to the sunny, west side of the island to Lahaina. 

Acter checking in we changed and immediately headed for the beach. We got a beachfront lunch and then dropped out bags, and ourselves, on a couple of beach chairs for a restful afternoon of reading, jumping waves, and enjoying the pool. 

In the late afternoon we had our photo session with the resort's photographer and then walked all the way around the property. For dinner we hit the Royal Ocean Terrace and got prime seats outside to watch the sunset. We had our favorite Mai Tais of the trip and delicious dinners. Righty before the sunset, we also got an impromptu, mini Luau on the terrace steps. 

Afterwards we played a few rounds of bocce and shuffleboard, had some excellent ice cream for dessert at the tesort's ice cream parlor, and walked further around the hotel, enjoying stars on a perfectly clear night. From our balcony we had a stunning view of the ocean to our right, and the West Maui Mountains, with the moon overhead, to our left. 

We got up early this morning to drive to Lihei, on the south of Maui, for our snorkeling trip with Redline Rafting. Our first stop on the boat was the Molokini island crater. The reef around the crater was beautiful - the most vivid ocean colors either of us had ever seen - and we saw a shark, an octopus, and countless colorful fish and coral formations. We circled to the back of the island and saw another shark and also an eel. 

At our next stop we were met by a pod of dolphins who, surprisingly, swam right up to us in the water and the stayed around our boat for some time. 

Finally, we headed closer to shore and found an amazing spot where we snorkels with and over five large sea turtles. The turtles, too, were not shy about coming up next to our small group, and they regularly popped up for air between us. It was a tremendous experience, and the crew, Seth and Kelly, were hilarious and really knowledgeable. 

Now we are back at our hotel to shower off before heading in to Lahaina town. Check back soon.   

Big Island - Days 2 and 3!

Yesterday Erika and I headed up the coast of the Big Island, north to Pololu Point. After a long and winding drive over lava flows, through narrow, one-way bridges, past a port, and into a surprisingly lush jungle we got to our destination - the head of the trail. From there we descended down a mile long hike down to the remarkable black sand beach. We walked around the sand and took great photos and video before beginning the long hike back up to the trailhead where we parked. We emerged sweaty but triumphant. 

After that we drove back to our hotel in Kona, stopping at a rather uninspiring lunch spot (our first miss of the trip). There, we quickly changed into long pants and long sleeve shirts and then drove to meet our guide and group for our Mauna Kea Summit and Stars tour. 

Our guide, Brett, introduced himself and answered all of our questions about volcanoes and lava flows as we drove to pick up other more, ahem, needy guests. Then we turned up the center of the island and began our ascent up Mauna Kea. We stopped at an old sheep-herding compound to enjoy a really delicious dinner and some hot tea, and also to get used to the altitude - at that point 6,000 feet. 

After dinner and acclimation we donned our parkas, turned on the four wheel drive, and climbed to the visitors' center at 9,000 feet. We didn't stop there, though, traversing a treacherous, steep, unpaved road that would challenge even the Ford Fiesta. 

We got up to the summit and saw the world class telescopes at nearly 14,000 feet about twenty five minutes before sunset and walked around the summit (freezing our faces off) until seeing a truly spectacular sunset above the clouds. 

Being up there was amazing. All we could see around us were he telescopes on Mauna Kea, the thick clouds below us, and the peak of Mauna Loa (a bigger but shorter volcano) in the distance. 

After getting our fill of the heights and the sunset we descended to 12,000 feet where our guide, Brett, parked the car, set up his powerful telescope, and handed out very necessary hot chocolate and brownies for dessert. We warned our throats and stomachs before he taught us about celestial navigation. He pointed out the North Star, Polaris, and then showed us the Line of Ecliptic. We saw the Big and Little Dippers, Gemini, the Southern Cross, Alpha and Beta Centauri, and many other stars and star systems. 

Then, the real fun began: Brett trained his telescope on Venus and we got great views of Venus in its half phase. Then he turned the scope to Jupiter and we saw, for the very first time, Jupiter. Not just as a blur, but with its stripes and four of its moons, the Gallileo moons, arranged in a perfect line diagonally across and beside the massive planet. After geeking out about Jupiter and taking a second and third turn at the telescope Brett trained the scope on Saturn, the same sight that made me so excited about astronomy several years ago, and we were able to see the ringed planet in all of its glory, of course with its rings. Finally, we got a great up close view of the craters and surface of the moon. Then we descended down the mountain, dropped off our, ahem, needy guests, and headed back home at 11:30pm. 

After a late night we got an early start today, heading to Hilo on the opposite side of the island. On the way we stopped at Akaka and Rainbow Falls. Akaka Falls turned out to be a remarkable patch of rainforest. We arrived as it opened, headed down the beautiful treehouse-esque path, and took in the grandeur of the falls. 

We then stopped at Rainbow Falls before unfortunately finding out our helicopter  volcano safari was cancelled because of the weather. Undeterred, we drove up to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. 

We plotted our course at the visitor center and started by seeing the steam vents and also getting up close to the active Kilauea Caldera and Crater, which has been erupting continuously since 1983. The steam was powerful and the caldera was massive, and the combination of both took our breath away. 

Next, we continued to the Jaggar Museum and its lookout point, getting great views into the active crater itself. 

After stopping for a quick lunch, we visited and hiked down the Thurston Lava Tube, created when lava flowed over itself out of an eruption of Mauna Loa over 500 years ago. 

Then we drove down past several awesome lava flows from the 1950s through 1970s, all from Mauna Loa and all leaving a wide trail of destruction and, later, rebirth in their wake. The closer we got to the coast the wider the destruction fields seemed to be. 

We finally got down to the lava arch, created over years of erosion as waves have battered lava flows that reached and cooled in the ocean. 

We climbed back through the sulphuric and rain cloud mix back to the Jaggar Museum before finally leaving the park and beginning the long drive back to our hotel. Finally, we concluded the night with another pizza tasting at Kona Brewing Company. Again, our choices were on the mark - the pizza was superb.