Hawaii 2009

Whale watching on the Gemini

Rainbow

Mama and Baby Whale

Playin in the sand

Biking down the mountain

Those helmets are heavy. Can you see the sugar cane fire in the background?

The summit of the volcano was 10,000 feet. It was COLD. I am not used to humidity. We are in shorts, long pants, AND wind suits!

Watching the sunrise above the clouds at 6,500 feet.

BBBBBBRRRRRR!!!! IT'S COLD!!!!

AAHH!! Reading and Relaxing.

Going to dinner in the jeep.

The cliff Jenni and I JUPMED off!!! We felt so brave. Later found out it was only a 15 or 16 foot jump, but still felt pretty pumped about it. It reminded me of the jump the girls do at the end of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants II. 

This is the view from the hotel. Can you see the black rock where we jumped from?

Well, when you are in tears by the end of your trip to Hawaii, you know it is good to be home. (Even if you go from 80 degree sunshine to 20 degree's and a blizzard). It started before I left. Coley had surgery and I left her in great care, but with bandages and medicine. My first day in Hawaii I got a TERRIBLE sunburn. (Word to the wise, don't use the spray sunscreen!) I now have streaks of peeling from the burn! Ouchie! The sunburn was so bad, not only did it hurt to move or put clothes on or go outside in the sun, but I was nauseous and had an excruciating headache for two days. By the fourth day, our last, my credit/debit card was lost by the waitress at a restaurant! It was found (and now returned) between the lime juice bottle and Jack Daniels at the bar. They called as I was boarding the plane to go home. The plan was to jump on yet another plane to go to California to see friends and run a race, but the airline called and canceled the flight, I am guessing due to the blizzard that came in the day we got home. 

I did get to snorkel with sea turtles (so cool by the way!). I also LOVED sailing and seeing humpback whales! We got to ride around in a jeep, eat at some cool places with great food, and see some neat shops, and walk in the rain forest. Oh, and my friend Jenni wanted to bike down a volcano one day so we did that. It was a sunrise ride, so we were picked up at the hotel at 3am, dropped off at the top of the volcano to see the sunrise (pretty cool) and then biked from 6500 feet to 0! Our average speed on the bikes was 24 miles per hour, downhill on switchbacks!!! So cool!

Overall, a good trip, but glad to be home. Coley is doing better. Finished up most of her medicine and will have her last bandage change tomorrow night. These are from the trip. Can you see the terrible burn streaks???