Hawaii :)

So, when I was 10 we had an exchange student from Japan named Masa live with us for a summer. Our families have stayed close and he flew into Maine for the weekend for my brother's wedding, so when he told us that we were invited to his wedding in Hawaii we were all on board. My family booked a trip to Hawaii and then about 2 weeks before the big day, we found that the wedding was being postponed due to some pregnancy complications the bride was having (all are well now). So now we had these tickets and no wedding, so we turned it into a family vacation (not a bad deal really). We had planned the trip around convenience for the wedding and I will speak for myself when I say if we had planned the trip on our own accord I think a few things would have been different (namely location). We stayed in Makaha, which was dirty...quite dirty and didn't seem to have any of that purity or natural beauty that I had associated with Hawaii. BUT we had a lovely time and it was great to see the family! And we did see some really incredible and beautiful things/places.

The first day we went to a Buddhist Temple in the northern part of the island which was really neat. It was a replica of one in Japan and was built to recognize the first Japanese immigrants into Hawaii.....I think.



And there were black swans...


Then it was onto the Polynesian Cultural Center, which is this ridiculous and amazing theme park that has exhibits for all the different Polynesian Islands. Most of the people who work at the park are students at the nearby university and are working their on scholarship, which is awesome, and nearly all of them are natives of the island they are representing. All of the islands have performances that teach you about the history, culture, traditions, dance etc of that island. It was really incredible to see so many young people so in touch with their heritage and culture. It was hard to believe we were in America. All of these cultures had such a deep appreciation for the earth and for life around them, it was amazing.
Me and Tim and Manda at the "cultural canoe pageant" in front of an ancient fijian structure.

A little performance


The next day we went to the beach. To make a long story short we all (except mom who is immune to the sun) got very, uncomfortably, burnt. But in the meantime we had a nice relaxing day. Manda and I rented a paddle board (which looks exactly like a surf board, but you stand on it and paddle around with something resembling a canoe paddle. It took us a good few minutes to figure out exactly how to get it into the water....after that obstacle had been met, it took us about an hour and a half of floating around trying different approaches and stances and failing miserably each time, before we decided that we would just sit on the beach. So we took a break for a bit and then got a second wind after watching some veteran paddle boarders. All of a sudden it made much more sense and we were all able to do it fairly easily (perhaps not gracefully though). Here's a pretty good collage of the paddle board experience.....compliments of Tim.


More to come....bed time for now.

Cascade Pass

So this is Cascade Pass. This was a hike that we did the day after 4th of July (otherwise known as the 5th of July). We got as early a start as we could after a long day of sun and festivities at gasworks park for the fourth. *Sidenote: after living in Boston for 5 years I never once spent fourth of July in Boston and never once saw the Boston fireworks....crazy. But the Seattle fireworks exceeded my greatest expectations* Anyway, the drive up to Cascade Pass was about 3 hours and got more and more amazing the further we drove. Eventually you get onto this dirt road that goes for about 20 miles and ends at the trailhead. The hike up to actual pass was 3.7 miles and then you can pick from a few different trails once you get there, so we went up the Sahale Arm just far enough to get an even more ridiculous view. I felt like I was hiking in the Alps or something, all the surrounding mountains (and there were plenty) were still snow covered but spring had brought out a lot of rock on them too, so to see the whole range was just amazing.

This shot was the trail up, almost to the pass. If you have good eyes you can see Shadle....hes the Bavarian looking dude


This is at the pass..


This is the view from the Sahale Arm.

Mmmmm colors...


This is Alicia and Corey coming over the ridge. Something about this picture is just screams 'Sound of Music' and Von Trapp family. :)


There was this natural lake nestled in the mountains that was unbelievable. It looked slightly chilly..


And here is me and Alicia


This was an absolutely incredible, refreshing day of breathtaking views and lovely people. We had so much fun and it was just what I wanted.