Planet Hawaii

Hawaii was so vibrant and vivid, so familiar and yet completely different that it felt like we were on another planet—one even more beautiful than Earth.

Was this planet here the whole time?

If so, why are we still living on Earth when we could be living here?!

The above pictures are from our first hotel. It was hard to leave such a paradise for our condo in Lihue. But then we got to the condo.

Well, that’s not so terrible. Plus, it came with this beach:

And that beach:

We did manage to pull ourselves away from the condo a few times to explore the Planet Hawaii, like Waimea canyon. We took a little detour to Mars on the way up there:

We found water on Mars!

Then we pulled over to a lodge where we both ate chicken and fed the chickens. (The doves thought we were there for them.)

And finally…the canyon:

Al that was just one day! I better speed things up before we get to TLDR. Here are cliff notes for the rest of the week:

We did some snorkeling:

And some boogie boarding:

We learned it’s called “shave ice,” not “shaved ice”:

Leo did some peeping:

We saw a couple waterfalls (notice I’m moving down the line-up in my family):

The boys climbed trees:

and drank fruity drinks:

Maybe too many fruity drinks?:

We went to a luau:

Inner-tubed down the irrigation canals of an old sugar plantation…

…and tried not to take pictures of all the grocery store signs (though each was as wondrous as this):

These pictures make it look like we did a lot, but it felt like the opposite. It felt like we did nothing but take it all in—the beaches, the sky, the chickens, all the kinds of juices. It was hard to say goodbye.

But again…

Hawaii was a dream I didn’t want to wake up from. A perfect week, except that by the end of the it, my hair had turned into wet rope and everything was sticking to my skin. I was ready to go home.