Hawaii (long & unorganized)

I am going to begin and end this post with food. We had a layover in Phx. so Mitch's friend Jim came and picked us up from the airport and took us to lunch. These two worked together at the auto parts place down in south Phoenix which is where we went to eat (not the parts store, but nearby). He took us to a tiny little place where everything was in Spanish and no one spoke English. I don't remember the name...it was somewhere around Van Buren & 16th St? Now, I basically grew up in AZ and I've had some great Mexican food. It is dear to my heart. But I can honestly say this was THE BEST Mexican food I've ever had!! Even when I've gone to Mexico it wasn't this good! So yummy and I am still kicking myself for not taking pictures of that excursion. Anyway, it was a great way to start the trip.
These are not in any order:
I don't remember the name of most of these beaches. This was on the North side.

Chickens on the beach. Classic.

This is probably my favorite picture from our trip. (Different beach& that's not Mitch on the paddle board).

This view was amazing! It was so green and beautiful there.

Lighthouse.

Mitch and Cameron.

Sweet falls.

Mitch on the rope swing.

Me jumping off. It wasn't very far.

On our way to said falls.

Mitch and Ryan plotting against the chickens. It involved the spear gun and I'll just say it didn't turn out well.

I can't remember what these long boats are called, but there were a few of them racing. It looked really cool.

Snorkeling.

Guy and his boot relaxing.

Kayaking.

Mitch and Ryan playing in the waves.

Secret Beach.

Remember how Ryan broke his ankle? He needed a little help on some of the trails to the beaches and as you can see, I was super supportive and sensitive about the while thing.

Cool red bird that hung out with us.

Blow holes with full rainbow.

Throwing rocks to get the coconuts. They were very good!

Ok. I discovered shaved ice last year, but this has rocked my world again. ( I know I am obsessed with food. Sorry.) This place had the best ones we tried-Jojos! They put ice cream on the bottom (Macadamia Nut is the bomb!) then the shaved ice then coconut cream on top. I die.

Awesome trip! We had such a blast and it was so amazingly beautiful!

p.s. The trip home was a little rough. I basically contracted Leprosy, blindness and Ebola. In that order. I got a bad sunburn which turned into a bad rash. Then my eyes were really irritated by something and I had to take out my contacts by the last day. Finally, we had another layover in Phx. on the way home so we had breakfast with our families at a restaurant (rhymes with by-hop). By the time we got back to the airport I was hit by a bug and was REALLY sick there. The flight home was no fun. We got home and it was a whopping 46 degrees when we landed. Anyway, all that was crazy, but the trip was totally worth it!