One Day I Went To Hawaii

I was raised in Indiana primarily by my mother. On family vacations, we traveled to neighboring states and once to California even though I don't remember it. I dreamed of traveling to Hawaii one day, but hadn't ever made a plan to actually do it.

Everyone I know has been to Hawaii except my husband. He booked us a trip for our 10th anniversary, and I was glad I hadn't always dreamed of going to Iowa because that's where we would have gone.

Seriously.

 

We flew into Maui and stayed at the 6 star Makena Resort. We paddle boarded, surfed, hiked, snorkeled, shopped, and relaxed for the 5 days we were there. Our feelings were mixed on whether to go on the Road to Hana. Because everyone I know has been to Hawaii, they all had opinions about whether the road was worth it or not.

We opted to go, and I am so glad we did. At mile marker 24, we stopped off the side of the road to hike down the challenging terrain to a waterfall. The freezing water felt healing and the adventure filled me with life.

 The hiking definitely was the highlight of the whole trip, but a close second was getting a couples massage on the beach in these thatched huts. After a day of snorkeling and swimming and paddle boarding we met in this hut as the sun was setting over the water to get an hour massage. I never wanted it to end...

...the whole trip that is.

Initially, I was worried about leaving my kids, but by day 4 I realized I wanted to stay another week. I probably could have because my mother-in-law and great friend Brittany were home cooking, taxiing, laundering, cleaning, playing, and nurturing my children, who never called to say hello and rarely spoke to us on the phone while we were gone.

Maybe they enjoyed the vacation as much as we did. Who wouldn't love ice cream twice a day or blue waffles?

I wouldn't say I have the 'bug' to travel the world, but am wishing I had always dreamed of going to Italy some day when I was younger. (Did ya hear that, Tom?)