Hawaii '09

So, last June we took a vacation.

To Hawaii.

And I never blogged about it. Between being pregnant, moving, finding a new job, having a baby, moving again, moving again, and oh, moving again, I never got around to it. But I had already picked out and resized all the photos from our trip to share with you all some day. My recollections of what exactly we did might not be the best, but some of my photos are pretty darn good if I do say so myself, especially for just a point-and-shoot camera. Without further ado I present to you...

The Scarbrough/Murphy Hawaii Vacation, 2009 edition

First, we drove to Washington DC and spent the night with a Polish friend of mine who I hadn't seen in about a year. She and her husband took us to the airport early the next morning and babysat our car for us. We caught a flight to Seattle and then a flight to Kauai.



Shannon's been to Hawaii two other times...2005 and 2007. I've been once: I went with Shannon in 2007. However, that trip was so short: Shannon's family was going to be there for two weeks, but Shannon was in a wedding in Texas the Saturday right in the middle of their two weeks, and my friend Diana was getting married in Florida the last Saturday of their two weeks, so...we went for 3 1/2 days. Do not EVER go to Hawaii for only 3 1/2 days (at least not from the East Coast), unless you stop over on your way to Fiji. It's gorgeous, yes, but a flight from the East Coast to Hawaii for only three days of surf and sun...I can't say it's worth it.



Anyhow, we first headed to Kauai. Shannon's folks and a couple of their friends picked us up at the airport when we landed after forever and a day of traveling. We got our bags and headed back to this fantastic house that they rented. It was the same house we stayed at in 2007.



The house is right on the beach, as you can see from the above picture. Literally, you can walk out the back door and be on the beach in like ten steps. It's great.


"Our" beach, early in the morning.

We did a lot of this:






Milton's favorite spot to soak up the Hawaiian sun.

And we did some things that I hadn't done before, like going to the North Shore (the Na Pali Coast) of the island. There you can hike on some awesome trails, which Shannon and his uncle and cousins had done in 2007. I wanted to go this time around but was still in my 1st trimester of pregnancy and not feeling all that hot. I felt it wise to just rest.


Weird trees on the Na Pali Coast of Kauai, at Ke'e beach. Notice all the roosters...they roam the island.


Shannon and I at cool caves near the Kalalau Trailhead.

We also went to a coffee plantation. We saw all the beans growing and got to taste lots of different kinds of coffees.


Rows and rows of coffee beans.


Did you know this is what coffee beans look like up close and personal?


The crew, in town for a smoothie.

In 2007 I got sunburned so badly on our 1st day there that I could barely bend my legs. I was wearing sunblock and it just didn't work so well. So I missed out on the fun things they did those 3 1/2 days. I was determined to make it up this time.

We did some "gentle" hiking:


Hiking through the jungle...

Saw a waterfall or two:


Wailua Falls, as seen in Fantasy Island.

Did some more gentle hiking:


Down to the beach.

And got views like this:




This is where I saw a sea turtle. I never could get a good picture of him.


Swimming in a pool of water protected by huge rocks from the crashing waves.

Kauai is where they filmed a lot of Jurassic Park, and you may feel like you recognize the majestic mountains.


Shannon and I in front of the Hanalei Taro Fields.


Trees like this can be seen in LOST (like when Kate hides from the smoke monster), although it wasn't filmed on Kauai, they have trees like this on the other islands too!

And after our six glorious days in Kauai, we headed to Maui for a couple of days.


Family. Milton (Shannon's stepdad), Sharon (Shannon's mom), Shannon, Me, and Brad (Shannon's brother).

But that's for another blog post.


One last sunset.