tangeu

I have returned from my trek across the Sandwich Islands. Great adventures were had there. (I appologize for the length of this post)

Maui: After our long plane ride we arrived in Maui, an island whose beauty will inspire any who are privlidged enough to catch a glimpse of it. See Exhibit A as shown before. We gathered our luggage and got on the shuttle bus that would take us to the hotel. Our driver was Ben Stein (not really but the voice was a perfect match) and he knew the price of every appartment and restruant that we passed in the hour drive to the hotel. He makes a point to recommend his favorite restruant to us before we are dropped off. Up untill this point my dad had not told us where we were booked to stay at, turns out it was the FRICKEN RITZ CARLTON (the most exclusive, expensive, RESORT on Maui ), being in that place has created a new phrase that I know say "well, its not the Ritz, but it'll have to do". The open air lobby lead into a public balcony that had a fantastic view of the pools. We soon find out that due to the convention and our late check-in they have given our room away and are forced to upgrade us to an ocean view.
After we settled in and quickly made the room a mess, we decided to go exploring. My dad and I found a beach with ideal swimming conditions, then decided to take a picture of my sisters feet and tested out the waters. While exploring the beach, my parents decided they found a better place for me to stay.
On day two we decided to go into the town of Lahina, know for its shopping district and "relentless sun", the Ritz was fairly secluded and too far to walk to places. It turned out that renting a car for the day would be cheaper than taking a taxi back and forth, but it was past noon already and the in house rental place only had one car left so we got a discount due to lack of options. Once in Lahina we walked the streets, found a really neat tree and posed for a photo by the ocean. Now getting quite hungry we promptly found a place where I could get a cheeseburger as big as my head. Our watiress there was really cool, we chatted with her for quite a while and she even sat down with us after we were done to chat some more. The convention began that night and it was quite interesting, I actually attend a seminar with my dad and learned about showrooms. It may not sound exciting but it certainly is neat to meet the heads of Kohler and Slone and Moen and Elkay and etc. At the open cerimony there was a polinesian style luau with fire dancers and spear dancers. Later on we had much free time to spend at the pools (why do moms have to take so many pictures). The convention had a gala event that the childen were not invited to so I took a picture of my parents on the balcony. Our next event was whale watching, where we went out to sea and watched whales. This was rather uneventful. The final event on Maui was a tour through the highway to hana, where I took many pictures I am too lazy to upload so you only get the highlights. Our tour guide was Jerimiah who was a cool dude. We came across many waterfalls and senic places to pose by. Once again during lunch I manage to get a picture taken with a mouth full of food. I got to swim in a sacred pool and we finished our tour by stopping at a winery that made pineapple wine (very good). Because the room and services and etc. were paid for through the Omni group (prefered buyers advantage) we still had some credit to the room and decide to buy the most expensive shirt I own. That was the end of Maui.

Oahu: After Maui we went to Oahu for a few days, to experience the hawaiian city life. In the same plaza as the last photo my mom decided to take a picture of my crooked smile and expensive shirt. In Oahu we only did two tours, Pearl Harbor and Diamond Head, but spent much time in the beach and bar. Pearl Harbor was neat to see, and really neat to meet a survivor. Diamond Head was my favorite of the two, hiking up a volcanic crator is just cool. We had a japanese couple take a picture by the sign and considered going where we shouldn't. Back at the hotel my sister found herself a new boyfriend, and we saw a guy who spent too much time on the beach. On our last day, we went into a restruant where a cute waitress was working...she did not work our table but kept smiling at me and taking routes by our table. Unlike a normal person who would have talked to her I only smiled back with my crooked smile and in my shyness just left without saying anything.

So there you have it, my trip in a nutshell....sooo much more happened but I have been typing and uploading for an hour and want to stop. Lava Flows and Mai Tais for all!!