trinityvixen | MASSIVE VACTION POST

Saturday: To get to Hawai'i on time for our cruise, we left at the hairy crack of ass in the morning from Newark. We bugged my brother (who lives in Waikiki until June) to pick us up and hang out with us until we had to board. He was compensated for when my Dad had to leave his booze behind (no outside booze when they can charge you $11 for a weak margarita). We took in a lecture on what shore trips were good (turns out the guy was mostly wrong about which ones were good or not), had some food, hit the deck to watch Oahu fade behind us. Bright full moon was out which I, not so ably, shot about thirty times to get just one passably good picture. It was lights out pretty fast since none of us had had much sleep, me least of all since I never can sleep on planes. (I kept myself occupied on the plane by watching doing my reviews for Smallville and basically meta-ing about BSG until I got it out of my system.) We had three two-person cabins, but one had an extra bunk, so my sister and her two friends took it and I got a room of my own. Cool beans.

Sunday: Hilo, Hawai'i
We took a tour that came highly recommended by the cruise guy. Our bus driver was "Cousin Loren," and the trip was to Rainbow Falls and Volcano National Park, (LAVA TUBE!) with little stops at the Mauna Loa Macademia Nut factory and a place to eat. (mmm, Taro bread) Cousin Loren was increasingly bizarre and just not funny, and decided upon by all to be terrible. (Although, he did provide some great stories, so I guess it was worth it.) I'd have preferred a full day to hike around Volcano National Park, but whatevs. Later that night, on our way to Maui, we got to sail by where the lava flow was meeting the ocean. I saw lava. Granted, at a distance, but still! Very cool.

Monday: Kahului, Maui
My parents have been to Maui before, so they took it easy the first day while I and the teenagers hit an easy hiking excursion. Our driver/hiking guide was John Locke minus twenty years (in looks; in personality, very nice, level-headed guy). He was a real greenie, and he even sounded sincere about being tempted to join the actual hippie commune right next to the hiking trail. He also talked candidly about the problems facing Hawai'i, and he had an open disgust for some of the invasive plant life that had been introduced over the years. Very knowledgeable and charismatic enough to get myself and three teenagers to eat just about anything he handed us--including fern heads, flowers, guava (our new and instant favorite), Indonesian ginger, and even the noni fruit.

For those who enjoy the feeling of novocaine, the noni fruit will make your mouth go slightly numb. You just have to keep it in your mouth for 30 seconds or longer and manage to survive the taste which is bad french cheese with mediciney accents. Grah. We had a fabulous time stopping at the waterfalls on the way. One had a swing which the girls took full advantage of. I only just barely got over massive fear of heights to jump into one pond. We saw five Jackson's chameleons and got to hold a bunch of them. There was one lady and her husband who were kinda assholes on the trip, but all in all it was a perfect day, especially needed after the slight bore of a trip we'd had only the day before.

Sorry about the poor quality of the photos. I really am the worst photographer ever. I hope to get copies from my sister and her two friends. I sorta left off on taking pictures after a while because I knew they had it covered. Plus, compared to everyone else's cameras, mine is a slow-ass dinosaur with a teeny-tiny viewing screen. It's definitely time to update that. Especially now that I know they have water-proof diving covers so I can take it underwater. (VIDEO OF FISHES = WIN)