The Matthews invade Hawaii

I know, I know, not very original in the title department.

My parents just left from a ten-day visit Monday. And I think I can say, without a doubt, that my parents managed to cover just about the entire island in that time, by bus and by plane, by Mini and by Jeep, and even by canoe...okay, so that was just at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

We started with a trip to the Big Island. We stayed at the Volcano House at Volcanoes National Park. It was a rather interesting experience - the four of us were in one room with no television, so we made due with a rowdy game of Scrabble in front of the fire in the lobby. Fire? Yes. It was very cold. You may say this was my thin Hawaii blood, but, no, seriously, it was cold - we were up in the mountains, and it was chilly!

The next day we hiked across the crater. I have to say, this was probably among my top three hikes of all time, but the thing it has over the other two is that you walk across cracked and steaming ground. It gets pretty warm down there!

My parents managed to make it to North Shore, Waikiki, and various other places during the week while Jeff and I continued our normal lives. Then Jeff "deployed" on Friday, so the parents and I took a hike "around" Kaena Point. I say "around" because, well, we looked around, but we didn't quite make it all the way to the end because we were rubbing blisters all over the place. But I am definitely going to do the rest of it one of these days.

Saturday was the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was definitely worth it with visitors; I don't know if I would have done that one on my own or not. We had a day of various island dances and customs, followed by a luau with the purple poi rolls (I like them; Jeff's not a huge fan, but he wasn't there) and a fantastic show.

Sunday we took in the windward side and went to Waimanalo Beach, where Jeff and I got married. We were chased by a rainstorm back to Hanauma Bay - a place I will be visiting again soon with a snorkel and an underwater camera! Mom and I just walked out in the water and saw some interesting stripey fish. We also saw whales and a honu at one of the overlooks. The best surprise of all Sunday night was that Jeff came back for a week! So Monday, the four of us went out to Moose McGillycuddy's (however you spell that) to bid my parents aloha and safe journey back to the mainland.

Again, plenty of pictures are posted on the Photobucket album and not here, so feast your eyes!

--jess

This is a Makaha sunset from the direction no one is looking!