Some Time Away in Paradise

Rex and I went to Maui, Hawaii together, just the two of us!  It's times like this when we get to see the value of him traveling so much - the plane trip and hotel were completely paid for with points.  Cha-ching!  Rex totally spoiled me too.  The Mariott we stayed in was fit for a king and queen - a humongous tub, fully stocked kitchen, big comfy bed, an amazing breakfast buffet every morning, a tropical paradise of pools and hot tubs and beautiful flowers every where... a girl could get used to this.  

We spent the first night and morning cramming in some homework for our scuba-diving certification class.  The next 2 days were spent at the scuba shop and in the ocean, passing off drills and skills needed to not-die.  And good news.  We did not die and completely lost ourselves underwater looking at the beautiful fish and eels and turtles around us.  Okay, just one turtle.  But it was pretty memorable!  I didn't have a camera for any of that, so you'll just have to use your imagination.  

Me, totally in my happy place.

After getting scuba certified, Rex and I spent the next couple days seeing the sites.  This was the tropical plantation that used to be an old sugar mill.  Those are the old gears that used to grind up the sugar cane.  

We went to a luau that night and were served a delicious 5 course dinner (I think...) with each course featuring a dish from a pacific island.  While we ate, they had dancers hula-ing and chanting and what-not some of the traditions in that course's island.  It was pretty cool!

This picture looks like I don't know how to kiss, but - in my defense - it was a little hard holding the phone while kissing Rex to get the sunset in the background.  :)

On our last day, Rex and I took a driving tour with an app we downloaded that took us to the other end of the island.  Along the way, it would tell us cool places to stop and some history or interesting facts about each location.  

Some cove with big lava rocks... 

Rex pondering the mysteries of Hawaii and life in general...

Black Sand Beach (my favorite)...

Exploring a lava tunnel that led out to the ocean...

The entrance to the lava tunnel...

Black sand beach also had black rocks...

Yep, it's black sand all right...

On this "Road to Hana" trip, we drove on some really curvy and narrow roads through the jungle and hills.  There were 47 one-lane bridges to cross along the way!  Rex drove like a champ and got us there and back safely.

The Three Little Bears Waterfall (really, it's name!) was my favorite waterfall(s).  Papa, Mama, and Baby waterfall all in a row!