Heaven on Earth

This summer, before my family and I went to Hawaii for the first time, I tried to make sure I didn’t experience the kind of letdown that comes from unrealistic expectations. I knew Hawaii was supposed to be amazing and I expected to have a good time, but I figured it wouldn’t be all that much better than any of our other trips.

Shows what I know.

Hawaii was pure heaven on earth. Now I know why people spend so much money and so much time just to get there. Worth every penny. Worth every minute.

We went to Oahu and stayed with my brother-in-law and his family on the windward (i.e. green) side of the island. Just driving from the airport to his house took my breath away.

That’s the view from the freaking highway. Crazy.

(Did I mention I’m from the low deserts of Arizona? I live in Idaho now, where we have a lot more green, but this crazy Hawaii kind of green just astonishes me. I’m thinking I would totally dig a trip to Ireland.)

Anyway, of course we had to do all the touristy things. We went to Pearl Harbor:

The Polynesian Cultural Center (if you go, do yourself a favor and catch the night show):

I loved the Tahiti dance so much I took a video:

Don’t you think I need to learn how to dance like that? Course, I may not pull it off with the same effect, but you know…

We saw the LDS Temple:

The Japanese Buddhist Byodo-In Temple:

This place was incredible. I would show you more pictures but I swore I would keep pics to a minimum on the blog and not be one of those people who bores everyone to death with hundreds of vacation pictures. (Unless you’re family, in which case you’re fair game.)

We did the snorkeling thing a couple of times, including at Hanauma Bay:

Now, you should know, I have a thing about water. I love the water. I love being in and near water. But I don’t like putting my head in the water. Or being dunked. Or in general not having control when I’m in the water. It’s a little strange and I haven’t quite figured out what’s behind it.

Anyway, I wasn’t sure how I’d do with the snorkeling thing. It took me a bit to get used to it, but once I did, I loved it. On our first snorkeling trip (on the sandbar at Kane’ohe Bay) I actually got brave enough to go out into deeper water and was rewarded with a swim with a sea turtle. So. Amazing.

My dear hubby, on the other hand, has a shark phobia.

He doesn’t call it a phobia. He calls it a rational fear of dangerous creatures. He’s informed me (a number of times) that shallow water doesn’t necessarily protect you because bull sharks love to attack in as little as 12 inches of water.

I didn’t have to look up that little factoid. I’ve heard it enough to know. (Though, I haven’t Googled to verify.)

Before we left I did Google “Hanauma Bay shark attacks” and found out there has never been a shark attack at Hanauma Bay. That made no never mind to my husband. He told me he’d still be perfectly happy hanging out on the beach with the kiddos.

Guess who snorkeled more than anyone else the entire trip?

That’s right. Kevin did. I was so proud of him. And proud of myself too.

In between all this touristy type stuff, we went to the beach. Several beaches. And this, my friends, is where Hawaii won my heart:

I’m coming dangerously close to becoming that relative with too many vacation photos aren’t I?

We were there 10 days. By day 7 I started to understand something about myself. I thought (and I know this sounds corny), “The ocean feeds my soul.”

Now, I’ve always known I love the ocean. I’ve been to SoCal many a time and the beach is always the highlight.

But I’ve never been to beaches like this, where the water is the perfect temperature so stepping into the ocean feels like stepping into an embrace. I’ve never lived in the ocean day after day like that. I thought about going home to Boise (which I’ve always loved) and was dismayed to think about being surrounded by so much land, so far from the warm waters that gave me such a deep sense of joy.

Am I waxing poetic? I don’t mean to be. It’s truly how I felt.

Part of me is still in Hawaii. The rest of me longs to be there.

When we got back I was telling a friend about the trip. She used to live in Hawaii and has been to every island. She loves Oahu, but it’s her least favorite island.

Least favorite.

What are the other ones like???

Someday I hope to find out for myself.

P.S. If you’re interested, feel free to check out my video of sea turtles playing in the waves.