~
by Caleb
My first trip to Maui was very fun and exciting. Papa and I
went on a four day journey to Hawaii for my 15th birthday. The first
day was extremely long. We got up at about 7:30 ate breakfast, and left home at
8:40ish on the shuttle. We drove to the Denver airport and started going
through security. For some reason Papa had trouble booking my seat so we had to
stand together to prove that I was not a minor flying alone. We made it through
security and got on a tram to the terminals. Then we had a short wait and
boarded. This
flight was seven and a half hours long. We watched Finding Nemo and ate lunch. Papa
and I both had some pasta and a chicken wrap. After that I did some English and
read while papa did some work on his computer.
Then we watched the fourth episode of Star Wars and ate peanut M&Ms. After the movie was over we were getting pretty
close to the islands. It was fun to see the islands from the air. We landed at Honolulu. When we got
off the plane I was surprised at how warm and humid it was. After a few minutes
we got on a smaller plane to fly us over to Maui. We could see Pearl Harbor
from the plane. That was really cool. You could even see some old battleships
and fighters. The plane landed half an hour later in Maui. Papa and I picked up
our rental car and drove on a twisty road to the blowhole. It was a great day
for going to the blowhole. It was really spraying high! There were a lot of crabs
there too. A while later we went to dinner at Coconut’s Fish Café. Papa and I
both got two fish tacos, yum! We finished dinner, checked into our hotel and
went to bed.
The next day we woke up and had breakfast. Then papa worked
while I did some more English and then read my book. After papa was done we
went to Snorkel Bob’s to get snorkel equipment. Papa drove us to Ahi’hi cove to
go snorkeling. It was amazing. We saw
tons of fish. There were Humuhumunukunukuapua’a, Moorish Idols, Forceps
Butterflyfish, Lei Triggerfish, Ornate Butterflyfish, Yellow Tang, Redlip
Parrotfish, Pinktail Durgons and a Spotted Toby. My favorite was the Redlip
Parrotfish. This was my favorite activity on Maui. After snorkeling we went to
Sugar Beach. The sand was extremely fine. Then we went to dinner at Wailea
cheeseburger. It was delicious. The
burger was so big it was hard to bite. That was my favorite meal on the island.
The next day Papa had three meetings. After the first, we
went to the Iao Needle. It was a huge rock tower that the natives used for a
war lookout. What was especially interesting was that it was completely covered
in trees and undergrowth. After that Papa had two more meetings, and then we
went to Ho’kipa. We saw a lot of turtles. Then we drove down the Road to Hana.
The Road to Hana is a skinny, windy road through the rain forest. It was
amazing. On the Road to Hana, we stopped at Ke’Anae. Those were the biggest
waves I saw on this trip. Further down the road we stopped at Pua’a kaa state
Wayside Park. There was a little waterfall and a pond that people swim in.
After Pua’a kaa we went to Wailea beach and then back to Coconut’s Fish Café. This time I had the fish and chips. There
were so much French fries that papa and I could not finish them.
On Wednesday morning we flew back to
Honolulu and went to the last meeting. Then we went to Diamond Head crater. Diamond
Head is the crater of a non-active volcano. We hiked up the side of the crater
on a path that was made in the 1970s. The top was a WWII lookout facing toward
Japan. It was the sweatiest hike I ever did. On the way to the airport we got
stuck in the traffic. Honolulu traffic is one of the worst in the USA.
Thankfully we were not in it for a long time. At the airport we bought some
chocolate covered macadamia nuts and ate dinner. I had an Ono Fish Quesadilla. We boarded
our plane at 8:30pm. When we took off the Big Dipper was just outside our
window. It was beautiful. After watching The Blind Side, I listened to my iPod
and Papa slept. It was a long night. I don’t think I slept at all the entire
night.
This was definitely the best present
I ever had, and I would absolutely go back.
Thank you Mama and Papa.
