Sunday, September 5, 2021

HAWAII!

Well, after 19 months, I finally have a new blog entry! The Covid-19 pandemic pretty much shut our travels down. And although we only have one new county to add… it’s a big one! After three Covid-cancelled trips, we were finally able to get to Hawaii! It was the only state we hadn’t yet been to together as a family. But knowing that there are still four more counties to see, we will definitely go back.

We touched down in Kahului around 1:30 local time, and were immediately met with blowing palm trees. It felt like paradise. Maui County was ours, And it would be the only county we’d set foot in.

After picking up our Ford Explorer, we made a brief stop at Subway and Taco Bell for lunch, before making our way over to the southwest side of the island. Our home for the next five days was the beautiful Maui Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa – complete with flamingos, geese and even penguins!





        

Our resort was on the beach. So we were privy to wonderful sunsets each evening.

On our third day there, we did the famous winding road to Hana. Along the way we made a detour at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, home to the black sand beach. We stopped at Joel’s food truck in Hana for lunch. I recommend the loco moco. We also had a very close encounter (it literally dropped on the table in front of us) with a terrifying cane spider – which I do NOT recommend. After eating we stopped to pay tribute to Charles Lindbergh, before moving on to take a quick hike into a bamboo forest. Instead of turning around and heading back, we continued on to a terrifying cliff-hugging road, before emerging onto the southeast side of Maui (my favorite part of the Islands) for some spectacular views of the surf.







On our fourth day we visited the Iao Valley State Monument before stopping for lunch at 808 On Main – which has some of the cleanest bathrooms I’ve ever seen. Later that evening we drove to the Nakalele Blowhole. I obeyed the signs, but was still able to get pretty close for some great shots of it.









On our final day, we took a drive to the top of Haleakala Crater. Although it was a little cloudy, the views were still quite fantastic, and a great end to our trip.


All in all we picked up just one new county. But that’s fine. Hawaii was fantastic. And considering the fact that we still need four counties there, we are guaranteed to go back. Can’t wait!

 As for what’s next, we have a trip planned to the Pacific Northwest. Stay tuned!




                                                NEW COUNTIES - 1
                                                TOTAL COUNTIES FOR 2021 - 1
                                                ALL TIME COUNTY TOTAL - 2083

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