Right before the world went to crap changed dramatically due to the pandemic, we were lucky enough to go on a long-planned vacation to Maui with my whole family. We were still going into the office for work the day before we left. Strange to think about now!
Literally, the world changed around us while we were there. It made the trip, uh, slightly less relaxing, but we were so glad to be in Hawaii anyway. I think if we had planned to leave even a few days later, we wouldn’t have gone. So strange to think about now.
As the days went on, things closed – restaurants and bars, state parks, several roads to popular hiking destinations, eventually some beaches. But, we were happy to be there in the sun, as a family.
Here are some of the highlights. I hope it will transport you for a mini virtual vacation!
Sunsets & Stars
I’ve never seen so many stars. The went from horizon to horizon, so bright. Incredible.
Hiking
We were able to do some really cool hikes, especially during the first few days. We hiked to something called Dragon’s Teeth, which indeed looked like a giant dragon’s teeth, along an old road across a moonscape lava field, and up a ridge in the West Maui Mountains, which was very challenging but gorgeous.
Sandcastles & Swimming
We spent plenty of days relaxing at various beaches. We saw sea turtles, both near the shoreline and while snorkeling. What a highlight! There were a ton of humpback whales that we could see, as well, especially the first several days. You couldn’t glance at the ocean without seeing a whale breach, a tail, or the mist from a blowhole. It was so, so cool.
Cats
What, you don’t actively seek out cats on a tropical island? For my husband’s birthday, we took a ferry to Lana’i and visited the cat sanctuary there. They capture and care for the cats on the island to protect the island’s native birds. I think I read somewhere that the cats were initially brought to the island to keep rodents away from the pineapple plantations. They no longer grow pineapples there, so now there are just a ton of cats. Around 620 at the sanctuary when we visited!
It was such a wonderful vacation, even though the world changed around us and we came home to a very different situation than we left. We will certainly never forget our trip!
Centered in the Saddle 