Maui, HI
On July 5th, 2016 I went to Maui, HI. When the trip was announced, it was Christmas of 2015. My mom and my stepdad gave all 4 kids a bag with scrabble letters in them and we each had to figure out what our letters spelled. I don't remember what they said exactly but when we put our sentences together it said something like "we are going to the beach this summer". We were all happy to be going to the beach but it wasn't extravagant like we expected. Then, my mom brought out a basket full of Hawaiian themed items. Hawaii chips, leis, etc. Then we guessed the big surprise! The excitement leading up to that date was unreal. My family and I woke up early in the morning and hopped on the plane to paradise! When the plane was approaching the islands, we got a view of the blue/green crystal waters surrounding the islands. As we stepped off the plane, I could feel the warm sun on my skin and the saltwater breeze in my hair. The next day, we went snorkeling in the oceans. We saw turtles, exotic fish, and even some sharks. We went to 2 different beaches and we also took a boat to the small uninhabited island off the shore, molokini. I heard that was the best place to snorkel on maui, and I could agree. That night, we went to sleep fairly early and woke up at 3am to drive up to the top of Mt. Haleakala to watch the sunrise. We were above the clouds. That view was like nothing I'd ever seen in my 16 years of life. Breathtaking.
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The drive to the condo was quite a sight to see. Everything was so green and so luscious. The condo was surrounded by trees canopying over and the sound of tropical birds resounded through the other condos. It truly felt like we were staying in a tropical rainforest. When we got to the condo I threw my bags on my bed and explored. From the balcony, we could see the short walk to the beach with the ocean at the end. We then went off for my first walk on the beach. The feeling of the soft sand and the warm water was worth the boring 6 hour plane ride. It was a lit late so we couldn't do too much swimming but we did what we could and then went back to the condo to get good sleep for the night ahead. Later that day, my family and I drove along the road to Hana. It is a road full of narrow one-lane bridges, hairpin turns and incredible island views. There are many stops to take along the way like surfing, hikes, waterfalls, but our destination was the black sand beach. Although, we did witness many beautiful waterfalls until we got to the black sand beach. The sand was a little more rough than regular sand but it was so cool to see and to touch and the sand was a lot hotter than regular beaches. It also had a cool little cave that leads straight to the ocean.
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Overall, The two weeks I spent in Maui were some of the best weeks of my life. I swam with turtles and exotic fish, I experienced the beautiful sunsets/sunrises, and I baked (literally) in the warm wonderful heat. If I could go back at any time in my life I would go with no hesitation, and I can't wait till the next time.