Aloha

Aloha from Hawai'i! I flew into Honolulu on the islnd of O'ahu two nights ago. We landed around 8:30 PM Hawaiian time (2:30 AM EST). Hawai'i is beautiful. I am staying in Waianae which is about 30 miles outside of Honolulu. Waianae is on the dry side of the island, so it gets very hot and dry. Waianae is a little more rundown than other cities here on the island, but it is still beautiful.

Yesterday I woke up around 7:30 AM. I was still pretty exhausted from the trip over, but I was excited to see some of the island. Josh, my Aunt Jackie and I went to the beach to get some sun! Of course, it was beautiful. The waves were relatively small. They were big enough for me to body surf, but not very far because the waves were breaking too close to the shore. We saw a huge sea turtle that was only about 3 feet away from me. I swam along side it for a while - something I can't experience in the fresh waters of Michigan.

It started to rain a little bit so we headed back to the house to get some lunch. I really like the house. The yard is full of palm trees and other tropical vegetation which helps shade the house from the sun and keeps it pretty cool and I am staying in a downstairs room so I stay cool as well. I wake up every morning to the "coo"-ing of birds which is fairly pleasant.

Last night all of us (Josh, Aunt Jackie, Grandpa and Grandma, me) went out to dinner in downtown Honolulu at a bar and grille called Ryan's. I had Ahi Ume. I figured I better start eating more fish now and see what I like and what I don't because I will be eating a lot of fish in the near future. After dinner we went for a walk at a local park (Ala Moana). It has a beach with a man-made reef so the waves and fish stay out; it's really a family beach. When we got home we played a game of cards and went to bed.

So far, so good! I am about to go hike to Maunawili Falls. I think this is the hike I am looking forward to the most. We are going to hike back to a waterfall. I will take pictures and update later! Mahalo. Justin