Capturing the Moment

   A smooth transition always makes a move feel a little bit easier. Everything came together for our island hop move from Maui to Oahu. We shipped our car packed full of our stuff. We bumped up to first class on the plane to get more bags checked. Our rental car was super cheap thanks to the low season. I did notice a few new scratches in the car when picking it up from the shipping dock but they just blend in with the others so no worries there.Then we drove to Manoa to get all settled in at Heidi's family friend's place. I felt like that was a pretty good setup for day one in a new place.  So we set of in our rental to explore the island and hopefully meet up with old friends.  Manoa itself is a green oasis sitting up the slope from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. There is a beautiful view of the cityscape from our temporary backyard.   Heading over the mountains we checked out the cool town of Kailua. Lots of boutiques, health food stores, and...

Early morning look at Haleakala volcano's South side  Road 'round the West Maui Mtns, NW Maui Plumeria  One of the big adventures not often attempted here on Maui is the drive around the West Maui mountains. The road here can be driven by any type of car, however you need to be a confident driver as some of the turns are little more than one lane and on the precipice of a huge cliff. But like the more popular 'road to Hana' the sights along this drive are incredible. Huge canyons, distant waterfalls, tropical flowers, and ocean vistas try and pull your eyes off the road. One of my favorite scenes, Big Beach  My mom and I tackled this windy road after starting off the morning at the very end of the road, La Perouse Bay . Tucked back in the newest lava flows on Maui the road dead ends into a very beautiful but rugged bay where Admiral La Perouse landed his ship. Beautiful sandy beaches like Big Beach await travelers down in the Makena area with a few se...