Anyone Need A Postcard?

As most of you already know, Shane and I made a trip to Maui, Hawaii.  It was absolutely beautiful!!!  We left on a Thursday morning and traveled all day.  We spent 4 full days there enjoying the beautiful scenery.  Hannah Claire stayed with her grandparents (Shane's parents and then my parents) and loved it.  Although I'm quite sure she missed us.  We missed her terribly.  I only cried almost everyday (at least teared up a little).  Here are some of the pictures from our trip.

The lobby of our hotel:

The view from our room:

We had a rental car for all of our island exploring.  We had to get a convertible to get maximum enjoyment.  I was like a kid.  Shane would ask if we should put the top down and I would of course say yes. 

One night we did a sunset dinner cruise.  This time of year the whales come in for mating so there are lots of whale watching cruises.  Shane really wanted to do one of these.  I'm a big chicken and just think there is something wrong with getting a tiny boat up close to these gargantuan animals.  Some of the tours were in a raft type boat.  NO WAY!!!  We agreed to a sunset dinner cruise where we would "likely" see whales.  Thankfully we did and it was amazing.  We saw a momma whale, her 1-2 day old baby and their male escort.  It was super cool.  The 1-2 day old baby was the size of a small truck.  We tried to take pictures but it was too dark.  On a side note, I found out on the cruise that one of my very best friends in the world got engaged.  Congrats Melissa and Tony!!!  Here are some of the pictures that did turn out during the cruise.

This is a banyan tree, common to the island:

On Sunday of our trip we did the Road to Hana.  It is about 52 miles that wind along the coast of the island to this little town.  There is really nothing in the town but the drive is amazing.  There are 617 curves and 56 one-lane bridges.  It takes forever but it is so worth it.  There are lots of stops along the way to see some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in my life.  You go from bamboo forests to rain forests to beaches.  We got to see lots of really cool stuff along the way.  

This is a stop along the way:

Shane hanging loose on a cliff:

Brandi getting wind blown on the black sand beach:

This was the highlight of the trip.  It was a waterfall from as high as you could see.  It fell into a pool that then ran down into 7 different pools.  It was breathtaking.  

The 52 mile drive took all day and we really loved it.  It is amazing to see how amazing God's creation is.  We had lots of fun and saw many interesting things.  We left Monday night, 3:30 Alabama time and traveled all night.  We had really smooth traveling, even through Denver.  I did get to see the Continental flight that ran off the runway and caught on fire.  Yep, the runway we landed on.  A big shout-out to everyone I talked to who didn't mention this to us.  I didn't know about it until we got home and I'm glad I didn't.  Hannah Claire, Nana and Janice picked us up at the airport.  We were both so ready to get our hands on HC, of course she was snoozing.  There was lots of kissing going on once she woke up.  It was nice to get away but even better to come home.