It’s taken me all week to rest up after my vacation with my sister last week. We packed in as much fun as we could in the week-long trip, but it was the journey home that exhausted me. I spent 22 hours either in airports or on airplanes before I got home. I didn’t sleep much of it either. It’s hard to get comfortable sitting up with airplane noises around me.
Hubby’s cousins invited us to use an empty room at a resort on Maui. He didn’t want to go, and Sister had never been to Hawaii, so she accepted the invitation to go with me. I flew to Dallas where I met Sister and we flew to Phoenix, then Maui the next day. Like when Hubby and I went, we rented a convertible to tour the island. With nice temperatures and lots of sunshine, we had the top down quite a bit.
We drove all over the island, to the top of the Haleakala volcano and down to the black beach at Wai’anapanapa. We also spent a day driving to the town of Hana over the most windy, twisty, narrow road I’ve ever been over. We also visited the Kipahulu park where several archaeological sites are preserved. We spent time on a boat looking for whales and snorkeling looking for turtles. We saw both. Our tour guides were shocked about the whales. They thought they’d all gone north already. One was a very young calf, a latecomer. We had a lovely ocean tour with breakfast and lunch served.
We found some really great food trucks, cookies store, Spam musubi, Dole whips, a pie shop, gift shops, and jewelry vendors (my particular weakness). Poolside was fabulous with swimming pools available and access to the beach. I even read a book.
The most astounding thing that happened occurred when Sister and I were standing in the ocean waves. We had our backs to it and didn’t see the really big wave come in. It knocked both of us down. It seemed to suck Sister farther out and knowing the beach dropped off steeply not too far out, I was concerned she’d get out too far and not be able to get back. Before I could get to my feet and get to her, another big wave came in and rolled me up the beach like a dead whale. There I got to my feet and went back to help Sister to her feet and out of the tide. The first words she said to me was “I lost my phone.” We searched as the waves went in and out, but it was nowhere to be seen. I ran to our room and got my snorkel to look for it. On my way back to the beach, I saw Cousin B and asked him if there was any hope of finding it. He said he’d get his snorkel gear and help us look. I’m not a strong swimmer, but I went out in the surf and looked for the phone with my snorkel. I couldn’t see a thing so came back to shore. Cousin B was there by then. He went out and after 10 minutes or less, he shouted, “Is this it?” He held up Sister’s phone in his hand. In that churning surf, he’d found it! And most miraculous, it was still working! We dried it off as best we could, and Sister sent me a text. I got it. We dried the phone out the rest of the night and it continued to work. To date, it continues to work fine. A huge thanks to Cousin B and Apple phones for saving Sister’s phone!
We had a wonderful vacation. I’m very thankful for an amazing Sister who is fun to be with. If only people hadn’t kept asking if she was my daughter! hahaha
