Road to Hana

The day before we were to leave beautiful Maui we decided to take the Road to Hana.  The Road to Hana is capitalized to indicate that this is more than just a road, more than just a simple drive through the beautiful island; this is an experience, a true adventure. 

The beauty of this drive is incredible and well worth the time but something that isn't so enjoyable for people who get motion sickness.  It takes about two hours to get to Hana on narrow, winding roads that sometimes narrow down to just one lane.  I'm not quite sure the distance, probably no more than 30 miles, but, like I said, it takes 2 hours to go that 30 miles.  That gives you an idea of how slow going the drive is and it's a little scary at times but absolutely gorgeous.

At the start of our adventure, we came across an older gentlemen with beautiful parrots offering a free chance to hold his parrots if you just pay him $20 to take pictures.  Couldn't pass up this free offer for 20 bucks, right?

After our little pit-stop with the parrots we are, again, on our way to Hana.  Each turn in the road either brought us near the coast line, which offered a view of gorgeous blue water....

or brought you to a beautiful waterfall cascading down the side of the mountain.

Of course, there were beautiful flowers along the way.  I can't speak of Maui without speaking of the flowers and their incredible smell.  It was all, truly, heavenly.

As we got closer to Hana we took a little detour down to the beach of Wainapanapa.  Have I said that Maui was incredible and gorgeous and breathtaking?  Well, those are the words to describe the beach of Wainapanapa.  There's a small parking lot to park your car under trees that have what looks like cactus wrapped around the trunks.  You take a short walk, gazing out at the incredibly beautiful water....

... to reach a black sand beach that's everything you would expect of a beach in Hawaii.

Like many of the beaches you can see that it's not overly crowded.  The majority of people there just stood or sat down and stared in wonder at the beauty.  At this beach there is a small little cave that you duck into and have your own private show of God's creation.

After all this, we finally make it to Hana.  A cute little town with another gorgeous beach.  We drove around the town to enjoy the quaintness of it all and couldn't help but wonder what it was like to live there.  As I mentioned, it's a two hour drive on narrow, winding roads to get to this town.  A two hour drive from groceries and other necessities.  This town is the true meaning of island living.

Another 30 minutes past the town of Hana is the National Park of Haleakala.  This national park consists of a very large, dormant volcano and the seven sacred pools of Oheo.  To visit the seven pools was our ultimate goal in this drive, which is the Road to Hana.  We had heard many things about the beauty of these pools and were anxious to visit them and swim in them.  We were not disappointed.

These seven pools are fresh-water pools that drain from rain water collected high up in the mountain range of the Haleakala volcano.  The water cascades down waterfalls and collects in seven different fresh-water pools that eventually all drain into the ocean.  It was a treat to swim in the cold, clear water and drink in the beauty.

My final, take-away message for the loyal readers of this blog.  Visit Maui.... and take me as your tour guide.

Maui, Hawaii

I love Maui... loved it.  Want to live there when I retire.  Really, truly.  I loved the laid back island feel, the small number of tourists, and the very kind, wonderful people that live there.  It's a wonderful island.  I have many pictures to share of our adventures on the island, so many it could take many months to share them all; however, I'm going to try and limit them to just two postings.  Here's the first.

While in Maui, we stayed at the gorgeous Wailea Marriott hotel.  It was incredibly beautiful.  It was situated right next to the ocean and had beautiful landscaping throughout the property.  This is the front part of the hotel, right next to the open lobby.  Nothing was enclosed except the hotel rooms themselves.  It's very different from cold Utah.

This is the driveway to the hotel.  Every time we drove down this tree-lined road I would just stare in wonder at the beauty.  The picture does not do it justice.  I'm not sure what kind of trees these were but they were gorgeous.

So, the first beach we visited was called Big Beach.  It was very close to the hotel and it was lovely.  Amazing how such a lovely, fun beach could have no one around.  One of the many reasons I loved Maui.

Did some snorkeling while visiting Big Beach.  Here's my hot husband carrying all our gear... so very helpful as usual.

It was hard to leave Big Beach but we had many, many more beaches to explore.  This was just our first day afterall.

Bye beautiful beach.

After dinner our first evening, stumbled upon a gorgeous beach with no name and no one around but us.  It was incredible.... the beach and the solitude.

After a few days of enjoying the sun and fun on Maui's many beautiful beaches we decided to do a little exploring around the island and take in a luau.  If you're in Hawaii, you've got to take in a luau, right? 

So we drove around the top part of the island, enjoyed the gorgeous coast line and stumbled upon something fun for us to explore.

What fun!  A blowhole!  We took many pictures because it was actually pretty cool.  This one is my favorite of them all.  Cute little, Tori and Todd.  It was really quite incredible to watch the powerful waves slam up against the coast line and see the water come crashing through the blowhole. 

We stopped at this cove on the way to our luau and spent a good hour watching snorkelers and taking in the beauty of the beautiful blue water.

Just as we arrived at the luau it started to rain, really just a sprinkle of rain.  As soon as it cleared up we were treated to a beautiful rainbow over our luau gathering.

The luau was awesome.  Great food.... mmmmm... yummy, yummy food and incredible dancing.  They show was so much fun and well worth it.  Gorgeous ladies for Evan and some hot fire dancers for Tori.

I'll take a break here but plan to share many, more pictures of our fabulous trip to Maui.  Did I tell you I want to live there?

Did I Tell You We Went to Maui?

It was incredible.  I have so many, many beautiful pictures to share and so many wonderful things to say I don't know where to begin. 

I'll start with the view from our hotel.  Just the hotel view and location alone was breathtaking.  If you every get a chance to visit Maui... go for it!

The hotel had these gorgeous, wonderful trees that you just wanted to sit under all day.

This is Wailea beach and is just incredible.  We loved Maui for the laid-back, easy-going feel and the small number of tourists!

There was no name for this beach that we could find.  We just stopped as we were driving down the road and had to breathe in the beauty of it.

More pictures to share... so many more.

A Good Day

I recently celebrated yet another birthday.  Another year older, a few more wrinkles, more gray hairs, things sagging that shouldn't sag but I'm not complaining.  I've got a wonderful life with a beautiful family.  The best part of the day was getting this picture.

My beautiful children... how could I not be happy?

Thanks my dear children for helping your old Mom have a wonderful day.  Thanks my dear husband for spoiling me every day.  Love you!

Snow, Rain, and Sunshine

You know you're living in Utah when you wake up to snow the last week of May.  You know you're in Utah when it rains with the sun shining.  You know you're in Utah when the flowers are beautiful, vibrant, and blooming in spite of the snow, freezing temperatures, and rain.

Along with beautiful flowers we have busy, active children who are excited for the end of the school year.  Tori is starting into her softball season, which keeps us busy most nights running her to practice or watching her play.  She's a great little player and loves the sport.  She's also a cheerleader for her Jr. High School and all her practices and football games will start as she's ending softball.  This busyness is a sure sign of summer here at the Glassford house.

Evan will be finishing his freshman year in high school this year and is looking forward to his 16th birthday in two months.  We've been having him drive us around for the last six months and he's more than ready for the day he gets his drivers license. He's also looking forward to finding a summer job to keep him busy and earn him some gas money.

Spencer and Ashley have been keeping busy in their new lives also.  We miss having our Spencer around and wish we could see him more often.

So, despite the snow and rain during the month of May things are looking bright and busy for the family.  We love the beautiful flowers, green grass, and mountain views from our lovely little corner of the world.

My 23 Year Old Baby Boy

It will soon be Spencer's 23rd birthday.  It's truly hard to believe.  I look at my handsome boy and can't help but see the little two-year old cutie running around.  Has it really been 23 years since he was born?  It seems like yesterday.

My sweet Spencer deserve the best birthday ever and a wonderful year to come.  I love him for his sweet smile and easy laugh.  I love his sense of humor and musical talents... he's also quite the dancer (West Side Story style).  He's got a beautiful, inquisitive mind and an easy-going way about him.  We don't get to see him enough but we're happy that he's happy in his life. 

Love you my Baby Boy!

Graduation

I did it!  I finally graduated with my bachelor degree. April 30, 2010 was a good day, a very good day.

It was thrilling to have my family there to support me at the ceremony.  Todd and the kids have been there to support me all along.  They have been so wonderful and patient as I've plodded through the many years of classes and studying.  The many years of wondering if I would ever make it to the end..... I did. 

In addition to my family, there have been so many wonderful examples and supporters along the way.  My parents and siblings have been so sweet and encouraging.  I really appreciate the example set by my Mother and her Mother.  My sweet grandmother went back to school after having 10 children and completed her bachelor degree at the age of 50 (I beat her by just 9 years).  What a great example.

I sincerely hope that my children will take advantage of every opportunity to earn their degree and consider going beyond a bachelor degree.  What a wonderful experience.