I finally linked our trip to Hawaii on my main photo page, something I probably should have done a long time ago. Every time I look at the photo index I think: what a pain in the ass. Once this Newgrounds redesign is released and I don’t mind staring at a computer screen during my free time I really ought to rethink my whole album setup. The slideshow feature might be neat as an option, but as an index page it just plain sucks especially now that the number of albums is growing. Updating isn’t terribly difficult — it’s just a pain from a user standpoint and something I’m increasingly embarassed about. Just one more thing to tack onto my list.

O ur final day in the gorgeous state of Hawaii was short and sweet. We woke up, caught our short flight back to Honolulu, checked in for the next leg and took a bus to the mall near Aloha Tower. There we bought some last-minute souvenirs and enjoyed a final meal at Gordon Biersch.

It was only after Dia pointed out the Hooters restaurant nearby that we realized our vacation had come full circle: The boat where Jeff held his wedding reception was moored right around the corner from where we were having lunch. It may sound corny, but the revelation made me all warm and fuzzy inside, like only then was it indeed finally time to go home.

And so we did.

That brings to an end this little chronology. Hope it was as fun for anyone reading this as it was for me to remember it all. (And for anyone counting, I kept about half of the photos I took, 527 from the original set of one thousand, of which 244 were posted. I usually only post around 15 percent of my pictures, so I’m either getting a much better or a lot less selective.)

I t’s a shame that the part of Haleakala (pronounced Holly-AHK-ah-lah) National Park we got to see on our last day wasn’t more photographic. Sure, beautiful views surrounded us throughout the day, but as a group this batch of photos was a little disappointing. Although the landscapes were unlike anything I’d ever seen they were a little monotonous when pictured one after another; and the sun washed the details from most of the portraits. Being above the clouds has its drawbacks, I guess.

There’s not much to say about our day since its pretty clear where we were all day: on, around, and in the dormant volcano that rises 10,000 feet above the beaches of Maui. (It kind of puts the measly six thousand feet of Mount Washington into perspective, doesn’t it?). We drove to the top and all the easy viewing spots and information centers, then strapped on our backpacks and more than enough water for a three-hour hike into the crater itself. It’s so vast that we only had enough time and energy to see one of the eruption sites. The hike was well worth it — we thought we had a clear picture of what the inside would look like from above but we had no idea how wrong we were. It was a humbling experience being a mile inside the barren landscape, lost in a sea of rock while floating above the clouds. We were also lucky enough to be alone for much of the hike, since most of the tourists were content to look on from their wheelchair-accessible viewing areas several hundred feet above us. At the other end of the spectrum, two of the hikers we passed along the way were blind children setting out on a several-day hike through the park with their parents.

While the part of Haleakala that interested us was largely a barren wasteland, just outside the rim of the crater is a lush rainforest (in fact, the area including the famed Road to Hana) that I would love to explore the next time I find myself in Hawaii with a few extra days I can devote to hiking. Under the circumstances I was more than content with the amount of hiking we did, but the more I look back and think about our vacation the more I realize I could do without beaches altogether and focus solely on camping for my next trip (if that were an option).

After our strenous hike over loose rock and sand to escape the crater, we relished a relaxing drive down the mountain road. We were able to summon enough strength for one more hike in Hosmer’s Grove, an experimental forest where its namesake tested growing different types of trees to help the islands lumber industry. It was ultimately a failure, but there’s are a few odd acres of unusually large trees that still grow there.

Our final surge of energy was no doubt fueled by our realization that we would be flying home the next day and it was our last few hours to experience anything out of the ordinary before returning to normal life on the mainland. The rest of the day was largely uneventful, spent simply enjoying each other’s company while eating dinner and packing.

M aui’s most famous road is deserving of its reputation. The breathtaking and varied views inspired me more than any other portion of our vacation. Proof of this lies in over 170 pictures from our daylong drive along the coast, and the fact that I kept over half of them is testimony to the gorgeous, photography-friendly weather.

There isn’t a whole to the story that the photos don’t already tell. We woke up shortly after sunrise to beat the tourist train we were warned might ruin our day. Even after stopping at three different spots in the first hour we didn’t hit anything that I would consider traffic; it may have gotten heavier as the day progressed but we weren’t in any rush so it’s possible we simply didn’t notice.

We hopped in and out of our red Jeep too many times to count. We hiked a lot, first following clues to an out-of-the-way waterfall and then along a nature trail farther down the road. We grudgingly paid to drive inside an arboretum at Dia’s insistence and were immediately glad we did; it was extremely well maintained and boasts of great views — including that of the rock filmed in the opening sequence of Jurassic Park — did not disappoint. Continuing on, we stopped at parks and waterfalls and drove through sleepy little towns.

After stopping for a quick roadside barbecue lunch we journeyed on in search of a place to relax for the rest of the day. No matter where we went, however, the grass always promised to be greener at the next stop. So we continued to sightsee our way to a park with caves to explore, a private cove with kids jumping from a rocks 20 feet above the water, and finally the Seven Sacred Pools in Oheo Gulch. It wasn’t until hiking along the Pipiwai Trail that we realized just how tired we were and how unlikely we were to find a relaxing beach or pool without throngs of people nearby.

It was getting late anyway so we continued our loop around the island and made our way back to the other side of Haleakala for dinner. The road past Hana, while not as lush or populated, has a beauty of its own, and this part of the drive through desert landscapes and cattle country had me entranced until the sun went down. We had a quick dinner at Serpico’s (a pizza joint opened by a guy from New Jersey) before a few games of Uno and sleep.

T his group of pictures — while some of the most beautiful — are a little depressing because they marked our departure with Steve. We packed all our luggage into the Jeep and managed to squeeze ourselves in along with it for our trip to the airport. After saying our goodbyes Alex, Dia, and I caught our flight to Maui.

We were all a little disappointed with our room since it was a major step down from our hotel on the Big Island, so disappointed in fact that it caused some tension and delayed our adventures on the island for about an hour until we chilled out and worked up a game plan. After a sushi lunch at one of the many restaurants named Ichiban, we hopped in the jeep and made the 15 minute drive to the other side of the island and started exploring beaches. The first was gorgeous and deserted but too close to the road to be good for much more than pictures. We pressed on and came across a popular surfing area but the nearby outfits had already closed shop for the day. Finally, we came across one of the many public beaches and unwound.

Even after spending a few hours at the beach we still had some time to kill before dinner. We pretty worn out from spending the afternoon in the sun and weren’t really outfitted for hiking, but we were energized enough for a walk along the public path along the beaches of the high-end resorts. This is where most of this batch of photos were taken.

Finally, after we could walk no more we drove to the trendy shopping district for dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. We walked around (and managed not to buy anything) until our meter ran out at which point we returned to our room and crashed.