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Emily
and I together with my parents took a two week family vacation
in Hawaii in December 2000.
We
arrived in Honolulu, Oahu, the state capital, and spent two days
on this island. We watched sunset at the beautiful Waikiki beach,
visited the famous USS Arizona Memorial at the Pearl Harbor, learned
about the Polynesian cultures and enjoyed their traditional singing
and dancing at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and had fun in
the largest maze on earth at the Dole Plantation.
We
left Oahu on the third day and flew to Kona, Hawaii (commonly
called "the Big Island".) The highlight there was the
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Inside the park, there are two
of the world's most active volcanoes, Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Both
are spectacular yet reasonably safe to watch during eruptions,
and still interesting and beautiful when not erupting. We were
all greatly impressed by the sight of the Kilauea Caldera and
its active lava rifts.
After
spending a week in Hawaii, our next stop was Maui where we were
going to spend the last five days of our trip. There We spent
a lot of time enjoying the warm sunny weather and snorkling in
the beautiful beaches in Kaanapali and Wailea. However it was
a trip to Molokini, an almost completely submerged volcano just
160 ft above the sea on the south west of Maui island, gave us
the best snorkeling experience we ever had. Other than underwater
exploration, we also drove up 10,000 ft to the Science City built
on the summit of the Haleakala ("House of the Sun")
National Park. Walking up there made us feel like we were walking
in the clouds.
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