Back to "reality!"

Well folks, we unfortunately have to wrap up our time in Hawaii because like all great things it must come to an end. Our last full day in Hawaii was a pretty chill day. I got up super early (around 5:15am) to see the sunrise over the ocean by our hotel. Holy cow, it was unbelievable. Once the sun was up and shining I went back to the room to wake Amanda up and to get ready for the day. Now I was not so mean to just wake her up at 6am. Our lovely neighbor did that for me because he loves talking to his girlfriend in the bathroom that is right next to our room on speakphone. Needless to say, Amanda was already awake. We got ready and went to the Farmer's Market in hopes of getting this famed white pineapple that many people have talked about. Unfortunately for us, they didn't have any that day and we couldn't find them anywhere else. One of the guides at ziplining was the first to tell us about them and he did mention that if people did have them they rarely give them up. That may have been the case this time, I don't really know. Well anyways, after that we were so bummed we decided to release our frustrations by tanning :) We went to the beach (of lava) and layed out for literally only 30 minutes. I was already pretty sunburnt that I didn't want it to get worse. However, with the little time we spent there, we did lay out directly on the lava with all the little crabs next to us haha. Like I said, after about 30 minutes we called it quits and got ready for everything else.

Since we got to the zoo with only 15 minutes before they closed we thought it best to go back and experience the free zoo and gardens! For being free, it was actually a pretty remarkable zoo. It didn't have the typical elephants, giraffes, rhinos, etc. However, it did have a white Bengal tiger, lots of monkeys and birds indigenous to tropical areas like Hawaii. It was actually quite beautiful and I made a friend, Zoey. Zoey is a blue parrot who was trying to eat my frappe and was just a more social and active bird. The zoo took us about an hour and then we decided to go to the Mauna Loa Macademia Nut Factory. Again another free attraction (though there isn't much to it either), we walked the windows of the factory that looked like it was under renovations and pretty much just hung out in the gift shop trying to decide if I wanted to buy tons of macademia nuts because I love them. I didn't buy any because I really just wanted to walk through the nut trees and pick up fresh ones to crack myself. That didn't happen either though because Amanda was driving and wouldn't stop the car haha. I guess it will have to wait until my next trip to Hawaii. After that, our day and energy was pretty much spent. We had dinner and we packed up all of our stuff to get ready for the long flight home.

Once back on the mainland I started thinking about everything we did and saw in Hawaii. It seriously is like a whole other country (though I know its not, just in case you thought I didn't haha). It was beautiful and there are so much more things I would love to do that will have to wait. That's the main point of my title, since Hawaii was so different, the climate so perfect, it was hard to think about being anywhere else. But we got off the plane, back into the traditionally cold and rainy Seattle, to the snow storms that are bound to happen and to the unpredictability of our trip, that is our reality. But I can guarantee you one thing...I will be making my way back to Hawaii and hopefully traveling to the other islands as well to get the real grasp of that state!

We get back so late that we go straight to the hotel and go to bed, or at least attempt to. The next morning was meant to for Yellowstone but after realizing the drive was going to 10 hours or more we decided to make a pit stop half way. Moscow (pronounced Moscoe not Moscow like the city in Russia), ID!! Vickie (a friend of ours that used to work with us) lives there now with her sister and why not go visit her. But before arriving there I just want to point out that Idaho and eastern Washington are not known for its potatoes because I was actually kind of excited to see potato farms. There are known for wheat! Miles and miles and miles of wheat, that to me, looked like grass. At some points it was pretty, but after a while it gets redundant haha. Clearly I'm not a farming type girl so this type of setting is not my most favorable. Anyways, we arrived in Moscow, ID and walked around the town (which took about 10 minutes, it's really small but quaint). We ate dinner at this Chinese restaurant that Vickie says is amazing and then just watched a movie back at her place. It was a relaxing afternoon which was perfect because Amanda and I were still very much dealing with jetlag.

The next morning was really hard to wake up early, but we had to in order to get to Yellowstone early enough. Vickie, being amazing, made us breakfast...gigantic chocolate chip pancake and eggs! It was fantastic, 10 times better than when I tried making pancakes, just ask Amanda! While Amanda was getting ready I checked the weather of Yellowstone. Mother Nature struck again! Yellowstone had started getting snow that previous night and was continuing to get snow that day, about 4-6 inches of snow. Roads had already started closing and they say be prepared with chains and 4 wheel drive cars. Well we didn't have either of those, so unfortunately, Yellowstone National Park and the Great Tetons will have to wait for another visit because there was no way I wanted to be driving into the snow storm. We had to think of an alternate plan. Finally, we decided to go back towards Cheyenne, WY (where Araina's parents live) and just stop somewhere to sleep and finish the rest of the trip the next morning. Well, after driving through snow storms in Montana and rain in Wyoming and being in the car for about 12 hours we thought why not go straight there, what's another 4 or 5 hours :( So we did it, we drove (and it really was both of us, I drove about 6 or 7 hours of the trip which is phenomenal for me) the entire way to Cheyenne getting in at around 1am.

Well that's where we stand now. A couple days in perfect serenity in Cheyenne, getting over jet lag and getting our lives re-organized from Hawaii because we haven't had time since we got back. The trip is quickly coming to an end and I think about it and I wonder where did 2 and a half months go??? We have a few more places still, but it's crazy to think that we actually did it. Sometimes I wonder if it's all a dream, did it really happen? Then I look back at our pictures and know that this was definitely not a dream, but possibly the most outrageous and memorable thing of my young adult life :) You will hear from us soon, but until then bye guys!

Nadeen