June

In 2018 my sister found out that she would be travelling to Hawaii for work, but unfortunately would be working long hours there, doing energy efficiency audits for hotels. This meant multiple things, free hotels, free nice hotels, and her husband (who of course invited himself) wouldn't have anyone to hang with most of the time. Insert me to save the day. According to my famously reliable memory, I was asked by them to come on the trip to be a travel buddy for him, to which I graciously accepted. But since this was my first time to Hawaii and I didn't know when I would be returning, I decided to fly down ahead of them and stay a bit after to see as much as I could.

I started on Big Island (which is actually named Hawaii but they don't call it that because it causes confusion) and jumped right into a hike to Waimanu Valley where I camped on the edge of a beach and explored the valley during the day. After I hiked out, I swapped the ocean for the snowy summit of Mauna Kea that was just under 14k feet with numerous observatories. My last stop on the island was Volcanoes National Park, but I didn't get to see any lava so it was a bit underwhelming. From Kona on Big Island, I flew to my next island: Kauai. Kauai is the island that everyone see on TV, having been featured in Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Avatar, Lost, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Through couchsurfing I was able to meet up with a local and some other travelers and spent the next few days touring the island, going on hikes, and swimming under waterfalls. My sister and her husband eventually arrived and I had several hikes lined up to take them on. After an easy stroll through a jungle to a waterfall, we drove up to Waimea Canyon to get to the Nā Pali Coast, the iconic Hawaiian coastline where steep green mountain ridges descend right into the blue waters of the Pacific. Before the predicted rain came, we took the Nualolo trail to a great viewpoint and continued hopping between overlooks enjoying sporadic views between rain clouds and rainbows. I forgot to mention earlier - if there's one thing you see in Hawaii it's rainbows. There's one on the license plate for a reason. I think I saw at least 5 a day on average, if not more.

On our way back from the Nā Pali coast we spent more time along Waimea Canyon, also known as the Green Grand Canyon or the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. Fortunately for me, when we stopped at the main canyon overlook, a rainbow presented itself perfectly overtop of the canyon and I was well positioned to capture it before it faded. I think it was one of four rainbow pictures I was able to capture that day.