Historic Philly and Valley Forge Weekend Trip

Back in October, my dad cashed in his Christmas gift certificate for a weekend trip to historic sites in Philly and Valley Forge. We had gorgeous weather, especially Saturday when we were in downtown Philadelphia. Sunday in Valley Forge was a bit colder, and unfortunately I didn't take any photos of that day. But here's some cool pics from Saturday.

Independence Hall

PA Supreme Court Chamber in Independence Hall

Assembly Room in Independence Hall - where Continental Congress declared Independence, and where the Constitution was debated and signed. 

George Washington Statue in front of Independence Hall

Congress Hall, House of Representatives Chamber

Congress Hall, Senate Chamber

Liberty Bell

We also toured the National Constitution Center there in downtown Philadelphia, where we happened to find a piece of York!

All in all, a wonderful trip exploring Philly and immersing ourselves in history!

Daytona Beach 2018

This past September, my dad and I spent most of a week at a condo complex in Daytona Beach for the first of hopefully many visits. It was a timeshare, this week being my parents' technically, although we stayed in my aunt and uncle's unit this year. I also bought a week in May starting this next year, so something to look forward to.

Our trip was partially a working vacation, so we worked Tuesday and Wednesday, but that left Saturday evening, Sunday, and Thursday morning for exploring and enjoying the beach, and we took a trip on Monday to Kennedy Space Center!

That was a fun day trip, even when the bus got stuck on the side of the road due to a wide load coming through! I didn't remember the space center at all from my childhood, so I was in awe at some of the exhibits, especially the space shuttle Atlantis.

I really look forward to this trip in the future, the September week matches up with some cousins, so it was nice to see some distant family who we don't see often. And although I prefer mountains and lakes, walking a quiet, offseason beach isn't too bad! 😜

Day 10 - Exploring Lahaina and Overnight Flight Home

On our final day, a couple of us (not me) went snorkeling at Black Rock again. Then we spent the morning packing everything up. And take some last pictures from our lanai.

Once we checked out, we decided to spend the rest of our time exploring Lahaina some more until we had to head to the airport. Of course, I decided to get a henna tattoo in honor of the three green sea turtles we just saw.

Then off to the airport for the long overnight flight home. Losing time at night was definitely tough, it took the rest of the weekend to recover.

All in all, it was a wonderful vacation to Hawaii! I honestly didn't want it to end, it was just so gorgeous and carefree. I'll definitely cherish the memories from this trip! Here's one last sunset picture for you!

💜🌴🌅

Day 9 - Surfing and Snorkeling at Black Rock

On Thursday, we added a surfing lesson for three of us! Because where else to learn to surf than Hawaii?! We were all beginners, but after a couple attempts each, we all were able to stand up for longer than a couple seconds!

 We even got surftificates!!

After a short break, we took the afternoon to properly explore the Maui Ocean Center. We saw lots of fish, eels, sharks, turtles and rays.

 

 

 

 

After another rest, we decided to go down the beach and check out the snorkeling at Black Rock. That was probably the best snorkeling we had! The coral wasn't as bright as other locations, but we saw lots of fish, some eels, and even 3 green sea turtles! Definitely a cool way to spend our last evening in Hawaii!

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Day 8 - Snorkeling Boat Trip to Molokini and Coral Gardens

On Wednesday, we took a boat trip to two different snorkeling sites. The first was Molokini, a mostly submerged volcanic crater. The exposed land here is actually a bird sanctuary with Frigatebirds. When we first approached, there wasn't space for our boat to moor, so we took a trip all the way around it! Then we were able to moor and jump in!

 There were lots of coral and pretty fish at this location. Next, we took a trip back to Maui and along the west coast to a site called Coral Gardens. This was a really impressive location. The coral was super bright and we even saw a couple green sea turtles!! No pictures of that though, sorry!

When we got back to the wharf, we walked back the car past this cool wooden sculpture of a whale!

 Then we decided to take an hour or so to check out the Maui Ocean Center, an aquarium that was right next door. We caught the naturalist talk at the turtles and then the scuba diving talk in the shark and ray tank!

 After returning to the condo for a quick rest, we caught the pretty sunset from our condo building!

 And then walked around the Whaler Village shopping center, where there was a hula show.

By then we were pretty tired, so we headed back for another early bedtime. Early to bed, early to rise was definitely the theme of this vacation!

💜🛥🌴

Day 7 - Road to Hana and Hike to Waimoku Falls

On Tuesday, we got up early to explore the Road to Hana and beyond! The Road to Hana was a super curvy, mostly cliffside road around the north east side of Maui with lots of one-lane bridges. I'm glad I wasn't driving! We of course made a couple stops, which is mostly the whole point of the trip. Hana is just a small town on the eastern side of Maui. One of our first stops was at an arboretum that had all sorts of trees from tropical places. The stand of Rainbow Eucalyptus was definitely my favorite.

 Another main stop for us was at Waianapanapa State Park to see the black sand beach and rocky coastline at Pa'iloa Bay.

 

Our furthest stop on the road before turning around was to hike the Pipiwai Trail to see Waimoku Falls. Along the trail was this cool Banyan tree.

 

And at the end of the 2 mile hike was the gorgeous Waimoku Falls, 400' tall!! Not as much water as I expected, but pretty nonetheless!

 On the way back, we stopped one last time to find the Red Sand Beach in Hana. We didn't hike the whole way to the main beach, since the trail was kind of just a rock scramble. But we found this little cove that had reddish sand!

It was starting to get dark as well, so we made the trip back to our condo mostly in the dark. On to the next adventure!

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Day 6 - Snorkeling and a Luau

On Monday, slept a little later than yesterday, but we had another island breakfast orientation. After that we decided to drive up the coast and see what we could find by snorkeling from the beach. it was pretty neat, there were corals right up to the shore at a lot of places. First we went up to Kapalua Beach/Bay and went snorkeling a couple times each. I actually broke the strap on my mask before even getting started, but Dad luckily brought his old mask, so there was an extra for me to use.
In the water, we saw lots of colorful fish, I didn't take any pictures, sorry!
We tried going around the point to Napili Bay, expecting to maybe see some turtles, but weren't impressed with that reef.
That evening, we went to a luau, which was really cool. They opened up the underground oven (imu in hawaiian) and got the kalua pig out. We enjoyed a buffet hawaiian feast and the hula performers.

They shared the Hawaiian culture with us, so it was very interesting. Then back to the condo for another kinda early bedtime.

💜💮🌴

Day 5 - Haleakala Sunrise and Exploring Lahaina

Sunday was a super early morning, as we planned on seeing the sunrise from the summit of Haleakala, the larger mountain/volcano. There was some discrepancy in the travel time, so we got up at 2am to make the drive up, and ended up there a little earlier than needed. Luckily the peak of the Perseid meteours was this weekend, so we caught some of those! It was also freezing up there (10,000 feet) and I wasn't quite prepared for that! But the sunrise was gorgeous, especially since we were above the clouds!

 We saw first light (kind of a glow at the horizon) for awhile before the actual sun peaked out. And of course a cloud blocked it for just a bit. It was so cool to see it come over the horizon and clouds though!

 After the sun came up, we warmed up in the car a bit, and then ventured a bit further up to the summit!

 I actually got a bit dizzy inside the building up there (it was warm maybe? idk),  but the view was cool. Down the road you could see the nearby observatory.

Definitely worth the trip up, next time I'd prefer to have warmer clothes and maybe some more blankets. After we were cold enough and had enjoyed the view enough, we headed back to the condo to rest. Later, we took some time to explore Lahaina (oh and the Pokemon community day 😁). In the middle of the original part of the town was this old, enormous Banyan tree. Super cool, branches grow downwards and form new trunks for the tree to grow. There is basically a little park all under this one giant tree.

 We ended the day with another pretty sunset!!

On to tomorrow!!

💜🌄🌴