Peace Out Hawaii

So yesterday was kind of my last day in Hawaii. I leave tomorrow morning at 6am to go to the airport so technically tomorrow is my last day but really today is. Buuut seeing how today is Sunday and you can't really do jack (especially when all your friends have left already), yesterday was kind of my last day. Tara was supposed to be on my same flight but she decided last minute to go to school in Provo for the summer so she changed her flight to the Thursday before. Even more last minute she decided that she wasn't going to school any more but our original flight was already full so she wasn't able to change it back. Everyone else I knew took off Friday. The point of my rambling is that I've spent my last weekend in Hawaii alone, and as they say in The Little Mermaid "that is very boring." Yesterday I hit up some of our favorites spots - sunset beach, matsumoto's shaved ice, sunset again, and ted's bakery. While at matsumoto's I ran into the Pickards, man did I look like a loner. I was like "I swear I have friends..." Anyway, these past two months have been incredible. I came here expecting to spend two months laying on breathtaking beaches, but it turns out laying on the beach was one of our less frequent activities. Tara and I made a list of the things we've done here but there are over 60 things on it, so I'll just have to share with you a few highlights.

Baptisms at the Laie Temple - I don't know how many temples are like this, but the baptismal is located directly in the center...weird...Tara and I made a wrong turn and almost walked into a session. Talk about awkward...

We both learned to play a few songs on the Ukelele and for me who is not exactly musically inclined that is quite a feat.

We ate Matsumoto's shaved ice, Hukilou cafe's banana pankakes, and Ted's Bakery's carrot cake - these places are legendary around here and if you ever get the chance to eat at them you'll know why.

Jumped off lots of cliffs. The one I'm jumping off in the picture is the rock at Waimea bay.

Snuck into World War II Bunkers which now house props from all the movies filmed on Oahu, like Jurassic Park and such.

Hiked Stairway to Heaven. I'm not sure exactly how to explain this hike to you. It is basically a staircase that goes up along the side of a very very large mountain, and keeps going so far that as you're hiking it you feel like its actually the stairway to hell. It's closed off now and may or may not be legal to do. What you're seeing in the picture is not the top, by any means. It's not even the first platform, which there are 5 of before you reaching the top.

Rented mopeds in Waikiki with a group of 16 of our friends and spent the day riding them up the coast line. You'll see a in the picture a chunk of our group leaving costco where we stopped for lunch.

I wish I could tell you guys about everything I've done but that would take far too long. It's funny to me to think that at one point I was in it for the tan, because it didn't take long for that to become one of the least of my concerns. Everyday I was doing something new and incredible and that's what I'm going to miss most about Hawaii - the adventures I had and the people I had them with. Just to warn you, if I post any blogs in the next couple weeks they may be various combinations of sad, depressing, and extremely negative but hopefully you all willl understand why. The transition from Hawaii to the mainland won't be any easy one, in fact the only thing getting me on that airplane tomorrow (aside from the desperate plee of my bank account) is knowing that I'm headed to California and not Utah.