It was the middle of December and had been pouring down rain in Portland for the past three months. But as I stepped out of the plane and into the outdoor airport, it was 85 degrees and there wasn't a drop of rain in sight. Wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, the sweatshirt quickly came off as my family and I stood in the perfect weather waiting for our rental car. When it arrived we piled in our luggage and began the hour journey to the resort. Driving through the city, I noticed that everything seemed to very relaxed. It was just like you saw in a magazine, chill surfer shops and palm trees. But as we reached the outskirts of town, all buildings began to disappear and it felt as though we were driving directly into paradise.

Peering out the window, all I could see was beautiful, clear, aqua blue ocean for miles. Every couple of minutes I would see bursts of water shoot up above the surface of the ocean from what I thought to be whales, but never really exactly figured it out. As the drive continued I was amazed by how we had emerged into a place so astonishing. We were essentially driving in the middle of nowhere, just the ocean and us. But at one point we noticed a Samoan family on the side of the road selling fruit, so we decided to stop and get our first taste of the island.

As we pulled away from the cute kiosk like stand of fruit, bearing two pineapples, a bag of mangos, and some bananas, we continued driving. About five minutes later we began seeing some little markets and had finally made it in to town. A couple more miles down the road we pulled into the resort and out came a bellboy to help us with our luggage. As the double doors opened and I stepped inside, I was taken away for a moment. There were fountains surrounded by exotic plants that I'd never seen before. The back end was fully open and there were lounge chairs as you exited. Outside there were two giant pools, a caf', and a bar. Around the pools lay about a 100 lawn chairs and bins filled with towels. There were large plants and flowers everywhere. As the sun shined down, it didn't matter how you were currently feeling at the moment, it was impossible to not be happy. Looking up, I saw a completely clear sky. The middle of December, and not a single cloud could be seen.

Throughout the next 16 days that we were there, I experienced and saw some of the most remarkable things of my life. A four hour 'Road To Hana' didn't sound very exciting at first, and along the way I actually wanted to vomit every single time we went around one of the 54 hairpin turns and one lane bridges. And as we arrived to this town 'Hana' I was beyond disappointed; the town consisted of a general store. But the stops along the way are what made it so unforgettable. The enormous waterfalls, rare birds, and black sand beaches were something that no other trip could have brought me too. Sitting at a picnic bench near one of the beaches we ate lunch and these little squirrel type things scurried around everywhere looking for any crumb that might fall. We went to about five different beaches across the island and ended up snorkeling at my favorite one. I'd never seen such colorful fish before that were all in reaching distance, though every time I tried to touch them they would scurry off quicker then they appeared. I was so many rocks that had been right below my feet all along, yet the water had been a bit to deep for me to ever even notice. It was so surreal to be able to see the underwater life, the things that had all along been right beneath every time you were in the ocean.

But after two weeks of adventures in paradise, two weeks of seeing things that I would have never seen otherwise, I'd realized what the most wonderful thing about the trip was. There was nothing better then laying by the pool sipping on a virgin strawberry margarita and just relaxing, then running into the warm ocean that was no more then 20 feet away from the pool; nothing was better then this. Standing in the ocean with the warm sand between my toes and the waves crashing against me, I never wanted to leave. So many breathtaking places, but nothing was better then a relaxing day in Maui, Hawaii in the middle of December.