HAWAII - Average Day and *Ziplining In The Rain Forest on April 21st*

Hello everyone. So much for my so-called "daily" updates, I have found that a lot of the time I either don't have the time or the energy to sit down and concentrate on updating after my long and busy days.

As a quick overview, an average day for me in Hawaii (one in which we are not doing anything specific like going on some touristy excursion) I am up at 6am and usually in bed by 9 or 10. Unlike at home I wake up this early naturally and am completely ready to start my day; it must be the fresh ocean air or something....at home you couldn't pay me enough to actually be happy about getting up before noon.

Anyways, I found out that getting such and fresh and early start makes my days seem a lot longer (imagine that!!). Once the whole family is up and we've all eaten breakfast, the three of us often head over to the farmer's market that goes on Wednesday to Sunday every week. From there, we sometimes wander from store to store along Ali'i drive and grab some lunch at one of the many restaurants on the strip, or sometimes my mom and I will head into the ocean and go snorkeling for a few hours. Although my days are longer, they still go by fast so with shopping, snorkeling, eating, and wandering around town we are all usually ready to come back to the resort and relax in the hot tub and pool for a little while and then slide into bed.

Other days, we do special activities like the luau, or go on day trips to different places on the island like the volcano tour, going to the City of Refuge, or going to the Captain Cook Monument; unfortunately I forgot my camera at the resort when we visited the monument.
On Tuesday of last week, my mom, my Aunt Shirley and I went on a day trip north up the island to the coastal town of Hawi (pronounced Ha-vee) to go ziplining. We arrived just before 1pm and got suited up.

My mom, aunt, and I in our harnesses and helmets, ready to go!

This is one of the
6 wheel drive ex-army
vehicles that the tour
company uses to get people
up the mountain to where
the zips are.
(As well as my aunt's
boyfriend's finger at
the top of the picture)

We started on the smallest zipline, about 50ft across and 10ft above the rain forest floor. From there we did short hikes through a rain forest with lush underbrush and a soaring tree canopy between each of the next seven zips.
As well as ziplines that stretch across bigger and bigger gorges and waterfalls, there was also a hand-carved bridge over a small waterfall and a larger suspension bridge above a rushing river.

My mom crossing the
wobbly suspension bridge.

My aunt gliding over one of
the mid-size valleys on the sixth zip.

Here I am coming for a landing and just about to be slowed down by one of our two guides.

Our trip took four hours altogether including lunch and the drives into and out of the zipline site on the impossibly rough mountain roads, and it was another great experience!