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Island Hopping on a Budget

Back when we lived on the Mainland, we used to go on weekend trips every month. We constantly had a list of places we wanted to visit, and whenever the opportunity struck we would simply pack up the car and go. We were able to go up to 4 days spending money only on the cost of gas — we could camp for free, hike and explore in the wilderness for free, and would bring food we already had from home. It was only a matter of finding the time.

These days, we don’t have much time off to travel — but it’s probably for the better, considering how expensive it is to get off this island. However, we decided to make traveling to all of the Hawaiian islands that we can visit a priority because it’s never going to be cheaper or easier than it is now.

In this post, I’ll outline the ways that we save money while island hopping, and share how much we spend to give an idea of how much you can expect to spend on a similar trip.

First, a few disclaimers: We are are currently living on Oahu and are in the military, so we take advantage of Hawaii resident and military discounts whenever we can. Also, when we travel, we spend basically our entire time hiking and exploring in nature, which is typically free or very cheap. We always opt to do things on our own rather than with a tour company. Our trips are usually only a few days long, so we pack them full of things we know are unique to each island and spend very little time relaxing, dining out or drinking.

Flights

The first big up-front cost for island hopping is plane tickets — this expense is pretty unavoidable! During our first year of living in Hawaii, Hawaiian Airlines was basically the only way to fly between the islands. There were smaller companies such as Mokulele, but they were typically just as expensive if not more and had limited flight options. Now, Southwest Airlines has come to the islands and provided a little extra competition, so the prices aren’t quite as bad.

It helps to be flexible with dates and travel at non-peak times. We usually take the earliest flight out at 5am and return on the latest flight, around 10-11pm depending on the island. The best deal we’ve gotten was $35 per person one way to Maui, with tickets purchased a month in advance during a Black Friday sale. Besides that trip, we don’t always know if we will be able to take our planned leave, so we usually wait until the last minute to buy tickets, which can account for why those trips were so expensive.

Here’s what we’ve spent on flights for two people, round trip:

Maui (January 2018) $290
Kauai (August 2018) $316
Big Island (December 2018) $318
Maui (January 2020) $220 ($70 for one-way from Oahu to Maui, $150 for one-way Lanai to Oahu)

Driving around the entire Eastern side of Maui

Rental Cars/Transportation

For our style of travel, having a rental car is usually the best way to get around, so this has been another necessary expense when island hopping. Each of the islands has a bus system, but the buses don’t always go to all the places we want to visit. For example, there is no bus route for Haleakala on Maui, or Waimea Canyon and Koke’e State Park on Kauai, which are must-sees in our opinion. Not to mention we’d spend extra time waiting for the bus and stopping frequently, and all of our trips have had little flexibility on time.

Because we rarely ever rented cars on the mainland, I can’t say exactly how these compare, just that we think it’s way too expensive. Maybe if we tried Turo or something like that we could find something cheaper, but we’re all about convenience and reliability when taking these short trips.

It’s important to note that when planning vacations during peak seasons (summer, spring break, and around the holidays in December) you should always make sure rentals are available on the island you’re visiting when you book plane tickets. (This may work the same for hotels, but we wouldn’t know!)

Maui (January 2018, 3 days) $209
Kauai (August 2018, 3 days) $198
Big Island (December 2018, 6 days) $251
Maui (January 2020, 2 days) $170

Sleeping in the cabins on Mauna Loa in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Lodging

After paying for the flights and rental car, we can usually get away with a pretty budget friendly vacation all thanks to camping. We pack our small 2 person tent and compact sleeping bags into backpacking backpacks which make for large carry-ons, but since the earliest and latest flights of the day are usually pretty empty, we’ve never had a problem. However, I heard that Southwest gives you one free checked bag, which is another great way to bring your camping gear.

When camping, your main options are national parks, state parks, and county parks. We’ve never tried camping outside of those areas because we’d rather pay and receive permits up front than get caught or fined for camping somewhere we’re not supposed to.

Unfortunately, there really isn’t such thing as a budget hotel here. When we used to stay in hotels on the mainland, we’d just book a Red Roof Inn or Super 8 for $40-$70. Here, it’s nearly impossible to find a decent place for less than $100 a night. You’re more likely to spend >$200 a night at a resort. AirBnBs do exist on the islands, however they are currently illegal on Oahu and in certain areas of other islands so do some research to make sure your rental is legitimate!

If you’re military, there are additional lodging options on most of the islands where you can stay, such as cabins in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We’ve never done this, but check out the Facebook group Island Hopping for Military to see other people’s recommendations. (This is also a great source for finding out where you can get other military discounts!)

Here’s what we’ve spent while camping:

Maui (January 2018, 2 nights) $0 — camped for free in Haleakala National Park
Kauai (August 2018, 2 nights) $16 — one night in Waimea Canyon for $13, one night at Salt Pond county park for $3 (which could have been free had we both used military/HI IDs. Normally it’s $3 per person, per night.)
Big Island (December 2018, 5 nights) $30 — Three nights with a backpacking permit in Hawaii Volcanoes for $10, two nights in a walk-up campsite for $20.
Maui (January 2020, 3 nights) $10 — camped for free in Haleakala National Park for 2 nights, $10 to camp in Papalaua State Wayside Park ($5 per person, per night for HI residents; $10 for non-HI residents).

Additional information about camping can be found on these websites:

Camping in Haleakala National Park: https://www.nps.gov/hale/planyourvisit/drive-up-camping.htm

Backpacking in Haleakala National Park: https://www.nps.gov/hale/planyourvisit/wilderness-camping.htm

Camping in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: https://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/camp.htm

Backpacking in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: https://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/hike_bc.htm

Camping in State Parks (Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, Molokai, Oahu): https://camping.ehawaii.gov/camping/welcome.html;jsessionid=9553153D7D9425CFCBA83A10E5FD3FB8.lana (map of campgrounds on each island found here: https://camping.ehawaii.gov/camping/all,e-search.html)

Camping in County Parks:
Hawaii: https://hawaiicounty.ehawaii.gov/camping/welcome.html;jsessionid=4AB9BCA208B9EB98DC99FC27C8C5181F.lana
Kauai: https://www.kauai.gov/Camping
Maui: https://www.mauicounty.gov/409/Camping-Sites
Oahu (Honolulu County): https://camping.honolulu.gov

No, we did not eat this chicken — I just don’t have pictures of things we have eaten while island hopping!

Food

When we first arrive on any island, we first stop at Walmart to grab food for the majority of our trip. We’ll usually go out for a meal or two while traveling, but like to save money by preparing most of it on our own. We keep it pretty simple: oatmeal for breakfast, peanut butter sandwiches or tortillas for snacks/lunch, and canned soup or instant rice or noodles for dinner. Yes, there are plenty of delicious foods you should try when visiting the islands such as garlic shrimp, poke, kalua pork, and malsadas, but since we live on Oahu we have enjoyed all of these over time.

I’ll break down costs between Walmart stops and restaurants here. In case you’re curious, our favorite restaurant while island hopping has been Killer Tacos in Kona (which actually happens to be a Hawaiian chain). Some day I’ll write a separate post about our favorite restaurants on Oahu.

Walmart/Groceries:

Maui (January 2018, 3 days) $7 — We planned ahead for this trip and brought most of our food from home!
Kauai (August 2018, 3 days) $18
Big Island (December 2018, 6 days) $65 — This vacation required 2 Walmart trips, and the second happened right after we finished backpacking Mauna Loa when we were feeling calorie starved. After doing our shopping, we also picked up a pizza and ate the whole thing while driving to our campsite. Calorie starved indeed!
Maui (January 2020, 4 days) $33

Restaurants:

Maui (January 2018) $50 (One nice dinner at Da Kitchen in Kahului. We recommend the fried tempura spam musubi appetizer!)
Kauai (August 2018) $65 (two lunches at Paina Pono Cafe and Tiki Tacos, an iced drink from a McDonalds on a hot day, and two pieces of Lilikoi chiffon pie from Hamura Saimin in Lihue)
Big Island (December 2018) $57 (The aforementioned pizza in Hilo and Killer Tacos in Kona)
Maui (January 2020) $45 (two lunches at Jawz in Kihei and Plantation Grindz in Kahului, and a half-dozen donuts at Krispy Kremes in Kahului, the only Krispy Kreme in all of Hawaii!)

The only attraction we’ve paid to see — Iao Needle

Attractions/Entertainment

When you search ‘things to do on ___ island,’ you’ll likely find plenty of tours or paid excursions you can enjoy on said island. What you decide you want to see and do is completely up to you and your budget; for us, our favorite thing to do is hike, and we prefer to do so on our own. Maybe we’re missing out by not taking boat or helicopter tours, but we’ve never regretted skipping those in favor of taking the path less traveled. I knew we were frugal in this regard, however I was still shocked to realize the most we’ve ever paid to see or do anything is a $5 fee to visit Iao Valley on Maui. However, if we didn’t have a national parks pass, then fees to visit Haleakala and Hawaii Volcanoes National Parks would fall in this category. But even if we didn’t have the pass, we’d gladly pay the fees and support our national parks because both of these are absolutely worth seeing!

Taking the ferry from Maui to Lanai

Other

Here’s just a random run-down of other expenses we had while traveling. All of these expenses were explained in our post about our third day of vacation on Maui in January 2020.

Ferry to Lanai: $50 (one way for 2 people, including HI resident discount) This was so worth doing, and less expensive than flying to and from Lanai from Oahu.
Bus: $8 (for two one-day passes on Maui)
Lyft: $21
Taxi: $20 ($10 per person for a ride on Lanai)

Closing Thoughts

You’ll notice that Oahu isn’t on here — we never vacationed here before moving to the island, so we never experienced it as tourists. But I’d imagine that if we lived on another island and visited here, we would still just do lots of hiking for free, and take the USS Arizona Memorial tour for free. Camping on this island has never appealed to us (we pay enough to live here, why would we pay extra to sleep somewhere else?!) but there are options spread out around here, from beaches to mountains. If we did ever camp, I think Peacock Flats on the North shore would interest us the most.

I hope this post helped show you ways to save money and still have a great time traveling around the Hawaiian islands!

A Day on Lanai

Taking the Ferry from Lahaina to Lanai | Hiking Lanaihale from Sea to Summit | January 3, 2020

Our last day of vacation began before dawn as we quickly and quietly packed up our tent and waited for our Lyft. We were thankful that after all our stress from the day before, the only unexpected expense that came from it was a $21 ride. In hindsight, it may have been better to simply keep the rental car one more day, get an even earlier start by returning it and then taking the first bus from Kahului to Lahaina. That may have saved us time and stress, but it’s debatable whether it would’ve actually cost less.

Anyway, we made it to the ferry dock with time to spare and found a place to refill our water containers. Curtis had reserved our ferry tickets the day before just in case it had any chance at being fully booked. There are several different ferries that leave from Lahaina every day, but we knew we’d need to take the first one at 6:45 in order to get the earliest start possible on today’s hike.

view of backside of ferry out in the ocean with island in the distance

cliffs and small island off coast of Lanai

We sat on the top deck for our ~50 minute long ferry ride between Maui and Lanai. We loved every part of this — from getting to see several islands from a different point of view, to watching the sunrise at sea, to seeing a good portion of the cliffs along Lanai’s coast. I wish we could have this option to travel between more of the Hawaiian islands. We looked for whales but didn’t see any, as they usually use different straights, such as between Oahu and Molokai.

We arrived on Lanai around 7:30 at Manele Harbor and prepared ourselves for our hike. Our mission for the day was to hike across the island while hitting the highest point on the island, a distance of about 16 miles, in time to make our flight at 7:45 PM. We ate some of our snacks and threw away trash to make our backpacks lighter and made sure we had enough water for the day.

The first leg of the hike was a road walk to get out of Manele. We followed HI-440 North as it slowly ascended 1000′ to the center of the island. The road walk was only 3 miles, and the traffic light, as you would expect on the island with the smallest population. About a half-mile from our actual trail head, a man passing by offered us a ride, but we politely declined. We had walked this far, we might as well say we walked the whole thing, from sea to summit. Once at 1000′, the topography leveled out significantly and we made a turn off of the highway onto an old plantation road, and now an OHV track and the end (or for us, the start) of the Munro Trail.

Back in the late 19th through most of the 20th century, Lanai was known for being a producer of pineapples with the Dole Company, with most of the entire center of the island reserved for growing pineapples. But in 1992, due to rising labor costs, Dole ceased operations but continued to own most of the island until 2012 when the island (almost literally) was sold to Larry Ellison, a multi-Billionaire who intends to improve the island and make it sustainable.

All that to say, right now with the exception of the resorts, golf courses, and Lanai City, the island is vacant and undeveloped. As we walked the old roads between fields that used to grow thousands of pineapples, we felt alone, and we were alright with that. The road was flat as we walked north towards the summit ridge, the sun was intermittent behind the clouds, and we felt good, even with our heavy packs. There were a few points where different roads branched off of the one we took, and that made me a little concerned that we could find ourselves on the wrong path. We weren’t using AllTrails to conserve phone battery, so we had to consult Google Maps a few times to make sure we were on the right road. There were occasionally signs that didn’t make any sense or didn’t aid in helping us find our way. For example, we came across one that said “Panini Patch,” but didn’t see any paninis growing. How odd.

view overlooking land leading up to ocean

At about 6 miles in (3 miles from the highway), we reached the edge of the summit ridge and had our first (and only) look out over the windward side. Signs near here explained the history of the area and how, before the pineapple boom, cattle hands used to send their stock over the mountains at this point before they went down to the main harbor. A man named Munro owned a cabin near a now gone waterfall and would lead the cattlemen over the mountains. Before all that, this was considered a haunted site, filled with ghosts and spirits.

ancient Hawaiian temple with rainbow in background

We took a much needed rest from our packs, took pictures, had a snack, and took a side trip a quarter mile out of our way to the south to an ancient Heiau. This gave nice views of the center of the island. You could easily tell where the highway was as it was treelined the whole way. Everything else was a burnt red with scrubby trees and grasses. It was also here where we learned that Lanai only receives 30-35 inches of rain a year, but that it receives over 100 inches annually of ‘cloud drip’. Looking to the West we knew we would be in store for this and we continued the steep climb up the summit ridge.

The next 2-3 miles quickly gained the remaining 1500′ or so to the top of Lanai on Lanaihale. We soon lost the sun as we entered into the clouds, and the wind coming up from the East was strong. But despite all of this we did not get wet, or at least not soaked as one would expect in a cloud. Instead wherever we walked we would hear and see the cloud precipitate out on the Norfolk and Cook pines, and whenever the wind would blow it would scatter this ‘cloud drip’. It was honestly really interesting.

person hiking on a red dirt road in the fog

two people smiling on cloudy mountain top

We reached the summit where the trail leveled out nicely and we were able to enjoy the hike a bit more. Without AllTrails running, we weren’t sure exactly how far we had gone, and only vaguely knew how far we had to go. We figured that so long as the trail continued without branching, we would be fine.

We passed by some radio towers and decided that we must be at the summit, although there was no sign, geodetic marker, or post; not that there was a view or anything. And then the trail went down. Curtis found a nice machete on the trail, but left it for some other wanderer to have. I don’t think they let you take those in your carry-on.

Around this time (about 1:00 PM) the trail started getting windy and windy (ha, English). Since we had no frame of reference in the cloud, our minds began to play tricks on how far we had gone. We kept thinking that since we had made a turn, we were clearly coming near the end. Then Curtis would check his phone and see that we were still 2 miles out. If we were on a hard to follow trail that could have been dangerous, but thankfully we weren’t.

As we got near the end of the trail, we began to see more trail signs (none that made sense though, which was concerning at first) and indications of human life. Then we came out of the woods and found ourselves at a resort. An enormous ropes course resort complete with a Tarzan house in the center of a moat. There were also turkeys everywhere.

We made it as far as the main road and decided that was far enough. We didn’t have any plans in Lanai City and were bushed after hiking 16 miles, so we sat in front of the resort waiting for a cab, the closest thing to public transportation the island has. We had good conversation with the cab driver on the short ride to the airport.

When we went to check in for our flight, we were informed that we could transfer from our flight at 7:30 to one leaving in a half hour. Perfect! We made it through the VERY thorough TSA checkpoint (where they debated whether they should do bomb swipes on a package of unopened risotto… I guess being TSA at a small airport has its slow points). We thoroughly enjoyed our 30 minute sunset flight in a turbo-prop airplane, a first for both of us.

view outside plane window of wing and sunset

view outside plane window looking down on island and clouds during sunset

Back on Oahu, we got held up near our gate waiting for another plane to leave. Curtis opened the Honolulu bus app on his phone, because we had parked off of airport property and took a bus there to save money. It was then that he realized that for some reason, the bus schedule was ending early that night, and the LAST bus of the day would be arriving in 10 minutes. Suddenly, we went from thinking we were just happy to be home a few hours early, to being in a rush to get off the plane and make it to the bus stop on time! Once we were finally at the gate, we hurried off the plane and awkwardly ran through the airport, with big heavy backpacks and very sore legs from hiking all day. We came outside just as the bus was turning the last corner on the way to the stop and made it in the nick of time! We arrived back at our car, which was thankfully just the way we left it, and drove home, back to our sweet puppy. I’m kind of in awe that everything worked out the way it did, and thankful for another successful island hop!

Lahaina Pali Trail

Hiking the Lahaina Pali Trail | Camping at Papalaua State Wayside Park | January 2, 2020

After our first two days of vacation had gone off without a hitch, it was only a matter of time that something unexpected should happen. We had planned to spend our third day of vacation in Southwest Maui, and then take the ferry to Lanai on our last day. Things became a little bit logistically complicated here, but we thought we had it all figured out beforehand.

Since we were taking the ferry to Lanai and then flying home from there, we wouldn’t need a car on our last day, but we could only return our rental at the airport in Kahului (maybe we could’ve avoided this complication with other rental companies, but we had just gone with the cheapest option). We checked out the bus system and it looked like it would work out just fine — there was a bus that went from Kahului to Lahaina, and then others that went further up the coast, so we could get around West Maui that way. Curtis even found a hiking trail that started right off the highway at one point on the way to Lahaina and ended several miles down the road along the same bus route. We planned to camp that night in a county park that we thought was just North of Lahaina, then we could catch the first bus the next morning into town to take the ferry. It felt like we had thought everything through and were prepared, but unfortunately the plan started to unravel little by little that morning.

We got up before the sun and said goodbye to Haleakala as we drove down the mountain. When looking for a gas station in Kahului, we came across the one and only Krispy Kreme’s in Hawaii and naturally had to stop. Since they also had Wifi, we decided it was a good time to look up exact addresses of places we were planning to visit. First was the Parks & Recreation office in Lahaina. While planning this trip, we read online that we could camp at a place called Papalaua State Wayside Park. There were permits and rules and everything on their website, but no address or email to send in the permits — they must be submitted and obtained in person. The office had been closed the past 2 days for New Year’s, so today was the only day we could pick it up. After figuring out where the office was, I searched for where the actual campground was. It turned out to be nowhere near where Curtis had thought when planning — I’m not sure how this happened, but the campsite was actually 11 miles South of Lahaina and not just North of town. That’s fine, we thought, we would just have to get up even earlier and take a different bus.

We went and returned our rental car, then got on the bus and bought day passes for $4 each. After one transfer, we were on the bus headed for Lahaina. This is when the next complication came up — we realized that this bus makes minimal stops along the way. We saw on the bus app where each stop was and hoped that they actually had more stops than that…but no, about a half hour into our ride we were passing by the beach where we hoped to camp with no stops in sight. The closest one was in Ma’alaea, 5 miles away. We started to become concerned and began thinking through alternative plans.

After getting off the bus in Lahaina, we walked to the Parks & Recreation office and talked through our options. We could take a bus back to the airport, rent another car for a day, then drive it back first thing in the morning and take another bus to Lahaina. We could camp illegally at a closer beach (I gave that one a big fat ‘No’ immediately). We could try to stay in a hostel in Lahaina (a quick Google search told us that they were all booked and not that cheap either). We could just take a ferry to Lanai today and camp either at their one official campsite on the island for $80 (!!!) or take our chances with camping ‘illegally’ there (there seemed to be so much open vacant land, would anyone really care? While maybe possible, it would be a potentially expensive mistake to make if we were caught). Or we could do our best to go along with our original plan and take Uber or Lyft when necessary. We decided to go along with that, as long as there were still camping permits available.

We reached the office, and thankfully there were several spots still open. We were able to get a camping permit for $10 (it would be $20 for non-Hawaii residents). Since this was a longer walk than we had planned, we decided to take a bus back into Lahaina’s town center and figure out where to go from there. The bus only came by every hour, so we first crossed the street to hang out at the beach before going back to the bus stop.

We got on the bus for what was supposed to be a quick ride back into town…when Curtis realized he didn’t have his jacket. We knew he had it that morning and I remembered seeing it when we were at the permit office, so it had to be somewhere around that area. It seemed a little silly to be fretting over a second-hand jacket that we paid less than $10 for over a year ago, especially as the temperatures were creeping up to be our warmest day of vacation yet. But this rain jacket was such a good investment and we really do use our jackets a lot (and it proved to be very much necessary to make it through the next day, but more on that later). We arrived back at the the main stop in Lahaina, and decided that I would stay behind with our backpacks (because at this point without a rental car, we were carrying everything: our tents, sleeping bags, food, water…) and Curtis would retrace our steps and hopefully find the jacket and make it back to the bus stop before it came by in the next hour.

Thankfully this worked out, Curtis found his jacket and made it to the bus in time, and an hour later was back with me. We had our next step sorted out: We were going to take the Lahaina-Kahului bus to Ma’alaea because the trail Curtis had picked for the day started around there and ended near the beach where we’d camp that night. This way, we’d only need to pay for one Lyft ride early the next morning into Lahaina. We arrived in Ma’alaea around 2, strapped on our heavy backpacks, refilled water at a gas station, and walked along the highway to our trailhead.

Hiking the Lahaina Pali Trail

Our hike for today was the Lahaina Pali Trail, which is a 5 mile through hike from one point to another following a historic path over the foothills of West Maui. I guess if we had come with a car, we would’ve either had to only hike half the trail or double the distance by walking from one end to the other and back, so this way we were able to efficiently hike the entire trail. We did have to add an extra mile at the beginning for the road walk, and in the heat of the day with heavy backpacks that felt like no small feat. But at this point, we didn’t really have any other way to get to our campsite 5 miles away.

We finally reached the actual trailhead, and stopped to read the signs about the historical significance of the area. There were also very descriptive signs about the exact trail length, elevation gain, and conditions. They called it a rugged trail, which I wasn’t sure I felt up for, but again — we didn’t have a choice at this point. Besides, what else would we do, take a Lyft to the campsite and beach bum for several hours? …Ok, that doesn’t sound terrible, but it’s not our style.

Wind Turbines on Lahaina Pali Trail on Maui

Onward we walked, with only about 3-3 ½ hours left of daylight. The first 1.3 miles of the trail were probably the steepest, over a rocky trail that gained over a thousand feet in elevation. We took frequent breaks and drank lots of water. It wasn’t comfortable with the heavy backpacks, but I constantly reminded myself that this is what we want. We always talk about our desire to backpack, and this is exactly what we’re asking for.

Lahaina Pali Trail intersecting with wind turbines on Maui

After the 1.3 mile sign, the trail got easier and even had some shaded parts. The most interesting part came about halfway through, when we came across the wind turbines. If you’ve flown to Maui, you may know what I’m talking about: there’s a line of wind turbines that stretch up the side of a ridgeline in Southwestern Maui. We walked right past them, and it was really fascinating. First off, we learned that they’re really loud, like constant planes flying over (a point we had questioned when protesters tried blocking construction of similar turbines here on Oahu). There were informational signs there where we learned more about what they’re made of and other fun facts. After this point, we began our long descent down the second half of the trail. On this last part, we came across more hikers and enjoyed watching the sun set, making it to the end of the trail just as it dipped below the horizon.

Finally, we reached the end of the trail, where all we had to do was cross the busy highway and road walk less than a half mile to our campsite at Papalaua State Wayside Park. However, we arrived only to find a family with a giant tent already set up there. Curtis went to the dad and started to ask about whether they had a permit and tell them they were in our spot, but they turned out to be French and didn’t understand. “Oh, our reservation is under Lindsey…” he replied, which we knew wasn’t true because there were no reservations here, just first come-first serve permits that you have to get in person. But we aren’t confrontational people and weren’t up for arguing with foreign people, so we forfeited our rightful spot and went to talk to the campers that would have been our neighbors. Since they had also been to the office that day, we asked what spots they remembered being available, and made our way to one of those. We found one of them to be empty, but just in case, we waited to set up our tent until around 8. I have to say that out of all the things that stressed us out today, this was the part that got to me the most. After coming up with solutions and doing everything we needed to do to camp legally even though it wasn’t convenient, only to not get our campsite, annoyed me. I felt like it affected my sleep that night because I was constantly waking up wondering if we would get kicked out of this spot.

But the night passed, and thankfully everything turned out fine. I will say though that if you’re thinking of camping here, it’s right along a noisy highway and this was anything but a quiet night. In fact, camping right next to us was a family that had screaming kids AND was blasting music, but we couldn’t even hear those because of the traffic. Camping in either district of Haleakala was much quieter and more enjoyable, even though both areas can be crowded. And while we’ve camped “on the beach” before both on Maui and Kauai, this was the first time we had to camp on actual sand and not a grassy area near the beach, and sand got EVERYWHERE. Also, this was the most expensive campsite we’ve stayed at on Maui. But at only $10 and relatively close to where we needed to be the next morning, we couldn’t complain.

We ended our day with eating risotto and sausage on our camp stove. It rained off and on throughout the night and the wind was pretty strong. But eventually the traffic noise died down a little, and we listened to the sound of the ocean waves as we drifted off to sleep.

Iao Valley / Waihe’e Ridge Trail

Visiting Iao Valley | Hiking Waihe’e Ridge Trail & Waihou Spring Trail | January 1, 2020

Our second day on Maui focused on hiking around the West part of the island, starting with a quick visit to Iao Valley State Park. Much like Oahu and Kauai, West Maui is an older shield volcano that has been eroded away by the continuous rainfall in the higher elevations. In Maui’s case, this has left several VERY deep valleys going almost to the very center of the mountain. Two of these valleys are the Iao and the Waihe’e on the Southeast side of the mountain.

We made Iao our first stop for the day in order to beat the crowds, but also because there isn’t a whole lot to do in ways of hiking. There’s a $5 entrance fee, and one short trail that goes from the parking lot up to a vista of the Iao Needle. We walked up the steps, took pictures, found a letterbox, then went on our way. Along with the trail that goes up to the viewpoint, there are a few that loop around a pretty garden and walk along a creek, as well as an “illegal” trail that takes you to another viewpoint. My favorite part of this stop was just being in such a small valley surrounded by the tall cliffs of the West Maui mountains. On a clear day, you can even see the highest peak, Pu’u Kukui, right behind the needle.

Next, we drove North up the coast to our main hike for the day. I had picked out Waihe’e Ridge Trail kind of on a whim just by looking at AllTrails. Just by scanning through the listing, I thought it looked like the kind of hike we’d enjoy – a ridge hike leading up to a peak of sorts. Luckily, I was right, and Curtis told me this one exceeded his expectations. We drove up to the upper trailhead and got one of the last parking spots available — I guess a lot of other people had the same idea, to start off the year on the right foot by hiking in a beautiful place!

The trail began with a steep walk up a paved road that led to a water tank. After that first stretch, the trail grade was more gradual on a wide and well-maintained path. Overall, we were very impressed with the trail condition. The hike was around 4 miles round-trip and gained over 1600 feet of elevation. There were some switchbacks and some stairs built in, but the trail never felt unsafe even though it was a little wet (as compared to similar hikes on Oahu that would invariably require ‘ropes’ or eroded trail conditions).

Along the way, we came upon a bench that faced Makamakaole Falls in the distance, which looked impressive even from afar. At the top there were also views of Molokai to the North and across Maui to Haleakala to the South. My favorite part of the trail came right after a look out, where we were walking along the ridge with a steep drop off and the vast Waihe’e Valley in between us and the other mountains to the South. The trail was wide enough that it didn’t feel dangerous, but the other mountains just made me feel so small.

We made good time, taking short breaks and drinking lots of water, and finally made it up to the top. There were some clouds rolling in from the North, but we had made it in time to have a good view of the mountains and listen to some older hikers brag about their Hawai’i hiking – we were happy to note that we were familiar with most of what they talked about and had accomplished similar feats during our time here.

We were cautious walking down as the trail was a little slick, but thankfully the clouds brought only a light drizzle and a cool breeze. We made it back to the car after about 2 ½ hours of hiking. Click here if you want to see our AllTrail recording for this hike.

On our way back to Kahului, we went in search of a couple Heaiu’s (historic Hawaiian temples) but struck out on both and instead decided to find some lunch. This also took a few tries because many places were closed for the holiday. We eventually found a local Filipino spot that was open and shared a plate lunch. While there, we started looking for what we wanted to do next. We didn’t feel like driving the winding road up the Northwest coast, but it seemed like everything we were looking at — botanical gardens, tours, museums, distilleries — were all closed that day. Curtis found a couple other short hikes we could try, but nothing that could fill up the rest of the day.

We ended up driving to a nearby park in Kahului with a walking trail and made a loop around there for an hour. After living in one place for so long, and such a busy and touristy place at that, I’ve really come to appreciate small, quiet parks. After our walk, we began driving up to Makawao to the trailhead for our next hike.

At first, we thought we would go do a short hike in a nature preserve to find a letterbox, but then Curtis found another hike not far from that one that promised lava tubes at the end and that easily won us over. We drove up a long winding mountain road to Waihou Spring Forest Reserve and started out on the loop trail. The first half-mile was very easy as we made our way deeper into the forest. The forest is a research forest and has tall pine trees planted. It honestly felt more like a hike in Colorado than a hike in Hawaii.

We came to a fork in the trail and took the path to the right leading to the “creek lookout.” At the end of this flat and maintained path was a sign warning of a steep drop-off, and that’s where the real fun began!

After that sign, the trail became very narrow and hugged the hillside as it switchbacked steeply into a valley. With every step, I started to dread our eventual ascent more and more, but it turned out to be not as bad as we thought. In fact, the end of this trail was a highlight for Curtis — there were in fact lava tubes, but not at all like he was expecting. Our experience with lava tubes has been only in Northern Arizona near Flagstaff. There the tube is wide and long, enough for a person to stand fully vertical and not touch either side wall. Here, when we came to the spring, there was a steep cliff wall surrounding us in a tight valley. There were many holes along the cliff wall that were each entrances to lava tubes, some of which were connected to each other. I opted to stay behind, but Curtis didn’t let the steep, narrow path covered in leaves deter him from climbing up to the holes and going inside. He had come prepared with a headlamp and enjoyed going in one hole and then popping out another.

(Curtis) Geologically, it looked like the tubes were restricted to only a layer of rock maybe 25 feet tall, and that at some point in time when the valley was formed, the rock was carved away cutting laterally through the tubes, sorta like cutting across a wormy apple or wood. It does beg the question, were these tubes connected to a larger feeder, similar to the one in AZ?

(Jess) With it getting dark, we climbed back up the hillside and completed the loop. You can see our AllTrails recording for this hike here.

We ended our day with driving back up to Hosmer’s Grove for our last night camping in Haleakala. Before settling in, we went for a short walk on the Hosmer’s Grove loop trail in search of a letterbox. We came up empty handed, but it had been years since it was last found. It also didn’t help that the clue ended with getting you to one specific spot on the trail and then said, “You know what to do.” Nope, we sure didn’t! Back at our campsite, Curtis made tortellini on his camp stove and we stayed warm inside our tent.

Hanomanioa Lighthouse / Haleakala Sunset

Return to Maui | Hiking the Hanomanioa Lighthouse/King’s Highway Trail | Last Sunset of 2019 on Haleakala | December 31, 2019

For our 2019 holiday stand down, we contemplated going all out and taking a big international vacation. However, the financially responsible part of us reminded us that we’re likely moving and selling the house this year and that we should probably invest some time and money into improving it. We compromised by doing a quick island hop to celebrate the New Year. This way, we could continue to knock out some of our remaining Hawaii bucket list items. Out of all the Hawaiian islands that you’re allowed to visit, we’d been to Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii, and still wanted to see Lanai and Molokai. The trail we really want to hike on Molokai is currently closed, so that left Lanai. Looking at things to do on Lanai, it honestly seemed like everything could be knocked out in a day, and not many of those things appealed to our interests. We ultimately decided to do a multi-island vacation where we would divide our time between two islands. Fortunately this was made very easy and inexpensive to execute thanks to the one and only inter-island ferry between Maui and Lanai!

Once we had decided to return to Maui, it wasn’t hard to find things we wanted to do. When we visited at the beginning of 2018, our entire trip focused on backpacking the Haleakala Crater and then driving around the entire Eastern part of the island. I remember watching the sunset on our last night there, looking out to the mountains on the West side and realizing there was a whole side to the island that was still unfamiliar to me. Our goal of this trip would be to visit the parts of the island that we overlooked because the thrill of hiking Haleakala overshadowed them all. However, we also knew we had to return to the crater; after 2 years of exploring all over the islands, backpacking Haleakala still stands out as my favorite thing we’ve done.

We left early in the morning on December 31, with tickets we had found on Black Friday for only $35 per person. We watched the sun rise and had great views of Molokai, Lanai, and Maui from the air. After picking up our rental car, we first drove to Haleakala National Park to claim a spot to camp for that night in Hosmer’s Grove, because the first rule of camping in areas without reservations is to always make finding a campsite your first priority! Hosmer’s Grove is just inside the park entrance at around 7000 feet above sea level, and works the same way as the Kīpahulu campground on the Eastern side of the island. It’s free to camp, there are no reservations, there’s just a big green space with grills and picnic tables spread out and you can just walk in and find a spot. There were less parking spots and overall less space here than the Eastern side. One ‘downside’ was that it’s so far up the mountain that it takes a long drive to get anywhere else, but with the money saved on accommodations, it was worth it to us.

Once we had our campsite, we drove back down the mountain and began heading South. Another part of the island we had neglected to visit was Kihei and the Southern coast. There didn’t seem to be a lot of hiking there, but we wanted a more relaxed first day so it was a good place to start. Since it was now already late in the morning, there was a lot of traffic and the crowds were unavoidable. We drove past the resort town of Kihei and continued down Makena Road to the very end. There are lots of good snorkeling spots and beaches along the way, but the whole area was packed with cars and people. When we reached the end of the road and the “trailhead” for our intended hike, there were cars all over and it was difficult to find a place to squeeze in, but eventually we found a spot and we prepared for our walk.

Thankfully once we left the initial parking lot and beach area, the people were more dispersed and we were alone for our walk along the coast. The trail was flat and easy, but very exposed to the sun. We went from walking on sand, to dirt, to volcanic rock. The trail offered great views of Kaho’olawe island to the West, as well as the Southern slope of Haleakala. From here, we could see the lava flow pattern from the volcano’s last eruption, which is believed to be around 1790.

We followed the trail all the way to the Hanomanioa Lighthouse, and Curtis found a letterbox. There’s a fork in the trail along the way, and the other path goes for several more miles before ending at another beach which is supposedly good for snorkeling, but we opted to skip it today. That trail actually dates to the 1840’s and is known as the ‘King’s Road’ and has much history associated with it. The lava rock is challenging to walk on — definitely wear good hiking shoes for this, even though it’s just along the coast. You can check out our AllTrails recording here.

After the hike, we drove into Kihei to grab a late lunch. We had delicious tacos at Jawz Mexican Grill, then continued our drive back to Haleakala. We planned to stop at a lavender farm along the way, but it was closed due to the holiday. Instead, we drove up to the summit of Haleakala to enjoy the views and arrive early enough to get a parking spot for the sunset.

Once we reached the top of the crater, we bundled up and hiked the short Pa ka’oao Trail to a higher viewpoint. (We had neglected to do this last time we were here because we were so focused on the actual summit and then wanted to make sure we got a ride back down the mountain.) The winds blasted us at the summit and we found that we were vastly under prepared for the cold this time — last time we had our fleece jackets, gloves, and hats; this time all we brought were our rain jackets/windbreakers! After standing in the cold as long as we could bear, we went back to our car and read for the next hour while waiting for the sunset.

Currently, you need a reservation to be on the summit of Haleakala at sunrise, but there are no restrictions for sunset. I heard while we were there that they may start also requiring reservations for sunset soon, and we saw exactly why that’s necessary. By about 15 minutes before sunset, there were cars parked everywhere — the parking lot was completely filled and people were parking in any spot imaginable, even the middle of the road. But there was no denying it was worth being among the crowds to see the sunset from that high. We watched it drop behind the observatory, going from bright red, to orange, and finally fading as the dark set in. Western Maui was equally as gorgeous, reflecting pink and purple light. We couldn’t help but turn around and gaze upon Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea in the distance with a little pride, thinking back to conquering each of those peaks. But one part we hadn’t thought about before was the shadow cast behind us by the crater itself. The whole setting was glorious and brought tears to my eyes…or maybe that was the bone-chilling wind. Nonetheless, it was the perfect way to watch the last sunset of the decade. (However, we still stand by the fact that the best way to witness the sunrise and sunset on Haleakala is by backpacking to the opposite side and having the whole view to yourself, like we did last time!)

We drove back down the mountain in the dark and settled in to our tent, doing our best to stay warm throughout the chilly night. It took a while for the rest of the campground to quiet down, but in comparison to the noisiness of the constant fireworks going on back home on Oahu, this was the quietest New Year’s Eve we’ve had in a few years!

A Decade in Review

We love to share our Year in Review posts every year, and since we’re coming to the end of a decade, we thought it’d be fun to summarize the last 10 years together. This is a look back into all that happened and changed in our lives over this last decade. There were a lot of big life events that happened, and it feels like there’s no way any other span of 10 years could hold as many changes as this one did…I guess we’ll have to wait to find out!

2010

We started this decade as Juniors in High School living in Eastern Iowa. We were best friends (but maybe deep down a little more…we had never been “official” but there was definitely special interest there. Also I had liked Curtis for 6 years at this point). We hung out at church together, in youth group, church orchestra, and an adult Bible study. As the year progressed, we formed a tight knit group of friends from church that we hung out with on a weekly basis, doing really cool things like going shopping at Walmart all dressed up late at night for Kool-Aid and ice cream, then watching Monty Python in a blanket fort in one friend’s basement.

Other special events included:

-I started working at my favorite sushi restaurant, and we ate there many times together taking advantage of my discount.
-Our Junior class at church threw an appreciation dinner for the Senior class. We dressed up in these black capes that I made out of bedsheets. We still have the capes.
-Curtis’ mom heard about a thing called Letterboxing, and his family created accounts on AtlastQuest.com and started looking for boxes together.
-A mission trip to Acuna, Mexico to build a house with Casas Por Cristo.
-Traveling together to Nashville, TN to work with 8 Days of Hope, helping residents rebuild their homes after flooding.
-Becoming seniors in high school.

2011

Our first year of “adulthood” began with many questions of “Where should I go to college?” and “What do I want to do with my life?” Curtis became a National Merit Scholar in February and received a scholarship to the University of Arizona. After a weekend trip to Tucson, he decided that was where he would continue his schooling with a major in Physics. Meanwhile, I thought I knew what I wanted back in summer of 2010 – to go to a private Christian college not far from home – but just a week before graduation, those plans fell through. After graduation, I remembered hearing about a massage school nearby and decided to check it out, and ended up deciding to go with that. (Some of the older posts on this blog document this decision and what I learned from it — check out this post from 2012 if you’re interested).

The last question that remained was “What would happen to us?” When Curtis said goodbye to me, I knew we wouldn’t see each other for 4 full months, and that felt like forever. So much could change during that time. But we ended up talking every day and Skyping every week, and when he came home for Christmas break at the end of the semester, we knew we were ready to make our relationship official, and we knew that we wanted to be together forever.

Other highlights from the year:

-Going to Senior Prom together.
-Throwing a graduation party together.
-Curtis went on a 3 week long road trip with his family out West for his college orientation, and visited many national parks along the way.
-I started massage school and ended up loving it. During the first few months I volunteered through the school to give chair massages for nurses at a hospital and sports massages to runners after a race.
-Along with working towards a double major and a minor, Curtis also attended Navigators and a Nobleman group, joined an a cappella group and started hiking with a group of friends.
-I started working retail in the summer, and quit in December just before massage clinics began. After working a 11.5 hour shift from 11:30PM to 11AM with a half-hour break at 3AM on Black Friday, I decided this really wasn’t for me and I no longer go out and support Black Friday shopping!

2012

We spent the year 2012 growing as adults separately, and growing together as a couple despite the distance. I graduated from massage school and worked for a salon & spa, and then later for a practice run by one of my massage teachers. Curtis continued with his busy schedule at University of Arizona, also playing in a concert band. He came home for the whole summer and we enjoyed going on dates and spending more time together and with our families.

The biggest event that year that would end up making a big impact on our future was when Curtis attended a career fair at his school the day after I left from visiting over his Spring Break. He was looking for internships for physics majors, but there was nothing available there. In fact, the only people seemingly interested in physics majors were the recruiters for the Navy. This reminded Curtis of a program he had heard about but hadn’t thought seriously about since receiving his scholarship – the NUPOC program. By this point in his freshman year he had realized he didn’t want to do what he had originally planned, so he was open to other options. He told me about the NUPOC program that night. One of the benefits he mentioned was that he would be paid E-6 throughout his last years of college just for joining, meaning that he’d have money to support us and we could get married and stop being in a long distance relationship. That was obviously a major selling point, and I encouraged him to pursue it. He began the long application process during the first semester of his sophomore year, and passed his physical and background checks.

Other notable events:

-I completed my massage clinics, graduated massage school, and passed the Iowa licensure exam.
-Immediately after finishing clinic, I contracted Epstein-Barr Virus and was sick for a month.
-I visited Curtis over spring break, and together we traveled with his Navigator group to Chinle, AZ where we worked with missionaries and built a house for a family. Afterwards we went to Payson with the group for a few days of vacation.
-Curtis and I traveled with his family to New Bern, NC to work with 8 Days of Hope again, then stopped in KY to visit Mammoth Cave National Park on the way back.
-Right after that trip, we visited my grandparents on my dad’s side and Curtis was able to meet them for the first time.
-Once Curtis returned to college, I spontaneously decided to take more classes through a community college. I took 18 credits online while working full time that fall.
-After years of starting blogs, never telling people about them, and eventually deleting them, I created another new one on Blogspot called Saving Time in a Bottle. I intended it to be a creative outlet where I could both share my thoughts and also talk about benefits of massage and sort of promote myself. I never ended up doing that last part on the site, but at least I didn’t delete it!

2013

2013 was the start of our new life, our new adventure. At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve/Day, surrounded my our families in my parent’s house, Curtis asked me to marry him. We were engaged for 7 months, and were long-distance for over half of that time. I worked, planned our wedding, and enjoyed my last months living with my family, and Curtis completed his sophomore year, planned our honeymoon, and made arrangements for where we’d live in the fall. He also traveled to San Diego to tour a submarine, completed a phone interview, and finally traveled to Washington DC where he was officially offered a spot in the NUPOC program in the Navy.

We got married on July 27, on a beautiful and cool summer day at our church, officiated by our youth pastor. We left on our 2 week honeymoon, a tour of the Great Lakes where we enjoyed seeing waterfalls and lighthouses, visited Canada for the first time, and found letterboxes together. We returned home to Iowa and spent a few more days with our families before finally saying goodbye and moving to Arizona together.

The transition from living over a thousand miles apart to living together as a married couple was seamless and felt natural right from the start. We loved starting our home together and creating our own routines, including going out and doing something each weekend to make the most of where we lived. We started hiking a little bit, hung out with friends, and would walk to a nearby mall and look at puppies for easy and cheap date nights.

Other events that year:

-Curtis bought his/our first vehicle and learned to drive stick shift…within a week before driving back to Iowa for the summer.
-We found our first ever Whispering Giant statue in Minnesota while on our honeymoon, and our second one in Kansas 3 weeks later while driving to Arizona. Both purely coincidental and by accident, but it sparked a new hobby for us.
-When we arrived in Arizona, we stopped at a rest area in Holbrook for a letterbox. While sitting in our truck with the doors open, a dog appeared by the side… a basset hound, looking up at us with the sweetest eyes. We knew right then that if we ever came across a basset hound puppy, we’d be in trouble.
-We traveled to Albuquerque for the International Balloon Festival, San Diego for my birthday, Phoenix for a letterboxing event, and home for Christmas.

2014

2014 was all about taking advantage of the freedom we had and the beautiful place that we lived. We hiked every weekend and took many trips around the state of Arizona. The year started off with our biggest hiking trip yet — 14 miles round trip with over 4000 feet of elevation gain up to Window Rock. Honestly, it was awful and I wasn’t ready for it in any way. We didn’t do any big hikes like that for over a month after, but with time I slowly started coming around to the idea, and by May we conquered the highest peak around Tucson together. We set many other big hiking goals for ourselves and conquered them one by one.

Curtis completed his Junior year and began his Senior year of college. As far as his responsibilities for the Navy were concerned, all he had to do was keep his grades up and do PRT every 6 months. While I was waiting for my massage license to be processed, I started volunteering for the pastor of our church, editing transcriptions of his audio messages. He was starting to consider redesigning his website and asked if I’d be interested in helping out, and I agreed.

That fall, the day finally came when we met a basset hound puppy and just couldn’t say no. We brought Charlotte Antebellum home just two days later and quickly became those crazy dog parents. While her constant nipping and accidents in the first few months together were annoying, she proved that she could keep up with our hiking and she also enjoyed going on road trips. She fit right into our family and our lives are better because of her.

Other events in 2014:

-Planning a big Southwestern road trip for spring break, which we took with my brother Grant.
-Traveling to Flagstaff multiple times, once for a letterboxing event, and the second time to visit national park sites in the area and conquer a major peak on our bucket list: Mount Humphreys, the highest point in Arizona, and our first state high point.
-Taking a 2 week trip back to Iowa to visit our families, and surprising them a day early.
-Curtis participated in a research program at U of A for Microwave Spectroscopy over the summer to fulfill requirements for his degrees and the Navy.
-Celebrating our first anniversary by taking a weekend trip to Santa Barbara and Joshua Tree National Park.
-Spent 3 days backpacking to Supai, AZ, taking in the beauty of Havasu and Mooney Falls and hiking all the way to the confluence with the Colorado River.

2015

In 2015, we became what felt like ‘real adults’ with bigger responsibilities than before. We left behind the ‘college world’ and started on our new journey with the military. The first half of the year was all about making the most of the last bit of freedom that we had. Curtis graduated in May with double majors in Physics and Astronomy and a minor in math. We then packed up almost everything we owned into a Pod, said goodbye to our friends and our first little apartment, and moved Charlotte and I back to the Midwest in preparation for what was to come.

Curtis went through 12 weeks of OCS that summer while I did everything I could to stay busy at home. September finally came, and I traveled with some of our families to watch his graduation and commissioning as an officer. We moved back to Arizona for a few months, which we now look back on as a more difficult time for us. After the structure and routine that OCS gave him, it was hard for Curtis to enjoy not doing much of anything in a recruiter’s office. We wanted to enjoy being in Arizona, but were more than ready to move on with our lives. Finally, the time came in December to pack up and move once again, and after visiting both of our families we arrived in our new home of Charleston, SC.

Also in 2015:

-We took several road trips, including a weekend in Phoenix, Spring Break in Southern Utah, and another weekend at the Grand Canyon where we hiked down to the Colorado River and back in a day.
-We celebrated our 2nd anniversary early by spending a week in Door County, WI right before Curtis left for OCS in RI.
-I hiked my second state high point with my family in SD and enjoyed several days in the Black Hills and Badlands.
-While living in IA, I was able to work remotely for our pastor in AZ, helping him move his old website to the new server.
-We enjoyed taking in the history in the Northeast for the first time with my dad and 2 of our younger sisters after graduation in RI. While driving home, we drove through Ballston Spa, NY, and the beauty of the rolling hills and the small town feel left an impact on us.
-We enjoyed the best part of PCS-ing to the fullest: driving cross-country! We spent extra time in CO on our way back to AZ.
-We became Uncle Curtis and Aunt Jessie to the cutest little girl, Grace Kathryn!

2016

At the beginning of the year, 2016 looked like it would be full of Curtis carrying out his commitment to the military with very little time to spend together or little time for travel. However, we ended up having more time off than planned, and thanks to living in 2 completely different places, we had many opportunities to take many unique trips.

We spent the first 8 months of the year in our big and beautiful house on a military base in Goose Creek, SC. Curtis attended school for 6 of those months and graduated in August. What was supposed to be a time consuming school turned out to be easier than he expected, so we kept up with our routine of getting out and exploring the area every weekend, and got away for at least one weekend every month.

After Curtis’ graduation in August, we packed up once again and moved to the little NY town we fell in love with: Ballston Spa. We were able to travel a lot in the break between schools in SC and NY, and because of that this season ended up being one of the best in our lives. Once the next school started, we had less time to travel, but our outlook on military life and life in general stayed positive.

Also in 2016:

-We hiked to 5 new state high points, all with our darling puppy leading the way.
-We took a special interest in county counting — Curtis had always kept track of the counties we had traveled through and we had a road atlas where we highlighted the roads we took, but we finally started a joint online map together this year. We also made it our goal to visit all 46 counties in SC and succeeded on our 3rd anniversary trip to Wilmington, NC.
-We started our first garden in our backyard in SC.
-We traveled all around SC, and took trips to FL, GA, and NC as well.
-We visited our families during our PCS from SC to NY.
-We traveled all around the Northeast US and Canada, some of the best trips we’ve ever taken.
-We began our first ever hiking challenge, the New York Fire Tower Hiking Challenge.

2017

2017 started off strong, but an unexpected twist in the middle of the year changed the course of how we thought the year would go. After things had been going so well for us, it was only a matter of time before something unexpected came along. After Curtis graduated from his program in NY, we began to prepare for a temporary move to CT before carrying out his orders to WA…until a detailer called us with an order modification. The next 6 months that followed ended up being the most stressful in our lives as we prepared to move to Hawaii. Once the dust settled and we moved into our home on the island, we braced ourselves for the reality that comes with being stationed on an active duty boat in the Navy.

But the year wasn’t all bad. Here are some of the highlights:

-We enjoyed traveling around New York and spending weekends in the Catskills, Finger Lakes, and Adirondacks.
-We took a trip to the Mason-Dixon line and enjoying the history there
-Curtis graduated from both Prototype in NY and SOBC in CT.
-We completed the New York Fire Tower Challenge, and also hiked to 7 state high points throughout the year.
-We returned home for a few weeks between living in NY and CT.
-We spent 10 weeks living in a hotel in Southeastern CT and explored all over New England.
-When it came time to move to HI, we spent an entire month driving across the country before flying to Oahu.
-We bought our first house and had a few weeks of down time to get to know the island together.

2018

2018 was a difficult year for us. After years of moving around and traveling often, we found ourselves stranded on an island with very little free time together. While Curtis was only gone for around 35 days altogether, his schedule was very time consuming while he was on island and it felt like we were on a constant cycle of working and waiting for the next day off. We kept up with our same routine of going out and enjoying the island with whatever “weekend” we had, but by the end of the year we were worn out and more than ready for a break.

Our favorite moments from the year were:

-Island hopping to Maui and backpacking in Haleakala National Park.
-Hosting my family over their spring break.
-Starting our second garden and planting banana trees and sugar cane.
-Celebrating our 5th anniversary on Kauai, exploring all over the island.
-Hiking many ridges in the Ko’olau mountains, and completing 2 major bucket list items, Olomana and Konahuanui.
-Spending a week on the Big Island of Hawaii and backpacking Mauna Loa and hiking Mauna Kea.

2019

After a year of struggling to find peace and balance, things vastly improved for us in 2019. Curtis earned his Submarine Warfare pin and qualified Engineer, and together we found ways to relax and enjoy the time we had together — which was much less than last year. Curtis went on several underways with his boat and I found lots of ways to stay busy and pass the time. Even though we had exhausted most of the things on our “Hawaii Bucket List” by the middle of the year, we managed to be content with simpler weekend adventures. We’re ending this decade on a positive note, very excited to see where God sends us next with the Navy.

Notable events this year include:

-Hosting friends and family in our tiny home.
-Curtis’ boat getting out of shipyard.
-Traveling to DC for Curtis’ PNEO interview and road tripping home to see our families.
-Adding 3 more state high points + DC to our list.
-Curtis’ boat made port calls in Alaska and California and I was able to travel to meet him both times.
-Having my sister Sarah come live with me while Curtis was gone on his longest ride this year.
-Getting the tattoos we had been planning for almost this entire decade.

My favorite part about looking back is seeing what little things that happened early in the decade eventually became big things to us. Finding a statue on the side of the road led us to planning road trips around visiting other statues by the same carver (and meeting the carver at one of the statues). Hiking just another mountain on our bucket list turned into a goal of hiking to all of the other state high points. And seeing a dog shortly after getting married brought us to eventually meeting our puppy and making her a part of our family. We aren’t where we thought we’d be at the beginning of the decade, but God’s plan for us turned out to be so much better than we planned.

Here’s to another decade of adventures!

2019 in Review

As I look back over the events of 2019, the word that comes to mind is Overcome. I see the trials that came in the form of being apart, and I think about how Curtis advanced in his career during that time and how I held down the fort at home and filled each day alone. I remember how we felt at the beginning of the year, looking ahead at yet another year isolated on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific, and I reflect on how we have learned to be content with simple every day routines and not feeling pressured to have a grand adventure every week. And most of all, I see all the ways that we’ve grown closer together, and how we are in a much better place mentally than we were last year.

The year began with the last few months of shipyard, meaning the last few months where it was guaranteed that Curtis would be on island. We started out the year in the way we’ve always operated: working hard throughout the week so that we could enjoy exciting weekend adventures together. We hiked, visited museums and botanical gardens, learned to snorkel and swam to small islands off the coast of Windward Oahu. We hosted friends and Curtis’ family in March and had the joy of experiencing the island through the eyes of people who had never seen it before.

As the year progressed, we had less time together, and all of a sudden going out and filling every day we had together with a new adventure became less of a priority. We spent more time at home, or close to home. Most of the hikes that we did were repeats, and we spent far more time walking the nearby trail, into town, or to the closest beach. In that regard, this year doesn’t seem as exciting as years past, but we’re content with the routines we’ve created. Hopefully our next duty station will bring us to a new and exciting place that will inspire us to get out and explore more, but for now we’ve enjoyed a time of rest and simply enjoying quieter weekends together.

Photo Collage of Curtis and Jess in 2019

This spring, Curtis’ boat finally left the shipyard and we have officially experienced a real taste of active duty Navy life. It was about time, 6 years after signing his contract and a year and a half into being stationed here! While shipyard had the benefit of knowing that he would always be here on island, it was an incredibly stressful time for Curtis and it was hard for me to see him struggle every day. I dreaded the day that they would leave for the first time for months, but when it finally happened in April, I felt nothing but pride for him and how hard he’s worked. Since then, we’ve gotten to celebrate several other milestones in his career: earning his Submarine Warfare pin, being qualified engineer, and promoting to Lieutenant.

A highlight for me this spring was having a friend move to the island, just 5 minutes away from our home. I had met her a few times before when she came to visit her ‘friend’ who was also on Curtis’ boat, and when they became ‘official’ she made the big move. It was wonderful to have someone to both commiserate with as well as enjoy island life with, to be able to just text and then meet up 5 minutes later. Besides that, I also enjoyed spending time with the other wives/significant others from the boat. I’ve continued to work on NeverThirsty.org, and it’s been a joy to see the work pay off with this being the best year yet in the site’s traffic. Other hobbies this year have included finishing a major scrapbooking/photo book project, walking/jogging at least 5 miles every day, and playing PokemonGo. I’ve decided to own up to that last item because it really has been a blessing of sorts, as it not only motivates me to go out and walk, but I’ve also met and played with a lot of people locally. I prayed at the beginning of this year that God would bring people into my life so I wouldn’t be lonely while Curtis was gone, and He certainly provided in these ways I wasn’t expecting.

The lowest moment for me this year was the day I got the phone call that, just weeks after leaving the shipyard, the boat had a ‘change of plans’ and was going to be gone for an ‘undetermined amount of time.’ Navy life is unpredictable, and while I knew this was always a possibility, it came at a time when I least expected it. I remember Skyping my family in tears, having to break the news that we weren’t going to be able to go home when we had originally planned. But those days and weeks eventually passed, and by the end of May the boat returned and we had almost the entire summer together.

Curtis spent the summer studying for his PNEO exam, and together we spent the summer processing over 200 mangoes off of our tree. Our second biggest success in gardening here is our Okinawa sweet potato patch — to the point where it’s kind of out of control and we’ve basically introduced an invasive species to our back yard. At least they taste good! We also hosted my brother for a few days and swam with sea turtles for the first time. Charlotte turned 5 years old on July 14, and our marriage turned 6 on July 27.

Photo Collage of places we visited in 2019

After spending over the first half of the year at home — and spending almost 2 entire years in the state of Hawaii — we finally made a big trip back to the Mainland. We started the trip in Washington DC where Curtis passed his interview and qualified engineer. We then spent the next week and a half road tripping to see our families, exploring, hiking to some state high points, and eating all the fast food we’ve been missing for the past 2 years.

Less than 48 hours after returning home, Curtis left on what would be his longest ride of the year, exactly 50 days spent out at sea. The next 2 months that followed could have been long and lonely ones for me, but they instead ended up being the best months of the year. My sister Sarah flew out a week later and stayed with me for just over a month. Ever since getting married and moving away from home, I’ve always imagined what it’d be like to host a sibling for a longer period of time, and this was exactly the kind of bonding experience I had been craving. It was so fun to reconnect and live the island life together.

Not only did I have Sarah helping me pass the time at home, but I also was able to visit Curtis at his first two ‘port calls,’ first in Ketchikan, Alaska and later in San Diego, California. I had dreamed of visiting Alaska for years, but never would have imagined that my first visit would be only 3 days from start to finish. It was so worth it though! The entire trip was definitely a highlight of the year and we know it won’t be our only trip there! We also loved being able to catch up with friends from Arizona, hike in the desert, and eat In-N-Out while in California.

Once all my traveling was done for the year and I said goodbye to Sarah, the world seemed to become a dark and lonely place and I struggled to find motivation throughout the day. But not long after, I received word that Curtis would be home early, and we were able to spend the rest of October together. We easily fell back into our routine of walking together on a nearby walking trail or into town in the evenings and going to the beach or easy hikes on the weekends. We celebrated my 27th birthday and our 75th wedding monthiversary by getting tattoos — which we don’t regret yet two months later!

Curtis left at the beginning of November for what would be his last ride of the year, and the longest time we’ve been apart since 2015. It was only about three and a half weeks long — several weeks shorter than his ride earlier that fall — but felt so much longer. But once it was over, we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving together and have had a much lighter schedule and more time together since. We’ve enjoyed the cooler weather and are starting our first big home remodel project. If you’re hoping to buy the cutest little Hawaiian cottage close to world-renowned beaches and with stunning mountain views out your very own windows in 2020, you’re in luck — I know of one that may be available! Stay tuned. 😉

Looking back over 2019, I see a common theme here: most of the things that happened are somehow connected to the Navy. At first, it annoys me how much it can take over our lives. Every little thing seems like an obstacle that we need to overcome. But when I really think about it, I realize all the benefits, life lessons, and ways we’ve grown closer through it. Every day apart makes us miss each other more and causes us to make the most of the time we have together. This year, the Navy gave us three opportunities to take ‘half-priced trips’ together, whether that be them paying for Curtis to fly to and from the mainland for his DC interview or allowing me to go meet him in exciting locations. We may complain about living in Hawaii, but once this is all said and done, we’ll one day look back on these three years and remember the time we really experienced life on a beautiful island. Curtis’ job may give him a lot of stress, but over time he’s gotten to do more that he enjoys, and he really does enjoy the engineering aspects, and this experience will no doubt benefit him in the future. And at the end of the day, when we’re frustrated with whatever situation we’re in, we can always just blame all our problems on the Navy and work harder to find peace and joy together.

That’s the attitude we’re entering 2020 with: While this life has given us many challenges, we can overcome them together and know there is a positive side to all things, and know that God is using it all for good, for His glory. As we look ahead to the next year, we have no idea where we’ll be and what Curtis will be doing at this time next year. But being back in that mindset is so exciting to me, and I can’t wait to see what happens!

Map of USA with counties we visited in 2019 filled in

Last but not least, here’s our county map for the year, created with mob-rule.com. It’s extra colorful thanks to traveling separately and landing in different airports across the country. For a bigger image of the map, click here.

Happy New Year, friends! May God bless you all richly in 2020.

November 2019

Memories from November 2019

I read something online at the end of October that likened November to being the “Thursday of the year,” and that couldn’t have been more accurate for me this year. At the beginning of the month, it seemed like it was just one big last obstacle to get around before the end of this year and an “easier” December. Curtis was going to be gone for the majority of it, and I had no plans that month, nothing to look forward to besides his return. I dreaded waking up for 23 days straight without him, going to bed for 23 nights without being able to say goodnight, and worst of all trying to fill each of those days enough to make time go faster.

But now that it’s all over and done with, I’m thankful for such a laid-back month. I’m thankful to have had that time to reflect on what I’ve learned this year, and to pray about what’s to come in the next. I stayed close to home the entire time, and for the most part the month was easy on my stress level, easy on the budget, and by the end I had my husband home safe and sound — how could I ask for any more?

At the beginning of the month, Curtis’ departure date was delayed by 2 days, so we ended up having an unplanned extra weekend day to enjoy together. We wanted to go for a longer hike, but when we started getting ready Charlotte became excited. It had been too long since we’d taken her anywhere other than the park, so we altered our plans in order to bring her along. We ended up driving to Kawela Bay on the North shore, where we hiked the trails around Turtle Bay and found a secluded section of beach all to ourselves. We let Charlotte run around off leash and laughed as she chased after the small crabs and tried to figure out where they escaped to after each wave rolled up on the shore. Just watching her excitement was worth giving up our original plan.

The day after that, we said goodbye and Curtis left for what would be the longest we’ve been apart since OCS in 2015. 23 days isn’t long in comparison to typical deployments, but somehow it seemed so much longer than the almost 50 days he was gone from August-October. Not having my sister here or exciting trips to break up our time apart certainly didn’t help matters!

My time alone went by smoothly, for the most part. I made a goal to eat healthier while I was alone and succeeded at making healthy meals with veggies every day (snacks and desserts don’t count — they’re necessary for survival!) I also spent more time reading than watching things on Netflix — I read “Becoming” by Michelle Obama and really enjoyed it. I love reading biographies and autobiographies and learning from other people’s lives and perspectives and hers was very thoughtful and well-written. While reading about the complicated and hectic life of a politician’s wife, I kept thinking about how glad I was that Curtis is just in the military and that our lives are simpler and much more private than that. Then I read about her interactions with military wives and the work she and Jill Biden did to try to improve the job possibilities for military wives, and found it amusing when she wrote that she was grateful that her husband was in politics and that she thought military life would be much more challenging.

As for the small struggle I dealt with while alone, November is typically the month when the weather on the island changes from “sunny season” to “rainy season,” and with the rain comes more bugs inside the house. I hit my breaking point with that about 2 weeks in — I can’t confirm whether it’s worse than the last 2 years, but it IS worse when I don’t have my husband to kill the bugs for me! I sprung to action setting up baits and deep cleaning areas that I felt were more ‘at risk,’ which led to deep cleaning more parts of the house because I realized we’ve been here for 2 years now and it was time for a deep clean. (If you’re keeping track, 2 years is longer than we’ve ever lived in any one place, or even any one state!)

In more exciting news, one of our banana trees has begun to produce! It’s been a year and a half since we planted it, and after spending that time tripling in size and growing 1 new leaf every week, it finally grew a big purple blossom that has been rapidly changing and growing each week. All the bananas are still on the smaller side and still green, but there are at least 8 bunches producing about 10 bananas each — so someday soon we’re going to have a lot of bananas on our hands!

Curtis returned home at the end of the month, right on time for Thanksgiving. Just like last year, he had duty on Thanksgiving day, but I was able to go on the boat and have dinner with him. I suppose since we’ve done this 2 years in a row, that makes it our longest-running Thanksgiving tradition. In all seriousness, it was a good day: we enjoyed all the traditional Thanksgiving foods and I didn’t have to cook anything, then we played games and watched Detective Pikachu. But just the fact that we were able to be together made the day great!

We spent the rest of the weekend planning for a little December getaway, picking out some home improvement projects to do when Curtis has some time off, and saying goodbye to our dear friends who have left the island and moved on to the next thing. We’re sad to see them go, but I guess that’s the circle of Navy life — you meet the most wonderful people and know that you’ll eventually have to say goodbye. However, it’s also a reminder that this stage isn’t forever, our turn to leave will eventually come too. I don’t know if you can tell, but we are ready!

And here we are — we made it through this year’s “Thursday,” and December is flying by now that we’re together. We’re looking forward to having some down time at the end of the month, and starting to prepare for what’s to come in 2020. We’re also looking forward to the temperatures finally cooling off a bit because the whole “rainy season” has been such a tease…But I know better than to complain about Hawaii’s weather in December when I know most of my readers are from the Midwest, which started winter early this year. I suppose I’ll just go outside and enjoy what could potentially be my last warm winter … for a few years? Forever? I don’t know, next year as well as the rest of our lives feels kind of up in the air at this point. It’s stressful and thrilling all at the same time. I guess the best thing to do is just go sit in the shade, relax, and know that it will all play out exactly according to God’s will.

Happy December, friends!

October 2019

The Happenings of October 2019

Curtis returned home from his longest ride yet at the beginning of October, and we were so thankful to be able to spend the rest of the month together. October has always been one of my favorite months, so it was nice to be able to fill it with memories of being together rather than apart. The few days between my sister leaving and Curtis coming home were hard for me, but receiving news that he was coming home earlier than expected instantly improved my attitude on the world around me. Colors were brighter! The birds chirping outside my window sounded cheerier! And everything that we did together from hikes to grocery shopping to staying at home doing absolutely nothing felt extraordinary.

Here are some things that happened this month that I want to remember:

— October started with the last few days of Sarah’s visit, so we spent each day going hiking and to the beach and enjoying every last bit of sister time together.

— Once Curtis was home, we hiked to Makapu’u Lighthouse and the Old Pali Highway on the weekends. If you remember from February’s post, there was a major rockslide that closed the Pali highway for the majority of this year. They’ve slowly been extending the hours that it’s open, and now it’s open 7 days a week and only closed overnight. We’ve still been doing this hike even when the main highway was closed, it’s honestly one of our favorites here.

— We bottled all of our mango wine and ended up with 18 bottles! We have some tweaking to do to get the flavor and sweetness balanced just right next time, but the alcohol content is certainly there. Unfortunately it wasn’t until after we bottled it that I searched online for the best way to ship wine, only to discover that it’s illegal to mail alcohol…I guess our families won’t be getting any for Christmas. Sorry everyone, you’re going to have to visit us to get to try our first batch of mango wine. In other news, we decided that since our first round was mostly a success, we’re attempting to make guava wine with guava foraged from a hike.

— I turned 27 on the 27th! I feel…old. Thankfully Curtis had that day off, and on that day we attended a goodbye brunch for one of his fellow officers, hiked Koko Head at sunset, and got Poke and a delicious chocolate cake to eat at home. The 27th also happened to be our 75th wedding monthiversary, so we celebrated both of these events by putting a deposit down on something we’ve talked about doing for a long time, which brings me to the next notable event…

— We got matching tattoos! I know this may be a controversial subject to some, but it was something we’ve wanted to do ever since we got married. I guess after 75 months, we were finally committed enough to go for it. 😉 The image we chose was one that I designed way back in 2012 when we were in a long distance relationship. I would doodle it on the back of the cards I sent him, and all over my sketchbooks, and sometimes even draw it on my arm. It was a simple design that held a lot of meaning to us: a bottle with a pocket watch on the inside. Can you guess why? I’ll give you a hint, it’s based off of a Jim Croce song that we’ve claimed as “our song.” It’s also the name of this blog…haha. Anyway, we’ve always known we would do this someday, and after years of contemplation we were finally impulsive enough to go to a tattoo parlor and make it official. We had them done at Loyalty Tattoo in Kailua and are very happy with how they turned out. Mine is on my arm and Curtis’ is on his back. They are completely identical, and the time on the watch reads 7:27, our wedding anniversary.

— We ended the month the same way we do every October, where after a full year of coming up with creative couple’s costume ideas, we stayed home and did nothing but eat leftover birthday cake and scheme about buying half-priced candy the next day…which we didn’t do either. I guess we’re a little off our game this year. However, I’ll have you know that we did celebrate the holiday that matters more to us despite being apart on that day: on October 3rd, we both wore pink and watched Mean Girls. Curtis watched it wearing his pink hat on his boat somewhere out there, and I watched with Sarah and Celeste at home. Then we watched it again when we were together to make up for missing the actual holiday.

Which brings us to November. I’m alone again, but so far doing better than I was a month ago. I’m thankful for the cooler weather that’s finally arriving to the islands. I’m thankful that the end of the year is fast approaching, and while I know that the rest of this year and the next won’t be smooth sailing, I’m excited for the changes that will eventually arrive. This year has been challenging in so many ways, and I’ll reflect way more on that in our end of the year post, but we’re nearing the end and I couldn’t be more excited to have this all be behind us. For now, I’m going to try to spend this month reflecting more on what I’m thankful for and focus on how the trials we’ve faced and are facing have helped us grow, and how they’ve blessed us. Happy November, friends!

Torrey Pines

San Diego Port Call | September 2019 | Hiking in Torrey Pines

For our last day together in San Diego, we wanted to do some more hiking. We had only rented a car for one day when we hiked outside of the city, so today we planned to take the bus and hike somewhere closer. Mission Hills looked interesting, especially the “5 peaks challenge,” but since the bus route didn’t go close enough to that area we decided to go to Torrey Pines instead. The bus ride to get there from Old Town took about an hour and a half, which may sound long and not worth the time, but today we were satisfied to just sit and enjoy being together during that time.

We rode up through La Jolla and to the university campus, then got on our connecting bus that went up the Pacific coast. We got off just North of Torrey Pines State Reserve and began our journey heading South through the park on foot.

We started off by walking the beach, with the ocean to our right and the tall cliffs to our left. We eventually reached the stairs and the trail that led up the cliffs and enjoyed the many vantage points along the way. When we came to a fork in the trail, we chose the path leading to the South, which turned out to be the less busy of the two. We loved how this place reminded us of the Badlands. If you’re interested, you can see our trail recording here.

Once we made it to the end of the trail, we road walked to the nearest bus stop South of the park and took another long bus ride back to Old Town. Once in Old Town, we walked around some more and admired the Old San Diego Mission and the monuments to the Mormon Battalion. We wrapped up our last day with dinner at In-N-Out and walked back to our hotel.

The next morning, Curtis left around 5 to go back to the boat, and I took it easy at the hotel until it was time to check out. I met up with my friend Celeste again, and we got breakfast before heading to the airport. On our return trip, we flew through San Francisco — I’m very thankful she was so understanding with my need to fly through a different airport and get another county that Curtis doesn’t have. 😉

Our flights were on time and uneventful. However, I’m thankful that I have a few months before the next time I have to make the long trip between Hawaii and the mainland again! We arrived back on Oahu that evening and her roommates picked us up. Once again, I was glad to have Sarah and Charlotte waiting for me at home!