Livin' Like Lauren: HAWAII

The great thing about vacationing in a place with a time zone that's five hours ahead is that you can wake up earlier and not even be tired. My second day in Hawaii was my favorite. It started at 7 AM with yet another delicious frappuccino, except this time I did not go to the beach. Instead, I decided to go on a scenic tour through the east coast of the island. I'm being completely honest when I say that I saw some of the most beautiful sights in the world. Sights that literally brought me to tears. The tour went through the town of Waikiki and then proceeded up the coast to Hanuma Bay, a popular site for swimming and snorkeling on this side of the island. The water was crystal clear and the bay was surrounded by lush forestry and palm trees, making it a somewhat secluded, secret little paradise. Then, we took a "Hawaiian roller coaster ride" up the rocky edge of the island, which gave us some beautiful views of the coast. The views provided a magnificent distraction from the fact that our tour bus was literally five feet away from the edge of a cliff. We passed some rocky shores as well as Sandy Beach, stopping along the way to take some pictures. Our last stop was my favorite; Makkapuu Beach. This was by far the prettiest sight I saw while in Hawaii. The water was the most amazing shades of blue and turquoise and the sand was a blinding white-beige. It actually looked like one of the screen savers that comes with your computer. After the tour was over I was sad to drive back to my hotel, however I was able to appreciate all the beautiful scenery around me, gaining a new appreciation of the world around me.

Later that day my dad and I took another adventure. I found a waterfall online that I wanted to check out, but in order to get to it you had to park on the side of the highway and sneak through an abandoned water supply board. We then trekked through a bamboo forest that opened up onto a beautiful view of the mountains and rainforest. The tollway hills looked like something from The Sound of Music, while the forest reminded me of Jurassic Park. Overall, it was astounding and my camera was clicking furiously as I tried to capture the moment perfectly. We then had to walk through another forested area until we came to a stream that led up to the waterfall. It wasn't easy, and I fell quite a few times collecting several scrapes and bruises, but ot was all worth it once we finally got to the waterfall. The falls were huge and the way the sun shone onto it through the rocks made the scene look like something from a magazine. We weren't able to stay at the waterfall for long as the sun was going down, so we made our way back to the car. But Mother Nature had one more surprise in store for us. When we came back to the hills overlooking the mountains/rainforest the sun was setting over one of the mountains in the distance illuminating the entire hilltop and providing a beautiful sunset to watch. I snapped some pics and then we had to leave before the sun went down and we were trapped in the forest all night. Overall, it was an amazing experience. I got to see so many beautiful places the world has to offer and I'm so glad that I was able to do that along with my dad. I will definitely remember this part of the trip for the rest of my life.