Mountains vs. Beaches

I think if I had to choose between living by the mountains or living by the beach, I would choose the mountains. (I know. Most of you are probably gasping right now, but it's true.) I love the green and the feeling of separation from the world. More people tend to flock to the beach than the mountains, I think. I'm sure that I'm swayed because I've lived in Utah my whole life and there's kiiind of a shortage of beaches around here. 

I do really enjoy the beach though. For the most part anyway. I can't say I'm a huge fan of getting sand all over the place, but I do generally enjoy a trip to the beach. Basically, this is a really long, roundabout way of saying that last month I went to Hawaii for the first time.

Guys, I'm totally sold on the fresh fruit and the mostly consistent warm weather and the wide variety of activities. Because I stayed home for a few days after my family left so that I could go to class, I only ended up being there for about 4.5-5ish days. It was still a pretty great 5 days though (and my sleep schedule still has not recovered from it).

We stayed at an Airbnb in a little town called Naalehu on the island of Hawai'i (also sold on the Airbnb after this trip - having a house to come back to every night was SO nice). Here's some of the highlights from things we did/saw on this trip:

--black sand beach + a sea turtle--

--watching the sunset & stargazing on Mauna Kea--

--hiking through a crater at Volcanoes National Park--

--swimming in the ocean--
*there was a sea turtle swimming right by us (!!!), but unfortunately, getting a good picture was impossible*

--waterfalls on the rainforest side of the island--

This waterfall is called Rainbow Falls. It's really faint, but I managed to get a picture of the rainbow.

I've also included some of my favorite pictures from the trip. I took so many, and I was really happy with how a lot of them turned out!

Did I mention how much I love the green? I didn't anticipate seeing so much greenery in Hawai'i, but it was beautiful and absolutely perfect.

10/10 would recommend vacationing in Hawai'i. Even if you like the mountains.