Vacation, as a concept, is a good thing

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In front of the hotel

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Maui is wonderful!  We have had a great time so far with Molly's family and we have been enjoying doing nothing, more or less, which is a fairly rare experience for the two of us.  It has been so great to have no plans, other than sitting on the beach.  I guess that's the whole point of vacation.

We went snorkeling and sea kayaking today and got to swim with some sea turtles.  They swim so slowly that moss grows on their shells, and they're friendly enough to pet.  It was so surreal...

We were also able to meet up with Molly's friend from elementary school who is in university here- Molly and Jasmine hadn't seen each other since sixth grade, but we were able to spend a few days hanging out with each other.  The three of us went on some epic hikes to find waterfalls in the jungle- one hike led us down the (very) steep side of a muddy hill.  Our directions implied that the waterfall would be just off the main road, but the little winding trail kept going, and it disappeared and reappeared so much that we weren't sure we were actually on a trail after a while.  About an hour into the hike, we saw that the trail continued... down a rope set up as a makeshift rappel!  When we finally reached the bottom of the waterfall, it was definitely worth being covered with mosquito bites.  No one else was anywhere nearby, and the three of us took a long swim in the crystal blue pool at the bottom of a 200-foot waterfall.  Life is rough.