Hawaii 2016

Chase and I have always talked about places we want to travel together. We have a long, long list. While we didn't make much of a dent in the first year of marriage, we did hit a few fun spots! 

The first trip we went on together was with Chase's whole family when we were engaged. We went to the Big Island in Hawaii. We spent nine fun days there enjoying the beach, volcano, and food! Chase especially loved this one fish taco place we found and is determined to go back one day. The day that we went over to the volcano was quite an adventure. We'd spent a few days on the "warm side" of the island, as it turns out. Little did we know that a short two hours away was a whole rain forest. It was frigid and wet. We showed up and hopped out of the van in our swimsuits and flip flops only to realize that everyone else was decked out head to toe in Patagonia down jackets and pants. We spent the whole day running from place to place in the pouring rain with only towels for cover. It was an adventure but a day we will always remember. The volcano was so incredible with its lava flow that it made it all worth it!

The rest of the trip was fun as well and we spent a lot of time relaxing at the beach and working on our Utah winter tans.  One night we did a Manta Ray dive, which is to this day one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. We had these massive Manta Rays skimming our stomachs as they did back flips up the the surface of the water where we were snorkeling. There were so many of them and they came from all over the place to come join the party. It was definitely the craziest encounters I've ever had with any animals. 

Hawaii was a wonderful kick off to our summer and a relaxing break before the chaos of wedding details and plans. We want to go back one day to see even more of the beautiful island!