Well, Hawaii was awesome. Got to see and do a lot of great things. Didn't really make any effort to find rocks/shells/coral while on the islands, just generally vacationed. We had 4 days on Oahu with a car and that was great because we got to do and see a lot of things there (my wife grew up there). Then we caught a cruise ship that took us to the other islands. The Big Island decided to explode a few days before our vacation so that was kinda cool. I took a helicopter flight there and got to see some awesome sights. Kauai was stunningly beautiful, and the taxi driver told us how lucky we got because it was the first sunny day there in a long time (they had massive floods there 2 weeks prior to our visit). I think I liked Maui the best of all the islands, but theres really nothing bad that can be said about any of them.
After our tour of the islands the cruise ship took us to Canada. We were supposed to just get off in Vancouver and head home but due to a medical emergency aboard the ship they steamed in early and stopped for a day in Victoria (Vancouver Island). This unscheduled stop was a pleasant surprise. Victoria is an amazing little city and I would've loved to had some more time there. But the one nice thing is it allowed me the opportunity to come home from my trip with a couple of rocks. As I walked up the beach I dropped a couple of cobbles in my pocket to bring home. I know little of the geology there, but I picked up at least 2 rocks that I know I can cut and polish. I will share them and get Franks expert opinion on them in due time.
Anyway, if you haven't been to Hawaii its worth the trip at least once in your life. And I think I want to go back to Vancouver Island someday for sure!
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Karl Camp, on Flickr