exploring maui: the blowhole

 The second or third day of our trip (it all kinda blurs together now...) we drove North from our hotel, 
to find some neat beaches, cliffs, and a blowhole.

The parking lot is just a little dirt pullout on the side of the road, and here's the "trail."

And you gotta love the official signs posted along the hillside: 

Thoroughly warned, we made our way down the rocks.

 The way the ocean spray has eaten away at these rocks was fascinating. It looked like an alien landscape of some sort.

 And then, we found the blowhole. And it was awesome.
Water from the ocean gets forced up into lava tubes below the surface and it comes blasting out of this hole at the top.
It took some patience, but we did get to see it really shoot out a few times.

I liked standing on this side best: the spray from the water was great for cooling me off. 

 As we started our hike back up the hill, I noticed a couple of people off to the left. 
The best part about traveling without kids is that you have time (and energy!) to explore--no where to be, no one whining, or needing to use the potty...
I clambered around the corner and found this:

 A perfect heart shaped hole in the rock! I couldn't believe it! (I'm still not 100% convinced this is entirely naturally made....)

We didn't have any water left after this little hike. It was 92 degrees that day and humid. So as we drove back home, when we saw a man selling ice cold coconuts,
we just had to stop.

 And crossed off something from Kent's bucket list: drink from a coconut.
We paid for one coconut to share, and as the (huge!) Hawaiian man was chopping it open with his machete, he asked us where we were from. 
When we told him Utah, he asked if we are Mormon.
Yep.
He got so excited about that. He told us his parents are active members, and then he gave us another coconut and a big bunch of apple bananas for free.
I'm pretty sure that was the first time I've received a gift just for being LDS. 

When we got home, we spent the afternoon swimming at our beach, then
we ended the night with a massive slice of Hula Pie and a sunset.