Hawai'i

I was only five years old when my parents took me and my sister Samantha to Hawai'i for our first big vacation.  The scenery provided undoubtedly some of the most striking and beautiful memories of my life. "Paradise" doesn't do it justice.  But one activity on our trip stands out amongst the rest, and that is when the four of us ventured down Haleakalā, the world's largest dormant volcano, on horseback and spent the night in the crater.

Please understand that my family is not very adventurous when it comes to nature.  We don't do "the outdoors".  So riding horses, hiking, and camping in a little hut in the middle of nowhere was not typically on our agenda. It was very risky for my parents, and it paid off.