Our trip to Hana was definitely one to remember. This post is a little lengthy, but I swear you’ll laugh (or at least smile a little on the inside).

The Prologue

It was a windy night at dusk. Darkness was approaching quickly and we decided it was a perfect time to embark on our 3 hour journey to Hana. There were five of us total, and we were going on a three day camping trip.

First stop, Walmart.

For essentials, of course. We spent a good amount of time here, and ended up packing the whole truck up in the parking lot as darkness took over and it began to rain. A sign of bad luck? Maybe. But we continued forth.

Second stop, Taco Bell.

Naturally. We had to fuel up before the trip, and Taco Bell seemed like a practical choice. However, hanger was creeping up on us, our GPS’s weren’t working, and it soon became a screaming match as we drove around in circles looking for that pink and purple bell from heaven. Bad omen number two? Quite possibly. Let the adventures continue.

Third stop, broken down in the darkness. Boom.

Bad luck for sure! We were hours into our trip, on the small, twisted, 1-lane road that was Hana when we heard a loud crack. The truck had already been rattling the whole way, so it was anybody’s guess as to what it could be. We quickly realized that it was a tire blowout and pulled over to assess the damage. It took all five of us to hold up iPhone flashlights and maneuver the new tire on, but we did it. All while stranded in the middle of what could be the start of a scary movie. Have you read my other blog posts? I think the theme here is that I often imagine my life is a movie. Idiosyncrasies are good…aren’t they?

A little excerpt of the good things, here.

As the trip went on, good things happened too. We went on the awesome Hana Hike to the famous waterfall and the 7 Sacred Pools. My favorite part was when we hiked off trail and found hidden waterfalls and cliff jumping.

The bamboo forest was also incredible. And the view of sunset at Haleakala. But that’s all I need to say about that.

The good stuff is cool and all, but I know what you want. You want to hear the excitement. The less-than-ideal things. Lucky for you, our trip was filled with both. Night number two did not fail to bring the heat. Quite literally. Read on, my friend.

The explosion. I was shot.

Let me set the scene for you. Our tents were up, we had a small fire/charcoal pit going (after hours of a bleak, windy struggle) and we were posted up around a picnic table playing card games. Darkness was setting in again, so we were using our headlamps to illuminate our cards. We put a couple of cans in the “fire” to heat up for dinner, but someone *cough Briana cough* didn’t crack/dent her can. This is important for what comes next.

Back to the card games. Laughter was in the air, along with a little chill (as we were all wearing sweaters.) Out of the blue, we heard a loud BANG! I screamed at the top of my lungs, and we all took cover as we felt warm liquid splatter on us. I had been shot. At least this is what we all thought. We flashed our headlamps to the scene and realized that Briana’s ravioli can exploded. Everywhere. Red sauce covered our clothes, raviolis had splattered atop the whole tent…there were even raviolis dripping from the tree above. After a moment passed and we realized what had happened, we all rolled with laughter. It really was one of the funniest moments of my life. But maybe it was one of those “had to be there’s.”

Okay so maybe the title of this article was a bit misleading. Our trip to Hana was not haunted by the literal definition. However, it surely had it’s ups and downs. And I somehow got you to read all about it.

Have you ever had a memorable vacation full of things that went wrong? Share your memories in the comments below 🙂