Well we landed halfway on 66! Adrian, Texas is the exact middle of the Mother Road. Cameron and I had a fun trek through New Mexico back into Texas. Like everywhere else in the West we hardly saw any cars traveling along 66. When we got to the midway point there was not a soul in sight at first. It was so empty that I was able to play in the road and take pictures of the 66 painted on the pavement!
 

There is just something about Arizona and New Mexico that I love.... and I know exactly what it is, the beautiful rock structure. Anytime Cameron and I hit Arizona or New Mexico all we could talk about was how beautiful the rock formations were. When you drive out west and have no buildings, service or other cars...how can you not enjoy the scenery!? It's absolutely breathtaking. 

Finally leaving the land of the traffic we got into the more remote areas of Rt 66 which is exactly how we liked it. Arizona Rt 66 was the most scenic and fun to drive area of the entire road.
 
We did stop right over the border for gas but our first official stop was in a little western town called Oatman. The main attraction in Oatman, aside from the fact it's a cute western town with a dirt main street and lots of little shops, is that there are dozens of wild donkeys wandering around the town! They just kind of roam around asking for food from all the tourists.
 

What do you do on your final day in Hawaii?! One last hike of course! Fourth of July was our final day in Hawaii and we had one last place we wanted to visit before flying back to the mainland. Cameron and I planned to hike to the Golden Ponds at Ke-awa-iki early so that we could get back to spend the rest of the day with the family. Since we intended on swimming in the Golden Ponds neither Cameron or I brought our actual cameras for this adventure so anything you see is from my iPhone. The layout of the hike was simple. Park...hike down some crazy jagged lava...hike the black sand beach....stray off course and find the ponds! In case you have any doubt like I did...the Golden Ponds are in fact quite golden. Hidden among all the lava rock is a gorgeous gold pond of freshwater that you can swim in. 

After our intense green sand beach hike Cameron promised me that the black sand beach hike would be a lot more relaxed and whole lot less windy. We set off Saturday morning to hike the black sand beach and hopefully be able to see some sea turtles. The sea turtles hang out in a quiet little lagoon type area where they float happily all day and bask in the sun. Cameron and I didn't quite experience that on the hike to get to them. You start off walking along the black sand beach and make your way past all the trees along the edge of the beach. Cameron had remembered hidden water ponds being in the woods so we tried finding them. When we found them they were the coolest little natural pools I've ever seen. They are smack in the middle of the trees, if it was dark and you were walking you probably would fall right into them. Rocks form in a circle as a border and people climb in and cool off in the shade right alongside the beach. It was really cool...just make sure you don't use it as a bathroom. Neither Cameron or I ventured into them but they were neat to stop and see.