Day 14

How many hours have I been up today? Well, I woke up at 2:00AM...so it's been a LONG day. So long that I can't do the math. Mark and I somehow managed to get up to Mount Haleakala (I drove both ways!) by 4:00AM...about an hour before sunrise. It was nice because we were one of the first people there. The sunrise was really beautiful. Because we were at an elevation of over 10,000 feet, a layer of real thick clouds rolled in that were below us...which made the sunrise pretty cool looking. I have to say this though and I hate to but ... I'm not really sure if it was worth it. I think ANY sunrise is beautiful and this one wasn't any better than the rest (that I can think of). Maybe it was because of the clouds. If we saw the sunrise over the ocean it might have been cooler. I kinda would have rather went up later in the day and hiked in the crater. Anyway, that's what we did and we got home by 8:30AM.

We then went to the pool and swam for a bit - and said our goodbyes to it - came back home and ate lunch. Then we went to Ulua Beach - Mark snorkeled and said bye to his fishy friends and I sunbathed and read. We hung out for a while at home and then went out to eat at a restaurant called Maui Thai which was pretty good! Mark just put a HUGE bowl of ice cream in front of me (we're trying to eat the rest of the food we have before we leave...not the healthiest thing to do, I know), so I gotta go!

Aloha! (Only 1 day of "aloha" left...I don't want to go!)

Day 13

Lazy day...

Slept in.

Ate french fries with jalapeno ranch sauce...and pineapple.

Swam at the pool with old people.

Sunbathed.

Read on the lanai.

Ate ice cream at 2:00PM.

Watched TV.

Too windy for the beach.

But it's a good thing, because tomorrow we're planning to watch the sunrise at Mount Haleakala which means we are waking up at 2:30AM!! We plan on doing a little early morning hiking after the sunrise and then head back down the hill to do our last bit of snorkeling of our trip (at Turtle Beach) and having a relaxing beach day (hopefully it won't be too windy or else it's swimming in the pool with the elderly again)!!

Aloha! (Only 2 days of "aloha" left...getting sadder.)

Day 12

What A Day!

The road to Hana was nothing short of AMAZING! The only bummer was that because it hasn't rained lately (like, at all!) the waterfalls were puny or non-existent. :o( Sad. BUT, oh my gosh, the drive was lush, tropical, GREEN, and so insanely beautiful. Some of the leaves on the trees were so huge. They really looked prehistoric. But, that is what it looks like - like you are in some jungle from another time. It is (for the most part) so untouched, which is what makes it so awesome to experience. We saw what I call "Tarzan vines" hanging from trees covered in what look like Philodendron on steroids - so cool! We also saw crazy flowers...I can't even describe them, but I took pictures! We also saw bamboo forests (let me tell you, if you want a natural privacy fence - try bamboo)! What else did we see... hm ...oh yeah - WILD FERRETS! We went to this state park right on the outskirts of Hana and they were EVERYWHERE. I didn't like it. Creepy, long, weird rat-things. Anyway, those are just a few things we saw.

We went hiking at that state park (the name is too long to remember...plus it's Hawaiian) along crazy lava formations, black sand beaches, blow holes, caves (and yes, we went in them too!), and old burial grounds. It was cool!

We then drove through the town of Hana (or "Hana Town" as its called by locals) which was small and serene and so old world. It's what everyone calls "real" or "true" Hawaii. And I believe it. On the other side of Hana Town, we went to a beach called Hamoa Beach, which is a salt and pepper beach (which means a mix of black and white sand) that is managed by a local hotel, so it's very nice. The break was great for bodyboarding and Mark spent some time doing that and tumbling in the waves...they got pretty big! I went in the water and just floated over the waves or dove under if they were gonna break on me. I love doing that. I know that I've stressed how CLEAR the water is around Maui, but I think this beach had the clearest water...it was so beautiful. It was a great beach to spend a few hours baking in the sun and swimming...a good place to stretch our legs from the few hour drive to Hana Town!

It was a long day, but a great one! I'd recommend this trip to anyone traveling to Maui. Just beware that the road can - at times - get a little scary: coming around a corner and a car being in your lane! Yikes! Take your time, go slow, and stop to enjoy the view when you can. :o)

Aloha for today! (Only 3 days of "aloha" left....sad.)

Day 11

Today was very restful. We went to the beach and hung out for a bit, but it was pretty windy (major trade winds today), so we instead lounged by the pool. We also went for a long walk in Kihei and stopped to cool off at cute Pupu Lounge. :o) Mark - of course - couldn't get over the name! Dork.

Like I said, it was a very restful day...as we are getting ready for HANA which is happening tomorrow!

Aloha!

Day 10

Today was filled with what all Saturdays should be filled with:

Sun

Surf

Beach

Sunglasses

Pool

Laughter

Sunsets

and did I mention Sun?

Aloha!

Day 9

One thing I do need to say about this vacation is that Mark and I have eaten A LOT. We seem to be 100% in love with food and it's probably not a good thing. One delicious recipe I want to share is what Mark calls "Dounut Ice Cream". What you do it this: buy your favorite flavor of ice cream (for us it is Dryer's French Silk), and then buy your favorite flavor of Toaster Strudel (for us it is Boston Creme Pie). Prepare your Toaster Strudel as normal, put the icing on it, and then put it in a bowl. Then top it with your favorite ice cream and enjoy! With the right combination of ice cream and Toaster Strudel, this is a delicious recipe! :o)

So, the hike we went on today was great! Thank you Mel and Dennis for recommending it. We started out at about 10:30 and it took us about an hour to get to the top. I think we made good time; my body was sure feeling like we did. At the top we ate lunch and chilled for about a half hour and then started back down. The views along the way are amazing! You see Kahululi, the airport, the ocean (obviously), Wailuku, and some of the most gorgeous hillside homes I've ever seen. It was truly breathtaking.

We came home from the hike, rested a bit, and then headed for the pool. We swam, read, sunbathed, and relaxed. We finished out our day by making tacos, and of course, "Dounut Ice Cream". :o)

All I'm going to say is, how in the world are we going to readjust to "normal life" after such a long vacations?? I can't even remember what I DO at work! Oh well...

Aloha for today!

Day 8

Today was another pretty laid back day, but what else would you expect? It was HUMID today. Pretty cloudy for most of the day. So, we decided not to go to the beach and instead went shopping. We went first to The Shops at Wailea. Talk about fancy! I must say that I felt pretty out of place in most of those shops. It was definitely fun to walk around - it was a gorgeous mall complete with palm trees, waterfalls and fabulous architecture. We even saw (I think) the owner of the condo we're staying in. He's a realtor and has his card in the room with his picture on it. Funny. Then we drove to another part of Kihei and went to another shopping area and browsed around for a bit. We topped the shopping part of our day off by going to Safeway. :o)

It was still cloudy and humid when we go back, so we hung out by and in the pool for a while and swam, read, got super tan...you know, the usual.

By the way, I started reading this book in our condo and I had heard about it being on the top of book lists, etc. It's called "The Kite Runner" and it's a novel about two Afgan boys...read the Amazon blurb about it. I started it and now I don't want to put it down. It's really good so far...sad, realistic, but good.

Tomorrow, Mark and I are going on a hike that Mel and Dennis told us about - the Waihe'e Ridge Trail. We are planning on getting an early start, so I have to be getting to bed soon! Mark has been running almost every day while I, on the other hand, have not. :o) Hopefully I can keep up with him tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Aloha!