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!

Day 7

Today marks the end of the first week of our vacation. It was a great, lazy day. We went to the beach and out to dinner. That was about as busy as it got for us.

We started our day by going to Malu'aka Beach, better known as "Turtle Beach" because of the sea turtles that flock to the reefs there. When I snorkeled, I didn't see any turtles, but Mark was lucky enough to go out a bit later and swim with one almost the whole length of the beach! How cool is that! Seriously...I'm a little jealous...but I had a great time just swimming around in the bath-like ocean.

We were at the beach for probably about 3 hours, then we came home ate some lunch, and watched some TV (HGTV of course...oh and the movie "Never Been Kissed" was on, so we watched that too). Then, for dinner, we ate out at The Sports Page, which is basically a sports bar down the road. I sat under a picture of Mike Ditka. The clientel were mostly locals and the food was really good! I had - of course - fish and chips and Mark had the Peyton Manning burger. Yum. Delicious food. I challenged Mark to a pool dual (as in billiards), but he was a little nervous to play in public with such a great player as myself, so we didn't.

That about wraps up our day. Tomorrow, we are going to turn things a bit upscale and check out The Shops at Wailea (anybody want a Luis Vuitton bag? a new Betsey Johnson dress? Fendi glasses? let me know!), and maybe do the Wailea beach walk. It is HOT and HUMID out now so, tomorrow might be really warm...we might also have to do the beach or the pool.

Here is an interesting tidbit regarding the weather on Maui that I found at hawaiiweathertoday.com:

Why is it warm all year round in the Hawaiian Islands?

There are many reasons for Maui’s famous warm weather, not the least of which is the southern latitude. Maui is approximately 1400 miles north of the equator, which is in an area on the planet that has high sun during the entire year. This allows plentiful amounts of sunshine to beam down on the island. While the sun’s warmth heats the island, it is also pumping heat into the surrounding ocean water as well. The temperature of the ocean around Maui fluctuates very little…remaining between 75 degrees F. (23.3C) during the winter months, up to 83 degrees F. (28.3C) or so during the summer months. This last point is really the key factor in why we stay so pleasant here even during the winter. The warm ocean keeps the overlying atmosphere from cooling significantly…ensuring the near perfect weather conditions that Maui enjoys.

Aloha for today!

Day 6

Today was a long, long day. We accomplished our drive and I'm happy to say that we are still alive! You might think that is a silly thing to say, but you haven't seen the road we traveled. It hugs the West coast of Maui...winds around on the side of the cliff...and the road is only one lane. So, what do you do when you encounter another car? Back up - very carefully - until you come to a spot where the other car can pass. Lucky us, we encountered a SCHOOLBUS flying around those curves...somehow she just flew around us, flower behind her ear, no worries. I'm sure I was screaming. The drive was beautiful, terrifying (for me, Mark kept saying how awesome it was - which I agree it was, but still at times terrifying!), and truly breathtaking. We drove through this old village probably at the half-way point in the drive...a little tropical village with a population probably less than 50. We stopped to buy some banana bread from Julie there. Yum!

The other cities we drove through were beautiful, hidden beaches were gorgeous, and the views from that small winding road were like nothing else. Maui is a true paradise.

Day 5

Happy Labor Day!!

I sort-of forgot that it was Labor Day. That's what happens, I guess, when you're on vacation for two weeks - you never know what day it is!! I've never been on vacation for more than 10 days (that I can remember), so this one is a pretty big deal for me. It was - again - an amazing day. Here's what we did:

We started our day out by hiking in La Perouse Bay. "Wow" is I think the only word that can describe that place. As you hike, you are completely surrounded by lava rock...and I don't mean the ground is just covered...the whole bay was MADE from that lava flow, so it goes from water to lava to more lava to the back of the mountain. You can see the path the lava took from Mount Haleakala to the ocean. It really makes you think about how BIG a volcanic eruption really is. Another cool thing about this place is that we were able to see ruins of the Hawaiian village that was there before the volcano erupted in the late 1700s. (Mark and I always tend to find ruins to see...in Arizona, Hawaii, even Oregon!) Not only that, but there were wild goats!! So cute!! I think that hike was just under 4 miles, so it was a good start to the day.

After our hike, we decided to stop by Ulua Beach in Wailea, which is a small but fun snorkeling beach. We relaxed in the sun, ate the lunch we packed, snorkeled and swam in the ocean. It was pretty crowded being Labor Day and all, but we still had fun.

The rest of our day was spent relaxing, grocery shopping, watching HGTV, eating dinner, and enjoying the sound of the waves crashing on the beach.

"What does tomorrow have in store for us?" you may ask. The answer is this: a drive around West Maui, with tourist stops in the cities of Lahaina, Ka'anapali, Napili, Kapalua, Honokohao, Kahakuloa, and Waihe'e. We'll see how long it takes us! (Probably all day!)

Aloha for now!

Day 4

It was cloudy today...and humid! But it's funny how you just don't care when you're in...Maui!! (You know, I'm talking this island up so much, but I don't care! I really do love it.) We went to the pool, to the beach, swam, walked around and shopped, and...watched about 15 hours of HGTV. As you all know, we love fixing houses, so it comes as no surprise that we would love a TV station such as HGTV. So, we got a little addicted to that today since we've never had cable and have never been able to watch it, but we were able to do a lot outside, too. We wanted today to be pretty laid back and it really was.

Today, in Maui, we discovered a few cool things:

1 - There are speedy, jumping lizards all over the place.

2 - Kona Lava Java is my new favorite ice cream flavor.

3 - I can do some pretty rad summersaults under water.

4 - I can throw a Nerf football better than Mark.

5 - Coupons are to Mark what diamonds are for women.

6 - We are addicted to HGTV.

7 - I love my new straw hat.

8 - Mark's can't get enough of "Talladega Nights".

9 - We could never live somewhere that has sales tax.

10 - When looking at a design of a house, men only care about where the flatscreen will go.

Tomorrow we are going hiking in way-South Maui...where the road ends to La Perouse Bay. It should be fun and HOT. :o) Maybe we'll get lucky and it will rain! We'll see!

Another beautiful day in paradise - aloha all!

Day 3

I just can't seem to get adjusted to this time switch! It's 7:45PM and it feels about 10:00PM. It doesn't help that it gets dark here around 7:00PM.

Today, we drove a lot...or so it seemed. We left the condo around 8:30AM and ventured to Iao Valley. It was sunny and warm and really cool. Those lush, green cliffs looked so unreal. But they are! It was gorgeous.

Then, we drove through Wailuki and Kahului to Ho'okipa Beach and watched the surfers catch some North Shore waves. The waves are bigger in the afternoon...which is when the the windsurfers come out, but we were there before noon so we didn't see much action.

We hopped back in the car and began our journey to "Upcountry" which is, well, Maui cowboy country. There are rolling pastures, horses grazing, farm houses, and the most amazing views of BOTH the North and South sides of Maui. Our destination was Waihou Springs, a natural spring that took a small hike to get to. When we got to the end of the trail, we were bummed to find it dry. Maui has had a lot less rain than normal, according to some locals we met who also gave us some good tips for the hike (i.e. "you can explore the caves down there, but don't go in the first one on the left because there are yellow jackets"..."you want to us my walking stick?"). Locals are cool.

We ate lunch in Makawao...at a little garden cafe where a chicken and her chicks were pecking around under our table just begging us to give them a little something. There were these little teeny tropical birds that joined them. It was so cute and laid back and ... so Maui.

At the end of our journey, we stopped to walk around Pa'ia, the funky little town next to Ho'okipa Beach. We poked our head into Charley's with the hopes of seeing Willie Nelson sitting on a barstool. He spends have of his time in Pa'ia...and he loves Charley's, so I've heard. But, unfortunately, no Willie. We also spent some time chatting with a shop owner ("Inspirations") whose son is good friends with Woody Harelson's kids...Woody also lives on Maui. There's a hemp shop he likes to frequent, but he wasn't there when we stopped by. Darn.

That about sums up our day!

I guess I bought a sun hat...it's pretty sweet.

We're now just watching TV.

I'm exhausted.

The end.

Aloha for today! More aloha for tomorrow!

Day 2

The things of today:

1. An alarm clock of tropical bird calls and Tom Michaelson at 6:30AM.

2. Two cups of delicious black Kona coffee on the lanai before 7:30AM (thank you, tropical birds...and Tom). :o)

3. 3 different white and golden sand beaches.

4. Sunbathing.

5. Swimming.

6. Snorkeling.

7. Soggy cooler lunch.

8. Aloe vera.

9. Reading on the lanai.

10. Pizza Hut.

11. TV time.

12. Palm trees silhouetted against a fire-orange sky.

Tomorrow we will explore either West Maui, South Maui, or the North Shore. I love not having a schedule.

Aloha until tomorrow!

Day 1

My first thought was, "Great, a 5 1/2 hour flight." It was to be the longest flight I've ever taken...but I took it...and I survived. It was probably one of the best flights I could have asked for...just long. But, oh, the destination was so worth the cramped legs, kinked neck, and dry eyes. As we walked out of the plane I got my first glimpse of Maui (Mark and I had seats in the center of the plane so we saw nothing outside of the plane for the whole flight) - palm trees blowing in the trade winds, and behind them some of the gorgeous mountain ranges on the island. Then I felt the hot and humid air and knew at once that I was actually on a tropical island...this wasn't just California...I was on an island in the Pacific Ocean. I looked at Mark with probably the dorkiest grin ever and couldn't say anything...I was too excited. I think I squeaked, "Yeah!", and then almost started crying. We rushed out to the rental car agency, sticky and hot, and got a ride from the happiest dude I've encountered so far - Uncle Joe he insisted we call him - to our car (a Toyota Corolla...better than the Focus we had in Arizona). We stopped and picked up some groceries on the way to the condo, since we'll be cooking most of our meals to save $$. Food is SO expensive in Hawai'i ($5 plus for a loaf of bread) - wow. So, we get to our condo, which, by the way, has an amazing view of the ocean (bam! right out in front of our lanai (or to you "mainland" folk - patio/deck)) and West Maui. Today we saw all three islands that you can see on a clear day. Everything else about it (the condo) is great too - well worth the $60 or whatever we're paying a night. Mark's favorite feature of the condo is, of course, the flat screen TV which went on pretty much as soon as we got unpacked. That didn't last long - we hurried outside to the beach...which is right across the street to catch our first "Maui rays" and we didn't burn! (We were wearing SPF 30, though.) We went in the ocean a little bit...which is just a hair cooler than bathwater and then we walked up and down the road our condo unit is on (S. Kihei Road) and got a feel for what was around us (quite a lot, actually). Then we came back to our condo and I jumped in the pool for a bit...and that water was almost hot in spots...a bit too chlorine-y...but fabulously warm. By 7:00PM (HI time) we were eating dinner and falling asleep, but we popped in a movie on the "big screen" and saw our first Maui sun set.

Mark has since passed out...but I'm obviously still awake (it's now 11:30PM HI time). It's been a pretty good first day! Tomorrow, hum...what will we do? Maybe a little sunbathing? Swimming? Henna tattoos? (Yes, there is a shop two blocks away.) I think Mark is going to try and convince me to go to Denny's for breakfast (within walking distance of our condo)...we'll just have to wait and see!

Aloha everyone!