Day 1:
Today we arrived in Maui without a hitch. Our planes took off and arrived on time, and the long flight didn’t seem so bad. Although, I would not recommend the movie Swing Vote, it put me right to sleep. The Maui airport isn’t the best airport I have ever been to, but we managed to find our baggage and car rental without any trouble. (Note: The airports in Hawaii do not sell gum! I guess they have trouble with tourists spitting it out onto anywhere but the trash cans, so they just stopped selling it. This was a huge problem for me, since it is part of my plane ritual to chew gum for every take off and landing.)
We did get into trouble once we hit the road however. Kyle got a nice introduction to the Maui police (I think we he was secretly hoping to be on Cops) when we got pulled over. This is his third time getting pulled over in the last two months by the way... It turned out our rented Jeep did not have the correct inspection tags on it! We did not get a ticket, thank goodness, but had to deal with Hertz in getting our car changed out. We ended up with a Mustang Convertible and all the correct tags.
We checked into the Grand Wailea Resort. It was beautiful and our room was HUGE! Our room had an ocean view and a deck that was over a pond. The hotel also had several restaurants, two pools, a rapids slide, and was on the beach.
After settling in, we ate lunch, swam at the pool, got some food from the grocery store (in hopes of saving some money), and ate at a great pizza place in Kihie. Finally, because of the time change, we crashed about 9:00pm.
Day 2:
Today we woke up early (5:30 Hawaii time, 9:30 Denver time) and drove to Haleakala to see the craters. We went up a long windy road that took us about an hour and a half to get to the 10,000 foot top. Living in Colorado, I have been to the tops of many mountains, but this was much different. Usually in Colorado you slowly make your way to the top and the views at 10,000 feet are of the valleys at 6,000 feet. At Haleakala, the views at 10,000 feet are of sea-level so it was much more dramatic. The top looked like what I picture Mars to look like, very black and rocky with large craters. There is also a “science city” at the top where they have a HUGE telescope.
Next, we took our Safeway-packed lunches and went to Ho’okipa Beach Park to watch the surfers. Surfing looks scary and very very hard. I think surfing is another sport that you need to get into when you are younger, so you are not scared of the waves, the undertow, the sharks, the jellyfish, of drowning...
We didn’t stay too long, because we were hot and too scared to get in the rough water. So, we drove to another coast of Maui and went to the beaches at Ka’anapali. We did go in the ocean here, but didn’t go above our waists because the waves were strong. Next we went to Lahaina to do some souvenir shopping and headed back to our hotel where we ate dinner and again crashed around 9.
Oh, I forgot, when we got back to the hotel we had a visitor in the ponds outside our room.... I would like to think that this is Mr. T reincarnated to a better location.
Day 3:
Today was relaxation day! Kyle wanted at least one day to “do nothing” so today was it. We played a little beach volleyball, swam in the ocean, and hung out in the pool. We also had a couple of fruity drinks!
One thing we did plan, was go out to eat at the fancy restaurant at our hotel. They gave us a gift card (go me with my Hilton Honors GOLD status!), so we thought we would take advantage. First thing I need to mention is its name: c! It is the also the name for the Hawaiian state fish. The next thing was the location. It was set on a lagoon of tropical fish and had great views of the sunset over the ocean. Finally, the food was great and Kyle got to pick out his dinner (close your eyes Erin):
This was complimentary dessert - chocolate macaroons.
Day 4:
Today was our last day in Hawaii and we went snorkeling! We decided to take a lesson from the hotel since neither of us had been before and we did not know where to go. I’m glad we did. I was very nervous and asked a lot of questions, but our guide was very nice. He gave us our snorkel gear and gave us boogie boards to hold onto instead of life jackets. This worried me a little, but it turned out to work very well. We ended up going into the water right from the beach we had been staying on! Once we got out into the water, about 15 feet deep, we practiced putting our face in the water. My first time putting my face in the water and we saw a GIANT sea turtle. It was the best thing ever (can be added to my list of favorite things along with Ice-ees, chocolate covered strawberries, and hot springs pools)! Once we got used to snorkeling we went deeper (up to 40 feet deep!) and made our way to the coral reef. We saw tons of colorful fish, more sea turtles, and, thankfully, no sharks or jellyfish. I did feel a little queasy partway through, not sure if it was the waves or the depth of the water getting to me, but I got over it and very much enjoyed my first snorkeling experience. Next time I will bring one of those waterproof cameras!
After, we checked out of the hotel and made our way to Paia, a cute hippy-ish town. Here, Kyle got his first tattoo!! He cried like a baby!! just kidding. He did not complain once during his two hour sitting and here are the results: It is a Celtic cross on his right arm.
Next, we drove part of the scenic route to Hana. I would have loved to drive the entire route, but we did not have time. Above is a picture of a waterfall we hiked to off the route. It was a beautiful drive through a tropical rainforest. When we were done, I got a cane juice to sip on for the ride back to the airport. It was sooo good - kinda like lemonade, kinda like apple juice, really not as sweet as I would have thought.
We made it to the airport and caught our 6 hour, direct flight back home. And attempted to sleep.
It was a FABULOUS vacation. I really felt like I was in the middle of nowhere on a paradise island - where I could still buy things with dollars and not worry about drinking the water.
You can see the rest of the pictures from the trip by clicking here.
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