Maui Wowie!

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Maui Wowie!

I surprised Dawn with a trip to Maui for her 50^th birthday. We had talked about going for a long time and so this was a great opportunity.We flew American out of Houston and had to change planes in Dallas and Los Angeles so it was an exhausting trip to get there.

We arrived at 8:00pm at night so it was dark and there was a light drizzle. But, we were pleasantly surprised the next morning by the gorgeous weather since weather.com had predicted 30%!c(MISSING)hance of rain every day. I learned you really have to check the weather on the specific part of the island that you’re staying on because the weather can vary so much from one part of the island to another.

I had booked the Mana Kai Maui and a rental car through expedia.com. The Mana Kai is listed as a three star condo property, however, they have both condo and regular, but small, hotel rooms. They promote themselves as a resort but that’s a bit of a stretch. It is a beautiful property though and right on the beach. They have a nice restaurant right there as

well as an equipment rental stores for surf boards, snorkel gear, etc. There’s also a yoga class on-site every day.

We explored Kihei and Wialea the first day, Sunday. We did lots of shopping for us and others. Kihei has lots of inexpensive options for restaurants and stores. Wialea, on the other hand, is mainly a resort area and has just one shopping center, The Shops at Wialea and they are NOT inexpensive. We were most impressed by a gallery called Ecclectic Images that had some amazing realist paintings and photographs of local scenery among other things. It is well worth the stop if only to look.

The Wialea area is just “jaw-droppingly” beautiful everywhere you look. We went into the Grand Wialea resort. It is the most lavish resort we’ve ever seen and is well worth the time to just walk around the grounds inside and out.

We had lunch there and walked a long way along the beach thoroughly enjoying the perfect weather and scenery.

After that we were a bit tired so we headed back to our hotel which is just north of Wialea, and took a nap.

That

evening we went into Kihei to see a movie but we missed the last time so we just went to dinner at nearby Pupu Café and then explored some of the shops right there. There is no shortage of stores and restaurants in Kihei.

One thing we really liked about Kihei is that people were out in numbers at all times of the day and night walking up and down the street exercising or going to shop or eat. It is a real community. I don’t think any other resort area on Maui has that.

The next morning we had breakfast in the room with items purchased from the hotel deli and general store which has a nice selection of food, supplies, and gifts for the hotel guests.

Monday we headed north to Lahaina and Kaanapali with snorkel gear in hand. At the south end of Lahaina is some free public parking but it fills up fast so you have to get there early.

Lahaina is great for shopping and food. There is also a banyan tree there that has to be seen to be believed. It is an

old whaling town that has some historical significance. We did some shopping and then headed to Kaanapali.

Kaanapali is a well know resort area with a big beautiful beach and some good snorkeling. We parked at the Whaler’s Village shopping area and then walked to the beach. The best snorkeling spot is at the far north end of the beach near the rocks.

After about an hour and a half of sunning, swimming, and snorkeling we headed back to Whaler’s Village and picked up a couple more gifts for friends and family. From there we headed back south to Lahaina. This time we parked at the north end at a well-known store called Hilo Hattie’s. They validate parking even if you don’t buy anything so it’s a good place to park for Lahaina.

We went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for lunch mainly because we are big fans of the movie Forrest Gump but also for the shrimp and ocean-front views. After our meal we decided to have dessert and the Alabama Mud Pie sounded good. What they tell you is how big it is. It was large enough for eight people

so we were sad to leave most of it behind.

Again we were very tired after a half day of activities so went back to the hotel for a quick nap. We had a simple dinner in the room on tuna and chicken salad from the hotel deli which seemed just right after all the eating we had been doing.

We dressed up a bit to go into Kihei again to see a movie. As it turned out the show time was later than we thought so we had time to shop some more and have a cold treat at Tutti Frutti.

On Tuesday, as on the other days, we got an early start. Breakfast at McDonald’s was followed by a drive down to Big Beach which is the largest undeveloped beach on the island. It is at the far south end past Makena but is well worth the drive. In spite of its beauty it is rarely crowded and we thoroughly enjoyed whale watching from the rocks at the north end of the beach.

Lunch was at Denny’s and then we headed to Kuhului on the east side of the island

where the airport is. I wanted to go to 24 Hour Fitness and Dawn wanted to get her nails done and a massage. Luckily there was a nail salon right next to 24 Hour Fitness called Mai’s where Dawn got a great deal on her mani/pedi/massage.

We have a friend nearby there in Haiku so we headed to her place which is up the mountain a bit on three acres with an awesome view of the coast.

Afterwards we went into Haiku town for dinner. We wanted some local flavor so our friend, Deva, recommended Hana Hoa Cafe. What a delightful surprise that turned out to be. It’s just a small little place but the waitress, Ariana was wonderful, the food was fabulous and healthy, and the live entertainment was an energetic, friendly, fast-talking, hippie harpist named Bobbie Joe. It made for an enchanted evening. We highly recommend it.

Our last day, Wednesday, started with a walk along the beach in front of the hotel. Ironically, that was the one beach we had not taken a stroll on yet.

Next was a snorkeling adventure that turned out to be a mistake. During our

drive on Tuesday we went south past Wailea and Makena until we saw a small little cove where many people were swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving. It looked like a nice spot protected from the waves where Dawn could try snorkeling. It turned out to be a difficult spot because it was very rocky and very shallow and you had to go pretty far out to get clear water.

After that we headed over to Kahalui and visited the Community College. This was just to educate ourselves about it so if some years down the road we had the opportunity to live on Maui this might be a place of potential employment.

From there we started down Hana Highway to see some of the beauty of the “Road to Hana”. After about 30 minutes we turned around and headed back. Next we turned on Haleakala Highway, the road that goes to the old extinct volcanic crater. Likewise, we drove for about 30 minutes and so some great scenery and views before turning around and heading back to town.

We met our friend, Deva, and her mother at “Dragon Dragon” Chinese Restaurant

in the Maui Mall in Kahului for dinner. It was delicious. Then we went to watch a movie right there in the mall. Sadly we had to leave the movie early to return our rental car in time not to be charged another day. Finally, we reached the airline terminal about one and a half hours before our flight.

We had the “red-eye” at 10:00pm to Los Angeles where we ended up back in the “bunker” at American Airlines. This is Dawn’s term for the poor excuse for a terminal that American uses for American Eagle flights out of LAX. This includes a bus ride down one of the taxi ways that planes use. We are so done with American Airlines.

We got back to Houston at 12:00 noon happy to be home but already missing paradise and wondering when we could go back.

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Comments

[irma torrez]

photo
This is beautiful! Nice pic