On Friday, we checked out a Day-care by us. It's weird looking so early, but we want to make sure we are able to get into a place that we like when it's time for Marie to go back to work. I offered to stay home, but Marie doesn't want me too....something about me playing video games instead of watching the baby...lol. We also got our baby registries started. It's pretty tiring, so I hope we didn't miss anything. We registered at Baby's R Us, and Target.
On Saturday, Miguel came to town to visit (sorry no pics). It was great to see him again, and meet his sister-in-law. They came into town to pick up the rest of his belongings, and bring them home. He lives in Washington DC, with his wife and 2 children now. Unfortunately, Nici and the kids couldn't make it, but it still was fun to get the group of friends together to hang out again. We're looking forward to visiting them in DC in August.
On Sunday, our friends Matt and Michele had a BBQ. Their son Jake got to hang out with Tony and Michelle's daughter Skylar. It was fun to see the kids and hang out and play.
We won our hockey playoff game on Sunday night. We're going to play in the championship game on Thursday. This is the first team, I've ever played on that has gone undefeated. It's nice to be winning. Hopefully, it will carry on into Thursday night!!!
C-ya
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
View from our hotel
The beach from the hotel
Black Sand Beach
Our picnic
The top of the world
We're having fun!
A great vacation!
View from our hotel
Our Hawaiian Voyage
We started the trip in
At this point they allowed people to get off the plane, but warned us to stay close so we could leave as soon as we could. Not knowing how much longer it would be, we decided to stay on the plane. A couple more hours passed, and we were told that the truck that came to take some gas off the plane wasn’t big enough, so they were waiting for another truck to take the remaining fuel off.
Meanwhile, we were hearing rumors that car rental agencies only stay open until
We finally ended up in
Our original plan was to get up to watch sunrise on the
The beach from the hotel
Day 1
We decided to begin the day with an Island Orientation Breakfast. After the orientation, we booked our snorkel trip to the Molokini Crater, and at Turtle Town. We also asked where the closest grocery store was so we could save some money on making our own breakfasts and lunches during our hikes. We were told that it was just down the road on Front Street. We stopped for lunch along the way, and got to check out Old Lahaina Town. There were a lot of cool shops and restaurants along the way. About a half hour into our walk to the grocery store we decided to ask someone how much further the Safeway Grocery Store was. A local let us know that it was only about 15 minutes up across a bridge. Another half hour passed, and so we asked another person. We finally made it to the Safeway about an hour and a half after leaving the hotel. We couldn’t buy a lot of groceries though, because we knew we had to walk back. On our way back, we stopped at the mall to watch some local hula dancers. We also needed to pick up some comfortable shoes (we probably should have done this before we headed out, but we didn’t think the walk was going to be as long as it was). Marie got some cool crocs. When we got back to the hotel, we decided to just spend some time hanging out. It was nice to just hang out, hearing the waves and wind hit the palm trees. Not being fully adjusted to the time difference yet, we still felt pretty tired. We later had dinner at Buzz’s Warf in Maalaea Harbor.
Black Sand Beach
Day 2
We got up early to take the Road to Hana, which is 52 miles of windy road that passes by some of the most beautiful scenery that you could ever imagine. The trip is not for those in a rush. The locals drive in a kind of an aggressive manner, so it’s smart to just get out of their way. The road meanders through 617 curves. Many parts of the road narrows to only one lane bridges. Although the drive can be very frustrating, it is well worth it. Because there a many blind curves, you often need to honk your horn to let oncoming traffic know that you are on the way. There were a couple of times where we were nearly run off a few bridges. The locals would just flash us the hang loose symbol and keep driving. I, of course, wanted to flash a different hand signal, but I held back. Along the road you could smell the exotic flowers and fruit. We stopped along the way at a fruit stand to pick up some apple-bananas and papayas. We even stopped at a black sand beach to take a few pictures which was beautiful. In Hana, there is a red sand beach. It’s pretty secluded; so many nudists come to this beach. To get there, we headed up a sandy/gravel trail. On the way, our feet would start to slip. Looking over the edge didn’t help, because you saw a slope that only led down into a rocky beach about 30 feet down. When we made it to the top, there was another trail that led further up. This time, the slope to the right was even greater, but you could hold onto some tree roots on your left. At the top of that trail was this red rock that looked so beautiful against the ice blue water. We stopped to soak in the scenery. We could see the red sand beach, but weren’t sure how to get there. We were going to turn around and leave, but we ran into a family from Michigan. They told us that we needed to go further to get to the beach, so we followed. In order to get down there, you needed to follow a narrow path down, clinging to the rock as you worked your way down. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. We finally made it down to the beach, where we saw a few nudists frolicking in the surf. I’m glad we didn’t take any pictures of that. We hung out there for a little bit, and then decided to head to the O’heo Gulch. The beginning of the drive wasn’t bad, until it got to a point where the road narrowed…a lot. I thought the drive to Hana was narrow...this was even worse. We arrived at the O’heo Gulch state park to more beautiful waterfalls and landscapes. We saw the Seven Sacred Pools, but unfortunately we couldn’t swim in them because the tide was too high. We worked our way up to the Pipiwai Trail where we saw some strange children who told us to watch out for the wild boars because they might kill us. We thought they were strange, but we kept walking. We made it to this beautiful bamboo forest. It was beautiful hearing the trees sway. It was a little dark in the forest because the trees were so tall, so at this point I began to think about how bad it would be to drive back to the hotel in the dark. We decided to keep heading on to the end of the trail. We arrived at the end of the trail to this amazing 200 foot waterfall. It was well worth it. We took some beautiful photos there, and then headed back. We made it through the worst part of the drive by the time the sun came down. What a relief. We got to Paia, for dinner and a drink. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. By the time we got back to the hotel we were too tired to do anything more.
Our picnic
Day 3
We took a drive to the Tedeschi Vineyards on the Ulupalakua Ranch. It’s another beautiful drive. Not as windy as the Road to Hana, but after taking that drive we feel like we can drive anywhere now. Along the drive you could smell the eucalyptus forests. We packed a few sandwiches for a picnic. At the winery we tasted a few nice pineapple wines. They were so good. We picked up a bottle or two, and I picked up some cigars. We started to look for a spot to set up our picnic, when a wild pig jumped out into the road. We almost ran it over, but it quickly ran back to where it was coming from. We ended up finding a beautiful overlook to stop and have our picnic over looking the Haleakala Crater on one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other. After our picnic, we headed back to our hotel to spend some time relaxing on the beach. We needed to head back to make sure we made it on time to check in at the Old Lahaina Luau. We were excited to taste the wonderful food and sip many, many Mai Tai’s!!! We met some really nice newlyweds from Baltimore. Hopefully we’ll get to hang out with them again sometime, as they will be in Ann Arbor in the spring. The Luau was awesome. Just seeing the tradition, tasting the food, and drinking the drinks could make anyone fall in love all over again.
The top of the world
Day 4
We got up early for our snorkel excursion. The snorkeling trip was out of the Pacific Whale Foundation in Maalaea Harbor. It was very windy, so we weren’t sure if we were going to get the opportunity to head out. The captain wanted to make sure that wind wouldn’t affect visibility under water. The captain decided to take us out hoping that the Haleakala Crater would block the wind enough for some calmer waters out at the Molokini Crater. He was right, and the water was calm. It was a bit cool at 70 degrees, but it was bearable, and the fish and coral were gorgeous. On the way out to the crater, we were greeted by many humpback whales. We only caught the backs of many whales as the dove deep into the water. After our first snorkel adventure in Molokini Crater, the captain headed us to Turtle Town to swim with the turtles. On our way we saw many more humpback whales. The captain would slow down so that we could marvel at their beauty and size. Every time we would spot a whale, however, it would start at our 1:00 position, and end up closer to our boat at our 9:00 position. We sat on the right side of the boat, so we ended up missing the best parts! A whale even breached out of the water, but we missed it! We got to Turtle Town, and saw a turtle swimming out to see. When we got into the water there were more beautiful coral and fish. Every time someone said they saw a turtle, I headed in that direction to find out that they had already gone. At one point, I thought I saw one under the reef, but it only ended up being a scuba diver. Oh well, it was still beautiful. We ended the evening with dinner at the Hula Grill in Kaanapali.
We're having fun!
Day 5
This was our last day in Maui which was pretty depressing. We packed our bags and checked out of our hotel room at around 10am, and headed to the Haleakala Crater. The couple we met at the Luau suggested that it was something we needed to see. We headed up to it where it is a 10,000 foot view from the top of the world. We missed the sunrise, but it was still awesome. We saw beautiful views of what looked like a moon-scape looking down onto the clouds. On the way up, there were signs warning of free ranging cattle that might possibly be crossing the road. The roads were slow and windy again, but not as narrow as the Road to Hana. The difference was that we drove in through the clouds, and there weren’t a lot of guard rails along the way. It seemed that the drop off the road was quite steep, but it wasn’t that bad. It was such an incredible drive. We stopped for dinner at the Blue Marlin in Maalaea Harbor, and after headed to the airport for our flight home. We flew from Maui to Phoenix, and Phoenix to Detroit. We finally made it home. Although there were many things that challenged our patience throughout the trip, we would still love to go back. The trip was well worth it, and we can’t wait to go back!
A great vacation!
No comments:
Post a Comment