Ahh, Maui...

Kyle & I visited Maui for 7 days recently and had a wonderful, relaxing time.  We landed on Monday evening, basically rented a car & found our hotel.  We stayed at the amazing Grand Wailea Resort & Spa.  (www.grandwailea.com)  Our lanai (balcony) had a beautiful view of palm trees and the ocean.  On Tuesday, Kyle had to be at the booth from 7am-Noon so I walked along the beach path enjoying the scenery and then investigated the expanse of our hotel to give Kyle the full report.  In the afternoon, we made our way through the 9 connected pools, tried the water elevator and just relaxed in the Hawaiian sun.  We enjoyed dinner at the Greek Bistro in Kihei up the road from the hotel.  

Wednesday morning, we set off early on the ROAD TO HANA.  This is a 52 mile path through tropical rainforest, along cliffs and gorges of the Northeast corner of the island.  We stopped at a fruit stand to try coconut milk and fresh coconut at the insistence of our daughter, Erin.  We found them to be surprisingly good.    We then went on ahead to the village of Ke'anae, sampling some fantastic banana bread (still warm) that is sold with a plastic knife for immediate enjoyment.  We partook while gazing out at the ocean crashing against the lava.  Interestingly, that village was wiped out after a Tsunami in 1946 - all buildings gone, except for the stone church.  On up the road, we pulled off to hike a bit to some water falls which are called "The Three Bears Falls."  Others were brave (or silly) enough to take a dip in the water, not us.  Back on the road again, we were continually blown away by the many shades of green - these pictures really don't do it all justice.  The next area was the best!  We wandered down, down, down to & through Nahiku (the guidebook says, "When plants go to heaven, Nahiku must be their destination.") and the road ended at the most beautiful spot to just watch the waves smash, crash, blast against the lava.  Check out this video.

                                             

                           

                

Later on down the road, after actually reaching Hana, we hiked over to the Red Sand Beach.  The road to Hana was an amazing display of creation and also the "long and winding road" which was sung about some time ago.  Actually, I don't know if that song had anything to do with that particular road, but speaking as the driver of the day, it really does sum it up.  The simple day's drive took about 12 hours and much of it was white knuckle with cliffs that might hold 2 cars; 30 miles/hr max (more often 10 miles/hr); one lane bridges and honking the horn to make sure the driver around the corner knows that you exist and prefer not to drive over the edge today.  In fact, we did see one car that went over, luckily it ended up being held  up in the trees.  I cannot imagine the misery of a vacation that includes that terror.  

Thursday, Kyle was back to work for 3 hours then we were off to find some snorkeling at Palauea Beach and then dinner at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant.  

Friday morning, we were up early to join a snorkel boat trip to Molokini Crater, a crescent shaped vent of an old volcano.  After a brief 15 minute trip across the sea, we were in the water checking out the amazing fish and coral.  We saw many, if not most of the fish from Finding Nemo and, happily, no sharks, although others with us did see one friendly reef shark.  Then we were on to Turtle Town, which is actually a cleaning station where the fish eat off the barnacles, etc from the Green Sea Turtles shells.  Brought me right back to high school biology with those symbiotic relationships.  Back on land, we were off to find the ultimate secluded beach, Secret Beach, which of course isn't a secret, but it definitely isn't a big, crowded beach either.  After locating the hole in the wall that hides the beach from the road, we were blessed to watch a beach wedding while setting up our beach mats and towels.  The group left shortly and then it was just us and 2 other couples.  The day passed much too quickly as we enjoyed the sound of the waves pounding the lava, the sun glimmering on the bluest of blue waters and breezes that kept us at just the  right temperature so that we were clueless as to the sunburns that we were getting.  For a Lenten Friday dinner, we went Irish at Mulligans on the Blue - a golf course restaurant on the Blue Course of the Wailea Golf Course.  

Saturday morning we packed up our belongings and headed for Oahu to visit Pearl Harbor, specifically the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri.  We had a very interesting and educational day looking at the beginning and the end of World War II and even got to see a sub, which someone said was The Michigan, coming into Pearl Harbor.  Returning to Maui later that evening, we check into a Bed & Breakfast, the Old Wailuku Inn, located in Wailuku, a quaint little town with a true Hawaiian feel.  

Sunday morning brought a wonderful breakfast of fresh blueberries & cream, scrambled eggs, Portuguese sausage & a puff pastry.  At Mass at St. Anthony's in Wailuku, the priest asked if there were any visitors and if we'd please stand up.  He asked where we were from and then 2 parishioners brought us hand-knitted leis.  After Mass and a quick change of attire, we were off for more sight seeing.  We drove up the Iao Valley and then headed on to the 10,000 ft. summit of Haleakala, the volcano.  We enjoyed the beautiful scenery all the way up, traveling from palm trees to deciduous trees to eucalyptus trees & rainforest environment to scrub brush desert dry to the moon scape summit where the only living plant is the silversword plant.  The 2 overlooks gave us grand vistas and the summit itself was simply unreal.  We also loved pretending that we were already in heaven, above the clouds!  By the way, the picture of the trees here looks like this because we are in the clouds, not due to blurriness.

We celebrated a wonderful day with dinner at the Kula Lodge which, at 3,000 ft elevation, has a fantastic view all the way to the ocean.  The setting made for a grand sunset, overlooking the isthmus of the island!  

Monday morning brought another delicious breakfast of waffles served with coconut syrup (yummy) and of course more fresh fruit.  Sadly, we packed for our return home even though we still had the full day as our flight wasn't until 11:15pm.  We put our last day to good use, souvenir hunting in Lahaina, an old whaler town that reminded us of Mackinac Island with cars.  In the middle of a park stands a banyan tree which was planted in 1873 and literally is 50 ft tall, has 12 major

trunks, and shades 2/3 of an acre.  

We then drove on through Ka'anapali and Kapalua, stopping to check out the "Dragon's teeth" where the wind and surf made interesting lava formations long ago.  Then, on around the top of West Maui where the road goes from highway to an old foot trail on which someone threw down some asphalt a few years back.  Our handy guide book strongly recommended traveling clockwise around this part of the island, but interestingly, many other tourists weren't and we met about a hundred or so going the other way, luckily only a half dozen or so while we were on the one lane trail with cliff up on one side and cliff down on the other.  Again, the sights were amazing and we wondered often how one small island could offer so many variations on beauty.  

In conclusion, book your trip now!  There is so much to do on Maui; so much more than lying on the beaches, although we'd recommend some of that as well.