With Love, From Hawai'i Day 8

So this is it folks. At least for this particular trip. Mom and I dropped Lisa off at the airport around 11am. Which meant that we had nearly 7 hours to kill before we had to be back. Too bad there was not much beach in this part of the island. But we made do. We did some more shopping. Found our way to a Barnes & Noble to pick up a few books and read for awhile. And before heading to the movie theater...(Get Smart is a funny and entertaining movie)...I happened to notice a like-minded vehicle owner that would have gotten along well with the Dad.

Who needs a front seat when you've got a surf board?

And what is it with flights and pick-up...lines?

My mom and I were actually sitting together for our flight home. No finagling required :) And as we headed back to our seats...and by back I mean the 2nd to last row from the back tail...we were thinking out loud and to ourselves,

"Hey, we might get this entire row to ourselves. How nice would that be? Make sure to spread out our stuff strategically...I mean this is a red eye, so hopefully we will be able to get comfortable enough to sleep. Oh yes, grab another pillow and blan..."

"Yeah, I think that's my seat."

Says the young, dark, and curly haired guy while taking out his earphones.

Well, we began to move, making a couple of light jokes while my Mom moved to the center seat and tried getting comfortable. What was a relief was that the guy started making jokes back. Hello Friendly Guy. This flight wasn't going to be half bad if he was willing to see the comedy in our being stuffed in with strangers reclining into our laps on the way home.

By the end of this vacation, I had forgone all makeup and hair products...in a good way :) Note: Salt Water does amazing things to your hair! I was dressed in pj's and looking forward to putting on some headphones and watching the in-flight movie and then getting some sleep. But apparently my look said, "Talk to me". So he did. Chatted and joked with me in that when Mom got up to stretch her legs, he introduced himself, asked my name...and my age.

What the heck??

But all in all, it was for the best. Because I knew he was young, but I nearly pulled my first Yanaj: he was 16...almost.

And when I told him my age? He convincingly sounded shocked. He thought we had been born in the same decade. No Sir: I am not 18. I remember waiting for the original Nintendo to come out. But I will say, Friendly Guy certainly made my flight home much more entertaining (especially considering that the in-flight movie was Fool's Gold).

Thanks Young Guy. And Good Luck on taking your Driver's License Test.

With Love, From Hawai'i Day 7

The Road to Hana. I had been told by many who have visited Maui, that this was not something to miss. Saving this for our last full day on the island, we made sure to pack food, water, and put in the Road to Hana tour CD. All necessary items. It was yet another beautiful day, and driving with our windows down and adventure in our brains, hit the road.

To tell you the truth, the road that we took to get to the beginning of the Road to Hana, almost had me turning back. It was the skinniest, unpaved and unguard railed, rockiest, cliff riddled drive that I have ever had the experience to drive. Our car was hugging the side of the cliff and if I were to have tried looking out the opposite window, I would not have been able to see where the roadside ended and empty air began. But all things come to end, thank goodness. We made it to the beginning, only a little apprehensive about the drive ahead.

This is one flat palm tree! Instead of growing out in all directions, the fraunds (leaves) grew out creating a fan-like pattern.

According to our lovely (CD) guide the Road to Hana has 59 bridges. This may not seem like a very large number, until you calculate that the Hana Highway from start to Hana is only 52 miles! That's alotta bridges.

Then consider that all of the bridges were one lane bridges. With traffic wanting to go both ways. Talk about a lesson in sharing and taking turns! I was amazed to learn that all but 1 of these bridges, dating back to 1910, is still in use.

The Road to Hana drives through the East Maui Rain forest. This made our drive cooler (temperature and well, awesome-ness). The vegetation and flowers were unreal.

At one stop, we had the fresh Banana Bread and the famous Hawai'ian Shaved Ice. The only thing I can compare it to is a luxury sno-cone, and even then I would tell people that although you may not care much for sno-cones, there is no excuse to not give Shaved Ice a try.

So while enjoying our Ice from Heaven on the Road to Heaven, we were able to listen to waves, and soon after see one of the most beautiful sights I have yet seen.

The turquoise water, the white surf, and the black rocks.

Heavenly Father certainly has an aesthetic talent.

... yes ... one more picture.

And if I had any doubts that I was driving in a Rain Forest, they were cleared up around the 4th rain storm. It had just stopped raining and I took a picture of the water cycle at work, the humidity just skyrocketed!! And all those green leaves and plants...whew!

I know that this isn't the best picture (the lighting is all off) but I continued to see trees like this one. An otherwise healthy tree, covered up to its canopy with a gigantic cousin of ivy.

Not cloud cover, but branch cover.

We were astounded when our CD tour guide pointed out that we were actually driving through the Bamboo forest section. My lucky bamboo doesn't look like this...

An Africa Tulip (which actually grow at the tops of large trees) I just happened to be on the highway above this particular tulip tree.

And after 600 curves, feeling like I was driving in a Nintendo game, we were welcomed...

Note: If you are interested in reaching the 7 Sacred Pools, it is not actually in Hana, but rather another 45 minutes past Hana. Due to the lateness of our arrival in Hana, and wanting to avoid driving this highway at night...sans street lights...well you get the picture...we turned around to make the 600 curves and 59 one lane bridges back.

With Love, From Hawai'i Day 6

What do you do on the 1 hour boat ride out to Molokini?

Fish. Of course.

So we finally make it to the crater. Looked as gorgeous as all those postcards portrayed it as being. If you were to see it from above, it would be a large "u" shape, with the open end towards the inlet. This position protects everything inside from the majority of winds; and because there is no beach, the waves crashing at the base of the crater do not stir up muck, reducing visibility. Before unleashing all of us into the water, our Captain accurately described this experience as,

"Snorkeling in an Aquarium"

Want more good advice from Yanaj ... Bring a water noodle.

Mom, Lisa, and My Finger in Molokini crater

I was astounded by the beautifully clear turquoise water. It was the perfect temperature, and although all the active and flashy fish were playing at the base of the crater, I could only get myself to fin my way so close before turning and paddling like mad away...before the surf pounded me into those sharp looking rocks.

Soon I peeked above the water to see where my party was. There I was bobbing in the water, when I realized something. My stomach was beginning to roll a bit...that mango and pineapple I had for breakfast that morning wasn't sitting so well anymore. We had been told that if we felt ourselves getting sea sick on the trip here, that we should make it as quickly as possible to the nearest railing and go for distance. Fine with me, until I am the one floating IN THE WATER. Thus, distance or not, this was an unoption.

Who ever thought of becoming sea sick IN the water?

Needless to say, I slowly finned my way back to the boat, arriving just as the Captain came over the loudspeaker to call everyone back. Apparently we were leaving to our 2nd location because the wind and waves had arrived, making Molokini dangerous once again. Thankfully as we sailed away I sipped on some ginger ale and began to feel better.

On the way we slowed to a stop and were treated to a visit from a friendly Bottlenose Dolphin!

This was our morning! A good way to begin rounding out our vacation.

Note to self: I would actually consider paying to swim with dolphins! The one we met appeared friendly and playful (and very cute!), as he swam to check out the passengers on each of the 3 boats that had slowed to a stop to say "Hi".

With Love, From Hawai'i Day 5

This morning we drove to Kihei to meet up with our Molokini and Turtle Town snorkel tour. It was comforting to know that we were going to be going with a small group. Some of our party had to drug up in order to prevent some motion sickness...until we were told that the 10:15 am trip to Molokini would not be happening. Apparently in the late morning to early afternoon, winds kick up around the edges of the crescent shaped crater and make it dangerous to go snorkeling there. We were given the option of going elsewhere right then, or be given a refund (book another time/tour). Because we had our hearts set on the Molokini crater, we opted to change to another time and date. This left us with so much time (we had awoken fairly early to make it to Kihei on time) and no set plans.

So while in Kihei, we followed Yanaj's advice and hit up the Big Wave Cafe.

Product recommendation? One MUST try the Macadamia Nut pancakes with coconut syrup! More a dessert than breakfast, but that is why you share with everyone at your table.

So driving back to Kahana, we stop in Lahaina and The Banyan Tree on Front Street. Did you know that there was such a tree as the "Upside Down" tree? My fourth graders did. We read Amazing Plants and discovered that the roots drops from the branches and attempt to plant from skyward down.

All the hanging vines are actually the Banyan Tree's roots!

P.S. Lisa, Mom, and I all took turns attempting to swing upon the Banyan Tree roots. Just like the little kids everywhere.

Until we came upon the "Do Not..." sign, afterwards, oops!

Overall it was a pretty quiet day, especially after our Oahu adventure (all done in exactly 24 hours!) We took today to sit back and visit yet another beach. Many more people and much more wind. We didn't last nearly as long. Just enough to maintain the beautiful tan we were all accumulating. And what was going to be the Number 1 thing to set Mom apart from all her Seattle-tonian counterparts.

With Love, From Hawai'i Day 4

Here we are on one of the most beautiful islands in the world...beaches galore. Yet we spend hours...yes hours...over the past week trying to find this beach that the locals say is perfabulous.a.must.see. After asking workers at the Maui Dive Shop (and by workers I mean at least 3 different guys at different times and different days) the last one put it simply and honestly:

"Just drive north on that road out there until you reach...uh...well...I mean I've been going there so long its just natural to turn at the road on the left."

Note to Maui Dive worker- of course there are roads to the left; left is the way to the beach, all roads lead to the beach on Maui.

But perseverance pays off on Day 4.



We found it. Once again, very quiet, very few people. I spent time attempting to use a body board (unsuccessfully). But I did successfully spend time watching the Kite Surfer. He was incredible to watch. Riding the waves and flipping in the air when the wind caught his kite. In the above picture you can see the crescent kite in the mid-left.

We settled in to spend some of the daylight hours relaxing on this windy beach. Soon, I was covered with layers of sand- sticking to me AND to all my stuff. Eventually we tossed in the towel (literally) and packed it in back to our condo. Where I napped, and Mom and Lisa checked out our pool and beach front view.

My next trip to Maui will include surfing lessons.period.

With Love, From Hawai'i Day 3

So this was most decidedly our busiest day. It was agreed that for a $114 ticket, we could island hop to Oahu in order to see Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Cultural Center. This was where I was going to get in a little bit of US History and Hawaiian culture (aka My Luau). We once again woke early and went through our quickest airport security check we have ever had to date...we told an airport worker the flight we were taking and to where, when he personally walked us up to the pilot. The pilot then took roll and told us to take a seat, we would be leaving shortly.

Ha on them! Until our pilot walked us out to this:

...and if you are curious, No, that is not our pilot.

Rather he was the very very friendly gentleman who was

interested in picking up some peoples in our party.

His pickup line?

"Are you the same older ladies who hired some of my construction workers last night, and then had them arrested for being too friendly?"

Note Sir- never refer to ANYONE as older anything.

My view from our lovely 8-seater plane.

8 seats in which I was able to watch our pilot

for the entire flight, fly us into Oahu.

Our wheels.

Worth the upgrade (Thanks Lisa!)
Trying to be a cautious driver, I kept double checking the blind spot...
...before reminding myself each time...there is no blind spot!

First stop on our itinerary: Pearl Harbor

The most reverent portion of the trip, we spent some time looking and reading about that fateful day in December, 1941. On this memorial spot, there is a museum both on the "main island" and floating over the sunken ruins of the USS Arizona.

Second Itinerary Stop: Polynesian Cultural Center

Activity 1: Parade of Canoes; once we entered the 7 villages we were able to watch each of the island countries represented by a canoe of dancers. One of my favorites was from the island country of Tonga. Truthfully I kept waiting for someone to fall into the water!

But after the Parade of Canoes; we saw this ;)

who was telling us how to harvest a coconut tree.

Activity 2: That evening I attended my very first luau.

We were leid with luscious purple orchids.

Which- behind the right ear- "I'm Available!"

Note for next time- (in a ponytail on the back..."Follow Me")

And after some entertainment we watched the Kahlua pig

(ie guest of honor)

make his appearance.

The most delicious drink...who cares about the carbs right??

Mango smoothie. Don't worry Garretts...it was a virgin mango!

Taro roll- anything purple was made from taro plant...and although poi was tried, it did not make it onto my plate. Everything else was sooo tasty!

Activity 3: Horizons Night Show

Can you guess which drummer caught my eye?

And the toast of the evening...the Fire Dancer!

And of course a tribute to Bone Junior.

To whom I cannot forget no matter what vacation I take.

Rock-a-hula Bone!

The beauty of Oahu...

One of the most popular flowers to wear: freesia


Hawai'i's state flower: Hibiscus


Hawai'i's state pastime: surfing (our view of Waikiki Beach from our hotel room)