Day 11-12 - Going home

Yep, this entry is short. We have to be out of our room by noon. The plan is to hang out at the pool to late afternoon and then head to the airport for our 9:15 flight. We should be arriving in Detroit around 4:45 on March 31. See you soon!

Day 10 - is it really coming to an end?

We were up early today and went for our morning walk and then had breakfast in the room when we got back. We were out the door and on our way to Kihei to do some more snorkeling and get some more sun by 10:00am. It was very windy today and watched some crazy waves role into the harbor on our way to Kihei. We stopped at a beach that was on our snorkeling map. It was sandy and had an amazing reef. We snorkeled over the reef and saw some different fish than previously seen on other reefs. We stayed till about 2Pm then walked over and got some shaved ice. Yum! We then returned our snorkeling equipment to Maui Dive Shop. We headed back to the hotel(taking a detour through Lahaina). I love that town. It is so quaint and has a ton of shopping and the Banyan tree that takes up a whole block.

We got back to the hotel and showered and got ready for dinner. We first went to Whalers Village for dinner. We sat down to a table and LeLanis and both decided that nothing was jumping out at us on the menu. We got up and went to Canoes instead in Lahaina. What a great decision. The view was amazing, we got to watch the sunset. The food was great. Jon had a fish called opaukapauka with Lobster cream sauce and I had some Garlic tiger prawns. Yummy!

We came back to the hotel and drank the wine that the hotel had sent up days earlier. We packed up for checkout and hit the hay.

Day 9 - Sunrise at the Summit

Let me tell you, 2 am comes early! We set out to Haiku at 2:30 to catch our bus to climb the Haleakala crater to view the sunrise. From Haiku we had a hour ride that climbed 6,000 feet in elevation. When we arrived at the 10,000 foot summit, the sky was starting to light up and we were above the clouds. However, it was a little cold at 10,000 feet; the temp was 30 degrees.

Words can't describe the sunrise. The sun appeared above the clouds like a fiery yellowish-redish ball of fire. Instantly there was light and the day had begun. It was 6:30 am and we had an exciting 3 hours in front of us. Instead of taking the bus back down to Haiku, Heather and I rode bicycles down. Heather rode the brakes down but we still picked up speeds of 30 mph without even pedaling. It was one long coast down the crater. We passed through open range cattle ranches (watch out for the cow pies!), eucalyptus groves, and scenic views of Maui and its coastline. We stopped for breakfast in Kula. Kula is where the wealthy have homes...Tiger and Oprah are part time residents. After breakfast, we finished our ride and was done at 10 am. Quite a day....wait the day was just beginning!

We traveled a bit of Hana Highway and pulled off at a beach to watch the surfing. Needless to say, they were much better than we were the day before. The surfers were catching waves between 10-12 feet! It was fun to watch how they made it look so easy.

After some beach time, we headed back to the resort for some sleep at the pool. A quick shower and some tacos in our room, we finished the day with a walk on the beach. And yes, we were still awake to see the sunset that evening!

Day 8 - Shredding waves

Yep, you guessed it, this morning was time for us to hit the waves. After an early morning call from the surf shop, I was able to get a deal for Heather to be able to have a lesson with me in the morning. At 9 am, Ben was out teaching us how to stand, use momentum, and fall. And fall Heather did at first, but she got the hang of it by the end. I popped up on my first wave and spent the rest of the time trying to surf bigger waves (3-4 foot). It is amazing that by moving a couple of inches forward on the board creates a lot of board momentum (speed). The waves taught me some physics lessons. After a couple of hours, Heather and I headed in, tired and banged up. Who knew surfing was such a workout?

After rinsing off at the surf shop and a CD of pictures, we headed out for a much needed chili cheese dog, beer, and root beer float. Some shopping by the banyan tree and a couple of hours by the pool, we are ready for some tacos and sleep before heading out for the Haleakala summit and the bike ride down tomorrow morning. Heather is praying that we make it down for a day 9 post! Stay tuned...

Day 7 - North Maui and hulas

So after sleeping in and going for another run (are you kidding me? bring on the Heart of a Spartan race in May), we packed our styrofoam cooler and headed to Napoli beach north of our condo. We snorkeled for a couple of hours saw lots of fish. The waves were big and you could body surf them all the way to the beach. Waves had to be somewhere between 5-8 feet at times. Lots of fun but pretty tiring swimming through them. Kind of got rained out...it started raining (no serious clouds but still rain) and when we got back to the jeep, the inside was soaked. No big deal...it's not my car!

We went to a traditional luau in Lahaina tonight. Great food, great sunset, and fantastic dancing...by the professionals. Our dinner company was from all over the globe. There was a couple from Canada; she was Filipino and he was from Hong Kong. Another family was from Alaska. We rounded out our table with a young family from Australia. Great dinner conversations about what we had been doing and everyone shared some must-see sights. The night's entertainment danced Hawaii's story for us. In order for me to dance like that, there would be lots of stretching before and Tylenol after! Don't worry, they didn't take any amateurs on stage so the world did not see my crazy dance skills.

Day 6 - Our anniversary, shaved ice, shopping, and snorkeling

Today started off with rain during our morning run. Yes, the exercise comback continues. Between snorkeling, hiking and running, I feel that this has been a much needed active vacation. In order to escape the rain, we jumped in the Jeep and headed south to Kihei for snorkeling. We stopped by Maui dive shop and rented in snorkel equipment for the week and began looking for beaches. Anywhere along the road, you can stop and jump in the ocean. There are lots of roadside parks and it isn't unusual to see 4-5 cars randomly parked with people swimming, surfing, or snorkeling.

We snorkeled in the waters of Kihei. Once again, it was like swimming in an aquarium with lots of butterfly fish, pinfish, and even the elusive sea turtle. He swam around Heather and I, getting as close as 10 feet away. He made one big circle around us, surfaced for some air, and then headed back into the lava rock. What an awesome experience!

On our way back, we did some some shopping and stopped for a shaved ice. What a great idea! Put some flavoring on shaved ice, charge $3-4 for it and it is instant fun. Spice it up with ice cream and coconut milk and you begin to fall in love. I am beginning to think that life would be much better in Grand Haven if they served more shaved ice!

Our anniversary dinner was at the Hula bar in Lahaina followed by some more shopping at the Whalers Market. Good food and drinks was a perfect ending to our anniversary.

Day 5 - Goodbye Wakiki, Hello Maui

We hated to say goodbye to Wakiki but it was time for us to pack our bags and board a plane for Wakiki. As we settled into the flight, we realized that we were already descending into Maui...maybe a 30 minute flight!

We found our bags, headed over to the car rental, and got into our Jeep (with the top down for maximum sun for Heather!) Our drive took about 30 minutes to the condos in Lahaina. When it comes to the pace of life, Maui is completely different than Wakiki. It is more relaxed here and it takes a little bit of time to shift gears. We lounged around the pool, did a little shopping, and hit the grocery store for our supplies for the rest of the vacation. We laughed about the differences as we ate mac and cheese for dinner at 8:30...

We experienced our first rain in Maui. It is nothing like we have in Michigan. The sun was out, no clouds above us, but a soft mist fell from the sky. We laughed as we sat by the pool...if anything, the mist cooled us after a couple of hours in the sun.