Thursday, March 27, 2014

Day Five In Maui

We woke on Day Five feeling well-rested (as usual on this trip) and ready to go exploring again. The forecast was questionable, so we set out for a beach and a trail that weren't too far away from our hotel…



Got to the parking area just in time to nab a good spot and head to the sand


…pretty little trail to the beach (have I mentioned I love seeing the color green?!)


Makena Beach is also called "Big Beach;" it's
large enough for a lot of people to find their own space.
We set up our beach towels, relaxed in the sun, and had
fun watching people's dogs play (and misbehave)


Cute little beach flower :)


Just a little further down the road from Makena Beach
is a walking-only natural area reserve that we wanted to see


Almost there...


This area is really neat; it is a totally different 
landscape with a lot of lava rocks (luckily we didn't feel
like taking any, because we found out later that it is bad luck!)


Score! Tidepools :D


We probably spent almost an hour climbing on the
rocks by the beach to see what we could find, and we did pretty
good! We saw a baby eel, little fish, crabs, a spider (shudder)...


…and this guy… I am guessing some kind of sea urchin ;)


On to the trail- very cool looking area; we felt like Hobbits lol


Lava stones that look like The Giant's Causeway (neat!)


We were walking along the trail when I heard something,
so we both stopped and listened…it sounded like goats! We
waited for a second, and then three little wild goats came
out of the woodwork! Our trip was truly full of surprises!


The trail is actually pretty long- if you keep going past
the woods, it takes you way out into a huge lava field…
See that little white thing by the rock? Yeah, that's me


Aww- we started heading back and I spied
a heart-shaped puddle in a lava rock with a heart-
shaped rock inside! I'm taking that as a good omen :)

Makena Beach and the nature reserve was a great idea
and it was a great way to spend the day. We went back to
the hotel, got cleaned up, and headed out to dinner.


Monkeypod Kitchen- EXCELLENT recommendation by one of my friends!


Fresh salad with Surfing Goat Dairy cheese


One of the best curries I have ever had made with fresh Hawaiian fish


Oh yeah- and the view was awesome


Just gorgeous!


We could have called it a night, but it was Monday,
and we wanted to go back to that funky coffee shop &
check out the live music… a little nightcap couldn't hurt


Couple of the performers- they were actually pretty good!


Our favorite bartender; pretty cool guy that gave us
some tips about the island- and he made some stiff drinks :p


Small world- we were sitting at the bar enjoying the
music and ended up talking to these great gals; one of 
them used to work in Prudhoe Bay (where V & I work now).
It was entertaining to hear how it used to be back in the days
when there were not as many rules!! Sounded kinda fun...


Our lady friends were chatting it up with this guy- Willy-
and we ended up having some fun convos with him too. Turns
out that he grew up in Maui, but is a HUGE Seahawks fan, so he moved
to Seattle. What a character… But it is fun to meet characters when you're
traveling. I am glad we went back to check out the Monday night music! It
was definitely time for bed though after Willy insisted on buying us a
couple rounds… good thing the hotel was just across the street :)



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