Day Six In Maui

Our 6th day in Maui was looking good weather wise, so this was the day we decided to drive the road to Hana (for those of you not familiar with Maui, the road to Hana is a scenic drive that goes almost all the way around the island… if you can brave the second half of it). We downed a couple aspirin to shake our headaches from the night before, picked up a bunch of water, a few snacks, and we were off. We headed to the town of Paia to get breakfast that day; not only was it on the way to the start of the road, but Paia is where Vince was baptized, so I was looking forward to seeing where that took place  :)

Paia Bay Coffee looked promising

The outside dining area- quaint, but very cool! It was nice

sitting outside, having our coffee, and listening to the birds

We took a quick stroll up & down the main street of Paia

and headed to the beach- this is one of my favorite beaches now

…I played in this tidepool a bit- there were a bunch of

little fish; I had fun wading in and following them around :)

We went down the beach a little further to the spot where

Vince was baptized… He finished the story about how and

why he decided to get baptized… and then… he proposed!!!

What an awesome and totally unexpected surprise that was!

I had NO idea- not even an inkling! Little did I know that he asked

my dad for permission before our trip… I was (and am) so happy!

I have never been with anyone that makes me feel as accepted and as

good about myself as he does, which just makes me love him even more

…wow! Google-eyed and happy, we headed back to the car to start our road trip :)

Our first stop was a pull-off from the road near
the beginning of a beautiful trail into the woods...

…which led us to some fantastic waterfalls & pools

We saw this neat little plant near the trail, and V showed
me something really cool! If you touch their leaves, their leaves 
close up! I felt like a little kid in Narnia hehe

Next stop: rainbow eucalyptus grove- not
super obvious at first, but just wait….

Amazing!

Here we are :)

The road to Hana is definitely not lacking in
picturesque scenery!

This spot made me think of the Garden of Eden

Further along, there was a place that you could
go inside a lava tube (basically a huge underground cave
that was created by flowing lava) - we had to check it out

Heading into the dark...

View looking up

Once we got away from the entrance, it was pitch black down there;
it's a good thing the stand at the beginning provides flashlights! Another
interesting fact about this particular lava tube is that it used to be set up as
a nuclear fallout shelter in case of a serious nuclear event… pretty cool!

There was another short trail that we stopped to walk 
along; talk about awe-inspiring...

Some local flora

It would be interesting to know how many different
varieties of flowers grow on Maui… they are everywhere!

At this point along the highway, the road was pretty
crazy; there are lots of places with one-lane bridges, and
the roads are narrow, windy, hilly, and a little sketchy! Very
neat though. We had just passed a particularly rough part of 
the road when we saw this sign… we decided to stop 
and see if this church was even still in use

As we got closer, we could easily tell that the church
was abandoned, but its place near a cliff with a beautiful view 
of the ocean just beyond the edge made it really stoic and peaceful

This area looked like a green version of the Grand Canyon

Finally nearing the end of the road and (yay!) back on to

pavement. This road trip definitely takes a full day, but it is 

extremely rewarding. We were pretty hungry at this point, so we

headed into Makawao for dinner, headed back to the hotel, and had

a nice relaxing evening before drifting off into blissful sleep- GREAT day!

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 :)

Day Four In Maui

As much as V and I wanted to hit the beach and work on becoming darker shades of pale, Mother Nature decided that it was time for some rain. Not that it was bad (it was still great), but we had to come up with other things to do that didn't involve getting tan… Strolling around Lahaina (the town closest to our hotel) and exploring the local cocktail menus sounded like a good plan to us!

The first stop was the Cannery Mall. In the last couple years, I've starting collecting postcards from places I visit, so I was on a mission to try and find some good Hawaii ones… I'm glad I have this nerdy habit, because otherwise we would have missed the Hula show that was going on that day. Vince and I were cheering on the dancers when- oh man- some of the dancers decided to recruit volunteers from the audience! I was invited up on stage (red face, red face)! It was really fun though- and it was a good mini ab workout :)

Although I didn't succeed in finding postcards, the quick 

mall trip was fun! Time to head to Lahaina and find a parking spot...

This church was the first thing we noticed when we 

parked. The last church we looked at was so beautiful, 

we couldn't pass it up without looking inside

Another beautiful interior :) 

Time for a drink lol! Right after looking at a church hehe.
This place was just down the street and it is an AK Airlines
Mileage partner, so we figured we'd earn some miles ;)

Pretty cool little bar, and strong drinks! 

We enjoyed the scenery and the people-watching 

for a bit and decided we'd better head out for a walk

This is all one tree! This tree takes up 1/4 mile

and covers the appropriately-named Banyan Tree Park

Here's where it starts...

Just past the park, there was a little museum; it was

just about to close, but we got a quick look

We checked out a few more gift shops (I was 

still looking for the perfect postcards lol)...

…and then it was about time for dinner! We had been

reading about Kimo's famous "Hula Pie," so we wanted to try it!

(after trying a few more island drinks)

This one was probably my favorite; nutmeg and

rosemary were very unique and unexpectedly delicious

I usually am not huge on coconut shrimp, but these

ones were good enough to make me re-think that opinion

Time for dessert! Oh man… This "pie" is basically

a mountain of ice cream set on an oreo crust and topped

with a thick river of chocolatey goodness, macadamia nuts

& whipped cream. Guess Vince must love me, since we

shared ;) Note: tropical drinks + good dinner +sugary 

dessert = BEDTIME haha