Day 10: Mahalo

So, 8 days later and I am finally getting around to summing up our last day in Hawaii.  I think this was my way to hold on to just a piece of the fun and warm vacation we were on just a little over a week ago.  But now Thanksgiving has come and gone and December is almost here so I guess it’s time to just suck it up and admit that Vacation is over and Winter is upon us… so onto warmer thoughts…

Saturday November 19th started with a 6 mile run up and down the beach.  I really wish running had been more practical in Kauai because running with the ocean to my side is one of my favorite things in the world!  I got in 6 very good and fast miles and came back to a last morning of our favorite Hawaiian Nature Pancakes – so freaking awesome!  Then we changed into swim gear and headed across the street to the Beach!  We sat in the sun for awhile and then ventured into the ocean to do a little snorkeling.  I mainly floated in a noodle but did finally toughen up and stick my head in the water  After soaking up our last few rays of sun, we headed back to the condo to grab some lunch before our last vacation road trip - Haleakala Crater.

We drove our fine vessel Pip about an hour up to the summit of the volcano.  I truthfully thought this was not going to be much of a trip but for some reason really wanted to see it.  Well, I was very pleasantly surprised by a very awesome experience… being ABOVE the clouds!  I guess the summit of the volcano is 10,023ft above sea level so sure enough, the low hanging clouds were left behind as we continued our accent.

At the summit, we walked around a bit (the air was pretty thin up there…) and took a ton of pictures.  It was actually really cool, we could see the smoke from the active volcano on the big island from the top of this inactive volcano!

Can you see it out there?

We started our decent back down for dinner (my birthday dinner I might add ) and could not decide where to choose.  We ended up picking Honu Beach & Seafood Grill and this ended up being the most delicious decision ever!

I got a Mai Tai to drink, of course and then we were brought a house appetizer, deep fried chickpeas!  Oh my, new favorite!!!  I also had the Coconut Butternut Squash soup because I was starving, shocking And then my main meal was a Margarita Pizza on Gluten Free crust.  This was probably the best gf pizza I have ever had!

The view from this restaurant was also unbelievable.  We could see Lanai and Molokai as well as a bunch of sailboats moored in Lahaina and a northern Maui city all lit up at night.

To conclude our last Hawaiian meal, we got a special gluten free brownie/vegan chocolate mousse cake that was also very delicious.  I even got a special candle to celebrate my birthday.

After dinner, we headed to the airport to start the long trek home… we started the trip on a rather questionable note, 2 hours getting checked in and through the security line in Maui but after that it was pretty smooth sailing.  The flight to Denver was about 6 hours and I think I actually “slept” for most of it so it went by very fast.  Then we changed planes in Denver to head to Milwaukee.  This flight was only about 2.25 hours and also went by with no issues.  It is interesting how the flight home was so much quicker and less painful that the trip getting TO Hawaii!  But either way, the cold Wisconsin air was greeting us all too soon and with that change in the weather, came the end of one of the best vacations I have ever taken.

I am so happy we had such an excellent time, excellent weather, delicious food, lots of fun and crazy times.  I think I will have to begin the count down to the next tropical vacation (even though that is years away) just to try to make it through the cold boredom that greeted me in Wisconsin!!  Although there was one certain little puppy dog that was beyond excited to see us so I’ll just be happy for that!  Mahalo Hawaii for giving us such a good vacation.  Until next time!

Day Eight: Maui in Cruiseland

We flew out of Lihuie about 9:15am this morning.  The flight to Maui was pretty quick and we got into Maui before 10am.  We got to fly over Oahu, Molokai and Lanai.  I think of all the Hawaiian islands as small but then I see Molokai and Lanai from up above and realize these are really small!!

But it was really cool to see them and our first sights of Maui from the air.  We landed at the airport, dad went to go pick up the rental car and we headed for baggage claim.  We had bags in about 2 minutes so most of the time we spent waiting for dad in the parking lot.  But oh ho ho, was it worth the wait!!  When dad pulled up in the best ever rental car – Pip, a small and sleek Lincoln Town Car!  Sweet ride! (photos to come soon…)

We were hungry for lunch already since we were up a bit early this morning so we drovecruised around Kihei a bit and ended up at Fred’s Mexican Restaurant.  We had really good fish tacos and yummy chips!

Yum!

After lunch, we drove to try and find our condo for the next few days but could not get in yet because the cleaning service was there so instead we drove out to Lahina to look around and look for noni.

Parking down here was a bit interesting, especially when steering Pip The Limo but we managed to find a spot and then walked around a bit.  We of course would pick to be in this area when a cruise ship was in the harbor so that meant tons of cruise ship folk… even with all the extra people, we were still able to walk around the Banyan Tree, stroll up and down the shops at the harbor and then stop and get some Gelato at Ono Gelato.  Sister and I shared a pistachio, macadamia nut and Big Island Mac Nut Crunch dish.  This was soooo good!  But not as good as noni.

Dad also really wanted to go sailing so he booked us seats on America II which was a racing ship from the 1980’s.  Foreshadowing: Note to future self – wear a swimsuit on this boat and bring dry clothes.

Sorry for the awkward stand..

This tree is massive! It takes up almost an entire city block and was planted over 100 years ago!

We stopped so Mom and Dad could get happy hour Mai Tai’s at the Pioneer Inn, right across the street from the harbor.  It took us quite some time to get through with our drinks because service was a bit interesting tonight but at least Mom and Dad left a little more hydrated

We somehow ended up lost a bit at some point too and saw some random sights in Lahaina…  After all this exploring, we headed to the condo for real and checked things out a bit and changed for dinner.   Dad had read about a place called the MonkeyPod Kitchen that had a good beer selection so MonkeyPod it was!  They ended up not having much for gluten free meals but they did have a really good steak meal that Sister and I both got.  It was a grass-fed, hormone free delicious steak with  Kona coffee butter sauce, white rice and broccoli.  We also had French fries with whole grain mustard aioli and homemade ketchup.  The meal turned out to be pretty tasty despite the limited choices and the total lack of Noni in my meal (Sorry for the lack of a photo… someone forgot their camera at the condo…)

After dinner, we stopped into a grocery store to pick up some nonibreakfast and lunch foods and then headed back to the condo for bed.