A Week in Maui

My sister moved to Maui about 3 years ago…..as much as our family wanted to visit her and see her new home, flying a family of 5 to Maui isn’t cheap! And we had already promised the kids Disneyland for 2013 and Mexico for 2014, and two trips in a year is simply out of the question!

My mom, sister and husband all schemed to find a way to get ME over there and I have to say it was a nice surprise! We chose a week in August that seemed to work well for all of us (until the last minute when my husband was scheduled for FOUR work dinners!!).

Anyway, I flew over on a Monday and flew home on Saturday night. It was a relatively short trip by Maui vacation standards, but the point wasn’t a “Maui Vacation” the point was getting to spend time with my sister and seeing some of the sights they enjoy. I’d say doing some of the activities that they enjoy, but they enjoy scuba diving and snorkeling and I wasn’t going to partake in any of those.

Actually, the funny thing is… on our way to the airport (to fly home) Sarah commented that people are going to ask me…

– Did you take/do the road to Hana? No.
– Did you go snorkeling? No.
– Did you have some Shave Ice? No.
– Did you go to a luau? No.

(Seems like there were a few other things that are traditionally done on a Hawaiian vacation, but I can’t think of them at the moment.)

We laughed.

My time was spent hiking through the ‘jungle’ or through lava fields, taking in scenery, learning about “cane bombs” and “Maui snow”, sampling new foods: lilikoi, guava, white ginger nectar, akala, star fruit, apple bananas (not “Williams” bananas like we eat here on the Mainland), I even ate an artichoke with dinner one night! New drinks: my brother-in-law’s Kombucha, a “Lava Flow” from Hula Grill, a free Mai-Tai on the flight over (everyone got them) and a free heavily alcoholic beverage on the flight home because my seat was broken and wouldn’t recline and the flight attendants felt bad for me so gave me some special drink that I had to choke down because it was so strongl. I got to enjoy restaurant dining (something we don’t do at home), and some delicious Mahi-Mahi tacos and Monchong. We spent time at the beach, we saw several beaches, spent time at a resort pool, spent time shopping, lots of walking. And I took two naps. And I managed to be in bed between 8-10 every night and up around 5 every morning. But the most amazing thing that happened was SURFING! You betcha! This 41-year old mom of three learned to surf and loved every second of it!

SO, here’s a quick recap of my journey…. click on the day’s heading to see the full detail.

Day One: Travel Day. Yay for not passing out on the plane!

Day Two: Hiking & Spa. This morning I ate lilikoi (Hawaiian passion fruit), on our hike I ate a pink guava fresh off the tree, sucked the nectar out of white ginger blooms, ate a couple wild akala (Hawaiian raspberries), squeezed the gooey gel out of an awapuhi to moisturize my skin (it also soothes bugbites!) and tonight I drank my brother-in-law’s Kombucha. Trying lots of new things over here!

Day Three: Beach Day & Shopping. We spent the morning at the Ka’anapali Beach swimming and laying in the shade, ate lunch at Hula Grill, walked to the Hyatt, back through the Westin, then drove to Lahaina for shopping… And saw the largest banyan tree in the US! And no sunburns!

Day Four: Beaches, Lava walks, Bocce Ball. First up this morning was a short visit to Cruze beach, then Sarah and I went on a drive to South Maui where she showed me Secret Beach, Makena Landing, then on to La Perouse where we walked the hot hot trail through the lava field. Back home for showers and a short nap then we went to Waipuilani to play some bocce ball.