Day 5 was one of my favorite days on Maui. We started the morning with a hearty breakfast at Charley’s in Paia on the north shores of Maui with Art of Tea’s favorite vendor, Mike Abrams, who rightfully claims that Charley’s has “The Best Macadamia Nut Pancakes in the World” (although he brings his own pure maple syrup to enjoy them with). After breakfast, we headed onto what is known as one of the best scenic drives America has to offer- Hana Highway. This highway runs along the coast of Maui for 68 miles of two-lane windy road, 59 bridges, and 620 curves. We thought the views from the Honoapilani Highway were beautiful, the Hana Highway was simply heavenly.
We made many stops along the way, partly to absorb the beauty surrounding us, but mostly to prevent the crew of the SS Merino from getting car sick (no one did).
Sometimes we had to leave the car to see the beauty around us:
But most of the time, it was right there on the road, in every direction you looked:
We did manage to do a bit of sight seeing along the way, starting with “The Garden of Eden”, a private arboretum with beautiful trees and plants, a duck pond, and breathtaking views:
The Arboretum also offered a “Bird Show”, which for $20, was well worth it:
After the Garden of Eden, we decided to let the kids take some photos by standing up through the large sunroof while we drove the highway. At the slow pace we were moving, they were sure to get some great shots:
We stopped at the Lava Tube where we were able to walk through a natural “ventilation pipe” where lava once flowed, creating a surreal geological formation. We also stopped at Waianapanapa Beach, also known as Maui’s only Black Sand Beach:
We made it to Hana, where we turned around and headed right back where we came from. The drive on the Hana Highway ended spectacularly and fittingly with one of the most beautiful sunsets we’ve ever experienced:
Day 4 on Maui was another relaxing day with not much planned. A little souvenier shopping and pool lounging was the order of the day, although Christy and I took a walk along the entire length of the Kaanapali shore, 2.5 miles each way. Although it was beautiful, the sloped shore made the walk very painful, especially on the way back.
One of the highlights of our vacation was the Luau. We originally planned to attend the Kaanapali Beach Luau, known to be family friendly due to its kids buffet and promotion of kids eat free with each paying adult, but we were told that the food and the entertainment were not up to the standards of other luaus. The booking agent suggested that we try out the Sheraton Luau, and that he could get Mark and David in for free. He said that the show was one of the best and that the food was much better than the Kaanapali Luau. Yet again, we were happy with the decision we made. The Sheraton Luau was a great experience and somewhat affordable. The hula dancers were talented and attractive, although the MC was corny and a little full of himself. The show’s highlight was a spectacular fire dancer who never missed a beat:
We arrived on the evening of July 8th, picked up our rental car and made our way to the condo, which was about 45 minutes from the airport. On the way, we stopped at McDonalds to get a quick bite. $48 later, we realized that we weren’t in Kansas anymore. Prices here were expected to be a bit higher, but we’ve never spent $48 at McDonalds just for the 5 of us. The next morning, we treated ourselves to breakfast at Cheeseburgers is Paradise, a milling little joint on the beach in Lahaina. $100 later, we realized that Kansas was on a different planet. We really needed to get our act together and hit the market. Eating out was going to be an expensive option we couldn’t afford! We stopped by the local Safeway market and picked up a few day’s worth of food, coming out to $280. The same amount of food in Pasadena would have cost us around $150. Damn, Hawaii is expensive!
July 9th was pretty much a day to relax and enjoy the surroundings. We didn’t plan any activities, so the kids lounged by the beach and hung out at the pool.
On July 10th, we decided to explore our part of the island. We hopped in the car and started driving on the Hanoapilani Highway towards the north. It was a beautiful, scenic drive that took us about 4.5 hours, including some stops to enjoy the views:
This location near Makuleia Bay was interesting not only because of the awesome terrain and view, but we also noticed hundreds of rock piles that looked like miniature monuments strewn about the area. We didn’t know the significance, but we made our own anyway.
Our last stop was a beach in Kahului Bay where the boys got their swim trunks on and hit the waves. Steven lasted 5 minutes before a sea shell broke through his swim shoes and cut his foot.
After 16 years of collecting United Airline Miles, we finally accumulated enough to take a family trip on a plane. This being the last summer before Steven goes to college, we felt that it was now or never. With a quarter-million miles, we were limited to any of the 50 United States. We left it up to the kids as to where we would go and they all agreed on Hawaii. Florida was too hot, Washington DC was too educational, New York was too theatrical (for Steven and Mark), and anything west of the Mississippi was too boring. Hawaii seemed to fit everyone’s needs and wants: relaxation, beach weather, activities, and best of all- a long airplane flight- the first for Mark and David.
We originally looked at going to Oahu so we could experience Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, and Waikiki Beach, but there were no available flights using my mileage to Oahu, so our second choice was Maui. Boy am I glad we ended up on Maui.
We departed from Ontario airport and stopped at San Fransisco International before going on to Maui. The first flight for Mark and David was on a CRJ200, 55 passenger plane. About as small as you get on a commercial airline. It didn’t really matter… they did just fine. Steven, however, seemed to feel the plane was too small as he was ducking his head the entire flight.
The flight from San Francisco to Maui was on a roomier 767, so Steven felt much more comfortable.
We decided that to do Hawaii the right way, we had to go beachfront. Hotels were WAY too expensive, especially considering we would need 2 rooms for the 5 of us. So, we opted for a condo. After a solid week of searching various web sites, we found what we were looking for- a 3-bedroom 2-bath condo on the water in Kaanapali on the west side of the island at the Papakea Resort. The condo unit, L-405, was perfect. Each of the kids had their own room- Mark in a full bedroom, David in a spacious and comfortable loft, and Steven on a pull-out sofabed in the livingroom. Christy and I had our own room with a King Bed overlooking the water. The lanai (porch) was large and spacious and allowed us to enjoy the beautiful sunsets every night:
To make it easier to read, I will break up our trip into several posts…
Well, it’s been a full year since Merinospace was born into the blogsphere. We officially have our first “Anniversary Blog”. This year’s Independence Day festivities pretty much mimic last year’s Independence Day blog. The day started with a Madison Heights Neighborhood parade, and ended with a barrage of Safe and Sane fireworks at the Kim household in Alhambra. This year, some of Cyndi and John’s new neighbors brought out the big guns, so we had court-side seats to some pretty fantastic not-so-legal fireworks.
