Hike to a Phallic Stone???

My sunburn Monday forced us to alter our plans for Tuesday.  We had wanted to go snorkeling in the morning and then maybe zipline in the afternoon.  Even the idea of exposing my burn while snorkeling or being strapped in a harness on my legs was just too much, so we chose more sunburn-friendly activities. 

 

We had heard about the Iao Valley State Monument as a popular tourist destination and decided the short drive might be worth it.  It was a beautiful location with the Iao Needle being surrounded by an extinct volcano.  The "hike" was maybe all of 15 minutes to the top.

The above picture on the left just makes me laugh.  He's kind enough to let me put it on here. 

We learned the peak was used as a lookout in war times, a burial ground for kings, and even as a representative phallic stone of a Hawaiian God.  Yeah.  I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that last one.  

We decided if we could afford real estate in Maui it would look something like this.  We'd call it our love shack and live on rooster and taro plants.  

A little National Treasure 2 humor.

The rest of the day was a little slow.  We tried another beach, which was okay but it was so windy we left after just a half hour maybe.  We had a horrible run-in with a rude local on the way there which didn't help my mood.  Back at the condo, I did laps in the pool while Dan listened to a podcast in the lawn chairs.  We just relaxed that evening and did some laundry in prep for leaving the next day. 

Around 10 PM we decided to go out on the beach and just watch the waves in the dark.  Um, it's really dark!  There was no way I was going on a beach in that pitch black, so we stood on the resort lawn where it was lit and still within 20 feet of the waves.  We saw an amazing array of stars and even several shooting stars while listening to the ocean.  It was a wonderful memory for our last full night on the island. 

Sufing and Luau

Monday of our trip was a GREAT day.  We got up super early to go take surfing lessons.  Early morning = less crowded.  Our 7 AM class only had us and one other person in it.  A native of Maui who's competed professionally was our instructor.  We practiced on land for a few minutes then headed out with him promising us it was easy. 

We were able to stand up almost every wave we tried.  The instructor gave us a push to get us timed right with the waves, but eventually taught us how to catch it on our own which we were able to do pretty successfully. There was a professional photographer in the water with us that you could choose to buy the pictures from.  We felt like $40 was worth the memories.  These are just a few. 

The class was about 2 hours, but you could continue to use the boards for the rest of the day for free if you wanted.  We got some snacks and headed back out without a teacher this time.  Even though we'd been able to catch waves without that head start push, it was much harder without him at least telling us when to start paddling.  Still, we were each able to stand a few times and ride the waves a good distance.  It had gotten really crowded out there with other surfers and the water was getting choppy, so we left.  Not to mention my thighs had had just about all they could take of climbing up on the board.  Note to self: longer board shorts next time! 

The water was really shallow and rocky.  We had been warned to fall feet first to avoid getting hurt (since we had protective shoes on.)  I still managed to fall on my knee one time towards the beginning.  I hit a rock and it KILLED!  This was a few hours later.  It bruised up really good over the next couple days.  It's been more than week and it still hurts when bumped.

Once back at the condo we CRASHED with a long nap.  Then we headed out to the luau I had booked back home.  It was supposedly the most authentic Hawaiian one on the island and that's what we wanted.  

 We wandered around the first while checking out the beautiful grounds.  THIS felt like Hawaii!  We bought a wooden turtle with our names carved in the bottom by the carvers pictured below.  We (and a million other people) gathered to watch the pig get unearthed.

I had found out a few days before our luau that they were no longer giving out flower leis when you arrived but shell ones instead due to some shortage in Taiwan where they got the flowers.  (Taiwan??  Um, doesn't Hawaii have flowers of their own???)  I was sad because I really wanted just one flower lei the whole trip.  Luckily, there was a guy set up with a few flowers where you could make your own lei (for free + tip.)  He was running out so I couldn't make a long one, but at least I got the lei I wanted!

We're standing behind the stage here.  The seating was in a semi-circle, front row sat on the floor then 3 rows of tables behind that.  We chose mat seating when I booked things just to be closer to the show.  We were on the very end of the semi-circle and at the front of our low-level table.  We shared a table with 6 strangers, but the 2 across from us became friends.  We even happened to be catching the same plane to LA a few days later.  We had a great time chatting with them all night. 

 We ate dinner, watched the sun set over the ocean, and enjoyed a pre-show. 

 Once the sun fully set, the show really began.  It was basically the history and folklore of Hawaii.  It was interesting, at least what we could understand of it.  The narrators between numbers had some pretty thick accents so at times we couldn't understand them.  But the dancing was beautiful. 

  At the end they asked for couples on their honeymoons or celebrating an anniversary to come slow dance on the sandy beach front.  It was very romantic and a highlight of our trip.  

We asked some dancers for a picture with them as we left.  Apparently our photographer blocked the flash a bit. 

 Once home that night I discovered that getting undressed was really painful.  Turns out I had burned the back of both legs (especially my thighs) really badly while surfing since you lay tummy-down on the board a lot waiting for waves.  Apparently SPF 75 applied twice in 3 hours wasn't enough for this ultra white girl!  We spent a couple hours staying up rotating cold rags on my legs to try to get them to stop burning.  Gotta say that surfing was worth it though!

The Weekend (and My Favorite Pictures)

Saturday morning in Maui we went to the weekly Maui Swap Meet at the community college.  I'd guess there were about 200 vendors.  We spent about 3 hours walking around and buying souvenirs.  There was so much to see!  After that we did a tiny bit of shopping in town (we were out of sunscreen already!) then went to "Big Beach," supposedly one of the best.  Honestly, I didn't like that beach at all.  The waves were way too strong to play in, it was super crowded, and parking was not the best.  We got rained out after just an hour there, went home for dinner and watched a movie on our Kindle.

Sunday we had breakfast out on our lanai, like most mornings.  It's just this time I thought to take a picture. :)

We headed off to church and enjoyed the ward we visited.  There were probably 6-8 other visiting couples from the mainland, half from Utah.  We met some very nice people there.  

After church, we wanted to do something to use our time wisely on the island without breaking our Sabbath-day standards, which for us meant no swimming and nothing that requires us to spend money or make someone work.  We ended up choosing to go sit on a beach that's famous for it's windsurfing every afternoon.  Competitions are held at that beach for the sport.  We enjoyed relaxing on the beach, taking pictures, and watching the waves.  

I was really excited to get pictures of a surfer in the air.  They didn't do it often.

But the giant man-sized spider crawling towards us, I could have done without.

By the time we got back from that beach and had dinner, it was near sunset.  So we grabbed our camera and headed out to walk our mostly-secluded beach.  That night we took some of my favorite pictures from our whole trip and had a blast doing it.

 

Thanks to a camera bag to set the camera on and a remote to take pictures with, we got lots of the two of us together.  Could we have asked another passerby to take them for us?  Sure.  But this was way more fun and less embarrassing. We took a ton.

Good memories. 

"If Heaven Had a Highway . . ."

 

The second full day we had on Maui we decided to drive the famous Road to Hana on the wetter, more tropical Eastern side of the island.  I read several places that "if heaven had a highway" that would be what it looked like.  The only difference is in heaven I really hope there are wider lanes and more friendly drivers!!  HOLY COW, those locals are scarey to drive this road with!  

The road is around 50 miles to Hana from the starting point, but it takes about 2 hours to drive because it's 25 mph much of the way, often less, has about 620 curves and 59 often ONE LANE bridges.  Most locals couldn't give a crap who's turn it was or where the lines on the road were (if we had lines at all!)  It was a fearful drive for sure, but still one of the highlights of our trip because we had a great time together.  We left around 7:30 AM.

Dan, focused on the road.  Me, showing the fear we felt inside.

You get to see the coast here and there but not the whole time.   The wildlife along the road was more laid-back than the locals!  This rooster and his companions didn't give a squat that they were smack in the middle of our lane.  There were a million birds like that hanging out along the highway that I can't believe never moved faster than a snail's pace to get off the road!  It's amazing we didn't hit anything!

 

There were soooo many places to stop and see waterfalls or lookouts that there was no way we could do them all, so we just chose a few.  Stopping was a feat in itself since there was often little room for pulling over along the road.  In the picture below taken above a falls, we were standing on a 1-lane bridge with no footpath or really any room for walking.  You just prayed no one hit you.  (Others were stopped there, too.  We aren't the only crazies.) 

  You gotta love that sign for a one lane bridge around a blind curve!!  

We couldn't figure out what these guys were.  Gopher?  Ferret?  So we started calling them Garretts.  We saw them everywhere on that side of the island.  Once home we learned it's an Indian Mongoose.  Whatever.  It will always be a Garrett to us.

We only stopped at 2 beaches all day.  The first was a volcanic black sand beach.  (More like a black gravel beach.)  There were warnings for sharks and jellyfish so no playtime here.

Next up was our FAVORITE beach of the whole trip, Hamoa Beach.  We had to take a narrow road off the highway to get there and parking was a beast but it was so worth it!  This was supposedly the site for the best body surfing in all of Maui.  We had the best time here and the water was a BEAUTIFUL blue!

We drove past Hana another 40 minutes or so to get to the famous "7 Sacred Pools" which is neither sacred nor 7 in number.  The road past Hana got even more frightening with no lanes painted on the road most of the time and narrower roads.  Construction and scarey cliff edges with no guard rails made it even more fun!

Once at the Pools, we opted not to take the 5 mile round-trip hike up to the topmost waterfall since it was already getting late in the afternoon and we still had several hours of driving to get back to our condo.  We went to the easiest pool to access and swam in the falls there for a bit.  Lifelong wish to swim in a waterfall in Hawaii: check!  (But MAN was it cold!)

The path down to the falls was pretty.  We passed an awesome Banyan tree on the way. Their branches grow what looks like more roots. 

We started heading back home around 4 PM and didn't arrive til probably near 7.   Poor Dan's back was killing him from the tenseness of the long drive.  There were few tourists left on the road, and the locals were not so patient with us.  Since we weren't spying for waterfalls anymore, I took more pictures of our surroundings.

It was a LOOOONG day!

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

For our 5-year wedding anniversary Dan and I had wanted to go to Hawaii, but we were looking for a house and not knowing when that would happen or how much of a down payment we would need we opted to hold off til our 10 year.  Those extra 5 years snuck up on us quickly and before we knew it we were approaching 10 years of marriage.  We debated whether or not we could actually go right now and eventually with the encouragement of others decided just to do it.  We wanted to go to Kauai, but I found a better deal for Maui and had heard good things about it so we changed our plans.  He's been on Oahu before once but I've never been to Hawaii at all and have always wanted to go.

We left the morning of May 16th.  I nursed Lacey for the last time that morning, and we said goodbye.  We've never left the kids for more than 2 nights, never been more than a couple hours of driving away, and never left Lacey overnight at all.  I BAWLED a lot that day.   

Matty was already at school.  We didn't just leave him out.

But in the midst of my crying, I did notice how beautiful the cloud formations were underneath us. 

 

We had 2 layovers of a couple hours each in Oakland and LA before heading out to Maui.  We arrived around 8:30 PM local time, which meant 12:30 AM in Utah.  We still had to pick up our rental car (which was not a perfectly smooth experience) and drive to our condo rental (which we got lost a little on the way).  When we finally arrived, we were beat and exhausted.  I hadn't been able to sleep at all on the planes.

We enjoyed the location of our condo but perhaps not so much the city it was in.  It was on the northern end of the city and away from almost everything (which we were thankful for) and it was easy to drive anywhere from our location.  We had a nice view from our 4th floor lanai (balcony) of the bay and the sun rising over the southern volcano every morning.

View from lanai

The beach out front was a 5-mile stretch of almost deserted beach since it wasn't the best beach to play on, but it was great for running or taking long walks with almost no one around.  We loved walking most nights around sunset time.

View from beach at sunset

 The "locals" came out often to welcome us.

Sadly, these crabs were probably some of the more welcoming locals around!  A lot of people you could tell were just annoyed by so many tourists constantly.

Our first full day on the island we spent the morning grocery shopping.  I knew prices would be higher but WOW!  I've been complaining about grocery prices in Utah lately.  Guess I can't do that anymore!  Even Costco was higher on most items.  I think a gallon of milk was about $4 and 2 loaves of the cheapest bread at Costco were $6. Thankfully some prices were the same at Costco, but everywhere else was guaranteed to be significantly higher.

We went to a recommended beach that afternoon.  It was windy but pretty deserted.  Once the wind died down a bit we had a good time body surfing.  We even saw a turtle swimming near us.  

It's going to take me a while to blog everything from our trip. My goal is to get at least one post up a day.   We'll see!