Maui recap

So I left off on the itty bitty plane heading to Maui.  The ride offered incredible views.  One of the locals asked the pilots to swing by the waterfalls.  She said she flies the route all the time.  

She said they were some of the tallest waterfalls in the world.  Breathtaking views. 

Our resort property in Maui was great.  Pool was great and the beach was beautiful.  Our room was another story.  I called the front desk after the first night and said we would need a different room due to the overwhelming mold/urine smell.  She didn't seem surprised.  We moved down the hall a bit.  It was better but still not great. To get "great" would cost me another eighty bucks a night which I was not willing to do.  So we made it work with the so so room and enjoyed the rest of the resort.  For those of you who know about my special shower flip flops...never have I been so glad to have those and I made the kid wear her flip flops in the shower too.  For the price of the hotel I was surprised that even the older rooms were in this state.  

10-number of times we had ice cream in some shape or form.  The shave ice (no d on the end...it's blatantly obvious you are a tourist if you call it shaved ice.  Perhaps also when you say "hola" instead of "aloha.")  The shave ice people suggested we add ice cream to the bottom and man oh man was that a good idea!  We also had cookie dough ice cream from Lappert's and I kid you not the cookie dough pieces were the size of a Lego.  #heaven

The view on our walk from our resort down to Whaler's Village.  An easy walk to shops and food.  The resort also provided a free shuttle to three different areas which was awesome. Old town Lahaina is like Main Street USA except on the beach. Cute, quaint little shopping area and restaurants. Loved it.  Notice the rainbow.  Weather was perfect the whole time.  We were laying by the pool one day and I said "is it raining or is that mist from the pool waterfall?"  It was a light rain.  Pretended like it was waterfall mist and proceeded to enjoy the pool.  Maui was considerably more expensive than Oahu.  I was glad we had packed some snacks and breakfast food.  We were able to greatly save on food this way.

Our first tour in Maui was the Sunrise Crater Tour through Roberts Hawaii.  We woke up at 1:30am to get our shuttle.  Another couple was waiting with us when a shady looking van pulled up and the couple hopped on for their sunrise tour.  Except they were biking down the volcano after.  No thank you.  That sounded like a terrible idea.  We proceeded on our tour with our guide Steve who was impressingly energetic for it being 2am. 

We weren't sure at 2 in the morning what kind of sunrise we would get to see...if it would be clear or cloudy.  We had hot chocolate and delicious pastries while we waited before going out in the freezing cold.  But boy was it worth freezing for.  Stunning.  We were above the clouds and saw the light start to burn through.  Suddenly I heard one of the park rangers say "not everything worth seeing is always in front of you."  I wondered what she meant so I turned around and witnessed the moon set.  The picture below is exactly the colors I saw...shades of white to pink to blue to purple.  I think that part of the sky may have been even more beautiful than the sunrise.  That's something you just don't get to see.  She said that the blue/purple color we saw is actually the shadow of the mountain.  Amazing.  

The sun started to peek above the clouds.  

And it was just stunning.  Hands down my favorite part of the trip.  

The Silversword plant grows only on top of this crater, nowhere else in the world.  

We were up over 10,200 feet at the summit.  After a bit more time we drove back down the mountain, passing the people on the bikes who looked cold and wobbly, and stopped at Kula marketplace.  Here we sampled pineapple snow, which is white chocolate covered macadamia nuts infused with pineapple, macadamia nut peanut butter, and coconut candy.  I left with all but the peanut butter.  (Oh forgot to mention in the Oahu recap the pineapple ice cream we had at the Dole plantation....SO good) As we left the marketplace one of the little older ladies on the tour was digging through her purchases and it appeared she forgot something...we all got a kick out of her calling out "Robert" like she was talking to her son...trying to get the attention of the tour guide.  The tour guide named Steve.  But the van DID say Roberts Hawaii tours so...logic would have it Robert would be driving! 

Speaking of ice cream....Hula Pie.  Filled with mac nut ice cream covered with fudge, whipped cream, and mac nuts.  Worth every dollar of that 10 dollar price tag.  Heavenly. 

I mentioned I would come back to seeing large waves....we saw them right in front of our hotel.  We were amazed and sat and watched the waves for almost an hour.  

That day we saw the sunrise, moon set, and of course the sunset to complete the day.,

Random Hawaii facts...there are no snakes in Hawaii-win, they have a Mongoose problem (brought over to take care of the rats....but rats are nocturnal and mongoose are dayturnal-fail), Honolulu traffic is the third worst in the nation, and housing prices are CRAZY.  Like really crazy.  My current house would probably be pushing a million or more in Hawaii, Public schooling is terrible in Hawaii because they can't keep good teachers but if you have money leftover after that massive mortgage payment you can spend another 25,000 a year for private schools.  

I was amazed at how quickly the water could change.  Nice and calm one minute to strong waves the next.  I was intimidated by it for sure.  But the first day in Maui we waded in the ocean and next thing we know the most ginormous sea turtle is swimming back and forth.  I went on to name him Simon.  Simon the sea turtle.  I have snorkeled with sea turtles before but Simon made those turtles look like babies.  I couldn't believe the size of him.  The rest of the week anytime we were in the water I was on a mission to find Simon again for a photo with the underwater camera. No luck. 

Our next tour took us on the Road to Hana. The tree above is a rainbow Eucalyptus tree.  Looks like someone painted streaks of colors down it.  So cool.

The curvy road I had heard much about.  I didn't think it was all that bad...until we reached the back half of the tour. 

We stopped at some beautiful places.  I don't know that you can travel ten feet in Hawaii and not run into something beautiful.  

Waterfalls everywhere we turned.

The state flower

This is a photo at the Pools of Oheo.  I was terrified to get any closer because they had signs up everywhere warning people how you can get swept out to sea. There were newspaper articles of people who had died and been swept away.  "Hold on let me get my ultra zoom lens out and I can just stay in the van."  Goodness.  

Soon we were on the back half of the road.  Where this totally sturdy looking, obviously trustworthy guardrail gave me peace of mind.  Mmhmm.  

I sat in the very back of the van so I kept turning around to take pictures of the road and turns we just made.  At the same time I prayed my motion sickness pills would do their job.  

After returning from the ten hour tour we decided to walk to the pizza place up the road.  On the way a bug flew in my eye which the kid just found hysterical.  But we also saw our favorite birds!  They may be a bit hard to see but these birds have pretty long legs and just mosey up to you.  The first day we were at the pool I turned the corner and the kid had set up our chairs, was lounging back and started talking to me and mid-sentence I hear "what...no."  Then I look to see one of these birds walking on up to her and she took off. I died.  I decided this bird was named Bert.  Later when I discovered the second one logically he became Ernie. 

Sunrise our last morning

Our final night we ate at Leilani's on the Beach which was where we had gone once and had the original Hula Pie.  This time we tried the seasonal Hula Pie which was strawberry for breast cancer awareness.  Not quite as good but the plate still went back empty. This place had some awesome nachos too.  As we sat here we watched a guy play frisbee with his dog on the beach.  That dog loved his frisbee.  After a bit they came over to the restaurant and must be regulars because the dog's owner walked up to the bar and they handed him a drink right away.  The dog with his frisbee plopped down right next to us at our table.  I heard the owner talking to another guy and I turned and said "oh this dog's name is Jack."  The kid replied "did you really just name someone else's dog.  First the turtle, then the birds...not the dog."  I laughed and informed her that was ACTUALLY the dog's name because I overheard.  

After ten days it was time to make the long journey home.  We hopped on the nine seater plane to head back to Oahu.  I thought it was interesting that there was no security check this time...is that safe?  Also...I hoped when people were asked their weight (because not only do they need your luggage weight they need yours too) that unlike the DMV everyone rounded up and not down. 

Then I had to wonder if one of the pilots could've used a booster seat.  He was propping himself up on his elbow and craning his neck the whole time.  I was glad nobody seemed to have pocketed any lava rock and a safe flight was made. 

10 days, 2.5 bottles of sunscreen, 7 pizzas consumed (we were eating cheap), 3 turtles purchased for the collection, 10 ice cream visits, 2 movies watched, 4 tours taken, 0 alcoholic beverages consumed, 4 swimsuits worn, 49 hours spent traveling, 7 plane rides all added up to countless photos and memories. 

Oahu Recap

Given the amount of photos I took in Hawaii I am breaking this up into a couple posts.  Ten days in Hawaii was relaxing and ample time to balance tours and relaxation.  After a very long travel day we arrived in Oahu and I registered for the CLU conference.  The swag bag was sweet!  I was super excited to get a luggage scale (no more weighing myself then pick up large suitcase and try to peer over to see the new reading on the scale), some face and lip sunscreen, a Hawaiian State Farm lanyard, and a nice notebook.  Our hotel was awesome.  We had shops and restaurants right on the property and free dvd rentals for the room.  We watched Spy and San Andreas while we were there.  Cheesy movies? Yes. Free movies? Yes.

Every morning after breakfast we began our day here. This is the pool located on the fourth floor of one of the towers.  Well, technically we spent the first hour in the hot tub here then moved to the pool.  This pool seemed to be a well kept secret.  There were never more than five people here.

The beach at our resort was lovely but we didn't spend a ton of time there.  Chair rentals were stupid expensive. 

While strolling along the resort property one afternoon we came across a mama duck, baby ducks, and a turtle.  Just hanging out. 

Our first Oahu tour was fantastic.  The tour guide's name was Greg and he was funny and knowledgeable. He also had no problem asking the very talkative, e-cigarette puffing lady sitting behind me to shut it.  

Greg told us many legends of the island.  Our first stop was this temple where he said we would need to ring the bell prior to entering.  I read the sign while waiting to ring the bell and loved what it stood for.   It is believed to clear the mind of negativity, impart peace and bring deep happiness, blessings, and a long life. The resonating sound reminds us that everything is transitory.  

After having rang the bell, explored the temple, and observed black swans...we walked around the grounds and did a double take when we spotted this guy. Funniest looking chicken I have ever seen.  Like he is sporting some long surfer chicken hair or something. Cracked me up! 

Our tour continued on to Sunset Beach on the North Shore which is famous for huge waves and surfing competitions.  I thought the waves were big that day.  Later on I would see much bigger ones.  The Hawaiian waters were powerful. 

A beautiful bay known for some of the best snorkeling.

This is the beach from the movie From Here to Eternity.  You can see several people down there.  I have no idea how they got down there or planned to get back up as the only way in or out are those rocky cliffs. I was perfectly content admiring from above. 

This is just slightly out from the beach above.  Notice the whirlpool near the jutting rocks.  I watched it a good ten minutes and was in awe that a guy from the beach was venturing so close in the water to this area.  That whirlpool was no joke scary.  It started twisting and would easily suck a person down in it if given the chance.  My brain went into mom mode thinking "does your mother know where you are?!"  I have mentioned to several people that the ocean here straight up scared me.  It was intense.  More on intense warnings in Maui later...

A scenic view of Oahu

Birds are everywhere and were obviously used to people.  This little guy took a rest under our pool chair.  The Maui birds at our resort were so funny and came right up to you so later we ended up naming them.  Ok I ended up naming them.  Again more on them in the Maui post.

Possibly the best pancakes I have ever consumed...macadamia nut coconut pancakes.  Amazing.  

Our resort had a lagoon area which I preferred over the ocean.  No chance of getting swept off to sea in the lagoon.  

Our second tour guide in Oahu was Eugene and..well...he had a lot to live up to after Greg.  He did not do so great.  He was convinced the air conditioning was going to go out at any time on our van and, therefore, called in another van to switch out with us. After a good 45 minutes of killing time and waiting for van number two to come rescue us from our fully functioning air conditioned van, the new van finally arrived.  We all piled into van number two.  Only to be told thirty seconds later van number two has a flat tire. (By the way one of the people on the tour noticed the flat tire...thank goodness!)  So we pile back on to the fully functioning original van and continue on.  After several more stops we come to our final destination of Pali lookout.  It is the site of a very bloody battle.  Even in the daytime the place was a bit intense feeling.  No way you'd get me there at night.  So we get ready to leave and as Eugene starts the van up it starts beeping.  He puts his seat belt on thinking that is the cause.  Beeping continues.  We drive down and out of the lookout point and the van stalls. I may have said "you have got to be kidding me" out loud at this point because we needed to be back for the company dinner and had already wasted time. (Did I also mention that Eugene can't talk and drive over 15 miles an hour at the same time? Bless his heart.) It is then Eugene tells us the legend of bringing pork products to the lookout and if you do so then it will break a dispute between the pig God and volcano goddess and your car will stall.  "Gee Eugene maybe you should've mentioned earlier to everyone to toss their spam out the window."  Nobody fessed up to having pork in their purse but I googled the legend and it is sure enough a thing.  Creepy.  Maybe someone tossed the pork jerky out the window or something then because the van started back up a few minutes later.  (Despite all the tour craziness Eugene was super nice and I still tipped him well) 

Greg had already told us that people had been known to take things such as lava rock or seashells as souvenirs and they experience such bad luck that the Hawaiian Post Office gets thousands of lava rocks and shells mailed back each year.  The Hawaiians believe the life spirit lives in everything and as such everything should remain as is.  Another theory is park rangers were tired of tourists taking the lava rock and made up this bad luck curse.  Either way when I saw the kids on the beach talking about the souvenirs they were finding I thought "you better put it back or buy a stamp."  All the legends I heard were enough for me to realize Hawaiian culture runs deep.  

Next up...information on Maui which we arrived on via this itty bitty plane.  On our way to the airport to head to Maui the taxi driver taught us how to speak Hawaiian.  Well, he taught us there are only twelve letters in the Hawaiian alphabet and there are no silent vowels.  Every letter is pronounced.  While I may not have known what the words meant, for the rest of the trip I made it my goal to practice pronouncing every Hawaiian word I came across.  Mostly street signs.  A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, U, W and there is the akina which is the symbol that looks like an apostrophe and indicates a break in sound.  I found this all very fascinating.  

For those of you who miss my "moments" (Lisa) I was grateful that I talk pretty softly when we first arrived at our hotel and the hotel check in lady greeted me with "Aloha" to which I responded with "Hola."  Then immediately realized we are not in another country.  The kid is not letting me live that one down.  Then there was when I went to the outdoor shower to rinse sand off my feet and chose the wrong spray handle and instead of the lower fountain turning on I sent a shot of water straight into my own face.  Again the kid was highly entertained.  Still graceful as ever! 

I am happy to be home and trying to get back to a routine.  I was pleasantly surprised at how great I felt going for a three mile run last night after ten days off.  I am also feeling refreshed and ready to tackle some exciting things I want to accomplish by the end of the year!  I am not sure if it's the time change between home and Hawaii or excitement on things I am working on but I haven't been able to sleep before 2am.  Hopefully my sleep gets back to normal soon. 

Coming up next...Maui recap and monthly favorites

Oatmeal pudding

You know what happens if you put a little French Vanilla coffee creamer in instant oatmeal?  You can imagine you are actually eating bread pudding!  It's quite tasty. 

I completed my 24 day challenge Thursday and lost another three inches.  I also shaved some time off my mile.  Thursday night I had pizza and felt like complete crap all night after eating it.  It is amazing how I can feel such an impact depending on the different food I choose to eat.