Back to the Islands...Maui and Kona

If you know us or followed my blog at all, you know that one of our favorite places to visit and "vacation" is in Hawaii.  Obviously, we can't take the RV there and it's truly our fantasy getaway place to completely relax.  I, for one, love all the islands, and don't really have a favorite.  Jack, on the other hand, favors Maui, so we tend to return to that one more than any of the others.  This year was no exception.

We usually go towards the end of October, around Jack's Birthday, but decided to celebrate our anniversary there this year instead, which is around Labor Day.  It made it tougher to find places, etc. but, oh well...

We ended up booking our time share for one week in Maui then another on Kona, the Big Island.  Another change for us this time was that we didn't bring any friends along.  I can't remember the last time we've done that, as we almost always do.  Because of the holiday period, places were harder to find and we ended up getting "hotel style rooms", something we've never had before.  We also decided not to rent cars at either island as we have toured both of them extensively and didn't feel the need to do that again.  This was going to just be a full, sit and relax kind of vacation.

Maui was our first destination.  Our room was okay, nothing special, but it had a great view of the resort overlooking the ocean.  There were two pools, that I quickly learned two things about:  neither one was designated for "adults only" so both were FULL of kids, and two, both were ICE COLD!  Now, the heater at our place here in Arizona has been out in our Olympic size pool all summer and it's not that cold, these pools were half that size, in the full sun, and freezing cold.  I got in, and got out!  Yikes.  The beach was beautiful, gentle sand, and the water was bathtub warm...that's where we went everyday!  It was only steps outside of the resort...so who needed the pool?

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Watching the sunset from our balcony at The Royal Lahina Hotel

Red-crested cardinal enjoying breakfast with us

Along our beach walk

The resort offered free shuttle service to the nearby mall that had plenty of shopping and restaurants as well as another shuttle service that was all of $2 to Lahaina.  We enjoyed both, going into Lahaina for our anniversary dinner.  Fancy drinks and sunset included. It was lovely. 

Fancy drinks and a walk along the boardwalk in Lahaina

 

We were not thrilled with the "on site" restaurant.  We tried, but the menu nor the prices just didn't impress us, so I turned to Google for help and discovered The Castaway Cafe right next door!  A 2 minute walk and we not only found good food and great prices but wonderful staff that we soon became friends with!  We almost hated to leave them at the end of the week.

 

Watching the sun set from the Castaway Cafe

The following week we were off to Kona!  We've only been here once before, about six years ago.  Our friends own a home here and had invited us to stay with them, and kindly showed us just about everything one can see on the island....thank goodness!  Renting a car here (which you need to have if you are going to see anything, as this is a BIG island) is expensive, at least it was the week we were staying.  I figured out that between the car rental, the hotel parking charge and gas, it would have cost us about $1000. for the week.  Not worth it, so we didn't.  

The pictures of the hotel before we booked really didn't do it justice, so when we got there, our jaws dropped.  We soon realized we had actually been here before to "see it" when our friends took us here as a "you've got to see this place, it's unbelievable".  We had taken the boat tour around their little canal and ooh and ahh then.  Now, we were staying here.  How cool was that?

The room was twice the size of the one in Maui with a view of the beautiful Asian gardens.  This resort was huge - 64 acres huge.  An adult pool (nearest us, warm and peaceful) along with various other pools of different sizes and shapes, a man-made lagoon and beach, waterfalls, a dolphin pond, and acres and acres of Asian gardens filled with sculptures and art all surrounded by a water canal and monorail system to get around it all.  Beautiful. They had a variety of restaurants to choose from along with different shops and markets, plus a shuttle service ($) to the local mall for more choices.  All fun, and delicious. 

One amusing thing we discovered were the myna birds.  Seems that right outside our room were these trees that they liked to roost on, so every evening around 4pm or so, they would start flying in.  They would line up along the rooftop...hundreds and hundreds of them, and slowly fly into these trees.  Then as the sun set, they would start chirping.  This goes on for a bit... then quiet down until about 4 AM and the chirping begins again!  Now, you have to understand, there are hundreds and hundreds of these birds, all chirping at the same time - it's LOUD!  When I first heard it, I couldn't quite figure out what it was.  I followed the sound and ended up going outside to look for it, and that's when I discovered it was the birds! Wow.  After that, I realized their pattern and was blown away at how many there were as I watched them come and go.  I used to tell Jack, "here comes our evening and morning choir!" Once you knew about them, you got used to it.  It really was kind of amusing.

We enjoyed a luau while we were there as well.  Now we have seen one on each island except Oahu.  It was quite nice.  We had front row seats, met nice people, the food was good, weather was wonderful and the entertainment was delightful.  I would have to say that the fire dancers were some of the best we've seen.  But as for the luau itself, the best we've experienced, I feel was on Kauai, hands down. 

No matter how many times we go to the islands, we discover new things, enjoy new wonders and always have a wonderful time.  It truly is a paradise for us.  The only downside is the long trip back home.  I hate that plane trip.  The older I get the worse it seems, too.  We ended up taking the "red eye" this time, and I promised myself, I will never do that again...ugh.  We couldn't sleep, to uncomfortable, so we were up for 24 hours, and just wiped out when we got home.  Took us days to get back into shape.  We're to old for this anymore...guess we've been spoiled with all the years of RV travel!  ;-)  

Well, this is probably it for awhile now.  Only two more trips scheduled for the remainder of the year...until then...Aloha...

kicking back in Arizona,  Marie

 

Vacation!

Yes, even people who spend their time “leasurely traveling” around need a vacation!  For us, it means getting away from the RV and camping - so we hop on a plane and stay in one of our time share places.  This time, it was a week in Maui. 

A week isn’t very long (for us) but we took some friends along with us, and booked two suites.  Our friends had never been to the islands before, and when we heard that, we couldn’t resist taking them along!  It’s so much more fun to share the adventure with others.  It was also Jack’s 75th birthday, so that added to the celebration.

Having been before, we were excited to show John and Delores all around.  The weather was glorious, and we didn’t waste a moment after we arrived.  First stop, downtown Lahaina!  Lunch at Bubba Gump’s for fresh sea food and a “toast” to celebrate our stay.  A nice walk around town, taking in all the lovely views.  It didn’t take Delores long to buy her first souvenir either!

High on our list of “to do’s” was a luau, and that was booked before we left.  I had talked with someone from the time share and set it all up and got us VIP seating for the best one on the island, The Old Lahaina Luau.   I had read about it, and was excited to see it.  We had done one in Kauai, but not in Maui, so this would be new for us as well.

The night of the luau, our hosts met us and we all got our pictures taken, then were escorted to the luau and were greeted with orchid leis and cocktails.  We had our own server throughout the evening that never left our side.  Our seats were the BEST!  The only ones in front of us, were the ones sitting on the floor (no thanks, to old for that!).  The entertainment, the food, the drinks, the atmosphere, everything, was just wonderful.  We really lucked out on the weather too, as it was right on the beach, and we didn’t even need our light sweaters we brought.  Such a great night.

The following day, we took them on the road to Hana.  I don’t think they liked it as much as we did.  Delores isn’t much for winding roads - even if the scenery is beautiful.  I thought that if we took it slow, and stopped a lot, she would be okay, but, not really.  Oh well…we still loved seeing it (again).  It’s some of the prettiest part of the island, I think.   We did stop at one new place this time, and that was at MauiWine.  Delores, John and I did wine tasting.  We all agreed…pineapple wine is not for us.  Oh well, it was fun trying it.

Jack wanted to celebrate his birthday at Slappy Cakes a pancake house.  So, that’s what we did!  It’s a unique restaurant where you can make your own pancakes on a griddle in the middle of the table and/or order pancakes as you do at other places.  While we ordered ours, Jack made his.  He had fun playing with the shapes of his pancakes, making faces, and his “age”, etc.  He may be 75, but he’s still a kid at heart!

The week went by way to fast.  Beautiful days with lovely sunrises and sunsets and even a rainbow or two.  But, all good things have to come to an end (or so they say)…so on the plane we came home, once again. 

We are now back in Arizona, nose deep in settling in to this new tiny house of ours.  Still finding things we’d forgotten we had, wondering where we are going to put it now, or do we get rid of it…and in between it all, planning our next adventure!


…kicking back in Arizona,  Marie


If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Vacation!

Even full-time RVer's have to have a "vacation" from time to time!  For us, this year, it was flying to the islands of Maui for a week, then to Kaua'i for the another week.  Ah, the joys of being retired...

We parked our baby at my nephew's side yard in Tacoma for the two weeks and flew off to sunny Hawaii!  Our timeshare hosts greeted us with packages of wonderful goodies and promises of a good time while we were on the island!  We planned on taking them up on it too.  Jack and I hadn't been on this island in over 25 years, and for me, I had only been for a couple of days, so hadn't seen much when I was here!  So much to see and do, I hardly could sleep!

Our first day trip was to Lahaina.  Both of us wanted to see how much it had changed over the years.  It used to be the "heart" of Maui...a small, quaint town, always full of fun.  Well, like everything else of course...it's grown!  Still fun and lively.  We were able to spend some lovely time just wandering around, enjoying the various sights, like the beautiful old banyan tree that was originally planted back in 1873 by William Owen Smith and has spread out to cover several acres now.  They have created a whole park around them!  Simply beautiful...

A wonderful surprise was a sand dune Japanese cemetery, Puupiha Cemetery, that was across the street from the Namu Amida Butsu, Jodo Mission.  I've visited a lot of interesting cemeteries in my travels, but never one built in sand before!  The Japanese never cease to amaze me.

It was such a clear day, we even got a wonderful view of Moloka'l from town!

And what's a shot of the beach/ocean without seeing surfers?

A trip to Maui isn't "complete" without taking the drive to Hana!  So, off we went (complete with "app" in hand).  What fun!  Jack loves driving all those twists and turns, and the traffic wasn't all that bad, and lucky us, it was a nice clear day too.  Of course, we had to stop a hundred and one times so that I could jump out and take a picture (or three) of every waterfall, weeping wall, flower, tree, and 'special scenes' we saw!  Me and everyone else too!  ha ha 

There were "extra special" highlights along the way tho...  I absolutely fell in love with the Ke'anae Peninsula.  The black lava rock jutting out from the deep blue of the ocean with the green plants alongside, was just so beautiful.  Then, add a 150 year old church and small cemetery to the scene, and you have a photographer's dream!  I could have stayed there all day...

Another special stop was at the black sand beach, Honokalani, where I could get my feet wet and gather up some of it to take back with me!  

Jack had only one wish for the day, and that was to visit the grave site of Charles Lindbergh who was buried in Kipahulu in 1974.  Lindberg loved Maui and it was his wish to live out his days here & be buried here.  It's quite off the beaten path, which I'm sure was also his wish, after all the hounding he suffered while he was alive.  There is also a sweet church here, built in 1857 along with a small cemetery.  When we arrived, we were greeted with a couple of horses peeing through a banyan tree!  No one else was around.

The rental car (and phone app) people tell you to turn around here and go back the same way, but our local host told us as long as it wasn't raining, and we kept our eyes out for "cows", the locals just continue on around the island, and we could too!  She shared that the scenery really changes, and it would be a shame to miss it, and to just repeat the same long road back (we agreed), so on we went!

We were so glad we did too!  We came across such wonderful surprises and beautiful scenery!  

The first was a beautiful rainbow came out to greet us.  We never saw any rain, but what a glorious rainbow, it just filled the sky everywhere you looked!  Once, when we turned a corner, we came upon a lovely old church and when I got out to take it's picture, the rainbow followed me...I think I captured the most perfect picture...don't you?

And some of the wonderful scenes we would have missed...

..and of course those cows! 

All to soon our visit to Maui was coming to an end.  It was our last day, and our last trip back to the condo, and BANG!  We were hit!  Jack saw blue and red lights coming at him, a car coming AT him, he said "holy shit!" and swerved (just in time!!) and was able to save our lives by only colliding our headlight into his taillight.  I had been looking down until I heard him, when I looked up, all I saw was a silver car flying into the air and crashing down and another coming at us (the one that hit us) and then BOOM, the air bags going off.  Minutes later a policeman rapped on the side window and asked if we were "okay?"  We assured him we were, to go to the others.  We were the only ones that survived.  We were sent to the hospital for ex rays, etc. and came away with deep tissue bruises, cuts and scratches, but the whole ordeal was very sad.  It had been a police chase, and the young man (29) had crossed the meridian into on coming traffic, hitting a young woman (33) head on, sending her into us.  If Jack hadn't seen it all in time and reacted as fast as he had, we would also had been hit head on.  A heck of a way to end our stay.

We were glad to be moving on to Kaua'i and joining our friends for another week!

...on our way to Kaua'i,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/