A beach and an anniversary

Our last day in Hawaii and we decided to take Brian and Jennifer back to Makena Beach. It was a perfect day, not too hot, not too windy. Towards the end of the day, the guys took to jumping into the increasing waves crashing on the shore which was pretty comical.

We made our way back, relaxed at home for a bit and then got ready for dinner. We decided to return to Paia and eat at Mama's Fish House to celebrate Brian and Jennifer's first wedding anniversary and we were so honored to be there with them! The restaurant is beautiful, open, spacious seating, and great service. It all paired well with our food and drink. This place is a little more money so it's a perfect place for a special celebration. It's hard to go wrong with seafood in Maui and even for Brian, who doesn't eat seafood, he found a great non-seafood dish.

Of course, the most important course was dessert. We told the waiter it was for an anniversary so the bride was presented with a lei to accompany a dessert on the house. I chose the Polynesian Black Pearl, chocolate mousse and liliko'i cream presented in an open cookie clam shell in a starburst of liliko'i and vanilla sauce. Everything was delicious and the restaurant is highly recommended. But do get reservations as it is a popular place to dine. It was the perfect way to end the trip! Until next visit, Aloha...

Big Beach, Little Beach

Today we were on our own until we needed to pick up Jennifer and Brian at the car rental place. So we decided to check out a different beach. One of the most popular places to go is Makena Beach State Park, located just south of Wailea. It's about 2/3 of a mile long, plenty of surf to swim in and offers a great view of the islands of Molokini and Kahoolawe. Known as "Big Beach", the location usually means less wind on the shore than at the other locations we'd checked out in previous days. Perfection.

It's $5 for parking, $1 for walk-ins. There are restroom facilities and picnic benches available too. If you feel adventurous, you can climb over Earthquake Hill, created by a lava flow, and hang out on Little Beach, one of Maui's nude beaches. Little Beach is just as beautiful, the water is calm, and it's a great little secluded area though there are still plenty of sunbathers. Sorry, no photos of Little Beach. =)

After a few hours of soaking in the sun, we headed home to clean up and pick up our friends. Once we fetched them, we checked out happy hour in Kihei at Lulu's, located on the 2nd floor of the Kalama Village. Open and airy, it's a great place to grab a drink and unwind with some good grub. It was a great way to top off a fantastic day.

Drive, hike, dinner!

We had a big day planned today. We were driving the backside of the island to hike in Haleakala National Park and then Jennifer and Brian were going to continue on to spend a night in Hana while Jason and I headed back to Lahaina to have dinner with friends who were also visiting the islands. And since we'd both done the road to Hana as kids, neither of us wanted to do it again. =)


So we packed a lunch and took our time driving the long road along the coast watching the terrain change drastically. It was just amazing and beautiful as the place changed from lush and green, to dry and reddish brown. The road is a great, leisurely drive and will take you at least 2.5 hours from Kihei.

The Haleakala National Park is where you can find some amazing hikes, breathtaking waterfalls, and The Seven Sacred Pools. Depending on the day however, they may not allow visitors down to the pools for safety reasons. On the day we were there, they kept visitors out due to previous rain and possible rain that day. The area is prone to flash floods so it's best to view them from afar when it's wet out.

After viewing the pools, we headed upward for a long hike through amazing environments. The first brief stop was at Makahiku Falls. It's beautiful and can be viewed from a distance. If you're not a big hiker you can stop there but I encourage people to keep going to the end where you can view the Waimoku Falls. Along the way there are many more breathtaking places that are more than picture worthy.

Further up the Pipiwai Trail is an enormous banyan tree. There were actually people who managed to climb up into it while we were there. It's incredible just to walk in among the roots.





Continuing up the trail and crossing a bridge, we arrived at the opening of the Bamboo Forest. This entire mountain is thickly covered with bamboo that stretches as far as the eye can see. There is a path cut into the bamboo and the park has laid down a walkway to keep above the damp bamboo leaves and dirt along most of the way. Hiking along here is so peaceful and it's like stepping into another world. At the end of this trail are the Waimoku Falls. It's 400 feet up and the biggest waterfall on Maui. And once you're there, it's a huge sense of accomplishment.

Unfortunately, we couldn't hang around too long as we had to make it back to town for dinner and we needed to get cleaned up before that! So we said goodbye to our friends and booked it back down the hill in record time then drove back in record time. We got to enjoy a great dinner at Kimo's in Lahaina. Beautiful view, great food, good friends. We're looking forward to just having a chill beach day tomorrow before picking Brian and Jennifer up at the car rental place.

Some cheese, some wine, some really good food

Today, we indulged our foodie side. We set off in the morning to check out Surfing Goat Dairy Farm in Kula. You can visit with the cute little goat kids, running up and down a couple surf boards in the pens. And if you're lucky, you get there at feeding time and watch the frenzy of all the kids just fighting and squeezing together to eat as fast as they can. It's a fun place to bring children and get up close with the goats. You can also to cheese tastings! You can choose what flight you would like (we opted for a set of 6) and choose which goat cheeses you would like to try. They have all kinds of flavors, from lavender to chive or garlic and they serve it with a basket of wheat thins. All delicious! Should you particularly favor one or a few, you can buy some to take home with you. They also have other goodies there but because we were at a dairy farm, we felt the need to have the goat cheese.

So after our appetizer at the dairy, we made our way to the Hailima'ile General Store in Makawao. It is a restaurant owned by Bev Gannon, serving American food with Hawaiian Asian twists. To start, we had drinks: lilikoi iced tea, pinapple and guava lemonades, all tasty.

Our dishes: Kalua pork enchilada - tender, flavorful meat with a delicious sauce swirled with guacamole.






Duck Confit with an Asian pear salad and hoisin sauce - duck was tender and cooked perfectly. It paired well with the sweet pear and sauce.






Needless to say, I recommend making a reservation and coming here for a meal. You will not be disappointed. There were other dishes at the table but honestly, we were enjoying the food so much I forgot to take other pictures.

Next stop was the Tedeschi Winery set in the 'Ulupalakua Ranch. It's up in the hills and has some delicious wine as well as some amazing plants/ flowers I have never seen. The crazy thing is I've been to the islands since I was a kid. Maui is where I visited most growing up so I was stunned when walking around the property, we saw what looks like a teal blue and purple orchid growing in garlands upside down, like wisteria on a vine. As far as we knew, it was completely natural and there were garlands of this flower all over the place. It looked like something out of the movie Avatar.

They there's the wine. They have everything from dry to sweet but they're known for the Pineapple Wine. A lot of them are perfect for a summer get together, light and fruity. But isn't that every day in Hawai'i?

To complete our day of awesome food, we stopped at Hula Cookies and Ice Cream in Wailuku. The place is located within a little mall next to the Maui Ocean Center. There is also a second location in Lahaina. But here in Wailuku, there's less of the traffic and tourists. This place is known for making enormous ice cream cookie sandwiches. The beauty is, you pick the cookies as well as the ice cream flavors and they make the sandwich specifically for you. Their best cookie, hands down, is their Hula's Delight (pinapple, coconut, mango, macadamia nut). The cookie is slightly chewy with the dried fruit and it's out of this world. The greatest (and smartest) thing is that they've made cookie mix you can take home or even order online. All you need to add is vanilla, egg and butter.

Needless to say, our tummies were very satisfied at the end of the day. We cracked open one of the bottles of wine we purchased at Tedeschi and enjoyed it with our homemade dinner that night. Perfect way to end the day.

Beach Day

After all the excitement of yesterday, we decided to take it easy and walk down to the beach in Kihei. We stopped into a restaurant in the Rainbow Mall to pick up food, and brought the leftovers with us to the beach. We found the least windy area and took a nap in the sun. After awhile, the sand blowing around was too much so we took off across the street for a shave ice at S & Q Coffee and Shave Ice. They had the lightest flakes of ice which we covered with Shark's Blood (coconut and strawberry) and lilikoi (passion fruit) flavors. SO tasty. We will be back... probably tomorrow.

Adventure day

Today was a day of trekking since Brian and Jennifer have never been to Maui. Jennifer is awesome in researching 'things to do' so she had a list set up and we started checking them off. First we hit the 'Iao Needle since it's a quick visit. Up beyond downtown, the 'Iao Valley National Park is the site of a famous battle in Maui's history. Take Hwy 32 West out of Wailuku to Hwy 320 which leads straight to the park.

There are simple hikes among beautiful plants and trees and a short uphill hike to where you can view the 'Iao Needle. There is the possibility that the weather may be a little cooler and wetter up there than the rest of the island so bring a light jacket just in case.

We took a little side trip into Paia where there's a great little restaurant called the Paia Fish Market. Good, cheap grub and the place just has a few bench tables set up and you order at the counter. The town itself is also great to walk around in, with plenty of little stores to stroll through and purchase a picnic lunch before heading up to Hana if you're headed that way.

Our next brief stop continuing around the island was Kahakuloa Head, a huge 636 foot high hill jutting out above the ocean. Someone actually set up a lawn chair up there so it must be a special 'thinking spot'. In the process of stopping there we almost damaged our rental car driving through the precarious area off the side of the road. Fortunately, all the bumpers are still attached.




Further down the road is the village of Kahakuloa. We stopped into Julia's, a little green hut on stilts, which makes some of the best banana bread around as well as coconut candy. But get there early as they can sell out of their small batches of coconut candy quickly. We did not get there early. =(

Next stop... Olivine Pools! This requires a little bit of a hike down the mountain in order to reach the pools. Bring your swimsuit because you can swim in a large swimming hole that is occasionally refreshed by the ocean water and warmed by the sun. It is also protected by a rock wall which keeps most of the huge waves out. When we first arrived, there was a couple sunning and swimming in the largest pool. The guy made my heart stop when he climbed the rocks to dive in since it seemed way too shallow to dive in. But it's actually quite deep.
Our biggest adventure of the day was when we scaled the rock wall to the right. It's a wide wall of lava rock where you have an incredible view of the lively ocean waves crashing against the cliffs. There are some potentially spectacular shots to be taken if you are patient and keep an eye on the water. On this particular day it was a little breezy but perfectly clear. All four of us were atop the wall along with another couple closer to the cliffs, all watching the huge waves cresting and exploding on the rocks. A couple seemed to get a little bigger while we were enjoying the view, enough for my husband to say, "We're ready to go, right?"


Right. We moved just 30 seconds too late. An unusually large wave climbed high enough to crash on TOP of the wall instead of beside it. My husband and I tried to run back toward Brian and Jennifer who were closer to the cliffs then braced for impact. The wave hit my back and actually moved my feet under me so that I bumped into my husband but fortunately, did not knock anyone over. However, we were soaked head to toe. Our next concern was any electronics on us, like an expensive camera and all cell phones. So, laughing and wet, we made our way back to our car to dry off , change, and assess damages. Fortunately, everything was salvaged though there was mild damage to my handheld camera. Our lesson for the day: NEVER underestimate mother nature.

After that excitement, we visited the Nakelele blowhole. We didn't feel the need to get near another spray of water so we viewed this from up on the hill. Again, if you want to get up close, you will need to do a little hike down the slope. Make sure you have either a jacket to protect from the water or a towel to dry off with later. If you stick around for a little bit you'll get to see how high the water can shoot into the air.

We decided after the day's adventure that we deserved a happy hour cocktail so we stopped into Ka'anapali's Whaler's Village and pulled up a few chairs at Leilani's on the Beach. It's a chill restaurant on the shore, open air seating and a large bar to get drinks and munchies. Afterwards, you can wander through the various shops and even catch a performance by a local hula school in the center of the mall. The keiki are the cutest things in their little grass skirts.

After that, we wandered down the beach to the shore of the Sheraton, where at sunset, there is a traditional cliff diving ceremony. A man, reenacting the journey of the last chief of Maui, climbs the Black Rock with a trail of torches lighting his way. A conch shell sounds his arrival, he throws his lei into the water, and dives in. It's pretty impressive. It was a great way to end our day.

Beach and Grand Wailea

Suffering from a knarly cold kind of spoils a vacation but I'm hoping the sun and surf will heal me quicker. Well, that and some awesome Kalua pork and a shaved ice.

Our first day, we hit Sugar Beach. There are some gorgeous homes nearby and there's a nice strip of beach between them. Only downside is that it's a little windy so sand gets kicked up sometimes. On the far right end, there is a rocky outcropping where Brian found a Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (the state fish) stranded in a shallow pool of water. He actually managed to get it out and return it to the ocean. He was our hero for the day.


Later that day was about checking out the beaches behind the Grand Wailea. The Grand Wailea is one of the nicest hotels, located in one of the richest areas on Maui. The property is stunning. The picture to the right is their bar in the center of the main area of the hotel. They also have their own mini mall of shops including an ice cream shop. Since it was hot outside, it was a great excuse to get some ice cream and enjoy the view from their balcony.

The beaches were less windy here so it was much more enjoyable. And the beach is expansive so there's plenty of room to layout with your group. Definitely a beach worth checking out.

Aloha Maui!

We are here for a week with my husband's bff Brian and his wife Jennifer! We lucked out since my husband has a friend at work who owns a house on the island. It's gorgeous, spacious, and close to things in Kihei. After a happy hour drink to celebrate our arrival and settle into the house a bit, we headed out.

For dinner, we ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Lahaina. We were served by a very dark, Latin waiter with incredibly white teeth. I'm convinced he's actually a stripper when he's not waiting tables.

We walked through Lahaina's stores and stopped into Kimo's for an after dinner drink while the sun went down. Kimo's is touristy since it's in the heart of the downtown but the view from their outstretched patio really can't be beat while you enjoy some pretty decent food and have a drink.
Tomorrow will begin the vacation on the beach and exploring the island. This will be the first time I'm in the Hawaiian Islands without my family so I'm looking forward to this new adventure. The only downside? I'm coming down with some foul cold I caught at work. Crap.