Speaking of rain and wind, we got a little bit of that when I was in Maui. It wasn't enough rain to keep you indoors the whole time, but it was enough wind to keep us off of the beach. :( Despite the less than perfect weather, the Lamon clan still managed to have a lot of fun!
My brother and I arrived at the airport in Maui the Saturday before Christmas and my parents were there to pick us up (the bums had already been there for a full week!). Instead of making the drive out to the condo where we were staying, we decided to do a little exploring on the other side of the island closer to the airport. We headed to the upcountry, the hilly area near Mt. Haleakala. For lunch we stopped at the Kula Lodge and then went to visit a Lavender Farm and THE maui winery (since there's only one)! The lavender farm was really pretty although we got there too late to visit the gift shop-- we did get to the winery though in time to do a little tasting :D After making our way back down the mountain and a dinner stop along the way, we headed to the condo and had a belated birthday celebration complete with some presents and cake :D
At the Lavender Farm
The beach outside our condo, on one of the only really sunny days
Monday was Christmas Eve and my family had a little shopping to do. After breakfast my mom, dad and brother went down to the mall while I took a nice nappy on the couch (one benefit of getting all my shopping done beforehand!). That night we went to dinner at one of our new favorite spots in Lahaina, the Lahaina Store Grille and Oyster Bar. There is a fabulous view from the upper level on the roof and the food is really good. We stuffed ourselves silly (my mom even tried an oyster shooter!) and then walked around town until it was time for the 10:00 mass at the church we always go to in Lahaina for Christmas Eve. (Wow, church two days in a row... I'm SO going to heaven :P)
Christmas morning dawned and it was PRESENT TIME!!! We restrained ourselves though and ate a nice brunch before we opened our gifts. We each got some nice things to play with... I got a new camera to replace my broken old one! After sitting around playing with our new toys (and eachother's toys) we decided to keep with our tradition and head out to the beach. Sadly, the wind did not cooperate :( We got pelted big time by sand... I ended up with sand in my hair, in my ears, in my clothes and stuck to my skin :( We decided to call it quits and head back to the hotel and go to the pool! Ahhh, much nicer! Right next to the pool is a little restaurant so we decided to just have an early dinner there. I wasn't too hungry so I figured I could order something small. That didn't work... it was a prix fixe menu so we were stuck with a BIG dinner... 3 courses. I think we all felt a little sick afterwards from all the food :(
Wednesday was another overcast and windy day. We went out to Kapalua so my dad could pick up his volunteer bag for the PGA Mercedes Benz classic this week (He's going to be one of the guys who holds up his hands for everyone to be quiet on the course!) The day initially seemed to be not too windy so we thought we would brave the beach in Napili, but that didn't last long either :( While my parents moved up on the lawn, my brother and I decided to go on a little walk. We got soaked by a rainstorm :( Now I was sticky, sandy and wet :( After lunch at the Sea House we decided to go on a little drive around the northwest side of the island. There really isn't anything up there except for twisty roads and some little shacks. On the way back we pulled over and walked out on this cliff above the water... it was so windy out there I thought we were going to be blown over the side! I had a hard time just standing up! That night we just took it easy and went to the movies in Lahaina.
The pathway along Napili Bay, right before we got rained on
Lunch at the Sea House
Super windy overlook
Beach we found along the way
Thursday was ZIP LINE DAY!!! My parents took my brother and I and dropped us off down the road at the Skyline Tours shop. There were about 8 of us in our group and we signed some forms, got some cool water bottles and then piled in a van. About 2 miles down the road, we turned off the main, paved road and then started up this super bumpy dirt path to the Skyline Tours hut. At the hut we met our guides and put on our gear. We had to wear this really heavy and no flattering harness that made the girls look like we had a "package" (wink wink). We also had to wear they dorky helmets, mostly to protect us during the ziplining but as we found out, also to protect us during the next leg of our van trip. We piled back into our van and made our way up higher into the mountains. If we thought the first part of the ride was bad, this was WAY worse. Our new driver must have been a NASCAR driver in a previous life... he was gunning it up the mountain and around all these hairpin turns!
Ready to "Cross the Line"
Geared up and ready to go...
Finally we reached the top and first zipline. Our guides went through the safety stuff and then we were off! It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be and was actually a lot of fun! It had been drizzling out so everything was really slick, including the ramps we were supposed to go up as we came in at the end of the zipline. Instead of kind of running up them, we did a lot more sliding up them.... more fun in my opinion! After our 4th zipline they treated us to a nice lunch at an overlook nearby.
Waiting in line on the platform
Lunch spot
The problem was with all this drizzle, the dirt had turned to mud and we had at least an inch of this sticky red mud on the bottom of our shoes. After lunch we did 4 more ziplines and then the van took us back to the hut so we could take off our gear. Problem #2... the same mud that was stuck on our shoes was also caked on the van's tires. Great... more slipping and sliding, this time in a van careening down a mountain! We fishtailed a few times, and slid into a few embankments but we ended up safe (albeit dirty) back at their shop at the bottom of the hill! After a show and a little rest, we went to dinner at at a new place (for us) in Lahaina called Pacific'O. The food was SOOO good and the view was very nice. It was right next to one of the Luaus so we got to enjoy their music while we ate!
Friday we went to Napili for breakfast at the Sea House and since it didn't look to bad there, we decided to try the beach right next to it at Kapalua Bay. I think we actually lasted a couple of hours there before we got sick of the blowing sand, clouds and cooling weather. Well, at least we had sun for a little bit. I think all the activity had finally gotten to me a little so I spent that evening just relaxing in the room reading while my parents and brother hung out up in their room.
Breakfast at the Sea House
Saturday was our last full day in Maui :( The first part of the day we spent doing a little shopping for souvenirs and gifts. We had also planned to go out on a whale watch from Lahaina and although I was worried about the weather not being great and it being windy, it was really nice out there. We saw a few whales but not too many, since it's just the beginning of whale season. I had taken a bonine before we got on the boat because I was concerned that it was going to be really choppy out on the water... I think it made me really sleepy (it couldn't have been the sun, rocking motion and Mai Tai... no way) and I just conked out. I didn't even care about seeing a darn whale, I wanted to sleep. We were all a little pooped after that trip so we decided to have a casual dinner at Aloha Mixed Plate, this yummy local place that serves plate lunch (2 scoops rice, one scoop macaroni salad and the meat of your choice). Yummm :D
Going out on our whale watch... look at those clouds!
Sunday it was back on the plane and back to the Bay Area :( Boo hoo
1 comment:
We did have SO much fun!! Aloha, everybody...Love, Mom
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