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Wrapping up hump day and three days removed from our mini Maui vacation, I am exhausted. Promised myself I would sleep earlier tonight, but looking at the clock on the bottom right of my screen (11:30pm), it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen. So here I sit in the office blogging about our little Hawaiian sojourn.
Wednesday, Apr 9
The day brought us a bit of a scare as friends and co-workers informed us of American Airlines canceling over 800 flights out of LAX and yes, we were flying American. Thankfully, our flight wasn’t among the canceled ones. We leave for Maui on a 510pm flight. Landing in Maui around a quarter to 8pm tired and hungry, we jump into the rental and head directly to Lahaina to grab dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise — darn good burger, but the live entertainment was much too loud. We finally check into our hotel– the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa – at around 1030pm without much fanfare. Mariko immediately falls asleep while I watch TV and don’t pass out until 1am.
Thursday, Apr 10
Phone call from Sony wakes us up at 4am to confirm the shipment of the TV we just ordered from our Sony connection (Thanks Mike!)! 4-freaking-AM!! I don’t care if they are on California time. They shouldn’t be calling me at 7am in the morning either! Humph! However, we were at least able to get an earlier jump on our day. We booked a snorkel tour for Saturday and started on our merry drive on the Road to Hana. As suggested by the hotel concierge, we picked up a picnic lunch and blasted off in our super cool and very yellow rental racing car.
The drive was fun but a bit winding. We stopped often to take pictures and admire the views — waterfalls and the amazing seaside beaches and bluffs.
We also stopped off for freshly squeezed sugar cane juice (definitely with lemon!) and homemade banana bread.
We got up close and personal with lava rocks and lava tubes and played in the waters of Black Sand Beach.
While the end destination of Hana was, as reported, anti-climatic and disappointing, it is as the old adage goes: It’s not the destination but the journey. All in all, the entire round trip Road to Hana took the better part of the day — about 6 hours.
Later that night, we headed to the Pineapple Grill in Kapalua — hands down the best meal we had in Maui and one of the best in recent years — IMO. The views were nothing to phone home about, but the food was fabulous. Mariko had the short ribs and I, of course, had the lamb.
Friday, Apr 11
Friday was all about chilling and relaxing. We started out the day breakfasting in the hotel restaurant, the Son’z Maui at Swan Court. I almost always avoid hotel restaurants, especially the one in the hotel I’m staying in, but they did win Best New Restaurant of 2007, so we gave it a shot. Surprising to me, the food was excellent (eggs benedict for the wife and corn beef hash for me) and the ambiance was nice and peaceful with birds fluttering all around in the open court restaurant.
After breaking our fast, we walked along the beach walk that spans all the Kaanapali resorts to do some shopping at Whaler’s Village — the local tourist trap mall.
After, we headed back to the hotel and hit the pool for some swimming, sunning and drinking. We even had some time to hang out at the tiny beach connected to our resort.
After a quick rest back in the room, we headed for an early dinner because we were famished having only had a liquid lunch of rum and fruit juices. We found a place right by the beach called — appropriately enough — Leilani’s on the Beach. The food was good and the drinks were strong, but nowhere near the epicurean orgasmic experience at the Pineapple Grill. Because dinner was so early, I had a chance to take a sunset stroll along the beach with my baby. A sunset, beach breezes and a rainbow to boot — it was a nice ending to a good day.
Saturday, Apr 12
Saturday was the only preplanned day of our trip. The day was all about snorkeling and the Luau. We booked a tour with the Pacific Whale Foundation — a snorkel tour with an eco-slant. They took us to two snorkel spots: Molokini and Honolua Bay in Lanai. I think we both preferred the Bay more than the much hyped Molokini spot, but they were both nicer than the snorkeling we did in Costa Rica. The water was so blue and clear and plenty of fish to see. Wrapping up our snorkel adventure, we got to see spinner dolphins and even caught a tiny glimpse of a whale. All in all, we had some good, clean fun in the sun and the water.
We just had enough time to head back to the hotel to shower up before heading to the luau back in Laihaina at The Feast of Lele. While it is the most expensive luau on Maui, we felt it was well worth it as it is much more intimate (if you call 100 or so ppl intimate) than your typical luau (like the Old Lahaina Luau). It was full service and we didn’t have to battle crowds in your normal buffet style luaus. We were about 15 feet from the performers and the views of the beach and water with the sun setting couldn’t be beat.
Of course, having a 6 drinks didn’t hurt to make the night fun! =)
Sunday, Apr 13
We just had a half day on our last day in Maui, but we tried to take full advantage. We started with a breakfast of spam, Portuguese sausanges, eggs and rice by the beach (of course).
Then headed into Lahaina to do some last minute shopping.
Summary
While short, our Maui trip was a great trip — relaxing and fun. However, as always, it doesn’t matter where you go or what you do on any vacation, it’s the company that matters. The reason this trip was great was because I had my Mariko with me.
I feel bad. I really do. The idea of starting this blog to document our marriage was mine to begin with and here we are 8 months into the marriage and I’m just writing my 1st post. I guess better late than never, right?
Anywho, today is the 3-year anniversary of when Mariko and I went on our first date. As our anniversary approached, my better half and I have discussed whether 3-years is really long enough to have known a person before you move in, get married and start contemplating starting a family. While 3 years isn’t anything to shake a stick at (I hardly find myself shaking sticks at anything in my day to day life but I digress…), I keep thinking to myself “Is that right? Has it only been 3 years?” It seems much longer — all in good ways. Seems like I’ve known her all my life and couldn’t imagine life without her.
It was good to see our wedding video (we finally got it. woohoo!). I know the wedding was only last July, but it was good to see how insanely we were in love with one another. I look forward to many more years decades of life with my lovely wife.
