Maui 2006

I'm baaaccckkk and probably 10 lbs heavier with all the food I ate. :/ I've been living in an island bubble this past week. I totally missed all the important news like Britney finally dumping that leach of a husband. Oh yeah, and the election too.

We stayed at the Worldmark resort in Kihei town. The first day was exhausting from all the traveling and not getting any sleep the night before or on the flight. I was so tired I didn't even make it to the beach and it was just across the street from the resort. My parents barbecued dinner that night and I passed out early. The next day we booked some activities. With 8 people it is really difficult to coordinate all our schedules. After we figured things out Bubba and I went to the beach to get some sun. Everyone else went to the pool. I don't get it...why go to the pool when there's a nice beach across the street?!

Bubba, my brother and I decided to do the Haleakala downhill bike ride tour. It was my stupid idea to do it. The shuttle picked us up at 3 o'fucking clock in the morning. Crazy I know...but it was so worth it. I think it was the most memorable moment of the trip. I'll never forget hiking in the dark at 5am up a crater to 10,000 ft elevation to get a better view and get away from the crowd when the sun came up. I'll also never forget freezing my ass off up there for almost 2 hours either. Even at 3am at sea level it's warm and humid. That isn't so at the top of a dormant volcano. It was definitely less than 50 degrees F. It was more like in the 40's. The wind up there was ridiculous. It felt more like Tahoe than Maui. When the sun finally rose it was probably one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. We were sandwiched between the clouds up top and the fog at sea level. The light hitting the clouds made it look amazing. When it was time to bike down the mountain I wasn't scared. I know how to ride a bike. I wasn't sure if I could last 30 miles but I could tough it out. The problem was that I had a bike that was too big for my height and it was a men's bike. It was also too heavy. 60 lbs.! Down the first hills I took it easy...apparently too easy because the guide stopped our single file line and told me I was going too slow for the group and asked me if I was scared and if I wanted to ride behind him. Psh. I told him I was fine and I sped it up. I was scared out of my mind because the person in front of me kept riding on his brakes randomly. I could've crashed into him a couple times. Halfway down the mountain we stopped to take pictures and take a break to warm up. My hands and feet were freezing going down hill. Our group agreed not to stop and eat so we could be done early. By the time we got to the bottom our guide told us we made it down way earlier than expected. When we got back to the resort I ate lunch and took one of the best 3 hour naps I've ever had.

Day 4 Bubba and I drove to Lahaina to the west side of the island. It's a very touristy town...lots of shops to buy your souveniers. We didn't buy anything except for shave ice with ice cream to cool off. We didn't stay too long after we walked up and down the strip of shops. We took a little break under the big Banyan tree before we left Lahaina. On our way back to Kihei we stopped at the Maui Ocean Center in Maalaea. It's a mini version of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

For dinner that night we took out my dad for his birthday at a very nice restaurant called Roy's. Very fitting since that is my dad's name. The food was awesome. My brother spotted Larry Flint 2 tables away from us in his gold wheelchair. HA! For those of you who don't know who that is...well, you can do a search on him. He's quite famous for a certain controversial magazine he founded.

The next day we got up early again for a snorkel trip to Molokini and Turtle town. Robert went on a different boat and went on a scuba diving trip. Our boats were right next to each other. I didn't really want to go since I've done the trip last time we were there a couple years ago, but it was too late to cancel my reservation. Overall, it was nice. There was a good amount of fish in the water....all very colorful and beautiful. I even spotted an eel slithering from reef to reef. At turtle town I only spotted one sea turtle when it was coming up for air. After it took a quick breath it swam back down and disappeared.

On Day 6 Bubba and I relaxed at the beach before heading back to Lahaina for the Feast at Lele luau. We came to the conclusion that luaus are great to do once. Never again will we do another one. It was way over priced and the food always sucks no matter if it's a buffet or 4 course meal with never ending top shelf umbrella drinks.

On our last day we spent it with my parents. We took them to the tropical plantation in Wailuku. The place was beautiful...lots of plants, fruits, and vegetables. All things my parents go nuts over. Speaking of nuts, our last top on the plantation tour was in the Macadamia nut tree section. My parents went on a field day and collected a bunch of the nuts that had fallen on the ground. It's like they were never going to eat a Macadamia nut ever again. I swear they came away with a bag full of them. On the way back to the resort we stopped at a filipino store my parents found earlier in the week and we had halo halo...the good kind with ube ice cream. It hit the spot on a hot day. I still had to find another shave ice place...the kind where the ice is shaved so finely that it's like powder. Bubba and I took a walk to a sushi place for dinner and on the way back we found an awesome shave ice shack. The ice was so fluffy soft. Yum!! It was too bad I discovered it on our last night there.

Other than my parents driving me insane the trip went well over all. Unfortunately the vacation ended with bad news. When we got back to the resort after dinner we found out the mother of my brother's girlfriend passed away unexpectedly Thursday night. =( Very sad.

We have friends that live on Maui and we didn't get to spend a lot of time with them. Maybe when we're back in a few years we'll be able to see more of them unless they come back out to the bay area and visit us. Next time we do go to Hawaii I hope I get a chance to stay on Oahu for a few days to see my family. I prefer the local view instead of the tourist view of Hawaii. Aloha!