The finale... Goats, vodka and Da Kichen

We spent yesterday, our last day in Maui, killing time before our flight out. Originally, Janis and C3 were going to leave for Seattle at about 3 o'clock and mom and I were going to take the Jeep and toodle around until our 11:20pm flight out. But on our final night, Janis discovered that Seattle's weather had taken a turn for the worse and the high was going to be freezing for the next couple of days.  So they decided that since her birthday was Friday and since this IS her birthday trip, they'd get another place to stay in Kihei and stay until Saturday. So that gave all of us one more full day to explore together.
We took a small tour of the Maui Tropical Plantation and saw a bunch of crops that they grow there (mangoes, papaya, pineapple, sugar cane, star fruit...),  had lunch at Da Kitchen in Kahului (close to the airport) where the local food is famous and fantastic - a word of warning, I recommend the place highly but for God's sake, share something! I'm attempting to bring some leftover kalua pork home for bryan - and then drove toward the slope of Haleakala Volcano to Surfing Goat Dairy, a 42 acre goat farm that has one of the 3  humane certifications in the country for raising goats. And oh, what a life they lead...
On the way to Surfing Goat, we saw Ocean Vodka, a sugar cane field and distillery. Yes please. We stopped, sampled some sugar cane (my first,  and Omg it's good) and drank some sugar cane vodka while looking out over what would have been a beautiful Vista of both the North Shore and the South Shore... If it weren't for the fog.
Today,  Friday, is my sister's birthday. I'd like you all to join me in wishing her a happy birthday and a hope that the weather is beautiful for her for the next couple of days. And we should be jealous anyway because,  after all, a bad day in Maui beats the pants off a nice day almost anywhere else...  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANIS! We were so glad to have shared it with you... Mahalo!

Whale Watching...

2 days ago, I booked a whale watching trip for the family. Richard, the property manager of the condo from whom we purchased the tickets, said to meet at the boat dock (about 15 mins away) between 7:15 and 7:30 and that the boat would leave without us if we weren't there. We woke this morning at 6 and I made coffee and breakfast and packed snacks in a cooler while everyone started getting ready. At about 6:20, my brother-in-law opened the envelope that had been dropped off at the condo last night with our receipt in it. "check-in between 6:30 and 6:45, boat leaves at 7 with or without you."  Goddammit... 
Barely dressed,  we FLEW out the door, abandoning the coffee, breakfast, cooler and mom's jacket. I should have known... Driving frantically to the dock, I looked toward the sunrise and saw the most beautiful, fog-free sky and was bitterly reminded that the people on top of Haleakala were, at that exact time, being treated to the most magnificent site. Sigh.
We arrived at the boat dock to find that the boat does, in fact, leave at 7:30. So at least we hadn't missed it. I told my sister last night that if we didn't get up close and personal with whales this morning, I'd burn something down...  Stay tuned for either good news or charges...

Biking down Haleakala... In a downpour??

The first thing the driver says as I get into the van is that our bike guide has cancelled because of the rain.
Last night, I was paying very close attention to my Doppler app, watching one of the biggest systems I've ever seen sweep in over the island.
So we'll instead get a guide that is willing to do 2 tours down the mountain today, God love him... I hope these bikes have the awesome brakes that the say they have. And today I get to test the skills that I HOPE I have.
I've read that the sunrise over the clouds is an almost spiritual experience, albeit a freezing cold one. It's in the 30s at the summit in the morning and probably 40 degrees warmer at the end of the ride, in the little hippy seaside town of Pa'ai (pronounced like paella but with a hard E.)
But I've also read that the sunrise is hard to predict and that even though the summit SHOULD be above the clouds, there's no guarantee that you'll see a pretty sunrise. Even though it's a crap shoot,  I have decided to get up at the wicked hour of 2am to chance it. After all, I may never get the chance to ride a bike down the side of a volcano again...
I asked our van driver what are the factors that make a good sunrise and got the answer that if we smile, the gods may smile back on us... Not the definitive answer I was hoping for, but we'll see... So maybe if you smile with me in 3 or 4 hours, we'll be blessed with some beautiful pics. If not, forget you people... ;)

The Bronco Conspiracy

Our Superbowl pre-party was cancelled due to the weather... It was supposed to be held in the laundry room because it is the only covered place on the property... We carried our designer cheese, crackers, Moet et Chandon champagne and kick-ass Seahawks cake downstairs and encountered 4 people I'm the laundry room... folding laundry... So here we are, enjoying our "moey chambon" and pre-gaming it in the condo.  FU, Hawaii.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Well, who knew that Maui could have such s***** weather... Most of the morning was nice, and we took a drive north of Kahana to a few beaches, Kapalua, Napili and DT Fleming Beach (pic 1). Our favorite was Kapalua(pic 2) and we will probably go back and try to snorkel there in the next few days.
After a short exploration of the beach, we headed back to the condo and were making lunch when we looked out over our balcony railing and saw two huge green sea turtles (pic 3) just on the other side of the retaining wall. We raced down and got a few good pictures of them. Then, after lunch, my sister's husband, Chris and I went snorkeling just off the condo's property. The storm was coming in at that point, but we paid no attention to it and headed for the water (pic 5). The snorkeling here is not all that great but it's convenient. We saw some puffer fish, an eel, some parrot fish and other assorted sea life. Then it really started to rain... We noticed it, looked up toward the shoreline where Janis had been getting some "sun" (pic 4) and saw her frantically grabbing our stuff and dashing toward the condo. She was so pissed. We laughed a little about that and then went on snorkeling. I'm a bad sister.
Tonight is the condo's 40th anniversary of the pre Super Bowl party and, as you can imagine, Janis and her husband C3, because he is the third Chris to enter the family, are very excited about anything football-oriented these days. It is a pupu party (appetizers) potluck and we'll be heading out soon with their ode to Seattle cake (pics 6 and 7) Go Hawks.
Tomorrow, we plan on waking up early, and going down to Lahaina to a bar called Moose McGillycuddy's and watching the game. God help me, they want to get there by 8am.  So Mom and I might take the car and go somewhere  else or do some shopping in Lahaina. I have some stuff I need to get and a list that is growing longer and I can't believe we only have 4 more days!
Hope everyone has a lovely Superbowl tomorrow, no matter who wins...

Kihei and Wailea

Today we (and apparently everyone else) are checking out the towns of Kihei and Wailea along South Maui (which is technically the Southwest part of the  Island because it absolutely faces West (go figure.) They are both excellent beach towns. The guidebook doesn't say too much about them because, well, they're primarily about  beach - type stuff. There are great snorkeling places and tons of shops and restaurants. Wailea is supposed to have arguably the beach beaches on the island. We'll see if it compares to Turks and Caicos (sorry Hawaii. ) We have another beautiful day and hopefully the sun holds up. I have yet to bike down Haleakala and I'm now worried that I'll be picking a crappy, rainy day to reserve that activity. The forecast for the rest of the week, including today, is for rain, clouds and thunderstorms. But so far it looks beautiful... Except that ominous cloud perched over West Mali Mountain... So perhaps the weather forecast is inaccurate... I'm crossing my fingers and shooting for Haleakala on Monday...

The Road to Hana... DONE!

We left the condo at 7:30 this morning and are almost back... It's 6:30. We are all exhausted. But the drive and the $5.20 per gallon gas prices were worth it... We saw a ton of waterfalls and so much green I'm almost sick of it. The soft top was such a great idea. For most of the trip, I was looking up in awe at the towering trees. We made it to the black sand beach (pic 1) at Wai'anapanapa (Yep, good luck with that pronunciation) but missed the red sand beach. Nahiku (pic 2) was as amazing and green as our guidebook promised and at the end of the road, there was a small area close to the crashing waves where we could see the entire coastline for miles (pics 3-5)

After driving thru Hana, we continued around the Southern part of the island along the edge of Haleakala volcano, stopping at the Seven Sacred Pools.  The scenery changed dramatically from lush tropics to windswept grassland (pics 6-8) as we drove the coast.

Then, exhausted from travelling all day, headed toward West Maui where a beautiful sunset welcomed us back home.