Travel Blog: Maui-Part Three-Food For Thought

Previously On

PART ONE

PART TWO

Now, back to our regularly scheduled content!


SECTION TWO: MAUI CONTINUED

DAY FIVE

In case you were unaware, Maui is home to a very popular local restaurant, Mama’s Fish House, which is located on the north shore in Paia. I have very fond memories of going to Mama’s as a twelve year old lad & was understandably invested in going back this trip. However, COVID regulations being what they are in the state of Hawai’i at that moment, Mama’s wasn’t taking any walk-ins & their reservation list was booked out until August. I had called a few days prior to Sunday to see if there were any random cancellations but had, until that point, no luck. I was advised by the receptionist to try & call or “walk-in’ right as the restaurant opened at 11 for their lunch seating.

Sunday rolls around, Evan & I pack up the car with all the things we figured we’d need throughout our day & we headed up Paia. We arrived at the gate of Mama’s around 10:40 & pulled into a spot. Within a few minutes a line of cars had already began to form behind us. I made the call a few minutes before 11 to see if by any miraculous chance something had opened up & BAM!!! SUPERPOWER STRIKES AGAIN!!!! They had a table available at 11:20. Feeling rather hungover from the previous evening & needing to burn some time, we went back down the street to Choice Health Bar where I grabbed a Tropical Beets pressed juice & a Noni shot, a local ‘cure all” that I will definitely agree with them, is an acquired taste.

Juiced up & nearing the time of our newly minted reservation we headed back to Mama’s, immediately found a parking spot up front (superpower), & were shown down to the lower host stand. After around five minutes staring at the collection of autographed photos they have by the restaurants entrance we were shown to our table.

The vibe of the fish house was exactly as I remember it; deep Koa accents with open breezeways set nestled in the side of a hill, bay front, just off a grove of palm trees. We sat, order a little bit of the hair of the dog, & enjoyed the warm sea breeze sweeping through the venue.

At the recommendation of the waitress we ordered the Macadamia Nut Crab Cakes & the Toko (Hawaiian Octopus) for an appetizer. The crab cakes were up there as some of the best I’ve ever had, as was the octopus! For our main course we split the Mama’s Curry & their daily special of Mahi Mahi. We’d had three separate people in the restaurant rave about the curry & boy, were they right! The fish was so fresh & so perfectly prepared, it practically melted in your mouth. Dessert was espresso & a Polynesian Black Pearl, Mama’s signature dessert. The black pearl is a Passionfruit Mousse topped with Chocolate Ganache with a Cookie Shell & Passionfruit Drizzle! I’d had it before & I had never forgotten just how incredible it is!

We wrapped up at Mama’s around 12:30/1 & were absolutely stuffed, the problem with that being that we had another dinner reservation at Merriman’s at 4:30. While doing my initial restaurant research for Maui I’d stumbled upon Merriman’s & had managed to snag their very last reservation for the foreseeable future. Say it with me folks, superpower. So hoping to burn through a few calories, aid the digestion process, & having just made it through the 24 hours elevation limit following my dives, we went up to ‘Iao Valley to hike!

We were under the impression ‘Iao was a longer hike than it was but it was stunning nevertheless. The drive up to ‘Iao was very reminiscent of the Road to Hana in the sense that you go from one ecological biome to another in almost the blink of an eye. You go from Hawaiian hill country to lush rainforest. It was raining up in ‘Iao but we didn’t mind. In all honesty we were pretty hot & sweating from sitting down at Mama’s. We basically did the hike in 15 minutes then spent the next 45-ish just wandering around the park, going down to the river, contemplating swimming, trailblazing, etc.

Having a little extra time between our hike our & early dinner we decided to go back & change as we’d gotten a little muddier than we’d initially anticipated. We cleaned off & got back in nicer clothes before we climbed back into the car & went up Lahaina way.

Dinner at Merriman’s was set right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the north shore to the backdrop of a wedding happening just below us. It was served grand prix style so we got to pick from a few options in each category; appetizer, entree, dessert (naturally). Evan & I once again split everything we ordered getting Ahi Poke & once again, Octopus. Evan favored Merriman’s octopus, I think I favored the Mama’s one, both were exceptional though. Our entrees were Shrimp & Scallops as well as a Macadamia Nut encrusted Mahi Mahi. Dessert was Passionfruit Pot De Creme & a Flourless Chocolate Cake. I wish we’d gone into dinner a little more hungry but I don’t think either of us regret getting to do both restaurants even if they were bumped a little close time wise to one another.

We went back to Kihei & ended up once again sat at the bar at Nalu’s before calling it an early evening. I had a dive that departed from Lahaina at 6:45 AM the next day & we were going to need to leave our condo around 5:45/6 to get there.

END DAY FIVE


DAY SIX

As I stated above, Monday started with an early morning. We left the VRBO at between 5:45/6 AM & went back up the coast to Lahaina. My check-in at Lahaina Divers was at 6:45 at their shop. I checked-in, grabbed a wetsuit, collected the rest of my gear & walked through old town Lahaina from the shop to the harbor. Aboard the ship I was shown to my BCD & tanks for the dive before we did one last check & headed off to Lanai. Evan went on his way to explore Lahaina, landing somewhere with a chocolate croissant on a beach.

The dive Monday was to the Cathedrals of Lanai, a series of lava tubes off the southern coast of the island of Lanai. Our first dive spot was Cathedral One, a lava tube with a large stone in the middle they refer to as “the alter.” I was paired with a dude from Colorado but the total population of our dive group was 8-10 people. I think I decided at this early point in my dive experience that it might just be worth it to pay the extra bit of cash to have a private dive guide or at least to get a smaller dive group. The amount of times I got kicked in the face, run into, etc was alarmingly high. That’s not to say I didn’t have fun, I had a blast, truly. It was just a lesson learned at 40 feet below the surface.

At the first cathedral we swam upon a series of rare crabs, several sharks lounging in a cave, & a massive porcupine puffer, not to mention the breathtaking, pun intended, cathedral itself. We exhausted our tanks, returned to the boat, & went off to our second dive location.

Our second tank of the trip was reserved for Sergeant Major, a dive they can only do when the current conditions are right. The site is named as such due to the large quantities of Sergeant Majors, a striped yellow & grey damselfish, that school there. The main draw to Sergeant Major’s lava fingers however is the presence of the Javanese Eel. A Javanese Eel, otherwise known as the Giant Moray, is just that. Giant. They can reach up to three meters in length & weigh up to sixty-six pounds. Did we find the eel? We sure did. Was it magnificent? It definitely was!

At Sergeant Major I felt the pressure of the close quarters especially when it came to getting the whole group to see the fauna of interest. In one such occasion I did my best to get out of the way of a less than observant fellow diver & ended up with a three inch gash across my thigh from a run in with a stony coral.

I don’t mean to sound down trodden on the dive, it was a blast & truly an amazing experience. I honestly can’t wait to dive the cathedrals again & my dive guide was awesome! I’ll just definitely be doing so in a smaller group.

After our dive was finished we all boarded the boat & headed back to Lahaina. Evan met me at the dive shop where I picked up a t-shirt & a sticker then we headed down the coast towards Leoda’s to get a post dive pie or two.

At Leoda’s we got one of their Famous Banana Cream Pies & a Pineapple Macadamia Nut Pie. As much as a banana cream pie fan as I am, I think the pineapple one was my favorite! In addition to the pies we went to the small local convenience shop next door & grabbed a few pieces of Spam Musabi.

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Once we’d returned to Kihei I went down for a nap after feeling sapped from the morning. Pretty sure we returned to Nalu’s yet again that night. We’d made friends with the bartender/manager, Sue, & were going there to hang out with her & exchange stories.


END DAY SIX


DAY SEVEN

Our last day in Maui.

Our flight out wasn’t until around midnight & I’d asked our lovely VRBO host for an extension on our checkout time since we had nowhere to go until then. She graciously gave us the entirety of the day!

We slept in a tad as we knew the day & night ahead of us was going to be a long one, especially with that red eye flight out. After waking up a bit later than usual we set out to grab one last snorkel before we had to say goodbye to Hawai’i. We ventured down to Wailea to Makena Landing & got to snorkeling amongst the divers. Was I fairly jealous of the fact they could stay down while I had to come up for air constantly, yes, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless even seeing two separate turtles & almost running into one!

After our morning swim we headed back to start cleaning the apartment we’d called home for the past week. Since our host had extended our time for free we decided to make it as easy as possible on her & cleaned majority of the place ourself, including laundry. Once we were satisfied, we packed our stuff into the car & headed off to get one last shave ice from Ululani’s.

I got the same flavor as before, the guava, mango, passionfruit mix with macadamia nut ice cream but instead of a second POG I got a Thai Tea with Sweetened Condensed Milk on it! Shaved ice in hand we went down the road to return Evan’s snorkel gear & bid the Maui Dive team one last fond farewell.

We’d been invited by Sue to come sit at Nalu’s with our bags until it was time to catch the shuttle from the rental service to the airport. So that’s exactly what we did! I wasn’t mad about that decision at all, especially since I wanted to grab one last bowl of poke before we left. Sat at the bar of Nalu’s we met a couple from Fort Collins who were on the last leg of their trip too. We sat exchanging drinks & stories until I received an urgent call from the shuttle service saying they needed us to get on the earlier shuttle to the airport. I honestly didn’t know it was an option but the driver disclosed that we could also just drop the car at the parking lot across from the terminal & they would come pick it up in the morning. We opted for that option & sat at the bar for another hour or so.

After many a hug & sad goodbye we drove to the airport dropping the car exactly where the rental company had asked. The airport looked like a ghost town, especially compared to the week before. We breezed through the livestock/produce check, check-in, & security & made it to our gate with an hour to spare.


END DAY SEVEN


END SECTION TWO: MAUI




SECTION THREE: KANSAS TO NASHVILLE



We’d received a comp upgrade on our seats & were each put in the exit row. I guess no one else thought to try & do the same because the exit row, on both sides, was completely empty. So, we took advantage of that! I took the left side of the plane, Evan the right, & we had our very own economy class lay flat beds!

Getting surprisingly more rest than expected & landing in Phoenix, we got to our gate & took an additional nap followed by another nap on the flight from Phoenix to Kansas City. We picked up dinner on the way back to my parents & met my sister & her family there for dinner.

The next morning, before heading back to Nashville we met my sister & niece at Snooze AM Eatery for breakfast before swinging back by my parents, picking up the dogs, & heading back home to Nashville.

END SECTION THREE


END BLOG


EPILOGUE

I hope you enjoyed my stories, I hope I was able to capture even the slightest bit of majesty & magic that Maui has to offer & transport you there for even the briefest moment in time. Maui is an other worldly place full of immense beauty, personality, love, & culture. It is a place all its own & if you let it, it’ll readily make you feel welcomed & right at home. Much like any place I travel I have found that the people are truly what makes them special. This world is a colorful tapestry of life experience, trials & tribulations, & all of us are searching for the same things, identity & home.

Maui was already a special place in my heart but now it has cemented itself there. I’ve found myself over the last few weeks having a very hard time leaving it behind not to mention how much its sabotaged my sleep schedule. I urge anyone to find a way to Hawai’i but if you go, do so with respect. These islands are someone else’s lands, someone else’s home, someone else’s traditions & they are worth celebrating. Treat the land with respect, treat the people with respect, & do your best to leave it as you found it for those who come after. Yes, Hawai’i is beaches & ocean but it is so, so, so much more than that. It is a thriving culture & community that deserved to be preserved & passed down from generation to generation. Mahalo Maui for an unforgettable week. I’m grateful for the lessons you taught me, the friends I made, & the amazing opportunities you laid in my path. I can’t wait to see you again & I truly hope it is sooner rather than later.

-C

Travel Blog: Maui-Part Two-Divers, Dinings, & Drives

SECTION TWO: MAUI CONTINUED

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Welcome back!

If you're a returning guest to this blog series on my Maui escapades, thank you for reading! If you’re not caught up to this point give this a read first! We will be including themes, characters, locations, etc from the previous blog post so go read it here!

Hmmm, where’d we leave off, where’d we leave off? OH! Right! Back from the Road to Hana, sleep at a decent hour, end of day two, end of part one!


DAY THREE

Something I didn’t expect to play out the way it did while in the mid-pacific was my sleep schedule. I was waking up at 5:45/6 AM & I was ready for bed before 9/10 PM, contrary to the mainland where I am a night owl through & through. Seeing how I had been blessed(?) with new sleep schedule I woke around 6:15 on Friday to a text from my soon to be scuba instructor, Kerstin, stating she’d had a cancellation & she was curious if we could move our open water dives up to 8-ish instead of our original set time of Noon. I let her know that we had to drop off our temporary rental car but I’d happily meet her at Maui Dive Shop as soon as we were done with that, which was literally right down the street.

Evan & I stopped to grab a liquid, caffeinated breakfast of coffee before we went to return the rental. As I said above the rental service was literally down the road from the dive shop, we’re talking 1,500-ish feet, so we dropped off the car & walked from there to Maui Dive. I was actually under the impression that we’d be diving off the beach across from the dive shop, Evan planned to spend the day sunbathing there while Kerstin & I were submerged. I was wrong. (It happens from time to time). The issue with this was that our dive site was in Wailea at Ulua Beach (4.3 miles south) & we were required to have our own transportation there. Our second rental car, the one we didn’t think we’d have but my superpower came through for, also wasn’t going to be available to pick up until 9 but apparently that was perfect for Kerstin’s schedule! We then perused the shop, buying up souvenirs & changing into swim gear in their restroom before walking the 900 feet back over to the new rental agency.

The car they had ready for us was a beat up 2011 Nissan Sentra & I mean beat up. I only mention the state of the car because they did. The woman who showed us to the car & did the “walk around” with us she flat out said to us “don’t worry about dinging it up a little, this car is on the verge of retirement from us. Just as long as you don’t drive it back in with the bumper dragging in the road we’ll be fine!” The car did two things really well & those two things were exactly what I wanted it to do. It drove & it had functioning air conditioning. From there we made our way down to Wailea towards my 9:30 AM rendezvous with the ocean.

The funny thing is that upon our arrival at Ulua I immediately found a parking spot only about two hundred feet from the beach. I pulled out my phone when the car was stationary to find a text from Kerstin saying that parking at Ulua is always a nightmare & that I may have to park up farther away & walk a bit. Didn’t happen.

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We were getting out of the car, collecting our belongings for the mid-morning, & were immediately met by Kerstin, fresh off her walk from the upper parking down to the beach. She & I plopped down our gear in the park uphill from the water, parked under the shade of a tree in the soft Bermuda grass & began reviewing all the aspects of SCUBA as well as our dive plan. Evan took the remainder of our stuff & went down to begin his beach lay. After going over the dive details, exchanging stories, & assembling our equipment we walked down to the beach.

I knew I’d be immediately hooked on SCUBA, I could feel it in my gut, but I never would have guessed the extent & speed at which those emotions would come rushing in, but destiny is often serendipitous & the paths we walk in life often ripple & rhyme throughout our years. Through the state of wonder & overwhelming peace I found living a brief moment beneath the surf I couldn’t escape the feeling of familiarity. I had been here before, I just knew it. I had seen this place but was it in a dream or in another lifetime or what? It wasn’t until our departure from the water that the realization clicked for me.

We’re going to take a cute little detour here & rewind the clock back to 12 year old me, so 17 years ago…wow…Anywho. My first time in Maui was with my family at that age, the company my father worked with at the time was having a conference there & we all got to go! Our flight for that trip got into Maui really late from what I can recall & we ended getting to bed around midnight. I remember being awoken by my dad around 6 in the morning & being rather upset about that. He told me to put on a swimsuit & grab my goggles & I sleepily followed him down to the beach. We went swimming & I was once again immediately overcome with deep peace. That beach was Ulua. The first swim I ever did in Maui, the swim that helped solidify my love for the ocean was at Ulua Beach. Like I said. Ripples.

After a morning filled with diving we disassembled the gear, put it back in the dive truck & Kerstin & I went our separate ways for the day. I was so hungry at that point I could have eaten my arm so Evan & I decided to go try a highly recommended bento box food truck called Kitoko. The best way I can describe Kitoko is if bento boxes were done in a Michelin Star fashion. We once again followed the recommendations of the chef & order an Ahi Reuben & their daily special of Surf & Turf which consisted of the Pastrami Ahi, Seared Venison, & Marlin Sausages. All of it was incredible & was presented in the most beautiful way. Their fresh made seaweed focaccia bread is truly to die for.

After the savory delights of Kitoko my sweet tooth kicked in & I knew it was time to finally dive into Hawaiian Shave Ice so we headed over to Ululani’s. Ululani’s is a popular Maui/Hawaiian chain, having six location on Maui alone & despite the line, it lives up to the hype! I order two smalls, feeling a tad indecisive as well as wanted to get something I knew I’d like & try something new. I got P.O.G. (Passionfruit, Orange, Guava) & a second of “Sunset Beach” (Mango, Passionfruit, Guava) with Macadamia Nut Ice Cream underneath at the recommendation of the cashier. She was right, of course, & the Sunset Beach was easily my favorite of the two, which is saying a lot since the P.O.G. slapped too!

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From the Ululani’s in North Kihei we continued on around the island to Lahaina. We wanted to find a snorkel spot, since apparently we hadn’t spent enough time in the water that day, & ended up at Honolua Bay.

To get to Honolua Bay you have to park your car along the side of the road & hike down a 100 meter trail that leads through the jungle to the ocean. The path is stunning & is in fact a burial ground for the Hawaiian people. There are signs all over stating to not veer off the path or do anything to disrupt the many unmarked graves that fill the grove. The trail also meanders along a stream that empties into the bay itself.

The beach of the bay is very rocky; large & small boulders all the way into the water, you kind of have to ease your way in. When you get in you’ll need to either swim out a ways or dive down a little to escape the ethereal effect the mixing of the fresh & saltwater have on the surface of the water. The snorkeling here is outstanding though, protected on both sides by cliffs, the water doesn’t have too strong of a current & is fairly clear.

Once the sun started setting we got out, got dressed, trekked back up to the car & headed back to Lahaina for dinner, stopping to take a few photos of the chickens feeding on the papaya that had fallen in the grove.

We’d been told by multiple people to try & eat at Star Noodle in Lahaina, unfortunately, like most of the restaurants on Maui during our stay, they were requiring reservations & were booked up for the next two weeks. So, naturally, we got a table on the water, right at sunset! (Superpower!)

At Star we once again, noticing a trend here?, let the wait staff order for us. Our waitress picked out Tempura Shrimp, Garlic Noodles, Pork Steam Buns, & their Chicken Wings. All of those items were great but I especially loved the shrimp & the wings! We also didn’t skimp on dessert ordering their daily selection of ice cream; matcha pistachio, strawberry lychee, & thai coffee. The strawberry & the matcha were the best!

Towards the end of our dinner the Luau next door began, the dancers of whom used the side of the restaurant as their “backstage area” before they would go on. It sounded like a blast but just hearing the music from it was enough. With warmed hearts & full bellies we returned to Kihei for an early bedtime, we had ourselves a very early morning the next day!

END DAY THREE


DAY FOUR

We woke up on Saturday at 5:15 AM. Groggily we collected our SCUBA/Snorkel gear & headed down to the entrance of the complex we were staying in. We were picked up at 5:45 in a guide van by Celeste, one of the other guides for the day ahead. We picked up two other parties of divers before heading to Maalaea Harbor.

We were greeted by Kerstin as we got off the van, who instructed us to pick up our wetsuits & board the boat that waited just off the slip for us. I stored my dry gear, set up my regulator & BCD (buoyancy control device) & off we went to Molokini Crater for a morning of diving!

There were three other groups of divers aboard the boat with us diving but Kerstin & I were the last into the water seeing how I was still only two dives in to my certification. Evan stayed behind near the boat & snorkeled with some of the other guests!

I’d never done a boat dive before, (naturally), but there was something about it that was exhilarating! You’re above the water & suddenly there’s a whole other world that opens up below you that you hadn’t seen before & it’s yours to explore. Kerstin & I set off on our dive around the crater finding wave after wave of schooling fish. I even made friends with a friendly little male blue throat triggerfish who came right up the me & hung around til I offered him scritches & he returned to the reef below.

Our next dive site was Turtle Town, back off the west coast of Maui. Evan once again snorkeled while Kerstin & I were once again the last divers off the boat. As the name suggested we saw turtles but there were also a few large passthroughs, an octopus or two, as well as a a very large number of frogfish. I had footage of all of these things, or so I thought…my GoPro didn't turn on…

When we emerged from the water I was congratulated by the entirety of the boat on becoming the newest member of the club & we headed back up the coast to the harbor.

We didn’t get back to our condo until about 1:30 or 2 PM at which point both Evan & I were beat. We took a nap before going out around 3:30 or 4 to run a few errands.

We snagged coffee, a few more groceries, & stopped at Yee’s Orchard & Fruit Stand before the hunger set in & we decide to head over to Nalu’s, a place recommended by Kerstin for dinner.

I ordered the best dang Poke I’d ever had & Evan ordered a Bulgogi Burger. By the time we’d gotten here & gotten through the line to order it was already around 6:30 or 7 PM so the sunlight was rapidly fading. We decided to move from our table, set right in front of the stage where a local artist had began to play & up to the bar where we were introduced to Ruthie, a local woman who’d lived on the island for sixty years & was meeting a friend of hers there for dinner. We sat & chatted, shared rounds of drinks, talked about pets & life & before we knew it it was closing time & I was slightly intoxicated, flirting with a bar back.

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Our place was right down the street from Nalu’s so we walked back home unprepared for the hangover to follow the next day.

END DAY FOUR


There’s still much more of this adventure to be told, I hope you’ll come back again next week when we’ll talk more SCUBA, more hikes, more luck, & much more food!

Until Next Week,

C

Travel Blog: Maui-Part One-Travel

SECTION ONE : KANSAS

In case you missed it, Evan & I took a week & went to Maui. I had been to Maui before but it’d been about 16 years since I was last there, Ev had never been. We were fully vaccinated, quarantined completely like good boys for the entirety of this COVID nightmare, Maui had just begun fully opening up for tourism, & the tickets were cheap so we said “yup, that’s for me” & went.

Our journey started not in Nashville, but instead in Kansas City; my parents live there & graciously offered to watch the pups while we were away. Part of your entry into the state of Hawaii consists of having a negative COVID test from within 72 hours of your arrival. So seeing as our flight was due to depart on Wednesday we drove our way to Kansas on Sunday grabbing Hawaiian Bros on the way in preparation for our trip….which I have since found out is run by four white people with no affiliation to Hawaii or its culture & that feels an awful lot like appropriation to me…

Monday started off not too eventful; just covid testing, a few errands, hung out with my niece & nephew, & filling out all of the documentation required to enter Maui from the airport. I grabbed my favorite turkey club from Jersey Boys in Overland Park before calling it an early night & heading into a much more eventful Tuesday…

Tuesday morning rolled around, I got up to swim laps with my father & Evan worked from home in the basement. I found myself exhausted from the hour long swim & the early morning so I took a brief nap only to get up & be met with my favorite KC barbecue, Jack Stack for lunch! (My order: Jack’s Best & Smoked Wings with Cheesy Corn & Beans) After lunch I ran to grab a new carryon bag, as the one I’d had since 2011 had officially bit the dust. I returned home to hang out with my sister before we had planned to go to the Royals game that evening. Our flight was set to leave MCI at 6 AM the next day & fly from KC to Dallas then we’d have an hour layover in Dallas before continuing on to Maui. Well while hanging out with Tori I got a call from American Airlines, whom I’d never flown before, saying that our flight to Dallas had been cancelled due to weather. Evan went into panic mode. I, someone who seldom gets overly stressed about anything, starting looking for solutions. While on hold with American Airlines, the hold time of which I was told was going to be over two hours, I was looking into other airlines, trying to find ways to fly to Dallas that evening instead of waiting in the morning but the plan eventually became “rent a car & drive over night to Dallas.” Fortunately before that plan could be full enacted a lovely woman picked up on the other end of the line & found us a route to Maui through Phoenix. It left around the same time but had a much longer layover of four hours. It also, naturally, arrived in Maui much later & was bumping up to the closing time of the rental car agency we were picking up a (two day) car from…more on that later. During this whole ordeal Evan had apparently gone downstairs & speed packed his entire suitcase in ten minutes planning to have to leave then & there for Dallas by car, still glad that didn’t happen. With new flights & of course upgraded seats we headed off to the Royals game for the night.

Got to bed a lot later than I’d hoped on Tuesday evening. I blame the ball game & the fact that I hadn’t taken the time during the day to pack. Really it all comes down to user error. Either way we had to head to the airport around 4 AM as my rentals live about an hour away from MCI. I think in total I got about three hours of sleep that night…thriving! The airport was dead, just like I felt inside at that point, & security was a breeze. Our flight to Phoenix however was full. I’m pretty sure I slept the whole time but I can’t recall now thinking back on it. At any rate, we landed in Phoenix & were now faced with four hours of “what the hell we gone do now?” We decided to venture out into the greater Phoenix metropolitan era in search of sustenance. I was really hoping to find a place that served endless sopapillas with honey in a bread basket a la Cheesecake Factory style but none of them were open so we found a trendy little breakfast spot called The Hash Kitchen & grabbed cold brew, tamales verdes benedict, s’mores pancakes, & blue corn banana’s foster pancakes! Yes, they smacked.

After finding our way back to the airport we took one of those quick, corner airport naps before finally boarding our flight to Hawai’i! Our flight took six hours to get to Maui & it only took about an hour to realize my computer hadn’t downloaded any of the movies I told it to…so it was a long flight.


SECTION TWO : MAUI

DAY ONE


We landed in Maui around 2:45 PM Hawaiian time & were immediately put in line to check-in & show our COVID documentation. Evan had been really on top of making sure that we had all our ducks in a row so the check-in was a breeze! It really helped that we brought our vaccine cards with us as well!

While we had been in line for the check-in I received a call from our rental car company asking when we’d be arriving to pick up the car as they were planning to close at 4 PM that day. It was a car that we were only going to be able to rent for two days because all of the other cars on the island were spoken for or several hundred dollars a day to rent & we planned to use it to do all the things around the island that required a car to get there. We didn’t get through with check-in & getting our baggage until around 3:15 & it was a 30 minute cab ride to the rental company. In addition to the distance all of the Lyfts & Ubers were telling us that it would be at least 35-40 minutes before they could even get there to pick us up. I made the executive decision to hail a cab.

We got the last. available. cab. Now would be a good time I guess to talk about the super power I have! I have the ability to get a parking spot, a reservation, or find transportation anywhere. This will come into play again later as well. So. Last cab at the airport! The whole ride to the rental company the driver was getting request after request after request for a ride & she was having to tell each caller that it’d be at least 45 minutes before she could get to them.

As I posted in an earlier blog, I believe there is no such thing as a coincidence. See in more detail here! That being said, our driver initially dropped us at the “wrong” rental agency, I’ll explain why wrong is in quotes a little later on. She quickly corrected the mistake & we arrived to pick up the Chevy Cruz, lol, we’d reserved right at 3:45!

From there we stopped by Maui Dive Shop so that I could fill out some of my scuba paper work & so Evan could grab some snorkel gear. We then went to go check in to our VRBO in South Kihei. It was a cute little one bedroom/one bath with a full kitchen, living room, & a balcony that overlooked Charley Young Park! Our hostess, Diane, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting in person was an absolute gem, she was so accommodating & such a lovely human to interact with even if our dialogue was limited to the digital. If you’d like to see more of this listing or book it yourself the link is here!

The street our VRBO was on! It’s the third floor balcony with the chair against the railing.

The street our VRBO was on! It’s the third floor balcony with the chair against the railing.

After checking in & making sure our car wasn’t going to get towed I immediately dropped my bags, fished out my fins, mask, & snorkel, put on a bathing suit & got my ass into the ocean. If you weren’t aware, I’m definitely a saltwater soul, I dry out far too often & require placement in the nearest ocean ASAP. So even though the sun was beginning to set, I had to get in. I was instantly greeted by a small school of trevally which naturally brought me immediate joy!

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We spent about 30-45 minutes in the ocean before the hunger began to set in. Seeing as we thought we’d only have a rental car for two days we decided to venture back up to Kahului & grab dinner from Tin Roof. At the recommendation of our cashier we ordered Mochiko Chicken on Garlic Noodles, Pork Belly on Rice, Ulu Mac Salad, & Birthday Cake Bibingka, I unfortunately don’t have any pictures from this meal to share with you all. On the way back to the condo we stopped at a natural foods market & stocked up on a few items we figured we could use for snacking throughout the week; mangos, papaya, pineapple, cassava chips, Paia Gelato, juice, Hawaiian Suns, etc. When we got back we broke out the food, ate on the balcony, & I had a religious experience with a mango.

Am I about to devote an entire paragraph to a mango, you bet your ass I am. So, we get back to the condo, we’re plating up the to-go food we got from Tin Roof & I decide we need a little side of produce as well, & cut up a mango. Now, this mango was from a local mango farm called Yee’s. Yee’s Orchard & Fruit Stand can be found in Kihei operating mostly mid-week & weekends (closed Mondays & Fridays). The mango I had the privilege of consuming was a Golden Glow Mango which is apparently akin to the Alphonso Mango of India, which is said to be the best mango in the world, go figure it’s banned in the US cuz we can’t have nice things here, you know, like universal healthcare…ANYWAY, this was the sweetest, creamiest, most perfect mango I’ve ever eaten in my life, so naturally I filled the rest of the trip with my daily portion of them.

We went to bed fairly early on, because, you know, travel exhaustion & minimal sleep & we prepared for another busy day to follow.

END DAY ONE


DAY TWO

We woke up around 6:30 AM partially because circadian rhythm, partially because we were told by the woman at our rental car agency to get breakfast at Kihei Caffe, who gets a line fairly early, & partially because we had a day planned that was full of a lot of driving & a lot of hiking. We got to Kihei Caffe around 7:15 & the line was already wrapped around the building. It was moving fairly quickly so we decided to risk it. While in line I popped into Lava Java Coffee Roasters & I got us each a Granita, which is a frozen mocha with a little extra love added to it. The line only took us about 15-20 minutes before we were at the register ordering. I, once again, had the cashier order for me. She selected Loco Moco w/ Kalua Pork, Papaya Delight, & French Toast w/ Bananas & Macadamia Nuts topped w/ Coconut Syrup. All of it smacked but despite my sweet tooth I think my favorite parts of the meal were the first two items!

We immediately left breakfast & started our climb up Haleakala. I guess now would be a good time to mention the one time my superpower didn’t work. I tried to get us reservations for the sunrise at the summit of Haleakala…it sold out in 15 seconds BUT on the flipside of the same day, my superpowers pulled through! You see the previous day when our driver had dropped us at the wrong rental service something piqued in my brain. What if this “wrong” local rental service is actually the right local rental service? So, as we drove, I had Evan look up the rental agency & request a car from Friday-Tuesday when we were departing. THEY HAD ONE! ONE SINGULAR CAR LEFT! AAAAAND IT WASN’T SOMETHING THAT WOULD REQURE ME TO TAKE OUT A SECONDARY MORTGAGE ON THE HOUSE!!!!

The drive to the top of the volcano took us about an hour & a half but along the way you pass through some beautiful parts of the island! From the blue jacaranda trees to the eucalyptus groves there is massive monstera & pothos growing everywhere, its worth the climb for the drive alone. The summit & crater of Haleakala sit within Haleakala National Park, upon the top there is an observatory as well as a small visitors center. We walked around the top before making a slight decent down to the trail that leads into the crater. The whole hike is about 11 miles in total but we decided to only hike down to a small ridge in the center, about a mile or so down.

Haleakala is one of only a few energy vortexes on this planet. In addition to its measurable energies it is also sacred to the Hawaiian people & I can absolutely understand why. The air feels different here, not just because of the altitude but it feels charged while at the same time being very soothing. Where the trail steepens at the ridge we stopped & did a brief meditation. The wind whipping through your hair, the soft brush of the red volcanic ash over your skin, it truly is a magical place & I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to spend even the smallest amount of time there.

Feeling energetically a new, with a caked on layer of red dust & definitely a slight sunburn in spite of copious amounts of sunblock, we ascended the slops back up to our Chevy Cruz & began the winding decent back down the sacred mountain, our next destination being the Highway to Hana.

Halfway down the mountain we realized that we had rapidly burnt through our supply of gas during the climb & were in need of a refuel if we were to make it around the rest of the island. Fortunately the small town of Kula exists. We found this adorable gas station & general store run by the cutest elderly couple. Their whole business was cash based & the store was truly a perfectionists nightmare. I loved it. Next door to these modest lots sat another, Grandma’s Coffee House. Feeling the post hike grumblies & a tad under caffeinated we stopped in for an Iced Coffee, a slice of Coconut/Banana Dream Cake, & a Coconut Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie!

Refueled we pressed on through the up country til we came upon MauiWine. We hadn’t planned to stop but the place was aesthetic AF & I’m a sucker for a tasting menu of any kind. We were told the current wait for the wine tasting was about an hour & since we had places to be & people to see, i.e. trying to make it through to the Seven Sacred Pools, we decided to grab a bottle instead & save it for consumption when we got back to Kihei. They had quite a few Pineapple & Lilokoi (Hawaiian Passionfruit) Wines but the somm on duty recommended a sparkling white grown on island called Ulupalakua Blanc de Blanc. With the bag secured the voyage continued.

If you’ve never driven the Highway to Hana it’s actually a fairly daunting experience, especially for those who would consider themselves not the greatest of drivers & especially in a Chevy Cruz…The drive is absolutely beautiful, there’s no denying that, & I was more than capable of driving it but majority of it consists of one-ish lane roads with no shoulder that are often times either not paved or are paved in the most peculiar of ways. It however cannot be overstated just how beautiful this drive is. You find yourself, over the course of around two hours or so, transitioning from biome to biome as you wrap around the island of Maui. You go from upcountry to lava fields, from lava fields to rocky herding lands, from the herd lands to grassy farms & then finally into sheer jungle. The amount of biodiversity & different landscape is astounding.

We got to the Seven Sacred Pools a little late, really only having about an hour to hike it before the National Park closed so unfortunately we only got to go up to the first of the seven major waterfall. The beauty of the drive, the sense of adventure, the falls themselves, & what was to follow really made the trek worth it though; it’s just for next time I’ll plan to be there a little earlier so I can see it all!

Slightly saddened that we couldn’t get a swim out of the day (you can’t swim in the pools anyway) we continued on down the road toward Hana. Along the way we rounded a corner & found a line of cars parked off to the side of the road with a ton of people just standing around. At the end of the line of cars sat a covered pickup adorned with palm fronds that was blasting reggae. In front of the car stood a family of four; mother, father, & their two boys both no older than four. They were standing in behind a wagon with a machete. In the wagon, & in the back of the pickup, were mounds upon mounds of fresh coconut. Remarking at how cute the roadside set up was we continued on past the stationary vehicles til we noticed several people on the road crossing the bridge ahead. As we cautiously passed them we noticed all of these people were walking up to or returning from a beautiful waterfall that sat just off the road to the right. I knew immediately we had to stop. Evan, on the other hand, was hesitant but I veto’d his apprehension & we turned around.

I quickly parked the car, grabbed my swimming suit & my GoPro, & we too headed over the bridge to the falls. The path down to them was an easy decent freshly paved with mud from the frequent traffic of the dampened returning from their swim. Down the garnished path of giant pothos & slick black lava rock we found a nook to store our towels, clothes, & phones & slipped into the mirky pool the sat below. The water was frigid, but oh so relaxing after a long day spent sweating in the blazing sun & humid jungle. We found our way across the pool to a small cave tucked away at the base of the falls & sat there watching the water rain down from above. We were then met with the sounds of horns blaring. Not sure if they were from park rangers or a flash flood warning we shot out of the water & quickly gathered up our belongings before making our way back to the car. We were met on the bridge by one of the National Park rangers who lovingly asked how the water was & said she herself would have stopped if she didn’t have to be elsewhere.

Returning by way of the family selling coconuts I paused to ask them how much each of their drupes were selling for. I was told $10 cash which I happily paid & they hacked me open a fresh coconut. The water within was sweet & refreshing & they explained that they were continuing a tradition passed down from a gent who used to sit by the falls & weave palm frond hats, a shrine to whom sat across from where their vehicle sat. I thanked them for the coconut & we continued down the road.

From the park ranger at Seven Sacred Pools we got the recommendation to stop at I Lava Tacos. I Lava Tacos sat inside a large community of other food trucks but they were the only one open at the time of our arrival. We ordered the freshest Fish Tacos I’ve ever consumed, the most amazing Guava Wood Smoked Marlin Dip, & a Carne Asada Tacos. Truly breathtaking food! The owner, Justis Andrada, was such a cool guy & was more than happy to show off his amazing culinary prowess!

With full bellies, warmed hearts, & in the fading light of the sun we continued our way around the island back home to Kihei.

I think if I have one regret for the entirely of this trip it’s that we didn’t spend more time in Hana, it seems like a remarkable place full of lively people & incredible culture. I’m also sad we missed the views on the east coast of the island in the sun’s absence but I’m sure we’ll be back soon to take them in!


END DAY TWO


I’m more than excited to fill you in on more of our Maui adventures but it’ll have to wait til next week when we’ll get to talk Scuba amongst other things!!!


Until next week,

C