Me.isms: Maui

Ready for company

We're here! Upgraded to a convertible and on our way

Demonstrating how to get an orange from the top branches

They have a couple of gardens and a lot of yard/outdoor space. The washing machine is actually outdoors too.

The crazy confusing rambutan

Tastes like a grape!

And dragon fruit at breakfast

Nick and Nicki warmly welcomed us to their house, an open, airy place with louvered windows and outdoor laundry :D I think this Hawaiian style was the inspiration for the "breezeways" and lanai's of the 60's in California architecture. Nick whispered to kevin to lift the sheets and look for scorpions before I got into the bed! They have only seen one, but once was enough!

The first night we ran out to Paia --a delightful small city (village) with art galleries, shops, bars and seafood restaurants. We loved the Paia Fish Market where I had to get the "Obamaburger" of course! It actually is Ono, not burger and had a great wasabi sauce to kick things up a bit.

Nicki works at several schools and needs to take "everything", especially all of the confidential client files, with her. This is Nicki leaving for the day.

On the first day, the kids had to work so Nick gave us the names of three beaches to snorkel and walk and restaurants to stop at in between.

The beaches in Hawaii all have public access, its sometimes just not easy to find. Instructions like-"Park on the east side of the street and look for the entry in the hedge-- Trust me you walk through the space in the hedge Mom". And lo and behold at a break in the hedge was a city parks sign for public access. It is kind of magical to be the first (almost) at a sleepy beach on a beautiful morning (8:30). (Maluaka Beach Park )

There was a film crew, catering truck and "star's RV" parked there, but they seemed to be somewhere totally inaccessible--I never saw more than their caterer!

We began snorkeling right away and it was nothing short of amazing. To think that if you look just under the water, you see the real "ocean" its surprising any of us leave home without snorkels on a tropical vacation. We proceeded to Kehie Caffe, home to possibly the nicest counter help I have ever met. 450 people on Trip Advisor seem to agree-they just keep talking about the guy behind the counter! What a great fresh fish sandwich at a sidewalk cafe.

You get the idea--great beaches, great food, repeat until you've had enough sun and then just sit back and watch the surf.

Makena-Big Beach

And then we stopped to walk and watch the surf

The second morning Nick took us to a great snorkeling beach, Honolua, and we walked through this fabulous "jungle" to get there. Many people were stopping there just for the walk. In this bay we saw: octopus, barracuda (which I thought was a black-tipped reef shark and still remained calm), 4 green turtles, eel, stingray and zillions of fish.

A good snorkel day and a good hair day are mutually exclusive!

In the evening, we would grab Nicki and head to any other favorite beach before a late dinner.

I love this!

Panorama shot

Not cold-just windy

Nick and Nicki promised us the "best sushi" of our lives and they weren't kidding-- Sensai is beautiful, serene, cool, and fabulously successful at creating sushi to die for!

The next day Kev and I headed out on the Highway to Hana--a famous road travelling along the shoreline with 59 one lane bridges on its 68 miles of roadway. You stop at the gas station and buy the CD that guides you along this sightseeing tour including tropical rainforests, waterfalls, cliffs and anything you can imagine. The CD is melodic and peaceful and Emily used it as a sleep aid from about age 4-10!

Magical, right?

Hiking trail covered with roots

I thought Anton would look for leprechauns here

Bamboo

Rainbow Eucalyptus

Iconic View

Nick had us wear swim suits under our clothes that day to swim under falls--we never figured out a way to get there--turns out it wasn't this he meant-we missed the easy ones--thank goodness we gave up!