Maui, Hawaii

January 8th-14th, 2005

Maui is a very beautiful island, but also pretty expensive. We chose a hotel on the west side of the island since that was close to the place my brother was getting married. I had two qualifications for the hotel: a kitchen to make breakfast and a pretty beach! After surfing the web for some time I found a villa in Kaanapali, cashed in the air miles, and packed my bag.

When the plane landed on Saturday it was warm and humid, but that was about to change. That night the storms rolled in... The lightning bounced off the clouds and brightened up the sky like daytime. Then the thunder cracked and rumbled off the mountains behind us. And as the wind picked up, the waves crashed with a fury against the shore. Sunday morning we awoke to a quiet, but light drizzle and chilly breeze. So, to make the most of our day in the rain, we decided to go shopping.

The travel brochure indicated that Lahaina was a great place for food and shops. I've found that most of the shops in Hawaii are either jewelry or clothes. The best of both worlds! We walked up and down the street all day long going into each shop. There were a couple of good art galleries too. By the end of the day, our feet were so tired we stopped at a cafe/bar to have a drink and listen to live music. That night with fingers crossed we went to bed hoping for a sunny day on Monday.

Monday morning we awoke to a partly sunny day. So we headed over to my brother's hotel for a visit...

Since it was the day before my brother's wedding, he didn't have much time to spend with us. So after lunch we headed back to the beach for the afternoon. I got a great picture of the sunset from our villa window.

On Tuesday, we spent the morning at my brother's hotel by the pool and the afternoon at the wedding.
Just click on the picture below to see the wedding pictures!
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Wednesday we spent all day by the pool. We tried to swim in the ocean some, but the waves were pretty high. After repeatedly being pelted by waves, we decided the pool would be a little more relaxing and less life threatening. In the afternoon we took a little walk around the beach and waterfront.

A popular tourist activity on Maui is to drive The Road to Hana. Thursday morning was yet another sunny day, so after breakfast we loaded up the car for a day of driving. This drive basically goes from the Kahului airport on highway 360/36 to Hana and takes all day. Along the way there are great views of the ocean, waterfalls, and lush plants. It has 55 one lane bridges and cliffs which drop off into the ocean. I was amazed at how huge the plants grew. The only disappointment of the day was that the waterfalls were only a trickle.

This is the beach at Hana. We got out to stretch our legs and dip our toes in the water...

As we headed back to the hotel we stopped at a pretty little beach to watch the surfers and catch the sunset.

On Friday our flight didn't leave till late in the evening so we decided to go to the botanical gardens. It was so precious when the birds started kissing, I couldn't resist taking a picture.

With plenty of time to spare, we decided to have one last fruity drink before leaving Hawaii!