Tag Archives: Hawaii

Our Trip to Maui~Part 7

3 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

 JUDY

We decided that our last day in Maui would be an easy one, since we had been “on the go” the rest of the time.  So we drove up the coastline to Kapalua.  Kapalua is a rather expensive “plantation” resort, and home to the PGA tour’s, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions every year.  If you are into golf – that’s the course to play, and the tournament to watch.

The drive up the coastline was breathtaking.  We stopped quite a few times, just to get some pictures.  Fred found some catamarans in a little bay, that was literally “picture perfect.” He found what we think are some coral beds. We saw swimmers on the beach as well as in the water..Blue, blue water.  Really gorgeous. We drove down to Lahaina and had lunch at the Aloha Mixed Plate again.

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The remainder of the day was spent just resting and packing for our return flight to the mainland the next day.  And then we just spent time visiting with Fred’s Dad.  It was a quiet and very precious time for us. We decided to have one last meal of that delicious Ono fish, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next day, on our way to the airport, we stopped and took a picture of the island of Molokai – the only one we have without clouds covering the top of the island.  Lovely! 6
We had a short hop from Maui to Honolulu, and then from there to Seattle.  We were late arriving, so we stayed the night in a hotel before driving the next day back to Shelton.

Our Maui trip was over – so fast!  We are just so grateful that God allowed us to have this wonderful vacation time – and time with Dad, and for him to rest.

And then, home sweet home – our bed felt soooooo good that night!

The End

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Our Trip to Maui~Part 6

26 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

 JUDY

                                                    

 

Our next adventure took us on “The Road to Hana.”  Never heard of it?  Neither had we until this trip.  I guess it’s fairly famous in Maui terms.  We were up early – on the road by 7:00 a.m.  The “road” is only 52 miles from Kahului to Hana – but it takes four hours to drive it – each way!!  It has 59 one-lane bridges to go over.  So it was to be an all-day trip for us.  As one advertisement told us – “On the Hana Highway – The Journey is the Adventure.”  And so it was.2

 Hana itself was on the complete opposite side of Maui from Napili, where we were staying, and there is no through-way to get there.  Of course, the Haleakala Crater is right across the pathway, so that explains the round-about way we had to drive.

The road is almost completely filled with hairpin or serpentine curves.  And I don’t mean just those little squiggly curves – this road sign is VERY descriptive!

3In any case, we thoroughly enjoyed the ride, stopping along the way to see some gorgeous scenery.  Waterfalls everywhere.

We saw sugar cane fields in abundance.  A note from the historical side – “Before WW2, Hana was a busy sugar port.  After the war, cane fields gave way to pasture for beef cattle, and the town developed into a trade center for surrounding ranches.”  Interesting.Miles and miles of eucalyptus trees – the fragrance was incredible!  And we saw a rooster walking down the middle of the road, just daring us to hit it!  We didn’t.

On the way up, we stopped at the Wai’anapanapa State Park and Cave.  This area completely fascinated me – the sand is BLACK!4

It’s actually the small Honokalani Black Sand Beach and is composed of small, smooth lava pebbles.  The volcanic rock must be good soil, as the area is quite lush with greenery.  One of the most fascinating sights to me was the “arch” – the volcanic rock worn away by the ocean, leaving the arch.

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I’m assuming that some day it will be worn enough to collapse.   And there is a legend about the caves, but too lengthy to share here.

Again, since we are so directionally challenged, we missed the town of Hana!  However, we were headed to a restaurant that was recommended to us by the AAA travel book and other people.  It was Mama’s Fish House in Kuau Cove.       The food was excellent, but the advertised low price was not!  It was one of the most expensive meals we had while on Maui!  So be warned!

 

We finally made it home for a quiet evening together.  It was a long and exhausting day – for the driver and the riders.  But we enjoyed everything we saw!

~~~~~More to come~~~~~

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Our Trip to Maui~Part 5

20 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

JUDY

                                                    

We had planned for our next adventure to be to drive to see the Haleakalā 1Crater.  It was a long drive, and we stopped several times along the way just to take in the island beauty. We saw lots of sugar cane fields, and a few pineapple fields, as well.

We stopped at the Visitor’s Center at 6500 feet up.  This most unusual Silver Sword plant grew all around that area.  We were told that the Silver Sword plant only grows in that area near the Haleakalā Crater – nowhere else in the entire world!  Gorgeous!

We stopped again on the way up to get some pictures, and were amazed that the ocean color is really as blue as it is in this picture!  Beautiful!2

The summit of Haleakalā Crater is 10,023′ and the air is thin and 3quite cool.  We were glad to have our sweaters and jackets!  Silver Sword plants were quite abundant there.  Inside the pavilion was a legend telling about “The Life of a Volcano.”  Interesting.

We arrived at the summit about 10:00 a.m. – and the FOG rolled in!  We were told we needed to be there for sunrise to see the crater.  Someone should have told us that before, right?  On our way up, we were passed by a man and his sons on their way down.  His comment as he passed us was, “Best view of the clouds you’ve ever seen, right?”  So we had to content ourselves with pictures of fog – and 4postcards of what we would have seen at sunrise.  A very impressive sight, to be sure. Since we are known for being directionally challenged – we totally missed Kula, so we drove on down to Kahului for lunch.  On our way after that, we stopped and took some gorgeous pictures of Molokai in the near distance.  Really a beautiful island.

When we finally drove into Lahaina, we stopped at the Lahaina Cannery Mall, thinking to have a light supper.  But somehow we found that, if you go through the mall, to the other side, and then outside, across the street is a unique outdoor restaurant, called the Aloha Mixed Plate.  Nothing fancy, but the food was delicious!  As a side note – when we returned to the mainland and told Fred’s sister about this little restaurant, she had never heard of or seen it!  Something for them to explore on their next visit to Maui.

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~~~~~More to come~~~~~

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Our Trip to Maui~Part 4

13 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

 

 After a good night’s rest, we were ready to start our Hawaiian adventures! First off, we went to the Maui Ocean Center – a really neat aquarium and sealife center. We enjoyed everything about it.  Especially the to-life-sized bronze tortoise – with eggs! – near the entrance to the center.

Maui Ocean Center
Life-sized bronze tortoise – with eggs

The center contained all the things one might expect in such a facility – a living reef, a surge pool, a turtle lagoon, a touch pool, sharks, whales, and how the Hawaiian’s related to all of it.  Most fascinating.  We spent several hours there.

3Next, we went into Lahaina proper to see the city and all it holds.  One of the most interesting sights is a huge banyan tree.  It was planted in 1873, and has grown so that it’s limbs cover the entire city center.  Many of the limbs need to have supports so they don’t drag the ground.  It is over 60′ high, and covers more than 2/3 of an acre.  It was planted to mark 50 years of Protestant missionary work in Lahaina.

Next we saw the Baldwin Home.  It was built in 1834 as the home for Dwight Baldwin, Protestant medical missionary to Lahaina.  The house served as a medical office, and the general center for missionary activity from mid-1830’s to 1868.

We saw the ruins of the brick palace of King Kamehameha 1.  The footprint seemed really tiny, but the accompanying legend shows it to be a two-storied thatched building.  So I guess important guests were more impressed than we were.  It was built near 1800, one of the first western buildings on the island, and the bricks were locally made. We saw ruins of the old fort.

We saw the Ko’a Fisherman’s Shrine along the harbor, as it faced Molokai.

Ruins of the brick palace of King Kamehameha 1
Ko’a Fisherman’s Shrine

We went into Lahaina proper and to the waterfront.  A cruise ship was in port that day, and we watched as the ferry brought tourists from the ship to Lahaina, as the port isn’t deep enough for the ship to anchor right at the harbor.

As we walked along Front Street, we saw some young men tossing literally dozens of Mahi-Mahi into the back of a pick-up truck.  Amazing.

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A good day in Maui.  This was such fun for us.  Something we shall never forget.

~~~~~More to come~~~~~

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Our Trip to Maui~Part 2

29 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

 

Maui

Lahaina Cannery Mall

After we left Costco, we drove about 45 minutes to the other side of the island, to Lahaina.  Fred’s sister and her husband had told us about the Lahaina Cannery Mall, so we stopped there.  It was an old pineapple cannery that had been made into a mall of sorts.  It was rather miniature compared to some in the States, but it was indoors with lots of shops and eateries.  There was even a Safeway grocery store in there! We had lunch there, before heading out to our time-share at One-Napili Way. One-Napili Way was in a lovely setting – lush green shrubbery, palm trees, and some of the most gorgeous exotic flowers imaginable!

Bird of Paradise
Orchids Growing Wild
Hibiscus Growing on a Rock Fence

The unit we were in was nicely appointed and fully stocked.  It had a living area (with TV) that opened out to a lanai.  The kitchen (which included pots, pans, dishes, dish soap, towels, etc.) looked out over the living area.  Dad gave us the master suite, which included an attached bathroom, and another doorway to the lanai.  The second TV was in that room.  He took one of the other bedrooms – it had a double bed in it, while the third bedroom had twin beds.  There was a second bathroom down the hallway between those bedrooms.

We were surprised to find that none of the units had air conditioners!  We thought we would surely melt – especially at night!  But each room had a ceiling fan, and there was a screen-covered set of louvers that had the fresh ocean air blowing into each bedroom.  We could always open the lanai doors and let the air into the rest of the rooms, as well.  We were quite comfortable with that – even at night!

We seldom had a fully rainy day while there.  It did rain, but the short, Mauismall rains were more just heavy sprinkles.  Dad, having lived in Hawaii for a while, said the natives call it “pineapple juice.”  Cute.  On the one day we did actually have rain, we saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky.  Everything about Maui was beautiful!

Not only were the flowers gorgeous, we also saw a tree that Dad called a “flame tree” around the island.  It really lives up to its name!

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Fred’s sister had told us be sure and partake of a particular fish there.  There was a small take-out-only hole-in-the-wall deli that served the best presentation of this fish – Ono.  This deli serves this white fish in a delicious sauce with sun-dried tomatoes, capers and mushrooms.  With sautéed vegetables and rice on the side – yum!  We managed to have this meal from this deli several times during our stay.

~~~~More to Come~~~~

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Our Trip to Maui~Part 1

22 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

Let me start off by saying that, after four years of college, Fred had another 1four years of schooling at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

During that time, his father, a U.S. Air Force Chaplain, 2was stationed at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, just four hours away from us. We drove over frequently to spend a weekend with them.

After they had been in Louisiana for a few years, dad was transferred to Hawaii. As Fred’s education started coming to a close, we began to think 3about giving ourselves a graduation present by joining them in Hawaii for a visit. We were getting really excited about that prospect.

But Uncle Sam had other ideas! In January 4before Fred graduated in May, dad was promoted again and reassigned to Wright-Patterson AFB, in Dayton, Ohio. It was quite a bit of culture shock to go from tropical Hawaii to winter in Ohio in a few short weeks!

And there went our dream of a Hawaiian vacation! Shucks!

Fast forward about 39 years – boy that really zipped by, didn’t it? Fred’s parents were living in an assisted-living facility in Washington State. They had thought to make a trip to Maui for a week in a time-share owned by their youngest daughter and her husband, but needed/wanted some of the family to be with them to sort-of keep an eye on them. Since Fred and I were retired at the time, we graciously volunteered for that job. Really had to twist our arms to do that, right??!!

Two weeks before we were scheduled to depart, Fred’s mother, already afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease, had a major set-back. She was placed in the Special Care Unit of the facility, where there were trained staff to care for her.

Since Fred’s dad had been trying care for her by himself – and he was encouraged not to visit her for a few weeks so she would become adjusted to her new home – we decided to go ahead with our plans. Frankly, he needed the rest from all that stress.

So Fred and I flew to Seattle, rented a car and dropped our luggage at the hotel where we would be staying for just one night. We drove to Shelton, an hour’s drive away, and spent the rest of the day with Fred’s mother, father, sister and her husband. We three then drove back to Seattle for the night, as our flight out was quite early the next morning.

In spite of being on the West Coast, the non-stop flight was really long to Maui. We arrived at the Kahului airport in the capital of Maui.

We had arranged for a rental car, picked it up, stopped by the Costco nearby and picked up groceries for the mornings we would be there. We planned on partaking of all the wonderful island foods for lunches and dinners.

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~~~~More to Come~~~~

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