The Road to 30

David and I arrived in Maui on Monday afternoon to begin our group birthday celebration!  We met Katie and Dave, and Cristy and Jon at the airport, and then headed to Mama’s Fish House. 

Dinner at Mama’s Fish House was by far the best meal we had in Hawaii.  The food was amazing, the beach location was stunning, and the service was great!  The restaurant seated us in a private area in the sand, and waiting for us on our table were three birthday cards – one for each of the birthday girls.  

For dessert, Katie, Cristy, and I were treated to coconut ice cream topped with a birthday candle. 

After all of the deliciousness, the group dropped David and me off at our hotel, the Hilton Grand Wailea.  This hotel was my favorite out of all four hotels we stayed at during the trip.  A Waldorf Astoria property, the Grand Wailea was just down the road from the Marriot where the Simons and Vollmars were staying with their points.  There was a scenic trail along the beach between the Hilton and all other resorts, which made getting around super easy and fun.

As you all know, David and I love movies.  But you may not know that we happen to love cheesy, stupid Adam Sandler movies like Billy Madison and Grown Ups.  A few years ago, Sandler came out with a movie called Just Go With It starring Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, and Austinite, Brooklyn Decker.  It was a ridiculous film about a guy that fakes an ex-wife to somehow save his current relationship, and it takes place in Hawaii.

While David and I were unpacking that first night, we turned on the TV and Just Go With It was on.  As we were watching, I was thinking, ‘That hotel looks familiar… wait, are we staying there?!’  Turns out, the movie was filmed at the Waldorf and the hotel couldn’t be prouder.  That channel was dedicated 24/7 to Just Go With It.  It literally played the movie on repeat all day, every single day.  It was kind of strange… but also a bit helpful as it gave us ideas of different areas of the resort to check out.

On our first full day in Maui, we had a healthy breakfast of smoothies and banana bread on the beach between our hotels before boarding a catamaran to Lanai. 

Lanai is a small island near Maui known for great snorkelling, as it is mostly uninhabited and the reefs don’t get that many visitors.  We spent the afternoon in the water, with dolphins playing in the cove nearby.  By the time the dolphins showed up, it was late afternoon and everyone else on the excursion had gone inland for lunch or on a hike around the island.  Even though the dolphins didn’t get close, it was still special to watch them and feel like they were putting on a show just for the six of us.

Underneath the water, we saw a lot of cool fish, sea urchins, a bit of coral, and an eel. 

Snorkel selfie with the Go-Pole

When we were done swimming, we took a short hike to Puu Pehe, or Sweetheart Rock.  

Legend goes that a young princess from Maui was captured by a warrior from Lanai. Because of her great beauty, the warrior hid her from all other eyes in the sea caves on the island.  One day, the weather turned and the crashing waves engulfed the sea cave where the princess was hiding.  The warrior rushed back to save the princess, but it was too late, she had drowned.  Overcome with grief, he leapt to his death from the rock.

From the scenic outlook, we decided to take our first 20s vs 30s pic.  On the day of an actual birthday, we took a picture with everyone in their 30s, and then a separate picture of everyone still in their 20s.  As the week went on, the 20s group dwindled… until it was just David, whose birthday isn't until April.

When we returned to Maui, we had Katie’s birthday dinner at Ka’ana Kitchen.  The farm-to-table restaurant featured sharing plates like octopus, watermelon salad, and pork belly.  It was a late dinner after a full day, but it was nice to have the restaurant to ourselves since we were one of the last groups of diners.

That night, we walked to a local bar and stayed up late to see the harvest moon.  By 1:00 am, when the moon was at its reddest, we found ourselves lying on beach chairs next to the ocean, listening to the sound of the waves (and Dave snoring).  We finally made ourselves get up and walk back to our hotels because we had an early start to Hana on Wednesday.

The Road to Hana is a two-lane highway that runs along the east coast of Maui.  Starting in the small, beachside town of Paia, the road is about 60 miles long, but can take up to 10 hours to drive round-trip.  This is due to the fact that the road has more than 600 curves, 55 bridges (all but 10 of which are only one lane wide), and multiple sites to stop and explore – like hidden beaches, waterfalls, and pools within the jungle.

As we were planning our trip, we joked about getting an awesome mini-van for the six of us to drive around Hawaii.  But instead, we decided on a small SUV.  I was amazed that it fit all of us (and our suitcases)!

The Road to Hana was the highlight of our time in Maui.  And it was mostly because of our guide, GyPsy.

GyPsy is an iPhone app that acts as a driving guide for various routes in the Americas, including the Road to Hana.  Cristy found the app and downloaded it for us.  It was actually really cool, as it used our GPS coordinates to tell us exactly where we were, what we should stop and see, and give us information on the local area.  It planned our entire day trip to Hana for us as we drove.

Naturally, we nicknamed the voice of the guide providing us with directions Gypsy, and we poked so much fun at him.  He was very risk-averse and would tell us all about the amazing waterfalls to see, or hikes to take, or local villages to stop at, but then in the next breath, warn us to stay away for various, ridiculous reasons.  He also reminded us every time we stopped to take him with, and not leave him in the car.

Our first stop was a prime surfing spot near Paia

Then it was a 20 minute walk in the the woods to get to our first waterfall

Eucalyptus trees have the most beautiful, multicolored trunks 

David and Jon sat in the back of the SUV like Statler and Waldorf, the grumpy old Muppets in the balcony of the theatre that talk throughout the show and heckle the cast.  ‘Oh, what a surprise… Gypsy advises us not to hike down to this waterfall because the path could be slippery…’ or ‘Gypsy wants us to take him with us to the beach.  He’s starting to insert himself into our vacation.  Soon, he’ll be a part of our lives, begging us to take him home.  We’ll have to buy a seat for him on the plane next to us!’

Third stop was the Arboretum, where we hiked through thick vegetation to view some stunning flowers

The Three Bears waterfall 

And the treacherous ladder we used to get down to the falls

For all of the grief we gave Gypsy, we actually found ourselves missing him later.  As we drove across Kauai, I wanted to know more about the island, and I wished that he was there to offer his  knowledgeable tidbits.

We had lunch on a black sand beach,

and then took a quick dip in the ocean before moving on.

Because we started the Road to Hana early in the morning, we were able to actually make it past Hana to the Seven Sacred Pools.  And along the way, we saw everything we wanted to see – from black sand beaches to flower sanctuaries, and scenic outlooks.

Gypsy told us all about how Hawaii is over-run with mongoose... They were brought to the islands to kill the rats that were harming the sugarcane plantations.  But there was a major problem - rats are nocturnal and mongoose are not.  So for the past 100 years, the rats and mongoose have been living in harmony.  

Our final stop - the Seven Sacred Pools

On our way back to Wailea, we stopped at Paia Fish Market for fish ‘n’ chips and fish tacos.  We were happy to get out of the car by this point.  Dave was an awesome driver, and drove the entire way!  But those windy roads in the dark, without any streetlights, had him on the edge of his seat for hours on the way home.  He led a caravan with a few cars behind us, and when he pulled over to follow someone else’s taillights for a while, they were having none of it and also pulled over!  Follow the leader, I guess…

Before we knew it, our time in Maui was up!  We were scheduled to leave for Kauai on Thursday afternoon, so we had a little bit of time the next morning to relax in the infinity pool at the Marriot.  I also took an hour by myself to explore the Hilton’s amenities.  The hotel had so many pools and fun things to do that I wish we’d had more time.  But hey, with that direct flight from Texas, I’m already envisioning my next Hawaiian vacation…

For now, our next stop is Kauai!

3 Islands, 3 Birthdays

A few years ago, Cristy, Katie and I were enjoying the St Regis spa on Monarch Beach, in celebration of our birthdays and Cristy’s upcoming wedding.  We were having so much fun relaxing next to the pool that we came up with the brilliant idea to celebrate our 30th birthdays together at the St. Regis in Kauai.   

Katie’s birthday is October 7th, mine is the 9th, and Cristy’s is the 12th.  We all made a pact to hold off on having kiddos until our 30s so we could take this trip together, along with our husbands.  And we did it!  So instead of family planning, Katie and I (both type-A when it comes to organizing vacations) began planning our trip to Hawaii.  We created nerdy Excel spreadsheets detailing our schedule, excursions, restaurants, flight info, etc.  We even held conference calls between the six of us!  All of the planning paid off, though.  We had an amazing trip.  It was the perfect way to ring in a new decade.

As David and I had never been to Hawaii before, we flew into Honolulu a few days early to explore Oahu.  The plan was to spend three days in the capital, and then meet the rest of the group in Maui on Monday.

David and I arrived in Oahu on Friday morning.  Our plane landed early (gasp!), which gave us plenty of time to pick up our rental car and get to our hotel, the Hilton Waikiki Beach, before lunch.  The Hilton is situated on the beach and offered beautiful views of Diamond Head from our balcony.  

The property featured an outdoor shopping center, multiple pools, a kid’s cove, bars and restaurants, and a great lawn, which was home to a few parrots and a pond with turtles. 

David and I spent our first day soaking up the sun on Waikiki Beach, before walking to Lulu’s for a casual linner (lunch/dinner) of fried shrimp and beef teriyaki skewers.

Every morning in Oahu, we woke up extra early to take part in the Hilton’s sunrise exercise classes on the great lawn.  It was really easy the first couple of days with the jet lag, where waking up at 6:00 felt like sleeping in until 11:00.  However, it got more difficult as our bodies adjusted to the time change.

On Saturday morning, we took a yoga class, which was really relaxing.  The next day, not so much…  I thought I had signed us up for Pilates, but our instructor had other ideas.  She kicked it into high gear and kicked our butts.  David did not take part in any sunrise exercise classes after that…

After yoga on Saturday, we drove to Pearl Harbor.  Tickets for the USS Arizona memorial had been sold out online for weeks, but the Hilton concierge told us that a certain number of free tickets are distributed every morning at 7:00 before the park opens.  Since we were up early anyway, we made our way through Honolulu to the base.

Pearl Harbor is still a working base, so there are only certain sections open to tourists, with cell phones and photos restricted in some areas.  We made it to the visitor’s center and claimed our two free tickets to the Arizona, and purchased passes to board the USS Missouri. 

The USS Arizona was destroyed by Japanese bombers on the morning of December 7, 1941.  1,177 men were killed when the massive explosion sunk the ship.  As we began to approach the memorial by boat, we were overwhelmed by the stench of oil.  We could see it sitting on the surface of the water.  More than 70 years have passed since the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Arizona is still leaking oil.

The harbor is shallow enough that it was easy to make out the enormous ship in the water below us.  As the memorial is a protected area, there is a reef growing on the twisted metal.  Even with the oil on the surface, we were able to spot schools of fish feeding off of the reef, and a sea turtle swimming nearby.

It was a very moving site, made even more so by the fact that there are still 1,102 men inside the ship.  The Arizona acts as a massive gravesite for those that were trapped inside when she sank. 

From there, we visited the USS Missouri.  

Japan signed their surrender documents on the deck of the Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.  

From the bow of the Missouri, we were able to see the start of the war with the view of the Arizona in front of us, and the end of the war, standing on the deck where Japan surrendered.

As we left Pearl Harbor, David and I realized that it was still only mid-morning and we had the entire day ahead of us.  That’s what happens when you wake up early, I guess!  (David and I are not early birds, so we wouldn’t know.) 

We returned to Waikiki and decided that instead of relaxing on the beach, we would hike up Diamond Head.  Diamond Head is a saucer-shaped crater formed from a massive volcanic explosion 300,000 years ago.  On the advice of my parents, who’d visited Hawaii in June and done the hike, David and I decided to walk from the Hilton down Waikiki to the top of Diamond Head…  What were we thinking? 

I gifted David that Yoda backpack for Christmas last year.  He had been wanting it for years, and Hawaii was the perfect time to use it.  Yoda was a hit on all of our hikes.  People loved him, and even asked if they could take pictures with him.    

It was so dang hot that afternoon, that by the time we reached Diamond Head Market & Grill for snacks, we had already drank both bottles of water we’d brought with us.  The marketplace filled them up for us with ice water, and we bought a couple of salads and taro chips for lunch.  We also purchased a huge blueberry cream cheese scone for dessert (they looked too good to pass up).

The last flight of stairs before reaching the top!

Onward and upward!  We made it to Diamond Head Park and paid a reduced entry fee as we were arriving on foot.  From the base of the crater, the walk to the top of the ridge was easy, a quick 45 minutes up and back down.  But by the time we got back down, we’d been walking in the heat for hours and couldn’t imagine spending another hour or so walking back to the Hilton. 

Yoda pointing out the Hilton to us

So we were a couple of wimps and cabbed it back to the hotel, where we spent the rest of the day playing in the pool.  We felt like a couple of kids going down the waterslides in the family pool.

The next morning, after our hellish workout, we rewarded ourselves with Portuguese donuts from Leonard’s bakery.  Those little balls of goodness come in three different varieties – plain, coconut, and cream filled.  We got a few of each and ate them on our drive to Hanauma Bay.

Much like Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay is a crater created 32,000 years ago.  Waves eroded part of the crater walls, filling the hole with water and creating the curved bay seen today.  The bay is protected from the rough seas, which makes it the perfect home for a variety of colourful fish.  The water is also very shallow and clear, so it’s a perfect spot for kids and beginner snorkelers… and us. 

After snorkelling for a few hours and then taking a quick cat nap on the beach, we began our hour-long drive across the island to the North Shore.  We hadn’t seen any sea turtles yet, besides the one at Pearl Harbor, so we were determined to find one on Laniakea Beach on the North Shore.  The area is nicknamed Turtle Beach because of the multitude of sea turtles that eat the algae off the rocks in the ocean there, and then come onshore to sunbathe.

As we were driving to the North Shore, following my iPhone GPS, I noticed Dole Plantation signs along the road.  And a few minutes later, there it was right in front of us!  When we were planning out our days in Oahu, I had originally put the Dole Plantation on my list of things to see because the pineapple maze is the largest in the world.  But as our days started to fill up, we realized that we wouldn’t have time to do everything and the plantation was scrapped. 

Since Dole happened to be on our way to the North Shore, though, David and I decided to stop in for a light snack.  We weren’t able to do the maze (we could’ve gotten lost in there for hours!), but we did order a couple of pineapple whips (pineapple ice cream blended with fresh chunks of pineapple and juice).  We also bought a couple of fun Christmas ornaments, per tradition, and then headed on our way.

We found Turtle Beach, but the water was so choppy that we were sure there were no turtles around.  David ventured out into the waves, and when I saw that he was doing fine, I joined him in the water.  As I was walking out to David, a large wave came up behind him and in the wave, I could see the dark outline of a huge turtle!  It was literally the biggest sea turtle I’ve ever seen.  I yelled, ‘There’s a giant turtle right behind you!’ and then ran out of the water to grab the Go-Pro and David’s snorkel gear. 

Well, that turtle was wicked fast so there was no chance we were going to catch it on video.  Instead, we ran down the beach as it swam parallel to shore.  After a few minutes, it had reached a shallow area filled with algae-covered rocks.  There, we noticed about a dozen sea turtles swimming around, having their algae lunch.  

There were conservationists on the shore, ready to guard the turtles if they decided to come out to sunbathe.  None did, though, which was unfortunate because we’d never seen a sea turtle out of water before (that is, until our recent trip to the Dominican where David rescued one)!

After our adventure on Turtle Beach, we had lunch with the locals at Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck.  We ordered the favourite – scampi served with rice loaded with garlic.  For dessert, we had shave ice from Matsumoto’s down the street.

Before flying out of Oahu the next afternoon, we ate lunch at Morimoto at the Modern Hotel next door to the Hilton.  Morimoto is owned by the Morimoto from Iron Chef America.  I had the lobster melt sandwich with miso mayo, salad, and wasabi fries, while David had the special plate – ishi yaki buri bop.  His meal consisted of yellowtail mixed with Asian flavors and cooked tableside. 

We flew out of Oahu, headed to Maui, with full bellies and full hearts.  The trip was off to a great start!