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!