It did seem strange to us to see Christmas Trees and hear Here Comes Santa Claus, sung Island-style while we walked around Kanaapali Beach - but Hey we went with it! Shorts and t-shirts on Dec 31st was just what we needed!
After our Christmas in Dallas we flew through San Francisco to Maui. We arrived a bit jet-lagged and a lot hungry and headed straight to the beach to find some fresh seafood.
On Sunday we decided to get out on the ocean and look for some whales!
This was our ride. The trick about the tide is that your entrance onto the boat needs to be expertly timed when you step down onto those stairs you see at the back. Even with the guides telling you to GO! the ocean will do its own thing...it did it to us and we were soaked upon arriving onto the boat!! Good thing it was 80 degrees out, we dried out pretty quickly!
It was a game day as you'll see we were wearing Cowboy gear and were able to get the game on slingbox on our phone, well until the last few minutes of the game of course....The restaurant and hotel staff we found really liked to talk football!The ride was fun, we did see a few whales spouting and turning over towards the end of the ride. It was interesting to learn that this area is the best place for mothers to have their baby whales and let them grow before heading back up to Alaska!
That evening we took in a Luau. It was fun to see once!
We hit the hay early as we had a VERY early morning call to get on the road up the mountain to see sunrise before our ride down the mountain on bikes! It was COLD up at the top. Luckily the bike companies outfit you with gear to keep you warm...
We took hundreds of pictures while waiting for the sun to come up over the clouds which we were above!
Here are just a few....
Beautiful Sunrise! Totally worth it!
After the sunrise we took our bus part way back down the mountain to where the bikes were. We made a quick side stop to see the Hawaiian State Bird the NeNe. Looked a lot like a goose.
We also stopped for snacks and saw the State Flower as well....
Then we got all ready to go!
All the kids and women road down first with the guys bringing up the rear. We stopped along the way for pictures. You really had to keep ahold of the handlebars and pay close attention to what you were doing down the mountain. It was beautiful to see everything....we went through a bit of rain, but mostly sunny skies!
That evening we had one of our best meals...we luckily got a little table with this view....
The rest of our time consisted of more food and relaxing...
Mama's Fish House is a favorite on the island so we had a New Years Eve Lunch here...
We enjoyed seeing this Sandman!New Year's Eve wasn't too crazy for us....we had dinner which was unfortunately not great...then checked out Fleetwood Mac's Bar/restaurant, that was TOTALLY dead....and decided Bed sounded good after our adventures....we had another big one coming our last day....
We checked out of our hotel and had until 11:30pm to find something to do....
The ROAD TO HANA! This is not for the faint of heart! Beautiful scenery that comes with a bit of a crazy drive! Roads that wound and wound....narrow and many one lane bridges. My husband was an amazing driver that day who got us safely there and back in one piece!
It is not a far distance but it was slow going and we made numerous stops along the way to see different points of interest. Again this is a one time thing that was great to see!
A short hike through a bamboo forest...
staying hydrated by coconut water fresh from the tree....
a cool Rainbow Eucalyptus grove....these trees were so cool...
more sights from the drive....
stopping for fresh banana bread snack at a roadside vendor.
black lava beach...
After this it was all downhill headed back to civilization to grab dinner and rest at the airport until our flight home!
It was a great trip! Certainly one to remember, another wonderful New Year's Eve with my husband!!
Cheers,
Rach
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