Countdown to Takeoff

Monday - Cramming in the last bits of vacation.

It’s going to be too busy. Laundry…reading…clean out the fridge…reading…run up to Makawo…reading… packing… reading…

Most of the packing got done. There are just some things that cannot be packed until tomorrow. I was not able to finish reading an entire book today but I have to congratulate myself for reading the stack o’ non-returnable, used books I brought with the thought of not having to tote them home. I do, however, have a few that will remain on my “keeper” shelf.

Hubby and I emptied the fridge, except for the next day’s breakfast. Brought the empty aluminum cans, newspaper, and plastic bag to the recycle center. Found a food donation bin for those items we didn’t use and wanted to pass on for someone instead of throwing them away.

We found our food bin at Sotheby’s at the Shops at Wailea.

Believe or not it rained… again… the clouds were very dark and instead of walking across the street to the Five Palms for dinner, the uncertain inclement weather made driving the car a necessity. The Five Palms had their own problems due to the unexpected downpour. Their patio was closed. All their diners were restricted to indoor dining or the bar area which made for an hour’s wait, which we weren’t going to do.

We headed over to Sarento’s next door. It’s the sister restaurant to Nick’s FishMarket… so really, how bad could it be? The waiting “team”… ahem… need to get its act together. Although head waiter-floor manager Michael smoozed up a storm with clients, we waited a long time for our menus, and even l-o-n-g-e-r for someone to take our order. Moments before Steven (or was it Stephen?) took our orders, we were debating if we should pay for our drinks and find a place to eat. Cheeseburer in Paradise, perhaps?

As it turned out the food was very good. There was an indoor light show where the overhead string of lights flickered with the blustery wind multiple times before going out. But shockingly enough, what caught our eye… or ears in this case, were the surrounding patrons. I don’t know where these people came from but the four at our table had our eyebrows raised nearly the entire time. No, it was not a good look.

We declined dessert, heck we don’t want to spend all night there waiting, and headed home. There was, after all, ice cream we had to clean up.

We’ll be leaving in the morning to head home. Alo-HA! Until next year. I'll leave the blog up until the end of the week. Thank you to those of you who followed our journey on Maui.

This is the Life!

Sunday - Another day reading…

No leftovers tonight. We, and the Upstairs Neighbors, headed over to The Wailea Hotel. The views were spectacular, as was the Crème Brulee Martini. Alas, the food was not up to our expectations.

Quel dommage.

Nice ‘n Easy

Saturday - A simple entry. We sat around , read, napped, and ate leftovers. I finished reading two books and produced six to seven handwritten pages for a new book.

Not bad.

The Upstairs Neighbors joined us for the “eating” portion… most of the leftovers, as you know, are theirs. They went to see the new George Clooney goat movie.

Aloha

Cotton Pickin’ Cherry Picker

Friday - Hubby took his run and I played with the Kindle. I downloaded sample chapters from a book. It was fun to play with the buttons and I enjoyed reading on the small, handheld machine. After reading the sample chapters I know I do not want to spend money purchasing the book and will visit my local library to check it out.

The cloudy storm, whatever that was last night, was gone this morning. It’s still a bit gray outside. The other surprise is we have no Internet. We decide to run to the store for milk. On our way to the store we see …

Every time there’s trouble - no power, no Internet - what do we see? Those cherry pickers. I have to say that the problem is fixed wiki-wiki and I’m glad they have the necessary equipment to make the repairs but I dread seeing them.

We spent the afternoon with the Upstairs Neighbors and their guests. The guests are leaving this afternoon so the men went down to the Five Palms for a last Mai Tai and the women headed out for lunch. We ate at the Four Seasons' restaurant Ferraro's. It sits next to the beach. We had quesadillas and various island-fruit-enhanced lemonades.

We’re sad to see half our group leave. They’re headed out to Florida, a very long flight from Maui. We had such a good time and hope they’ll be back in a few years to visit again. If not we’ll see you in San Diego!

After they left we trudged over to the Upstairs Neighbor’s fridge to see our future. They’d been telling us how well they’ve been doing with their food rations. Apparently with the addition of their guest’s other fridge, contents were now overflowing.

So begins the “leftovers” portion of our vacation, where we do our best to dispose of eatables in our kitchens. I think we did an okay job this year but are we doomed to share our Upstairs Neighbor’s fate? I was hoping to go out for one of these...

Storm's a-Brewin'

Thursday

Another quiet day today, spending time relaxing in the condo. Hubby went for his morning run, as always. We tried to put a dent in the few leftovers we have.

At 4:00 we headed upstairs for puu-puus and a sunset. The sky was uncharacteristically gray. It felt as if it were only 9:00 in the morning. We hadn’t seen the sun all day. I guess one cloudy day in the 20 years we’ve come here isn’t bad -including the seven or so years we missed in the middle.

There was a lightning show atop Haleakala and a sprinkle of rain. We imagined the east side was drenched. However, to the west there was a spectacular sunset, all pinks and reds through the hazy clouds.

We finished off a bag of Maui Onion Chips and some yummy curry-mango dip.

Dinner was a spectacular effort of the guests of our Upstairs Neighbors. Lobster and GIANT shrimp with baked potatoes , a nice green salad, and deviled eggs that fed a heated discussion of if they should be puu-puus or part of dinner. How does one qualify “appetizer” ?

The traditional Haupia cake and a round of Happy Birthday finished the meal.

It was late, by our standards, by the time we got home… yeah, that‘s all the way downstairs, Hubby and I rolled into bed, once again, and zzzzzzz.

Adventure Time

Wednesday - After spending a quiet day in the condo yesterday, we were ready to hit the road. What we really needed was the Adventure jeep.

One of the Guests from upstairs was telling us of Makena and their beaches and the old, most recent, lava flow on Maui. Hubby and I could not help ourselves but plan a trip to those places. We headed out around 9ish. There wasn’t a cloud to be seen around Haleakala. We drove south past the Kea Lani Resort… the farthest south I’d ever been. Then it was just a two lane road cutting through brush. A few dirt roads branched off, mostly makai (“toward the sea"). We turned down the paved path, displaying a State Park sign. It turned out to be Makena Big Beach.


Big beach had brown colored sand, almost like Nestle’s Quick. The ocean was amazingly clear with multi-blue and green hues. We took some pictures but I’m not sure a camera can catch the variations.


We could see the south side of Kahoolawe and Molokini. To the right was Lanai and West Maui in the distance.

Since we were standing on Big Beach we knew we’d missed the Little Beach exit. We’d been told it was not well-marked. By the time we got back to our car, the parking lot was full with visitors circling for a parking spot. The beach would be crowded in no time.

We headed south again, and the road narrowed. Nothing like the roads on the north side of the island. There were people snorkeling off shore, fishing with poles, and some even with nets. Then we passed a sign showing “off limit” areas ahead. The Ahihi-Kina'u Natural Area Perserve- the last lava flow on Maui that took place in 1790.



It was a strange sight. Looked like a HUGE field of plowed rich soil. It actually was lava rocks. It was strange to see the greenery growing behind the lava rock on the side of the volcano. It almost seemed like another planet. It only seems right since the top of Haleakala looks like the moon.


There’s going to be a beautiful beach there someday… 500 years or so.

We got to the end of the road, turned around at the stables, and headed toward home. We kept our eyes open for the Big Beach exit then took the very next one. Deep ruts pitted the narrow dirt path. We eased our way closer and closer to the shore. Finally we spotted a couple of parked cars. It turned out that there was a parking lot… a small one. One gets the feeling somebody doesn’t want you to know this place is here.


This is a black sand beach and the sand drops at the waterline at such a steep angle it made me feel uncomfortable. I wouldn’t want to go into the water here. But again, the water was so amazingly blue that day it was a wonderful sight. Little Beach is also known to be “clothing optional” although we did not see any signs of this. The two other groups were just sitting in their chairs enjoying the ocean view.

Hubby and I left the Adventure portion of our day to head to Foodland to stock up. We returned home in time for lunch. We have plenty of leftovers in the fridge. Naps and more reading followed. We had a delicious birthday dinner at Nick’s Fishmarket. Someone was turning the big 5 - 0. Not Hawaii Five-0 but it’s almost the same.

The night was amazingly clear and the bright, twinkling stars were set on the black sky--it‘s so dark it looks like velvet. It was all we could do to roll back to the condo and fall into bed… so full, so tired, so sleepy. The last thing we saw before falling asleep… a quick peek at the zodiacal light to the south.

Another Day in Paradise

Tuesday - DirtBoy and Mrs. DirtBoy left this morning. They island hopped over to Oahu for DirtBoy to work. That is sad, isn’t it? The good news it that one can find umbrella drinks there.

After the departure of the DirtPeople we had to settle in and find our “normal,“ which was a combination of reading, writing, naps, and laundry. Hubby and I were down to one shirt and one pair of socks each. He finished his last Fantasy and SciFi magazine. He’d been a subscriber for more than 25 years and after the years of editorial changes, he just can’t take it anymore. He’s done. He’s not even passing the magazine to anyone, he’s discarding it… into the recycle pile. I’m thinking it must be pretty bad reading.

Hubby got the blue, flashy thing, a “wireless access point,” working! We’re totally wireless with our laptops! Yeah, I’m feeling kind of wild with the ability to roam.

For lunch we broke into the peanut butter and used some of the papaya and coconut jam. There are a selection of nuts and chips to dig into as well. By the time it we headed out to the lanai, the haupia ice cream and the POG cartons had been emptied.

We had a great time catching up with the Upstairs Neighbors and their guests. We heard about the fish caught during the Deep Sea fishing expedition. As I suspected it was more for the “fishing” and not the “fish.” It sounded as if he had fun.

We also heard about the lava flow… the last one on Maui was 1790. Hubby and I think we might have to check it out. It’s south of us, past Wailea, past Makena, you get to it on a rough, one way road. I’m thinking we might need an Adventure Jeep for this. “One way road” strikes fear into my heart after our excursion on the northwest side of the island.

We’ll need to keep the advice of DirtBoy in mind… keep hydrated. You know what that means… no, not Menehune Water…

Umbrella drinks!

A New Week

Monday

What’s the plan? Where are we eating next? Yes, I know they are the burning questions. We’re all, all ten--nine of us, are headed up to the Grand Wailea for brunch--another must do while in Maui. (We lost one member to deep sea fishing. ) Best brunch on the island, and I dare anyone to prove me wrong. If I am, I’ll brunch there.

After filling our bellies, we headed out to Makawao. I noticed the absence of the pineapple fields. Apparently a few days before our arrival “they” announced that pineapple crops are not profitable on the island and they are abandoning the fields. So sad.

A really *exciting* thing, for some of us, was the piles of red dirt along Hanson Road by the sugar mill. DirtBoy is called that for a reason, you know.

My favorite shop in Makawao, can’t recall the name, has gone out of business. I’ve bought several items there over the years. Some of my favorite earrings and the fancy silver utensils that are shaped into different useful items… mine were bookmark holders that Deb Marlowe so loved at the RWA Literary Signing.


The highlight was seeing the glassblower make a jellyfish at Hot Island Glass. Hubby and I plan to go back and pick up some items later in the week.

And, of course, there’s the stop at Kamodo’s Store. Can anyone say creampuffs and donut on a stick?

After we got home there was a short rest period. Because we didn’t have lunch in Makawao, nor had we eaten since that morning at the Grand Wailea, we headed out to Cheeseburger in Paradise.

Mrs. DirtBoy, on her quest to collect paper umbrellas, couldn’t make up her mind between the Trouble in Cheeseburger and something else that we can’t recall. She ordered both, the one she liked was hers and the other one was DirtBoy’s. I stuck with the chi-chi and Hubby had a mai-tai AND beer. Well, someone had to try to keep up with our guests.

We ordered a round of puu-puus: “babies” cheeseburger sliders, cheesy fries, and the =real= reason we went there: coconut shrimp. It wasn’t a lot of food but we really didn’t need it. We took a little adventure. Mrs. DirtBoy saw what we ::thought:: was a drink in a magazine. The Crème Brulee-looking dessert was in a martini glass… which told us-girls it was a martini. It was served at Hotel Wailea. As it turns out Hotel Wailea is just down the street from the Kea Lani.

Hotel Wailea was mauka, toward the mountain, up on the side of Haleakala. We’d never been there before and this has been the only time that I’ve ever felt “under dressed” while on Maui. We ended up sitting at the bar, because we were going to have this Crème Brulee drink. They handed us drink and dessert menus. There were a lot of yummy things. We ended up ordering 2 Crème Brulee martinis, a tiramisu, and a chocolate martini. Our bartender Will suggested we get some coconut sorbet. He decided to send it out anyway, even if we didn’t order it, because if we didn’t like it HE’D eat it.

Another few minutes go buy and our drink, a chocolate martini, arrives. Then our desserts… the tiramisu, the four teacup-sized scoops of coconut sorbet, and two Crème Brulees in martini glasses.

The tiramisu was so delicious, the coconut sorbet, made in-house, was yum-yum-yum amazing. That was THE best Crème Brulee I’ve ever, ever had. Ever. The four of us had such a wonderful evening with our desserts. Yes, to die for! And we walked into the lobby to look around. It was a tall ceilinged, round room with a 180 degree window overlooking Wailea, Kihei, out past Kahalui to the ocean-a dazzling view.

Hubby and I are thinking of coming back when we're hungry... maybe sometime next week. 'Cause if dessert was THAT good… can you imagine what supper would be like?