Maui trip

I left for my long trip with my mom on April 2nd, which is my dads birthday. I got to spend his birthday with him and a few days with some old friends before our adventure started on Thursday night. My mom had worked all day and then was preparing herself for sitting on a stuffy plane for 6 hours. Probably not the best thought out plan! Regardless, we made it to Honolulu and took a taxi to our old military hotel. It was a room to sleep in for the night and discovered it was the hang out for pigeons in the morning. These pigeons sounded like they weighed two tons and just sat out our back window calling out to the world. Lol. Talk about a wake up call. That morning, we traveled back to the airport where we caught our inter island flight to Maui. I wish all flights could be that quick. Twenty minutes from take off to landing. Fabulous. We got our convertible, directions to our resort and we were on our way.
We didn’t really do anything on our second day but go to the grocery store and sit out on our back patio and enjoy the weather and some wine! The one downside to our resort was that it didn’t have a restaurant OR a bar. So everywhere we went, we had to drive. I don’t mind driving, but I would loved to be able to walk to and from dinner . . . or even the bar. ☺

Day 3 is when the fun started. We had our massages at the Grand Wilea resort just a few miles up from where we were staying. This was a little slice of what it’s like to have a boat load of money! We got pampered in their hot tubs a massage later. After all of that was done, we had a nice water front lunch at the hotel bistro.




We drove back and later that night went to a luau. I started having some sort of reaction to the sea shell necklace they gave me and then it spread to my shoulders and back. Some people think it was the sun, or lotions, or allergic reaction. We aren’t really sure. Come to find out, it’s what is called Howly skin. My good friend Gretta used to live in Hawaii and I described this to her and she said it’s a reaction to the sun. It’s a moist, hot environment and my skin did NOT like it. ☹

Day 4 we had a helicopter ride.

It was a cool experience, but I’m not sure I would do it again any time soon. I felt too vulnerable feeling like a bug. Mom really liked it and had a great time, while I was sort of freaked out the entire time. We got some pretty spectacular shots and views and a dvd of it afterwards.

Day 5 was Tuesday, our relaxing day. We sat on the beach because all of the vacationers (who had kids and were loud ) were gone from our resort so we spent quality time down on our little private beach. We found some sand crabs and they entertained us. My father-in-law had flown into Maui that night and we met him for dinner at a local place called Café o’lei. It was a hoppin place, but it was too loud to really have any kind of conversation for the three of us. Regardless, it was a fun to see him and have a nice dinner with him.

Day 6 was our road trip to Hana. We were first thinking that we would drive it, but then we got talked out of it. Instead, we took a tour bus( that only sat 12 people ) up there. And we are so glad that we did it that way. We were told that the driver doesn’t get to see any of the beauty because they are so concerned with the road and how tight and narrow it is. This way, we got to sit and watch beauty go by. It started at 7 am and we got back in time for dinner at 5. The road to hana isn’t about the actual trip TO hana, it was more of the journey around the island to see the different places. I think my favorite part was what I called the Dr.Suess tree’s. They are actually called rainbow eucalyptus. It looked like someone threw paint all over the trees.

We saw some pretty waterfalls, but I think once you’ve seen one, you’ve probably seen them all. It was nice to be able to sit back and listen to the driver tell us all about what we were passing. At lunch time, we stopped at a local nursery, where I got bit by mosquito’s, but only on my right foot. My big toe, my 2nd toe, my ‘ring finger’ toe and then my pinky. I was pretty miserable for the next hour or so, but I am so thankful I brought my cortisone cream with me that day. The day ended with a nice dinner and packing our bags to leave paradise and go to Honolulu. I didn’t really pack because I knew that I could repack when we go to Honolulu.

Day 7 we traveled to Honolulu. Got to our hotel at 10:30 and spent the rest of the day walking around downtown. I really wanted to go to the Pearl Harbor Memorial, but we don’t have the time. I guess if you go, you are supposed to get there bright and early at 7am so you are guaranteed a ticket to get in. It was too late for us and we don’t have the time or place to store our luggage tomorrow. ☹ I’m sad about that. However, we did find an apple store among the other very high end stores in downtown Waikiki. There was a Prada, Louis Vutton, Gucci, Tiffany’s . . .the list goes on and on. So anyway, we found an apple store and I was so excited because a month or so ago, I dropped my iphone and it cracked on the back. Looking around Billings, they’d have to send it out and I would be phoneless for two weeks. I wasn’t about to have that. So 33 dollars later, the apple store in Waikiki fixed my broken back to my iphone and I am one very happy customer.
When we had dinner with Don on Tuesday, he had also suggested we go and see a Banyan tree that is a few hundred years old and is absolutely amazing. We found it walking along the beach and those words don’t even describe it. Our bartender at the bar we stopped off at before our walk down the beach had said that the hotel that the tree sits in the back of, brought in a “tree whisperer” to talk to it because it was losing it’s leaves. The tree told the whisperer that people weren’t talking about her anymore because they had moved the bar away from the tree. The tree also told this whisperer that there was a something blocking her roots! By goly, there was a huge cement block that no one knew of. It was pretty amazing. So now, they have a restaurant, a bar and a pool by this big banyan tree and she is growing again! What a sweet story! ☺

Our flight home to Seattle was on Friday, the 13th and it didn’t seem nearly as long as getting there. I had charged my computer to watch quite a few episodes of Felicity and before we knew it, we were landing in Seattle. I had a quick sleep then left around 11 am on Saturday morning to drive to Billings with Nicole. It was a quick drive, but I’ve made that drive so many times now that it goes by quick. Peter, Nicole and Malachi stayed the night with Brad and I on Sunday night and left early on Monday to make it to their new home in Wyoming.

I had a great time with my mom but was so happy to come home to Brad. ☺