https://shannonbrown.typepad.com > Hawaii

Day One 

Ahhh. Here we are finally on our hotel room's lanai (balcony) after a full day of travel -- walking through 3 airports, 6 hours of flight time, a memorable ride on the Wiki Wiki express shuttle bus, picking up our purple rental car (a Chevy something??, all it said was HHR on the back), followed by a 30 minute drive to our hotel.

After arriving at our hotel on Ka'anpali Beach we were greeted by the friendly staff -- they gave us leis, unloaded our car, informed us we had been upgraded to an ocean view king room (we originally booked a garden view), valet parked our car, and whisked us up to our room. We felt like we were receiving the royal treatment!

Day Two 

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and attended the Lahaina 1st Ward at 9:00am. But it wasn't like we were dragging ourselves out of bed -- we were wide awake at 6am after already getting 9 hours of sleep.

We're so glad we took the time to go to church -- it was a fun experience. At least half of the people in the congregation were vacationers like us. We sat next to a family from Arizona. The congregation filled the chapel and they set out rows of chairs that went all the way to the back of the gym -- it was packed! It was fast & testimony meeting, and over the course of sacrament meeting I counted 8 "aloha's". I wonder if they ever get tired of saying it?

Day Two 

The beach! Now this is what we're here for.

Day Two 

Out on the beach for about 5 hours today. Enjoying the warm weather (84-88 degrees everyday we were there), reading our books, taking a break to dip into the ocean every once in a while. In total chillin' mode.

Day Two 

At about 3:30 in the afternoon the angle of the sun would create the most beautiful sparkling effect on the water. I just loved it.

We had an awesome beach. The water was very calm -- no waves at all. You could walk out a good distance, the water was perfectly clear, and it wasn't cold at all.

Day Two 

For dinner we went to a restaurant at nearby Whaler's Village. Our seats were positioned for perfect sunset viewing.

After dinner we visited the Crocs kiosk and we are now both the proud owners of Crocs shoes -- Scott's are orange (of course) and mine are pink (no surprises here).

Day Three 

For just one morning of our vacation we decided to get up early to have a big breakfast. And we were rewarded by our promptness with this table on the edge of the hotel's gardens and koi pond. A beautiful view to take in while sipping on my freshly squeezed orange juice.

Day Three 

After breakfast we ventured out to the beach to get a few pictures before it was full of people. I love this shot of the beach cabanas. To me, this is the portrait of resort life. Sitting back in your cabana, shaded and comfy with your cushy seat, watching the ocean waves roll in, sipping on a pina colada (virgin, of course). That is the life.

Day Three 

Just us on the beach.

Day Three 

We went parasailing once before in Cancun, but it was much different. There were 3 of us that went up, sitting on a big bench (with a full seat & back) that was attached to the parachute.

I'm the one who decided we needed to go parasailing in Hawaii after sitting on the beach Sunday and watching all the boats pulling people along.

We signed up for the deluxe 800' rope (as opposed to the 400'). It was a blast! And once you're up in the air it is so smooth and so quiet and just a pleasant ride. Partway through they stop the boat and slowly you see the slack building up in the rope and you start descending, closer and closer to the water. Just when you think you're going to land in the ocean they start up the boat again and you're yanked up into the air . . . . but not before your feet/legs have a chance to actually touch & drag in the water! It's pretty exciting.

Day Three 

Part of our hotel was built up against Black Rock -- basically a big rock that extends into the ocean. The top picture shows just how much the hotel is a part of the rock -- that is the path we took everyday to get down to the pool/beach. The bottom picture is what you see standing in our room doorway.

Day Four 

Time for a helicopter tour! We booked a 45 minute flight that went around the West Maui Mountains and the island of Molokai. It was so much fun. The only un-fun part was not getting to sit next to Scott. There are 6 passengers, they weigh you as you check-in, and then you're assigned a seat so that the weight is evenly distributed.

Here's us at the end of our flight with Captain Kirk. No joke, that's his name.

Day Four 

Me in the front row! I'm sitting by some lady I don't know and Captain Kirk is just on my right.

Day Four 

Here we are in the West Maui mountains, zooming through some valley and at the end of it are some waterfalls. The picture on the right looking up through a little window on the roof -- just look at those mountain peaks towering over us!

Day Four 

Now we're on Molokai.

The picture on the top is a bit deceiving. As we're flying along we don't realize that the edge of all that pretty green land is actually a sheer cliff wall that drops 1800' down to the ocean. And as we came over the edge Captain Kirk let us feel the drop! I had to hold onto my seat!

The bottom picture gives you a view of the cliffs from the other side.

Day Four 

After our flight we drove 10 minutes to the town of Paia for lunch and then on up the road to Ho'okipa Beach to watch the surfers.

Day Four 

me on the rocky side of the beach

Day Four 

Enjoying a sunset together.

Day Four 

This is my favorite picture of the two of us.

Day Five 

The view from our lanai.

Day Five 

Sitting at the poolside grill for lunch.

Day Five 

All week the beach had been really calm, practically no waves at all. Then on Wednesday we came down to find huge waves crashing on the beach. Scott had a great time riding the waves in.

Day Five 

Another day on the beach.

Day Five 

On our last night in Maui we went to a luau held right at our hotel. There was lots of good food, entertainment, and Scott and I even danced. We thought it was the perfect send-off after a fantastic vacation.

Day Five 

The fire knife dancer at the luau -- got some pretty cool pictures of this one.

Day Six 

One last trip out to the beach on the day of check-out. We went out at 8am to do some snorkeling around Black Rock. Those pics are yet to be developed on my underwater camera.

Day Six 

While doing some shopping in Lahaina we stopped for lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Wow -- those were some amazing burgers. And the pineapple smoothies were perfection!...

Me and my giant hamburger. Scott was floored when I ate the WHOLE thing!

Day Six 

For our drive back to the airport we had several hours on our hands so we decided to take the long way around the west coat of Maui. We came upon so many scenic turn-offs and stopped at many of them. At every turn we kept saying "wow", as we discovered more of the beautiful coast-line. We're so glad we took this little detour.

See us in our crocs!

Day Six 

Okay. At one of the turn-offs we pull up and everywhere you look there are little rocks stacked on top of each other -- like little statues or pillars. So, I decided I needed to make one too and I dedicated it to our love -- our love rock pillar. =)

Day Six 

isn't this gorgeous?

Day Six 

Soon the highway turned into this -- a one-lane road! It was pretty exciting. We did come upon several cars going the opposite direction, so that was always interesting trying to back-up or maneuver things so one of us could pass. As we approached turns a sign would say "Blow Horn" -- so we'd blow our horn, I guess to warn others that might be coming around the corner that we were there.

Day Six 

Check out this sign. This is the second one we saw (the first saying 3 miles ahead). On our helicopter tour Captain Kirk mentioned this lady and her signs by name. It was fun to see that it was actually for real. We were so excited to check this place out. And when someone advertises that they have the "best banana bread on the planet" how can you pass it up?

Day Six 

Sure enough, the bright green treehouse does exist! We bought a warm loaf for $5 and it really was good. This place was called Kahakalua Village -- sooo isolated, a true Hawaiian community I have to guess. Julia had a notebook set out for her customers to write the date, name, and hometown. A few hours earlier someone had passed through from Medford. I thought the log book was a very cool idea.