We didn't cook on Maui, and so I'm putting this on the Conversations Side, even though we did go to grocery stores. One local store had excellent sushi, sashimi, and poki - it was some of the freshest fish I had ever had. We also went to Sansei in Kihei, a short drive from our hotel. It was our one splurge, but we were glad we went - a very interesting and different menu for us. Our favorite breakfast place was the Home Maid Cafe, which opened at 6:00 a.m. - very helpful since we started every day very early and didn't want to wait until 7:30, which is when Stella Blues opened. The hotel recommended SB to us, but the Home Maid had much, much better coffee. I decided to drink coffee on this trip, since I had not had any in several years, and it upset my stomach less than I expected. SB coffee was weak, but HM had strong Kona coffee with an excellent flavor.
Our favorite restaurant was Vietnamese Cuisine Restaurant, which was incredibly cheap and good. I got "make your own" lemongrass beef burritos and was brought a generous plate of excellent sliced beef with vermicelli and vegetables, PLUS a bowl of hot water and a plate of dry rice paper and no instructions. Of course I knew how to make the "burritos", which were more like summer rolls, and the waitress seemed impressed with the way I handled the rice paper. It was also the freshest rice paper and never tore! I've had less luck with the rice paper that I've bought at the Japanese markets here, and I wonder if age has something to do with it. I generally make my own Vietnamese food here, but I did not expect to be rolling Vietnamese burritos at a restaurant!
Monday we went to Honolua Cove to snorkel, and it had a terrible beach. We didn't stay long because Kevin's mask leaked, and I thought the snorkeling was not that great. As it turned out, however, I liked it better than Molokini, which I found very disappointing, although Kevin liked it. He accused me of being jaded by my many trips to the Carribean. Molokini was on Wednesday; on Tuesday we did the zipline tour, and that was great fun. Kevin did some passable videos there, and I'll link to his YouTube later. It was not scary, especially after the first ride. My favorite part was crashing into the brake at the end of each ride - it sounded like a train wreck!
Thursday we did the road to Hana (and beyond), and this was the highlight for me. I loved the seven pools with all the waterfalls, and did some rock climbing to get next to the waterfalls. I think Kevin has some good photos from that trip, and maybe some video. After swimming in the fresh water pools, our hair felt like it had been conditioned. On the road, we saw lots of lobster claw heliconia in bloom, as well as yellow, white, red, and pink ginger and a few gingers that were new to me. I took flower pictures. Most of the flora was very familiar to me and also found in California, like the proteus, which is from South Africa. I have more variety in tropical plants in my yards than I saw at Hana, although I did see quite a few of the plants that I do have there. We only saw two orchids blooming, and they were not impressive, but there was one fairly nice bromeliad. We might have found more interesting flora if we had gotten further away from the road, but the drive was rather time consuming. We had no problem driving on the hairpin curves, although some of the one-lane bridges were a bit disconcerting.
Friday was the trip to Haleakala and the bike ride down. The tour took us to the very top so that we could see the crater, and it was not cold there, considering the altitude. The ride down took us through Makawao, which was our favorite town on the island, and we went back on Saturday to do some shopping. It reminded me a lot of Ojai, CA. We went to Lanai, which reminded us of Laguna Beach, and we did not like it as well. The galleries and restaurants were also identical to Laguna, and the artists that we saw also showed in Laguna Beach. Makawao had more interesting and unique galleries, and we actually bought stuff there, but not in Lanai.
That covers most of it, and I'll add pictures to this thread as I get the opportunity. Kevin has this week off and will be editing photos and video from the trip.
Lars
ann_t
Gina_W
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