Iao Valley - March 3, 2010

Today we had to go back home! We ate at the restaurant in the hotel, loaded the car and went to Hilo Hattie's. This is a local tourist store and we had looked for it several times. Since we were leaving...we had to find it! It was a few blocks from where I thought I remembered! Abby bought a few things and off we went. Daddy had either lost some of his meds, or had not brought enough. He talked to the VA and they called in a prescription to Walgreens. We stopped by there and then headed towards the Iao Valley. The Iao Valley is a dense rainforest with an average rainfall of 386" per year! In the midst of the valley is the 1200' Iao Needle. There is a legend about how the needle came to be...from mauigateway.com...

BIRTH OF IAO NEEDLE

Once in Old Hawaii, in the days when anything was possible, Maui, the most powerful God, had a beautiful daughter. Maui loved her very much and as he watched her grow up, he vowed that only the most worthy King in all the islands would marry her.

But without her father knowing, the beautiful maiden fell in love with Puuokamoa, a Merman God. She knew that her father wouldn't approve, so they kept their romance secret. Every day the beautiful maiden sneaked off to meet her love and every night she returned home, radiant. One day, a townsperson saw the two of them together and ran back and told Maui of his daughter's secret lover.

Maui was furious. He flew into a rage and his screams of anger were heard by Madame Pele, the volcano Goddess. She flew in her supernatural way to where Maui was and suddenly appeared in front of him.

"What is so horribly wrong to put you in such an uproar?" Madame Pele asked.

"My beautiful daughter has fallen in love with a God and I disapprove. When I see him, I am going to have him condemned to a fiery death", Maui said.

"Who is this God?", Pele asked.

"His name is Puuokamoa".

Madame Pele frowned at the mention of his name. "Oh no, Puuokamoa is my friend. Spare him, Maui. I beg you. Do not have him killed".

But Maui would not listen. Madame Pele was still pleading with him when his beautiful daughter returned. She heard her father's death sentence on her lover and burst into tears.

"Oh Father", she sobbed, "I cannot live without the sight of Puuokamoa".

The Father's heart softened at the sight of his daughter and thinking that she would be unhappy for the rest of her life if she could not see the man she loved. Finally, after much thought, Maui put his arms around his daughter and lifted up her beautiful face. Tears soaked her unhappy eyes.

"Daughter dear, I cannot bear to see you unhappy", Maui said tenderly. "But I cannot allow this romance to continue. You cannot marry this Merman God".

His daughter waited to hear what her powerful father had decided. Madame Pele stood quietly, waiting to hear the fate of her friend.

"I will not reduce him to ashes", Maui said.

"Oh, father dear", the daughter cried out, hugging him.

"I will turn him into stone. Then you may gaze upon him, but your romance will be pau (over)".

And that is how the mountain, known as the Needle, at Iao Valley came to be. It is the Merman God turned to stone for all to gaze upon.





Daddy taking it all in...



Me huffing and puffing walking up many, many steps...



We were not flying out until 6PM, so we had a lot of time to kill before turning the car in and going to the airport. So, we went to Kanaha Beach. This beach is famous for kitesurfing and windsurfing. We saw some unbelievable stuff!

Grand Wailea and Luau - March 2, 2010

Today we went to south Maui...Wailea area. We ate breakfast in Kihei and then drove towards the Grand Wailea. Jim and the kids and I stayed there 16 years ago when Jim had a convention there. It was and still is the most beautiful hotel we've ever stayed at. I wanted to show Abby and Daddy the grounds and also wanted to buy a sun visor in the gift shop. There is a public beach access between the Grand Wailea and the Four Seasons, so we parked and walked down to the beach. We've snorkeled there many times, but we didn't have any snorkel gear with us on this trip. I laid out in the sun for a while and my Dad found some shade and took a nap. Abby explored down the beach. After almost 2 hours on the beach we decided to go to the Grand Wailea. We went to one of the poolside bars and had a drink before touring the grounds.
Here are a few photos taken there...

Daddy's nap spot...






We went back to Lahaina in time to get ready for the luau. Jim, and the kids and I had been to the Old Lahaina Luau in 1991. I remember the kalua pig being one of the best things I've ever eaten, so I was excited to be eating it again for supper. The entire show costs $95 per person, but you get a lot for your money. When you go in they are serving drinks and there is an open bar. There were several artists showing their wares of local Hawaiian crafts and selling them. The highlight for me was to watch them uncover the pig. The pig is laid on top of lava rocks, then lava rocks are inserted into the cavity and then it is covered with banana leaves. The last step is to mound a big pile of sand on top of it.







The luau supper is buffet style. OMG, the food is SO good!



After supper there is a hula show that is second to none! It is very entertaining. After the show we went back to the hotel...to pack. It was time to leave Hawaii the next day : ( !

North Shore of Maui - March 1, 2010

This was the long day in Maui. We first had breakfast at Moose McGillycuddy's in Lahaina. Picked up the car and headed north. We stopped at one of the roadside pullovers to see if we could see whales. Saw a few breaching and also saw a large Green Sea Turtle swimming just off shore.



We first stopped at Ho'okipa Beach and then went to Paia. It is a quaint, eclectic town. I drove to Haiku, which is where Roy, our friend from high school, used to live. Then we headed to "up-country" to Makawao. This is the cowboy area of Maui.



We went back to Paia and stopped at Baldwin Park. We happened upon Baldwin Park almost 20 years ago when Jordan and Hailey were with us. There was a soccer game/practice going on, so we stopped. It is a nice beach area with a park and bathrooms with wet toilet paper thrown up on the ceiling!




We had not been to Ka'anapali Beach area, yet, so that is where we went for supper. We parked at Whaler's Village and put our name on a waiting list at a restaurant on the beach. We didn't eat for a while, so we walked around and took pictures of the sun setting behind Lanai.

Whale watch & Hula Show February 28, 2010

Woke up early to catch a 7:30 boat on a whale watch. It was drizzling, but wasn't bad enough to keep me inside the boat once we got off shore. We saw a LOT of whales. Also, saw lots of breaches! The Mama whales would breach and when the baby whales would breach, the splash was so much smaller. It was so cute seeing them show their stuff.



After getting back to Lahaina and eating breakfast, we went to the Lahaina Cannery Mall to see a free Hula Show. Towards the end of the show the dancers started getting people from the audience to participate. First, they picked Abby...and then they picked my Dad. They went up on stage and hula'd! I was trying to video with one hand and take pictures with the other. It was very entertaining!

Tsunami Day - February 27, 2010

2:30 AM Hawaii time my cell phone rang. Jim was calling to tell me that an earthquake had hit Chile and a tsunami was predicted to hit Hawaii late morning. What a call THAT was! Daddy and Abby got up with me and we went into survival-mode! Daddy and Abby went to the lobby and bought most all of the food in the vending machine and brought it back to our room. When they returned to our room, Daddy filled the bathtub with water. I knew we would need some more money, so Abby and I went to the lobby and got more cash from the ATM. (side story...Jim was in Guam about 8 years ago when a very strong hurricane hit and he had $1.50 in cash...enough to buy a poptart! Remembering that he was in a bind, I knew we would need plenty of cash). By this time, Carolyn (my sister) had sent an email about the impending tsunami, so we had her and Jim both getting all the info they could and sending it to us (I had taken my laptop, so we had a steady stream of info coming in).





At 4:30AM Daddy suggested that we go eat breakfast so we could be ahead of the rush when people started waking up and the sirens started going off (6AM). We went to the corner diner and was surprised that there were quite a few people eating. I think some of them had actually not been home from the night, yet! We had a good, filling breakfast and then walked around the corner to one of the 66 ABC stores in Honolulu. Yes, there are 66 just in Honolulu! The store normally did not open until 7AM, but there were several people waiting outside and they had gotten word that the store was going to open early. After waiting for about 10 minutes, the store opened. We went in and bought a jar of peanut butter, loaf of bread, SPAM, several pre-made sandwiches, 2 gallons of water and a few other goodies.

Abby-ism...If you've had the pleasure to spend some quality time with my niece, Abby, then you've heard some Abby-isms. Carolyn said in one of her emails that we would need some food of sustenance. Remember the fried bananas from the North Shore? We had a couple left. When I told Abby and Daddy what Carolyn had said, Abby said "well, we can cut the fried off of the bananas"! I split a gut laughing at that! Here is the photo of the fried bananas again.



Back in the room I checked the latest email updates and we watched the news. The table in our room became Tsunami Central, complete with a map of Hawaii, map of evacuation line, computer, pen, paper and phone. Abby took a little nap and Daddy read the newspaper. Remember the post from last night when I said we saw the demonstration outside the Hawaiian Hilton? Well, Daddy read in the newspaper that it was Karl Rove they were demonstrating against.





Around 8AM we decided to walk to the beach. The tsunami was supposed to hit about 11:14AM, so we had plenty of time to beachcomb! A lot of people were down there doing the same thing we were...just looking at the ocean and imagining the water pulling back into the sea and then rushing onto land. Intense. Because boats do not feel the effects of a tsunami, they were leaving the harbor and just going offshore to wait. We took some photos and walked around a while before going back to the hotel. An hour or so later, Abby and I went down to the street and it was eerily quiet. No cars, no people, no businesses open...and it was about 10AM! Really weird.




They pushed the tsunami arrival to about 11:30AM. About 11AM there were reports that Hilo (on the Big Island) was seeing a little tsunami action. We could see a small portion of the beach from our hotel. The gauge we used to see if the water receded, was the tops of the palm trees. We could see where the water receded a small amount. And then...it was over. About 2PM the all clear was given!



We had to go from survival-mode to get-to-Maui-mode. We were supposed to have left on a flight at 9:30AM to Maui. Jim took care of the hotel and car reservations and I rebooked a flight. We gathered up our belongings and got to the airport early hoping we could catch an earlier flight. So did everyone else. We got on our 6PM flight. It was a short 30 minute flight over there. Picked up rental car, drove to other side of island, find hotel, park car 4 blocks from hotel and then we were ready for a drink! What a day. I didn't realize it during the day, but it had been stressful. I never was nervous about the tsunami. I had a calmness about it...but now...I wanted a drink or two! Supper and back to the hotel. We stayed at the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina. This was my 5th time to Maui, but I had never stayed in Lahaina. I thought it would be nice to be able to walk around the shops at night and to restaurants.

North Shore - February 26, 2010

I told Abby and Daddy that this would be a long day...and it was. We went to the corner diner for breakfast and then headed towards Haleiwa. We stopped for several photo ops and then we came to the Dole Plantation. Unplanned stops are great when you do not have time restraints. We strolled around, tasted some pineapple and got on our way.



When we got to Haleiwa, we parked and walked around town. Went into McDonald's for a drink and continued to look around. Next stop...North Shore! Once we came to the water, I knew it was going to be a beautiful day to be at the beach. Not knowing where to stop, I knew once we saw lots of cars, that it would be the perfect place. We lucked on to a great parking spot on the side of the road and made the trek down to the water. After walking around a bit, a lady asked if Abby and I wanted her to take our picture. Of course, we did and then she asked if we had seen the turtles. Um, no, we had not. There was a female Green Sea Turtle sun bathing on the beach just beyond some rocks. It was roped off so people did not get too close to her. It was so cool! The lady told us that it was a popular feeding area for the turtles and we saw more of them in the water swimming among the rocks.





We stayed there about an hour and then headed to Sunrise Beach. The surf was huge...10-15' according to a local surfer. One guy walked up from the beach with his surfboard snapped in half! The local guy said it was the fifth broken surfboard he had seen that day!





After filling our eyes with the beauty of the North Shore and our ears with the sound of waves, we continued towards the east side of the island. We saw a small farmer's market on the side of the road and stopped to see what they had to sell. We bought some bananas (in case you didn't know, the smaller the banana, the better the flavor), some banana bread, fresh pineapple and some fried bananas...they were wrapped in eggroll wrappers and deep fried. At first I was leery that fried bananas could taste good, but, OMG...they were divine! (don't let the photo fool you...)





Our next stop was to see the Chinaman's Hat Island. I knew it was in the area, but not sure of the exact location. I had Abby call Carolyn to ask her and from that moment on, Carolyn was a great source of Everything Hawaii! I had been to Hawaii 5 other times...but, Carolyn had lived there, so she KNEW! We found a park that was a good location to see the Chinaman's Hat, so we stopped and took some really good photos.




Another unplanned stop was at a macadamia nut farm. Here is a photo of an old cracking machine (?), Daddy cracking some on a stump and a wooden carving at the entrance.






Finally back at the hotel, we rested up and then walked over to the Hawaiian Hilton. On our way over there, we saw some sort of demonstration going on in front of the HH, but did not pay much attention to it. I don't know why we basically ignored it looking back...I guess we were just tired from a long day(?). We found an outside bar area with comfy chairs. We ordered drinks and relaxed. (When Jim and Daddy and I went to Alaska last year, I wanted to get a picture of an Eskimo with Daddy. On our way to Denali, we stopped at a local restaurant and our waitress was indeed just the Eskimo I'd been looking for. I asked her if I could take her picture with Daddy and she of course obliged. So, it made sense while we were in Hawaii that I had to get his picture with a Hawaiian native). Abby actually took the picture of them while I was roaming around. Daddy didn't look like he minded having his picture taken with her, either! Daddy had been hungry for a hot dog. We found a place in the HH that served them, so that is what we had for supper. The hot dog place was right by the pool. I told Abby and Daddy about "crashing" a pool in Maui with Carolyn and Hailey and we got kicked out. Abby and I decided to "crash" the pool at the HH. It was night time and there was no one in the pool. Probably because it was COLD! Sometimes you just gotta live on the edge...haha! We jumped in the pool and Daddy was laughing at us. The water really was cold!!! We quickly got out and dried off and felt proud! I might just try to crash more hotel pools! We headed back to the hotel. There was a washer and dryer in the hotel and we wanted to go to Maui the next morning with clean clothes.

Forgot...here's the Blue Bus Restaurant

It wasn't really called The Blue Bus Restaurant...but I think the name is appropriate!