Maui 2.0

I still can't believe we pulled the trigger on this trip. We should be buying a paved driveway, firewood, Christmas presents....but we did it anyway.  After much research pricing and thought, Colin finally consented to going back to Maui. He loves it there too, but he was more nervous about the cost. At any rate, our flights were great getting over there. Our plane to LA was the smallest I had ever been on and I sat next to an elderly lady that was going to Kauai with her friends. I love that. As soon as we landed in Maui, we headed straight to get our car and was upgraded to an SUV, which we loved. We then proceeded to spend way too much money at Costco and head back to our condo. I love our condo. It sits right on the beach and there are only 12 units total. We pay $120 a night - which is cheaper than most pay on the Oregon coast.

Friday we woke up, had our coffe while watching the sun rise (rough, I know), and then drove to the Olivine Pools just north of us. They were pretty and I loved seeing a couple of friends sitting on a rock jutting out into the ocean, having a picnic. It's different in Maui - everything is so much slower, so much about just being outside, about just being. It feels like Sunday all the time.

We then headed to a beach by the Ritz Carlton that was pretty much deserted. I read, Colin swam. After that we headed back to the condo where Colin convinced me to snorkel. Mind you, ever since radiation, I really don't like masks, but he only agreed to come to Maui if I snorkeled. I have to say that it was pretty amazing. I saw fish of all sorts. Since I'm not super comfortable with swimming, Colin actually had me hold a boogie board and pulled me around. It was just one step up from floaties . I asked him if he could pull me into town in my best Napoleon Dynamite voice. I wish someone could get a picture of us. That would be one for the scrapbook.

The rest of our trip was comprised of Coin snorkeling a lot, me reading a lot and a just laying on various beaches, watching surfers or looking at the clouds. Yes, looking at the clouds. When was the last time you did that?! It really was a very bonding, relaxing trip for the two of us. I have started to think about the next trip (maybe Europe??), but Colin wasn't ready to entertain the idea yet...

Here are the load of pictures that I took.

A newlywed couple (there are a lot of those in Maui) took this picture for us. We were at the Olivine Pools, I think. See the pools in those rocks in the background?

Colin and the fellow condo tenants blew the conch at sunset. John, the older man that lives there, does this every single night. Last year and this year, he stalked Colin to join him. We decided that this was the purpose of John's existence.

Sorry the photos loaded randomly. This is a picture of the Haleakala Crater. It's 10,000 feet up. We woke at 3 a.m. and drove the two hours up on a switchback road. We stood what felt like right under the stars (in about 38 degree weather), crammed together at the summit with people from all over the globe, speaking all languages, waiting for the sun to rise. Since I'm shorter than pretty much everyone, I didn't get the best view, but I did snap a some pictures after the sun began to lighten up the crater.

This was the left side of the crater. The sheer enormity cannot be captured in a picture.

This was the first part of the sunrise.

This was the ground floor of the crater.

This was right on the ocean - just a random little cave.

They had these light beacons - I had to take a picture because I find our lighthouses in the Northwest so beautiful.

This was one of the beaches we visited.

This was the morning we flew out - Colin really wanted to go snorkeling here. We packed up early. The picture doesn't capture how aqua the water is. I was sitting on a rock quite far above it and could see the fish swimming around.

This was a sunset from our lanai.

Someone actually had a pet deer in their car in the KMart parking lot. Colin's words, "THIS is why you carry a camera around." I'm just so curious where they will put the deer when it is full grown??

This is a picture I took in San Francisco airport - they were featuring Japanese cartoons. I knew Sissy would love to see Hello Kitty. Sure enough, she asked if I could buy this for her.

We were waiting for breakfast at a restaurant called The Gazebo (our only meal out) and it rained. We stood under umbrellas of fellow tourists and look at the rainbow I captured. Amazing.

I loved seeing all the palm trees- they are such a novelty to this Oregonian!

This palm tree was swaying in the breeze while I read on our little beach in front of our condo.

This was the second to last night - we watched the sunset at Black Rock - and the cliff divers.

This was right outside of our lanai. So relaxing.

I wrote the kids postcards everyday. Hawaii mail is slow - I received almost all the postcards in the mail when I returned. I will keep these for the scrapbook.

Here the sun is about to burst out of the clouds. It was spectacular.

This tree we found as we trekked through a kid of rainforest area on the way to snorkeling. It looked like it had hair! There were wild chickens running around everywhere. It was crazy.

A close up at Black Rock.

The sunset at Black Rock.

This kid carrying the torch was the cliff diver.

This was our plan to L.A. - I got claustrophobic just looking at it. We actually had to walk on the tarmac to get to it.

Los Angeles.

This was my view most of the time - reading my book while Colin goes out to swim or snorkel.

Another self portrait - I tried to take pictures of us to text back to the kids.

We visited this museum called "The Whaler"- all about the early history of getting whales and what life was like for those sailors.

This was one of the early crews that caught whales.

One of the hotels had a pond with actual flamingos.

As much as I love Maui and all its beautiful tropical weather, I also love being back home in the cold weather, preparing for Thanksgiving and creating Christmas gifts.

Maui.

In November, finally, after many years of reasoning away the expense of a vacation, Colin and I decided to go to Maui for a week. It was a second honeymoon and also a celebration of my remission. It was perfect. You see, we went to Honolulu for our honeymoon some 15 years ago, but didn't experience much of the island. This time, we went to Hawaii to see as much as we could. I took a ton of pictures, so bear with me.

Here I apparently was bored on our 5 hour flight across the Pacific. We had a terrible time getting on a plane to Maui, as United kept having plane issues. After waiting a full day in the San Fransisco airport, we were on our way.

Ok, the water in Maui is breathtaking. I'm not sure what makes it such a different color than our water here, but I could just stare at it for hours. Colin actually went snorkeling in the location above - he had to swim around and out to it.

See the black sand? Isn't it pretty? This was one of those beaches on the Road to Hana.

We visited many different beaches.

Below was the view from our lanai (or porch). No kidding. We got a smoking deal on this condo and it was steps to the beach. We will be staying there again, that's for sure.

I couldn't get enough pictures of the water.

This one (below) was taken from the Ritz Carlton resort, which let anyone tromp around it's perfectly manicured grounds - I thought that was very nice of them. A very aloha spirit, that's for sure.

The rainbows here are amazing - it made me think of the Noah story in the Bible every time.

Sunsets were such a serene moment. I always had to stop and enjoy them - this also was a view from our lanai.

We hiked through a bamboo forest on the Road to Hana. I love hiking, so this was one of the more memorable days for me.

This waterfall was around 250 feet and so beautiful.

Driving back from the Road to Hana was desolate, but had a beautiful, desert feel.

Some portions of the Road to Hana felt like we were in the Garden of Eden.

Our guidebook told us to visit this tree house - to buy the world's best banana bread. No joke. Colin agreed - it was the world's best.

I did a lot of reading, and loved every second.

Hawaii has really interesting trees.

Maui also has a wild goat problem. Random, but true. See that black thing in the middle of the picture? That's one of the many goats we saw.

I saw a lot of this - Colin going out to go snorkeling. I had gear but didn't really do it - I don't love masks of any kind, so I stayed on the beach and read.

We saw Charles Lindbergh's grave in a tiny little cemetery.

Maui has a lot of these lava fields, which are very precarious to walk on.

Oh, the palm trees. I loved seeing them.

The last night we were there, we watched the cliff divers. People would sit on the beach an wait for sunset to watch this. It was a very relaxing way to end the trip.

I'm trying to negotiate another trip to Maui this November - just looking at these pictures makes me want to hop on a plane to that little corner of paradise.