This 2017 PTR is all over the place!! Updated 08/21/17 Nearly time!!

[bcwife76]

Ok so let me add in some photos before I continue on with the TR.

From our trip up north (on the West side of Maui)

Myself, DH and our eldest DD (youngest was NOT cooperating with photos that day!)

Our ride for the week

Tuna poke and shrimp ceviche!

pool at our condo

Fresh Ahi Tuna, cooked to perfection

 

[jtba]

that turquoise blue ocean is simply breathtaking.

Ok so let me add in some photos before I continue on with the TR.

From our trip up north (on the West side of Maui)

Myself, DH and our eldest DD (youngest was NOT cooperating with photos that day!)

Our ride for the week

Tuna poke and shrimp ceviche!

pool at our condo

Fresh Ahi Tuna, cooked to perfection

 

[chunkymonkey]

Great to finally see a pic of you and your family! Wow just gorgeous! And that tuna....omg to die for...isn't it so good there? Fresher and cheaper than what we can find here on the east coast. Yum.

 

[bcwife76]

Wednesday May 25th. I really, really should have written some things down because it's getting harder to remember what we did I do recall that morning we walked across the street and down half a block from our condo to go to a small farmers market which is held every Mon/Wed/Fri morning. It wasn't very big (held in a church parking lot) but what tables there were, were packed full of an abundance of local produce and baked goods. There was a vendor who was just so flippin' hilarious, originally from Texas, he'd been on Maui for the past 10 years or so. He was a vendor of baked goods and had all these lovely flavored cream cheeses' to try on a bagel. Heavenly!

I know we ended up buying some more mangoes, papaya, and some fresh veggies along with gorging ourselves on the samples of cream cheese and bagels! After that we walked back across the road and the kids went to a playground that was next door to our condo building.

As far as I can recall (because, again, I'm old and my memory sucks) we didn't go anywhere the rest of the morning/afternoon and instead went to the beach and pool at our condo. Or maybe we did drive down to another beach? Ugh.....sorry....memory fails me.

But what I DO remember from this day is our luau. Drums of the Pacific, held 10 minutes down the road from us at the Hyatt Regency Maui. Now, we had already purchased our tickets online before we left home - this afforded us the savings of not one but BOTH of our kids getting in for free. Excellent, because luau's are NOT budget friendly, this one being no exception.

Now, I have been to my share of luau's, every trip to Hawaii I've been to one (each one different). They've been entertaining and engaging and this one definitely fell short

So we get to the Hyatt and the signage is terrible as to where we were supposed to park. Hubby pulled into the wrong lot, so we had to turn around and finally found someone to ask. They pointed us in the right direction - luckily because eventhough we arrived with plenty of time we grabbed what I'm sure was the LAST parking spot. Seriously. The lot was TINY and I have no idea where everyone who came after us parked!! Grrrr....

We follow the masses into the hotel - yes this luau was held inside (disappointment #1) and line up....and wait....and wait some more....with 2 bored kids. Fun times. Finally after nearly 30 minutes of waiting we are let into one of the ballrooms. You are greeted at the door with a shell lei and a mai tai (or non alcoholic drink) and we were led to our table which (a) had a great view of the stage and (b) was close to the doors (good for me as I pee quite frequently, sorry for the TMI). I have to say the service was quite good. We sat at a table with another family (mom, dad and older daughter, maybe mid-20's?), a waiter came by shortly after we were seated and gave us more drinks (drinks were all you could drink, woohoo!!). Then my dh went up to the bar to get us vodka tonics....while he was gone the waiter came by again and I tried a blue Hawaiian. So when DH got back to the table he saw me two fisting it already how on earth could I handle a 3rd glass? But I did !

Goofy kid

I should mention that dh stopped at two drinks because I NEVER drove the rental car. NOT ONCE. No way, no how. So I was the designated lush on this trip


Soon a delicious roast pig made the rounds (unfortunately no photo) and soon it was time to eat. Our table hosts discreetly came by each table to let you know when it was your turn to eat.

The food, I have to say, was pretty standard. Nothing really fantastic. Except the pig. Oh. My. God.

That PIG!!! Roasted to perfection....it was smoky.....it was juicy.....it was .......just fantastic. As I type this I can remember the smell, the taste.....oh my god I would've been happy with 3 heaping plate fulls of that pig and nothing else!!!!

After dinner was dessert and coffee and while we waited for the main event they called people up on stage to learn the hula. Both my girls went up and dh got quite near the front to catch it all.

So cute!!!

Then it was time for the main show. Now again, because it was held inside the show seemed to lack.....something......The rain was not heavy that night (very light) so I honestly don't know if that's the reason we were moved inside or if it's always held inside. Had I known beforehand it was held inside I would have booked a different one. You honestly lose something by being in a ballroom (feels more like a wedding reception). But this is not to say the performers were any less than fabulous because they honestly were fantastic!!!

But within the few minutes of the hula dancing ending and the show beginning, someone was already tuckered out.

So she missed most of the show!

The show probably lasted about 45-50 minutes and then it was outside for the fire dancing. It was VERY crowded in the area where that show was put on and my kids could barely see so they were crabby (plus it was 9pm at this point). However the fire dancing only lasted a few scant minutes (10 at the most).

Once the fire dancing was done the luau was over so it was back to the parking lot to try and find our white mustang - a hard task in Hawaii when everyone wants to drive the same rental car! and it was back to our condo, with a quick stop at the Times Market down the road for another 2 litre carton of milk and some more yoghurt.

Put the kids to bed and we watched some Sex and the City episodes before retiring ourselves. Had to get a good sleep as the next day was The Road to Hana!!

 

[bcwife76]

Alright, so half way through my Maui TR now hope to have it completed in the next few days.

Meanwhile, back to some DISNEY PTR!

Disneyland: 6 weeks to go! Hours are now being released for our week; 10-9 for DL and 10-8 for DCA not surprised, but still disappointed. Boo. This does mean we will have NO excuse to be late to rope drop, can have a lazy morning and good breakfast and hit the ground running!

Meals booked. Medieval Times for the day we arrive in SoCal. Nothing reserved for the Tuesday because we will be at Universal - while we obviously will have lunch there we will come back to Anaheim for dinner but won't know what time so will most likely order pizza to our room. Wednesday we will be at DCA with our friends; we have a lunch reservation at Ariel's Grotto (just my family) and since the park is closing at 8pm, we all decided let's have a late afternoon snack and have dinner after the park closes so we are going to Tangaroa Terrace in the Disneyland Hotel. Looks fun and a yummy menu (DH is excited for the Ahi Poke, memories of Maui!) https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disneyland-hotel/tangaroa-terrace/

Thursday we will all be at Disneyland; we have a lunch ressie for Aladdin's so that we get our reserved seating passes for PTN and then we have a 6pm ressie at Cafe Orleans for dinner before the parade. My plan is that after the parade, to be IN LINE for a ride so that we can see part of the fireworks and try and extend our park time past 9pm

Friday morning we fly home, while our friends will be staying one more day in the parks before starting the looooong drive back up to BC.

WDW update!

My ADR window opened this past weekend. So many choices, so little time.
So we've settled on Epcot. No ressies needed the night we fly in obviously as we don't arrive until 9:30pm FL time.
We've decided to rent a car so I need to cancel the ME but I've called 3 times now and have been on hold forever. Which REALLY annoys me because they don't have a toll free number!!! Since it's free DH thinks we should just say 'eff it, let them figure it out when we don't show up' Having sat on hold for a total of 35 minutes (long distance!!) for those 3 calls I tend to agree.

Tickets already purchased for Epcot.

Anyway, Friday January 13th (dun dun dun!!! Friday the 13th!!! ) we have an 8:10am ressie at Garden Grill so yay for being in the park already before it opens! During the day we will eat our way around Epcot and we have a 7pm ressie for Chef de France.

Saturday January 14th - before we leave the World to drive to Port Canaveral I wanted to do breakfast at one of the other resorts. So I booked us a 9am table at Tusker House. Then realized you need a park ticket, d'oh! So then I cancelled that and made a ressie at Kona Cafe. But I'm still second guessing it. I messaged @chunkymonkey for her thoughts on Kona vs Boma and she very nicely gave me reasons to eat at BOTH Someone else pointed out that we should just grab breakfast at our sister resort, POFQ and buzz off to the port to get an earlier PAT, but I really want to see one of the other resorts because I just don't know when we'll be back to WDW.


Anyway, things still to do:

For Disneyland I just need to buy our tickets for Universal (online) and DL (online). Buy travel medical.

For WDW/cruise: pay off cruise! When we switched to this one from the Bahama's the cruise was already paid in full, now we still owe $550. Call DCL to arrange for the disney transfer from port to MCO (not going to mess around with car rental the morning of, as our flight is at 12:55 and who knows how much time getting a rental will add on). Also want to order rainforest pass for the two of us and another beer mug package for dh. Only 87 days until online check in for the cruise! And 117 days until FP+ selection for WDW!

 

[bcwife76]

I've been procrastinating finishing my Maui TR I do intend to finish it, fingers crossed this week sometime.

Our Disneyland trip is now 4 weeks away! We leave 4 weeks today, woohoo!! Since we have an early morning flight (8am) and we live 45 minutes from the airport and must be at the terminal with at least 2 hours to spare....I've convinced dh we need to stay near the airport the night before. I've joined the (free) Fairmont hotels presidents club so I'm hoping we'll stay at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport which is IN the terminal with great views (and sound proof rooms), can't get closer ;-) But it's pricey (we would get a BC residents rate) so we'll see.

Changing my ADR's again. Cancelled Ariel's Grotto for lunch and replaced it with Carthay Circle. $160US for lunch before tip and drinks is too much, esp with a picky eater. Disneyland day we have Plaza Inn for Minnie and friends breakfast (will be our 3rd time) before the park opens, along with Aladdin's for lunch for the PTN guaranteed seating pass and Cafe Orleans for dinner. Might try and join our friends for dinner at Goofy's Kitchen on the 30th, but that is our Universal day so not sure what time we'll be back so I can't make a ressie.

For WDW I haven't changed my ADR's but I did get through on a toll free number finally to cancel the ME as we're now renting a car from Avis. I also changed our stateroom on the Fantasy from deck 2 Deluxe oceanview midship to deck 7 Deluxe Family Oceanview forward. Hope I don't regret going too far forward on the ship

 

[bcwife76]

I know, I still need to finish my Maui TR Soon, I promise (pretty sure I've said that before )

Disneyland update, since we are now 1 WEEK away! This time next Monday we'll be in Anaheim, probably heading off to our Medieval Times dinner!

At little schedule run-down:
-Sunday Aug 28th, drop dog off at kennel and continue on to Vancouver airport, we're staying at the Fairmont Airport Vancouver which is right IN the airport! Pricey but worth it for an early morning flight
-Monday August 29th fly to LA just after 8am. Pick up rental car, drive to Anaheim, check in to HOJO. If we can get into our room early then we'll hang by the waterpark and if not, we'll go to DTD. Medieval Times dinner that night.
-Tuesday August 30th Universal Studios! Get there as early as possible (stupid LA traffic), plan to be there most of the day. Can see us leaving by 4 or 5 I think. Dinner back at our hotel (pizza delivery?) then I'm meeting up with my friend K who will have driven down from the Bay area that day to strategize about our next 2 shared park days! 5 kids, 4 adults (5 adults on Thursday, she has a friend meeting up with us). Oy!
-Wednesday August 31st DCA! Meet up with our friends, we (my family only) have a 12:10 lunch ressie at Carthay Circle. Meet back up with friends after lunch, will probably snag a FP for Frozen for later in the day. 7:30 ressie (again, just my family) for WOC Dessert party!! Think our friends are staying to watch WOC too, though they are not doing the dessert party. Back to hotel and recharge!
-Thursday Sept 1st 9:20 breakfast ressie at Plaza Inn for Minnie and Friends! Park opens at 10am, MM is 9am but we don't have MM this time so I thought getting a pre-park-opening breakfast ressie was a good idea. Meet up with our friends at some point. We have a lunch ressie for Aladdin's Oasis so we can get preferred seating for PTN (on the go lunch) More rides! More dole whip! 6pm ressie for Cafe Orleans. PTN!!! Ride ride ride until park closes at (stupid early) 9pm. Say goodbye to our friends. Last minute shopping. Be depressed we are leaving Disneyland.
-Friday Sept 2 loathe LA morning rush hour traffic as we make our way to LAX. 11:45am flight home to Vancouver. 2:30pm land, pick up dog, head home. Re-cooperate. Look forward to next vacation which is WDW and Disney Fantasy in January!

Currently I am refreshing the Port of Vancouver webcam as the Wonder is about to pull out for the season and leave Vancouver until May 2017. Cannot wait to be back on the Wonder in August 2017!!

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

I just found your PTR(s)/TR thread! I love that you have multiple trips lined up.

Can't wait to read the rest of the Maui TR(fantastic photos), and hear all about your California Adventure.

We're going to be on the 1/21/17 Cruise so I'm right there with you on the ADRs and waiting for the booking window to open up for online booking and activity reservations.

 

[bcwife76]

I just found your PTR(s)/TR thread! I love that you have multiple trips lined up.

Can't wait to read the rest of the Maui TR(fantastic photos), and hear all about your California Adventure.

We're going to be on the 1/21/17 Cruise so I'm right there with you on the ADRs and waiting for the booking window to open up for online booking and activity reservations.

Thanks for following along! Just returned from Disneyland last night (I came home with a cold, boo!) My kids start school this coming Tuesday so once I have the house to myself (and some quiet/downtime) later this week I will finish my Maui TR here and do a short DL TR as well

 

[bcwife76]

So here's another update! No....I know.....still need to finish Maui and do Disneyland mini TR's But this small update is cruise related! lol

So today I received my inheritance cheque (80% of the estate was paid out, the remaining 20% will be paid out later next year after taxes are filed and any outstanding creditors, of which I don't think there are any, have been paid). So I did something that I was planning on doing - we upgraded our Alaskan cruise from the 5 night at the beginning of August 2017 to a 7 night at the end of August 2017! Yes, I'm also being responsible with the money (paying off our mortgage!!!!!!) but this is cruise has been a loooong time coming

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

So here's another update! No....I know.....still need to finish Maui and do Disneyland mini TR's But this small update is cruise related! lol

So today I received my inheritance cheque (80% of the estate was paid out, the remaining 20% will be paid out later next year after taxes are filed and any outstanding creditors, of which I don't think there are any, have been paid). So I did something that I was planning on doing - we upgraded our Alaskan cruise from the 5 night at the beginning of August 2017 to a 7 night at the end of August 2017! Yes, I'm also being responsible with the money (paying off our mortgage!!!!!!) but this is cruise has been a loooong time coming

Congratulations! Both on paying off your mortgage and the cruise. If you can swing it, try and spend a day or so in Vancouver. We arrived two days before and two days after out 7 day cruise. We had a great time exploring the city. We can't wait to go back.

 

[bcwife76]

Congratulations! Both on paying off your mortgage and the cruise. If you can swing it, try and spend a day or so in Vancouver. We arrived two days before and two days after out 7 day cruise. We had a great time exploring the city. We can't wait to go back.

Thank you! And we actually live in Vancouver

 

[chunkymonkey]

I'm all caught up now! Still loving your Maui update - too bad your luau was indoors but it looks pretty good. I still haven't done a luau, even though I have eaten all the luau foods before. I just think I am a bit impatient and fidgety sometimes when watching shows. I like how the Disney shows are all short so it's just enough for me.

Can't wait to hear about Disneyland too. We loved Carthay Circle. We thought it was the best Disney food of the trip.

 

[bcwife76]

Thursday May 26th. We drove south down the island this day, down to Wailea and Kihei. Kihei is where I stayed my first trip to Hawaii when I was 15 (one week in Honolulu, one week in Kihei). It's gorgeous.....more gorgeous than I remember and honestly, our next trip to Maui and this is where we are going to stay!!! Frank had his trusty guidebook with him again (can't remember if I've already mentioned this in my TR but there were several guide books in our condo and Frank found this one particular guide book, Hidden Maui or something, and we took it EVERYWHERE lol. I swear I thought he was just going to pack it in our luggage when we returned home!)
So our trusty guidebook led us to a couple of off the beaten track beaches that I'm telling you were absolutely STUNNING!!! Warm, soft sandy beaches....heavenly. And of course, since it was a bit off the beaten path it was very quiet. Perfect. Frank immediately went off to snorkel while I swam and boogied with the girls, chatting with locals (including a couple from Ontario who now lived on Maui lol).

Honestly, how could anyone not want to see this view 24/7/365?!!!!

Eventually we had to leave.....sad....but we were HUNGRY. So Frank asked The Google teehee where was a good spot for lunch and up came Cheeseburger in Paradise.....not far away in Wailea....yum! So off we went.

Yeah, what we didn't realize is that this place was in the middle of a mall (looked to be a strip mall on the map but it wasn't lol).....you know it's more of an upscale mall when you have to pay to park It's all good, the restaurant validated our parking so we didn't have to pay. But here we were, fresh from the beach...in shorts, and tank tops that were now wet with water because they were thrown over wet bathing suits...and this mall has Gucci, Pucci and any other UCCI you can think of

Turns out this location wasn't even called Cheeseburger in Paradise, but was named Cheeseburger Grille and Tap Room, ooh lala

But the staff were friendly, we were seated quicky and honestly, I think they could've cared less that I was literally DRIPPING on my chair

For those curious @chunkymonkey I'm lookin' at you here is the website for the restaurant: http://cheeseburgernation.com/locations/cheeseburger-grille-and-tap-room-wailea/

Since Frank drove (he drove ALL week haha) I could drink....and two mai tai's later - they were the size of my HEAD - I was feelin' no pain and I believe I ended up drunk texting a friend back home! Good times!

After lunch we looked in a couple of stores then started our drive back to the condo as I now had a wee bit of a head ache

I believe the rest of the afternoon were spent by the pool which suited me down to the ground. The girls LOVED the pool and I was able to lay out in a chair and snooze off my booze head hahahaha! That night we grilled by pool and I ended up doing a load of laundry. Wasn't really planning on doing laundry while we were there (I hate household chores on vacation haha!) but we're messy people..... a store rolled in that evening so we didn't get a good sunset - at one point the rain was so hard that when I went to get the laundry out of the dryer there were puddles where once there had been carpet in the hallway leading to the laundry room

Anyway, think we all called it an early night as we had the Road to Hana the next day!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Thursday May 26th. We drove south down the island this day, down to Wailea and Kihei. Kihei is where I stayed my first trip to Hawaii when I was 15 (one week in Honolulu, one week in Kihei). It's gorgeous.....more gorgeous than I remember and honestly, our next trip to Maui and this is where we are going to stay!!! Frank had his trusty guidebook with him again (can't remember if I've already mentioned this in my TR but there were several guide books in our condo and Frank found this one particular guide book, Hidden Maui or something, and we took it EVERYWHERE lol. I swear I thought he was just going to pack it in our luggage when we returned home!)

Was it the Maui Revealed book? It's like a bright blue color. We love that book and we have bought it for all the islands and it's how we really found our way around the island.

And I love Kihei too! We stayed there on our first trip to Maui (as a married couple) in 2009 and it was lots of fun and really suited our vacation style. Very low-key with restaurants and shops while still being very convenient. And the beaches are nice too

So our trusty guidebook led us to a couple of off the beaten track beaches that I'm telling you were absolutely STUNNING!!! Warm, soft sandy beaches....heavenly. And of course, since it was a bit off the beaten path it was very quiet. Perfect. Frank immediately went off to snorkel while I swam and boogied with the girls, chatting with locals (including a couple from Ontario who now lived on Maui lol).

Honestly, how could anyone not want to see this view 24/7/365?!!!!

Looks absolutely gorgeous!!!

Eventually we had to leave.....sad....but we were HUNGRY. So Frank asked The Google teehee where was a good spot for lunch and up came Cheeseburger in Paradise.....not far away in Wailea....yum! So off we went.

Yeah, what we didn't realize is that this place was in the middle of a mall (looked to be a strip mall on the map but it wasn't lol).....you know it's more of an upscale mall when you have to pay to park It's all good, the restaurant validated our parking so we didn't have to pay. But here we were, fresh from the beach...in shorts, and tank tops that were now wet with water because they were thrown over wet bathing suits...and this mall has Gucci, Pucci and any other UCCI you can think of

Turns out this location wasn't even called Cheeseburger in Paradise, but was named Cheeseburger Grille and Tap Room, ooh lala

But the staff were friendly, we were seated quicky and honestly, I think they could've cared less that I was literally DRIPPING on my chair

For those curious @chunkymonkey I'm lookin' at you here is the website for the restaurant: http://cheeseburgernation.com/locations/cheeseburger-grille-and-tap-room-wailea/

http://cheeseburgernation.com/locations/cheeseburger-grille-and-tap-room-wailea/

Cool! There is a Cheeseburger in Paradise in Lahaina I believe. And there is one on Oahu. Very popular spots!
And we've been to tons of restaurants in our beach gear. It's a good thing Hawaii is so casual. Even fine dining in a hawaiian shirt and shorts is perfectly acceptable. This is the sort of dining DH wants to do and not wear his suit!

Since Frank drove (he drove ALL week haha) I could drink....and two mai tai's later - they were the size of my HEAD - I was feelin' no pain and I believe I ended up drunk texting a friend back home! Good times!

After lunch we looked in a couple of stores then started our drive back to the condo as I now had a wee bit of a head ache

I believe the rest of the afternoon were spent by the pool which suited me down to the ground. The girls LOVED the pool and I was able to lay out in a chair and snooze off my booze head hahahaha! That night we grilled by pool and I ended up doing a load of laundry. Wasn't really planning on doing laundry while we were there (I hate household chores on vacation haha!) but we're messy people..... a store rolled in that evening so we didn't get a good sunset - at one point the rain was so hard that when I went to get the laundry out of the dryer there were puddles where once there had been carpet in the hallway leading to the laundry room

Anyway, think we all called it an early night as we had the Road to Hana the next day!

Sounds like a fantastic day! Beach, food, pool, sleep. You can't go wrong. Can't wait for Road to Hana!

 

[bcwife76]

Friday May 27th. The Road to Hana.

We intended to leave quite early but as it is....well it's hard with kids to get out of the door first thing in the morning (yes that's my story and I'm sticking to it) so I think it was about 8am when we finally pulled out of the parking lot. So we had the 45 minute drive to Kahului where we stopped for gas at Costco and then continued on our way.

Maybe 5 minutes after leaving Costco and then we heard it from the back seat...the unmistakable sound of a child coughing who is not actually coughing but who in fact is actually going to throw up. Yep, that's my youngest. It's rare but she does have a history of puking on vacations (once on a plane upon landing in San Fran on year, once on a boat in Cabo in the middle of the ocean, nearly knocking herself unconscious on the side of the boat! etc.). Frank was able to pull over on the side of the road but it was too late....froot loops all over herself and partially on the rental car seat.

While we had no change of clothes, she WAS wearing her bathing suit under her clothes so we stripped off her clothes, wiped her down with one of the huge beach towels we had brought as best we could and plied her with some cold bottled water. Poor bubs. Shoved the barf covered stuff in a plastic bag and buried in the back of the trunk. Frank also put the top on the mustang down and once she had some fresh air she was much better.

And this was BEFORE the road started to get windy....oh so very windy......

And of we went yet again. Driving....and driving.....windy roads....narrow roads.......one lane roads where you yield to oncoming traffic.....yes there were cars in front of us and passing the other direction but at this point it wasn't terribly busy (hence why you need to leave early for this trip!)

After passing several waterfalls but failing to find road side parking we eventually came upon one that still had parking so we made our first stop.

Myself with barferella

They had a couple of picnic shelters and the place was crawling with cats:

On the way back to the car my youngest decided to say hello to some of the cats...and promptly FELL into a mud puddle!!!! So now her only 'clean' clothes, her bathing suit, now had mud on the bum. Awesome.

Continuing on.....we found a road side stand that sold fresh made coconut icecream. Might as well stop, right? So we all got our own small bowl, with two scoops each. $30USD we paid for it. God did they ever see these suckers coming lol I made the mistake of making one of my scoops a Mexican chocolate which meant it had chilli flakes in it. Ever had cold ice cream that actually burns when it goes down your throat? I hadn't until now

Neither of us thought to take photos. There was a small playground nearby so we let the girls play for a bit before carrying on our way. The overpriced icecream did nothing to fill us up so shortly down the road we came across a series of food trucks so we stopped and shared a huge portion between the four of us (a much more reasonably priced $16US) fish and chips - it was either Mahi Mahi or Ahi but whichever it was it was SOOOO GOOOOOOOD!!!! Again, no photos...we were too darn busy eating lol

Finally we rolled ourselves out of there and kept on our way. Eventually we made it to Waianapanapa State Park, home of the famous black sand beach. The road leading down was narrow and busy. But we found parking. Nestled in the trees I thought finally, a break from the heat. Nope. It was still hot. In the forest lol

Walking down the trails to get to the beach this was the view:

Caves to explore (when your then-7-year old needs to duck down you KNOW it's a low ceiling lol):

My girls enjoying the water (and some chick taking a selfie lol):

Look mom the sand really IS black!

The beach was actually smaller than I thought it would be and I have to say, although you probably can't notice it in in my photos, the beach was dirtier than I would have thought. Dirty with bottles and wrapper, obvious garbage people had left behind. Are you kidding me?! This is a beach that people travel 1000's of miles to come see and you're leaving your gatorade bottle on it???? Disgusting. And disappointing.

Anyway, at this point I'd say it was probably after 2pm....boy those 6 hours flew by. And we were still a good ...what.....45? 60? minutes from Hana. And I was DONE. My youngest was DONE. Frank wanted to continue to the end, to see the 7 sacred pools (I think that's what they are called?) but the thought of continuing on...and then hiking 1/2 a mile into the pools at least....and the water being freezing (thus emitting screams from our kids that the water was cold and why were we trying to kill them??)...and then 1/2mile at least hike back to the car....and then the return journey......I couldn't. I just physically could NOT fathom carrying on. So after a LOT of back and forth with DH we ended up going back towards home. DH was NOT happy but considering some of the disasters we had already lived through that day (ok that's an exaggeration but you know what I mean) .....I just knew there would be more ahead of us and it was such a long slow drive back already. VERY slow. Painfully slow. All the people coming up (SEE?! Don't leave late!!!) and the amount of sheer morons who don't know what the FARK a yield sign means?!!!! The cliffs can be quite tight and there were some very VERY tight spots to maneuver around. Ugh...not a fun drive back but luckily no one puked.

I think it was probably close to 5 by the time we were back at the condo. And oh goodie....remember the barf from earlier? Yep....now another load of laundry was done...plus the backseat was cleaned (luckily it wasn't too bad). Eventually we made it to the pool with cold beers and had a nice refreshing dip, while the day melted away from us. Grilled again by the pool and then collapsed into bed. Saturday would dawn and we were going up Haleakala!!

 

[bcwife76]

@chunkymonkey yes you're right, the book was Maui Revealed!

 

[bcwife76]

One more thought on Road to Hana. Was it worth it? Yes and no. If we hadn't been travelling with small children and had we rented a jeep...and possibly set out even earlier than yes, it would have been worth it. Next trip to Maui we will either skip it or make darn sure the girls are teenagers lol And I'll bring more clothes as well....never know when your lunch or breakfast wants to come back up to say hello

 

[bcwife76]

Saturday May 28th. Going up to Haleakala!
Again, going up Halekala means getting amazing views and probably going up very early in the morning for sunrise or later in the day for the sunset. We did neither lol! Think we left the condo close to 9am that morning, but the drive was substantially shorter! I'm just going to photo bomb this entry and let the photos speak for themselves!

That's not fog, it's clouds!

Hiking one of the trails (excuse my big butt, taking up the entire frame

Lava fields

We're in the clouds!

Getting higher....

And higher....

The vegetation fascinated us:

Eventually we tore ourselves away from this magnificent place.....the drive down was windy and windy so we went slow. And of course had the top down!

Haha, our youngest was not impressed!

He's driving in the clouds!

It truly was a fantasic morning and the next time we return to Maui we will for sure do Haleakala again, this time choosing either sunset or sunrise!

It was only about 12:30 or 1 when we got to the bottom of the mountain and we couldn't decide how to spend the afternoon (this was, after all, our last FULL day in Maui!) but I think we opted for returning to the condo for more beach and pool time.

That night we went out for dinner in Lahaina as we had nearly depleted our groceries (we had food for breakfast and lunch the next day) and wanted to treat ourselves. So we ended up at Honu:
http://www.honumaui.com/

We didn't have a reservation (silly us, it was a busy Saturday night!!) but ended up snagging pretty much the last table in the restaurant. It wasn't on the water but the restaurant was quite small so that almost every table had a fantastic view.

I can't remember if we had starters but I do know there were cocktails I had the crab mac and cheese.....oh my goodness.....probably enough calories for a 5 days worth of food but soooooo good. Now my poor husband had his heart set on the lamb shank Osso Bucco and they were completely out He was not a happy bunny. He ended up having one of their daily special, a fish/pasta dish which was quite good but he was disappointed (mostly because it wasn't lamb shank lol) Don't worry, when we went out to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary at the end of August he got his beloved lamb shank. Thought he was darn near going to suck the bone

The kids meals came with ice cream and then we ordered the peanut butter mousse pie and americano's to end the evening. Overall it was a delicious meal and the service was great, but we did find it rather pricey. Oh well, we WERE on vacation after all


Took a brief stroll after dinner through downtown Lahaina.

Can you believe this is all part of ONE banyan tree?!

Our chariot for the week:

It was about 9pm by this time and two little girls were getting very tired.......we had only one day left and at the end of that day we'd be flying home (on a red eye no less) so it was time to return to our home away from home and get some sleep.

 

[chunkymonkey]

One more thought on Road to Hana. Was it worth it? Yes and no. If we hadn't been travelling with small children and had we rented a jeep...and possibly set out even earlier than yes, it would have been worth it. Next trip to Maui we will either skip it or make darn sure the girls are teenagers lol And I'll bring more clothes as well....never know when your lunch or breakfast wants to come back up to say hello

My friends had the same reaction. Two of my friends each have 2 young daughters and the kids really didn't enjoy it. Too windy, too hot, to rainy, too far, LOL. But your kids looked like they had fun besides the puking. But "barfarella" looks super cute! You wouldn't even know she puked a few hours earlier.

Sad about the litter on the black sand beach. It used to be so pristine. I think Hawaii has more tourists than ever so a lot of undiscovered areas have been "discovered" too.

Love the pics!