Maui Day 8 (Beach/Shopping Day)

After exploring the island and wearing ourselves out I was ready for a much needed bean day. Doing nothing but read my book and soak in that Hawaiian sunshine. So that's exactly what we did yesterday. I feel like a vacation should be balanced with both lazy and busy days.  Because we had such a chill day yesterday, this post is going to be much shorter than the last 2.



I might give an update about baby though. It seems like the moment we got to Maui I started to feel the baby moving a ton. On occasion Jesse has been able to feel a little movement as well.

Laying on the beach yesterday I could feel some movements and they were stronger than they had been all week. So strong that I could actually see them from the outside. It was pretty cool. Jesse even saw it. I thought that was a cool moment for us.

We got sick of being in the sun after several hours and headed back inside to shower and go do some shopping and eating in Lahaina. I love that a lot of these restaurants are right on the beach, so if you time it right you can watch the sunset while you eat dinner. It's my favorite.

 It's just neat to sit down and hear the waves in the background. I'm going to miss this.

 After an expensive and not worth the money dinner, we walked along the shops and did some shopping for our boys and babysitters back home. We feel like we can't show them how much we appreciate them taking care of Ryker and Cy while we are gone. Any gift we buy won't be adequate to show them our gratitude. If it wasn't for them we wouldn't be able be here. So here's to good parents.

While we were shopping we came across a Hawaiian Shave Ice place. The line was pretty long. But it looked like it would be worth it. So we stood in line. And I was right, it was worth it.

We have one more day. I think we are going to try an get some last minute snorkeling in today. But then we'll have to pack and head to the airport tonight. We have a redeye flight (heaven help me). We want to play as much as we can before we have to say goodbye.

Maui Day 7 (Hana to Haleakala)

Sunday morning when we woke up we had plans to go to the Hana Branch Sacrament service. We were really excited to attend this meeting. We found it about 10 minutes from our cottage. We were laughing at ourselves because it was the most "done up" we had made ourselves. We looked really nice after being beach/hiker bums all week.   

 

 It was such a charming little church. The Chapel floor was all tile with chairs set up. No benches. And there were doors and along the sides that were open during the whole meeting (except during the sacrament service they shut during it and then opened them back up afterwards). There were several ceiling fans going the whole time as well. So it had this great refreshing breeze through the chapel. Very Hawaiian.

My favorite thing about the sacrament meeting was that every speaker got up and would say "Brother and Sisters. Aloha." Then the congregation would repeat back "Aloha!" It was so neat. I kinda wish Utah had something like that.

After the wonderful meeting we got to enjoy, we changed our clothes in the car and decided to go on the hunt  for the Black and Red Sanded Beaches that Hana is known for. Jesse really wanted to bring some home. We have a cool jar at home that he made of some white sand he got from St Marten and some black sand from St Kitts. So this time he wants to make a jar with Black, Red and White Sand.

 

We found the black sand beach not far from the church. Looking at the map we could see that the Red Sand beach wasn't too far from it, so we decided to walk over there. It was more of a hike really. Which was fun.  

 When we came upon the  Red Sand Beach it wasn't very big. But it was really cool to say the least.

 We kept hiking along the coast until we couldn't go any further. We came to this cove with the waves splashing up on the lava rocks. There is something beautiful about the waves contrasting with the lava rocks. I know ideally a white sand beach is beautiful, but this too was beautiful in a different way. We hung out for a bit and decided we needed to start heading "home".

We weren't going back the way we came because we thought it would be cool to see the whole island. Plus we had read and heard that the bottom side of the island was so diverse in climates.

Along the drive home we stopped at "The Seven Sacred Pools". We ate our lunch first and then walked down the trail to check out the pools. It had a waterfall into a pool, into a waterfall and so forth. It was really pretty. And there were people there swimming in the pools. I think we would have stayed and played longer if we didn't have such a long drive ahead of us still. And besides I was feeling really tired. My feet are so sore from hiking and I didn't get a good night's rest the night before. So I was wanting to just rest in the car (I sound like an old whiny pregnant woman).

 Can you spot Jesse in this picture? The shadows were hiding him so it was hard to get a good picture with him in it.

 Baby Bump Waterfall Picture. 19 weeks along. It's going by way too fast. It's crazy. This baby is going to be here before we know it.

 Along our drive we went from thick lush jungle green climate to this dessert dry land. Its just the craziest thing that this diverse of climate could be on the same island. What a contrast from what we came from

 Also lots of lava rock on the ocean side of the road. Plus the cool little arch we saw on our drive.

Our plan wasn't to go to Haleakala on this day but the road home took us right by Haleakala Highway. By this time is was 5:30pm and Jesse really wanted to go, but I was just feeling totally pooped and wanted to go to the condo to go to bed. Haha. But  he talked me into it. Which I am so glad that he did.

 This 11 mile highway was super windy. Lots of switch backs. I had to keep the window rolled down a bit to avoid getting car sick. The highway took us up the mountain 10,000 feet. Crazy going from sea level to that high altitude. Again, the diverse climate changes were crazy. The dessert area was around 90 degrees. But as we were climbing up this mountain we were watching the temperature drop. Also the higher we got it became really cloudy. It was making us nervous that we wouldn't even have a good view when reached the top. Oh but we were wrong. We got so high that we were above the clouds. The skies were blue and the sun was shining so bright. Now I was feeling grateful that Jesse talked me into coming up here.

 Here is the view of the Haleakala crater.

Temperatures we definitely much colder up here. Thankfully we were prepared with our sweats and socks. We decided that it was be really cool to watch the sun set while we were up there above the clouds. We had about an hour and half to kill. So we hiked/walked around a little bit.

Then we decided to go set up a spot to watch the sun go down. We wanted to be at the highest point (which we read was 10, 023 feet high). As we sat a waited/ watched the sun go down we were freezing our little buns off. We were laughing that we were wrapped in our beach towels and thinking about how we were so hot earlier on in the day. But with the wind chill I think it was about 40 degrees up there.

But it was SO worth it. I think that was the prettiest sunset I had ever seen. The pictures don't even do it justice, but the colors were fabulous. And to be up above the clouds was an experience I'll never forget. Thank you Jesse for talking me into going up there. It was worth every moment being up there.

Pretty amazing huh?

After the sunset we headed down the windy highway again. We found a pizza restaurant near the base of it and ordered calzones (best and biggest calzones we have ever had). With our full bellies and left over to take "home" we made the hour drive back to the condo and just crashed in bed.

It's kind of amazing how much we did/saw in one whole day. So much fun.

Maui Day 6 (Road to Hana)

We have been off the grid for the last two days because we wanted to do the Road to Hana. And on that side of the island there really isn't any internet or cell phone service. So two days later we are back at our condo and taking a day of relaxing because we played way too hard the last 2 days. So prepare yourself for a long post.

I took SOOO many pictures over the past few days and obviously I can't put them all on here. But I hope the ones I have chosen will give an idea of everything we did and saw. I lost count of how many waterfalls we saw. I read in our guidebook that you an actually get waterfall fatigue from the amount of waterfalls that you could see on the Road to Hana.

To give you an idea of where we drove on the first day I made this map from our condo in Ka'anapali down to Hana. Pretty much on the complete opposite side of the island. But really is was about the journey, not the destination.

Once we started down the Hana Highway (Saturday) we could see why people were telling us it's just beautiful. That side of the island is thick jungle. Along the highway there are a lot of stops. Some are short hikes up to a waterfall and others were longer. Some were even right by the narrow road. We stopped as much as we thought fitting and what we wanted to see.

Our first stop was to Twin Falls. This is what the trail looked like as were were walking up to it. It was only a 1.5 mile round trip trail.

And here is Twin Falls. It was a really busy one. I think because it was the first stop and and easy little hike. We were reading in our little guidebook(which came in very handy on this highway) that everyone spends alot of time at this falls but there are better ones ahead. So we didn't linger very long.

 Our next stop was to go hike to the Na'ili'ili-haele Falls. We had struggles trying to find the start of the trail. But can you blame us?.....(picture below)... it was hidden by all the greenery.

 Once we ventured into the greenery we found ourselves in a bamboo forest. The deeper we got the bamboo got fatter and fatter. It was pretty cool.

This trail actually led us through and along a stream. Before we made it to the first waterfall we talked to a couple that were coming back. We asked them about the trail and the man explained that once we get to the first waterfall there will be a trail up on the left had side with a rope to aid in climbing up to the second waterfall. Then to the left of that there was a ladder that you climbed up to reach the third one.

So this us at the first waterfall.

 Climbing up the rope wasn't too bad. But all of the rocks were wet so finding sure footing was tricky and a little nerve racking. I'm not usually nervous when hiking on rocks, but being pregnant I really didn't want to take an unfortunate fall.

Take a look at the picture below of Jesse looking out over the second waterfall. Do you see the sketchy latter off to the left? It didn't seem so bad until we started climbing up it. Jesse went first and he was even nervous to go up it. There was a rope holding it up around a tree root and the rope looked like it wasn't going to last for much longer. Jesse tried to tie it around better just in case, but it still made us nervous to climb it. Haha, but did that stop us from doing it? Nope. We are crazy.

Climbing back down it got our hearts pumping though. It was one of those things I couldn't think about it or else I probably couldn't have done it. Especially when your husband is climbing down it saying "This is scary". Haha.... I just had to ignore that and just get down.

 These falls were really cool. It was a fall into a pool into a fall into a pool etc. So pretty. And on both sides of it was lined with thick jungle. Quite the experience.

 We made it back to the car after hiking for 2 hours and we were just pooped. Luckily there wasn't anything we wanted to stop and see for a little while so we could rest and eat our packed lunch.

The road hugs the side of the cliff most of the time. And there were some beautiful views of the ocean. If you take a closer look at the green cliff in the background of this picture you can see the road cut in to it. Pretty awesome huh?

Before we know it we had made it to the half way point. YAY!!!

 At the halfway point there was a stand that had homemade Banana Bread, coconuts, fruits and snacks. We were told by a lot of people that we had to buy some Banana Bread when we had the chance. So that's what we did. And it was REALLY yummy.

 This waterfall we could see from the bridge. It's called Waikani Falls (AKA the Three Bears). We were able to park on a small pullout off of the road and climb down to get a good picture of it. This one was pretty cool.

 Ok, this part will have to be the highlight of our day. And we owe it all to our little guidebook that revealed some secrets for us. We stopped at Pua'a Ka'a State Park. Which again we could see a waterfall from the road. But in the book it was telling us that there was a muddy trail up on the right side of this falls that we could take and it would lead us up to another Falls. So we wanted to do it. It was only a ten minute hike to get there. When we got there we had this over look of this secluded waterfall and pool. As we looked down into it was saw a couple down there. So we tried to find the trail that led us down there. By the time we found it that couple was leaving. They told us that we were the first people that they had seen in 2 hours. WHAT? That's so awesome. All of the other falls were just packed with people so we were excited to have it all to ourselves.

All of the other pools hadn't been very tempting to jump into. The water seems kinda mucky and dirty. But this one looked clean and clear. And we were feeling hot and sweaty so it sounded so refreshing to jump in. We knew it would be cold and so we knew we just had to jump in, instead of slipping in slowly. I think we stood on the edge for awhile just giggling about being nervous to get cold. Haha. But we finally found the nerve and jumped in.

And yes it was cold. But it was really refreshing at the same time.

Just past the State Park we found a the lava tubes that Jesse wanted to climb/crawl through. We barely missed it because it was just this little hole in the side of the mountain right off the road. Not going to lie I was a bit nervous to go in. It was pitch black in there. Jesse had brought his head lamp so we did have some light.

 I was grateful that the tube was only 140 feet long. But when we came out on the other side we were in a field of tree roots.

 This is a picture of us as right before we made it back to the road.

 Funny weather we had all day. We had moments of down pour rain, moments of misty rain and sunshine the rest. But there was one moment when we came around a corner and saw this beautiful rainbow. It was incredible to see the ENTIRE bow.

The rest of the drive there wasn't a whole lot left to see. We did go down a road that had a freshwater cave that we didn't spend much time at. I didn't even take a picture because there were several people and I couldn't have gotten a good shot of them not being in the picture. And besides we were feeling anxious to check in. We wanted to find our place before it got to dark.

 

We stayed at this little one bedroom cottage called the Hideaway. It was perfect for our one night stay. 

We went to dinner at the only restaurant in Hana called the Hana Ranch restaurant. It was surprisingly really expensive. I think that was the most we had spent on dinner our whole time we have been here. My Parmesan Chicken was actually really good. The veggies were cooked perfect. But I didn't think is was $25 worthy. Jesse wasn't too thrilled with his $23 Pork Quesadilla.

After dinner we headed back to our place, showered and went to bed. We were beat!

Maui Day 5 (Beach Day)

Jesse really wanted to Boogie Board while we were here. So a few days ago we had stopped by Costco and bought us a boogie board for $25. Yes, we bought one. Renting one was about $15/hour, so we decided it would still be cheaper to just buy one and have it the whole time we were here. And then before we leave maybe we could sell it for cheap, or just give it to someone. Pay it forward kind of thing.

 

So after breakfast and packing our lunch we headed down to Lahaina area to check out which beaches had the best waves also with some sand. We stopped at Launiupoko Beach  just south of Lahaina and thought it would be great. Got everything unloaded and all settled on the beach. The waves looked kinda sad, but Jesse thought he'd go try it out anyway. And to his disappointment they were just too slow and low to carry him.

 

He came back to the beach where I was reading and was saying that he kinda wanted to find another beach. I kinda laughed at him because we had just hauled all our stuff and get settled in. But we googled where some good boogie boarding beaches were and most of them were on South Maui. Which was about 30-40 minutes away from where we were. So we got all our stuff back in the car and headed down that way.

 

From our Maui Guidebook and from what Google was saying that the best beach would be Kama'ole Beach III was the best option. So that's where we stopped. It was bigger and the waves did seem a lot bigger and the beach seemed a lot better.

And you can tell it's quite popular as well. As I watched Jesse boogie board it was making my laugh to watch everyone catching the same wave as him and this line of people all riding that same wave.

The boogie boarding waves were off to the left of where we set up "camp". But to the right of us were these rocks and it seemed calmer and promising for snorkeling.

I was worried about boogie boarding because I didn't know how easy it would be not to put pressure on my belly. So I opted out.... at first. After watching Jesse and all the other people having so much fun I really wanted to try it. Plus I was getting to hot from sitting in the sun. So I went for it. I just put the base of the board below my baby bump and instead of laying flat on my tummy I would keep my elbows bent so hold myself up and keep the pressure off baby. And it worked.

After boogie boarding for a little bit then we read our books. When Jesse got to a stopping point in his book he went and got the snorkel gear out of the car so we could go check out that area. It had quite a bit of current going south, but we worked our way through it.

There was actually a really awesome reef through that area. Lots of fish. We even saw a puffer fish. Jesse tried scarring it so it would blow up... but no success. But the cool part about that area is we saw about 4 different turtles. One of them in particular was really big and just took his time sailing through the water so we were able to hang out with him a bit.

 These pictures don't do him justice. He was honestly Huge. We didn't dare to get close to them because we learned that you aren't suppose to touch them (oops) and your suppose to keep a 10 foot distance from them. There were times when some would just swim right by us so we couldn't help that 10 foot rule.

There honestly was one in particular that came in from my left and startled me because of how close it came to me. Snorkel masks give you very good blind spots and he was right in it until I saw him at the last minute. Pretty cool though. Every time we have gone snorkeling we have seen turtles. Makes me happy. On that note as well, every single day we have been here so far, we have seen whales blowing their spouts, jumping, splashing etc. Pretty awesome. It's like the norm around here and we have to remind ourselves how spectacular it really is to see whales and turtles everyday. It's amazing.

 

We finished snorkeling and then we decided to get out of the sun and clean ourselves off. Above the beach was a big grassy area with picnic tables, swing sets, showers, and bathrooms. We weren't quite ready to go eat dinner, so we cleaned up and just parked ourselves on a picnic bench to read and/or check out the restaurants that were around us.

 

As we were sitting there I was admiring the palm trees with the sun starting to set in the background. I snapped this photo and didn't even edit it. It's just simply beautiful.  

 

We found a Mexican restaurant just down the street, so we went for that. You can never go wrong with Mexican food. I love a lot of the restaurants around here are all right on the beach, so we get that sunset feel during dinner. It's nice.

When we finished our meal, we walked across the street to watch the sun go down.....

...and get a picture of us as we were wrapping up our day. 

We headed back to our condo and on the way got some gas and some groceries in prep for tomorrow's Road to Hana trip.