Maui Day 4, OPPS

Ok, so one of the things that they told us at the car rental place was, "If you get the key wet, it will cost you $250.00". Yesterday we had decided to go to Black Rock beach in Kaanapali to snorkel, we had heard it was great. In the car we asked ourselves, what the heck do we do with the keys while we are in the water? Not wanting to leave them in the bag on the beach. I said we would just have to go in one at a time. With that Harry put them in his swimsuit pocket. Can you see where I am going with this?

                                         Cheeseburgers In Paradise

                                                          Beautiful Hanging white flowers, don't know what they are.

                                              Lahina, Maui HI. Below, sunset from the condo

I had a bit of trouble getting my mask adjusted, and since Harry was anxious to get in the water I told him just go I'll figure it out. Well, as I am sitting there a horrid thought came to mind where the hell did he put the keys? I tore the bag apart hoping against hope they were in there.............................NOT. They are still in his pocket!!!! He is swimming in the water of course and I tear down the beach hoping I can get him before he swims off and I can't yell at him, luckily he is headed back in cuz he forgot his flippers. I tried to keep my voice calm as I yelled "Where the HELL are the keys? You guessed it!!!! Needless to say we panicked, how do we get in the car if the remote doesn't work? No door locks on the car on the outside.  He told me to wait and he would go back to the car, so I waited and waited and waited, finally decided I better go see what happened or where the heck he was. Luckily, the remote worked once so the car was unlocked but he couldn't chance locking it to come get me so good thing I got upset waiting and went back. Needless to say our day was pretty much shot! All we could think about was that $250. we'd be out. Desperate, we tried to think what to do, go to the airport and confess pay the piper, try drying it out and hope for the best? We decided to try an new battery first since it is a common type and we found one at Longs. There must be a God in heaven cuz the darn remote is working fine now. Don't know if the car rental has a way of telling but if so I guess we fess up and pay. Tried to salvage the rest of the day by sitting by the pool and taking a swim in the beach by the condo. Needless to say no photos from yesterday. I am posting some from a few days ago.

Maui Day 3,Haleakela

                                         Pack horses coming out of the crater.

                                           Silversword plant, these actually look like someone sprayed the silver.

                                          Looking down into the volcano

                                          The cinder cones in the volcano

                                         On the way down.

                                          Shifting sands trail, believe me it was. Pic Below, Harry on the road up, we were above the clouds looking down on the island.

OMG, yesterday was such an experience. We want to see sunrise from the Haleakala Volcano but decided to drive up in the daylight to see how long it took and to scope it out. We knew it would be cold and we did not bring anything warm to wear so had to find a hoodie somewhere, luckly K Mart had some. I had remembered that it was a very windy place from my last visit to Maui but nothing, not even memories prepares you for the WIND. You can barely stand up and walk it blows so hard. But oh what a sight. You drive to the top and at the observation deck it is 10,023 ft above sea level. In total, counting what is beneath the sea Haleakala is actually 600+ ft. higher than Mt. Everest. There are trails all the way thru the crater to the end of the island 13 miles total,camping sites and cabins down in the middle of the crater. We took a short hike into the crater to get a closer view of the cinder cones. It is pretty eerie being in the middle of a volcano, albiet, an extinct one. It was so worth the effort, an experience not to be forgotten. Even tho' I complained the whole climb out LOL. The wind, luckily down in the crater was a lot less than on the top. Looking forward to seeing the sunrise, hopefully tomorrow morning. Even tho' it means getting up at 3am to get there in time. We have been told it is not to be missed. If the photos we saw in the visitors center are any indication, it is true. They are stunning.

Maui Day 2

                                                       Drinks at the Barefoot Bar

                                             One of the large koi in the pond at a small shopping mall in Keihi

                                                  Banyon tree in Lahaini planted in 1864

                                                   Cheeseburgers in Paradise......yummy

                                                            Harry's new friends from Dallas TX, they all had the same hat from the ABC store.

Woke up early because of the time difference so it has seemed like a very long day. Today was a day to explore and find some of the beaches that we want to snorkel at. Headed back into Keihi to do a bit more shopping, looking for snorkel gear and a few other things we needed. Took photos of the BIG Koi that were in the pool at the little mall where we had dinner yesterday.  Headed to Lahaina to see old town and have lunch at Cheeseburgers in Paradise and see the HUGE banyan tree in the park, amazing, it is so big. Walked from one end of town to the other to walk off the hamburger from lunch!! Still feel bloated and full. UGG. Headed to Kaanapali to see if I could find the beach side barefoot bar that I remembered from a trip to Maui yrs. ago. After not too much walking thru the Whalers Village Mall we found the Hula Grill where the bar was. So nice to sit by the beach with my toes in the sand. There is a great snorleling beach not far from there that we are hoping to go back to tomorrow. We walked on the beach but the wind was blowing so hard that the sand was blasting across the beach and actually hurt when it hit us. Little bit of rain but not enough to actually call it rain, not like home. All in all a very busy day and both of us are feeling exhausted, I think more from the heat and humidity than from activity. It is 11:50 pm at home and only 8:50 here, it is going to take a few days to get used to that. But I think I can manage to do that. Anxiously waiting for Heather and family to arrive next week.

Off to Maui

We had an ok flight from PDX to Maui, I say that because we took Alaska Air this time instead of Hawaiian. Well, just not the same. If there had been two first class seats left instead of just one I could of used my miles to upgrade, would of been much more comfy!! Maybe there will be two going home.

                                                   Somewhere over the Pacific

                                                     View from our laini

                                                 The condo

With the 3 hr time difference we had a full afternoon to explore. The condo is very nice and the tradewinds help to keep it cooler. No air conditioning but ceiling fans keep the air moving but the humidity will take a few days to get used to. It is a beautiful morning the sun is shining and the birds are singing. AHHHHH, lovin' it!!! Wish you were all here to enjoy it with us.