Aloha. Apparently I can’t really claim to have been an
official Alaskan until I vacationed in Hawaii. There are direct flights year
round to Hawaii from Alaska, which at 6 hours makes it a surprisingly easy and
warm destination for a tropical escape. I think Alaska and Hawaii have a
kindred connection since they are both outcast from the contiguous United States. All those “free shipping” emails and
advertisements you see, note the * with a special disclaimer on the bottom that
says except AK and HI, where we will charge $20 extra to ship anything! Not
that I’m bitter about shipping costs or anything haha. But free shipping is so exciting now that I'm back in Texas.
Anyway I was pumped to have a vacation to Maui with
my good friend Jodie back in April. Yes this was 6 months ago and I am finally getting around to blogging about it, shameful I know :( Alaska Airlines passed out complimentary Mai Tai’s about 30 minutes before we landed which made for an excellent start to the vacation! Everyone
on the plane was so happy and delighted. We were greeted with a cool island breeze in the wonderful open-air airport when we landed. I loved Hawaii from the moment we stepped
off the plane. Things just kept getting better as we ventured over to the car
rental place. National car rentals usually have an assortment of cars to choose
from, so we were browsing the Camrys and Civics when all
the sudden a brand new 2015 Mustang pulled up from the car wash and the
attendant stepped out and asks us if we want the car. Of course we were thrilled
to be riding in style across the island! We nicknamed our hot rod Mustang Sal
for the week and tried to find good spots to take a photo for our island
Mustang car commercial.
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| Alaska Airlines Hawaiian plane! |
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| Lovely open air airport |
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| Mustang Sal |
Our first two nights were spent in Lahaina on the
western side of the island. I tried Air B&B for the first time and found a
little condo called “Million Dollar View” and it truly was just that. The room
literally couldn’t have been any closer to the ocean and it was so peaceful falling
asleep to the ocean breeze and hearing the waves crash right beneath us.
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| Our Million Dollar view in Lahaina |
On our drive over to Lahaina, we stopped at the
grocery store to pick up some snacks. This was when we discovered the amazing
fact that Hawaiian grocery stores have a poke counter the size of the meat
counter in most other grocery stores I’ve been to! We were obviously thrilled
and of course had to try several different flavors. We ended up with 1.5lbs of tuna poke ranging from avocado to sweet chili flavors. This was the perfect picnic
dinner as we ventured out to the blowhole on the north side of the island. We
were the only ones there watching as the waves crashed and shot a tower of water
up above the rocks. We ended the evening by catching the beautiful sunset on
our way back to the room.
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| Treacherous walk down to the blowhole |
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| The blowhole in action |
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| Delicious fresh poke |
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| 1st Hawaiian sunset |
The next morning we were up early and enjoyed
coffee and whale watching from the balcony. We then headed down to South Maui
to check out some snorkeling spots. It was a little treacherous getting into
the water on the rocky spot, but we saw several huge sea turtles as well as a
hilarious guy in boxer briefs with his go-pro swimming right next to one of the
turtles haha. All that snorkeling made us pretty hungry so enjoyed some liquid
aloha Kona beer and authentic Hawaiian fruit – guavas and star apples. We had to do a
little google search to figure out how to eat these fruits. I absolutely loved
the guava and have been on the hunt for them ever since I got back. We the ventured to Big Beach in South Maui for some sun tanning on our super pale Alaskan skin. There was a surf competition going on at the time so it was pretty crowded. We did enjoy some good people watching as several groups with various drums and instruments heading over this cliff to Little Beach, which we read later was a topless beach.
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| Morning coffee and whale watching |
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| Rocky entry to the best South Maui snorkel spot |
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| Yummy guavas! |
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| Church up in the cliffs |
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| Hibiscus |
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| Another sunset at the end of the windy road |
The next morning we woke up super early to check
out one more snorkel spot in West Maui - Honolua Bay. We were there by 7am and took a
really neat 10 minute walk through the jungle to the cove, where the water was
nice and calm. We snorkeled along one side of the bay and then decided to cross
the open ocean to snorkel back along the other side. We swam pretty fast over
the vast ocean cause we were scared of whales and ocean creatures! I made Jodie
take the outside spot haha. I didn’t think the coral and fish were as
good as the south maui spots we went to the day before, but it was a fun
morning adventure and we avoided the afternoon sun on our backs.
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| Trekking through the jungle |
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| Ready to snorkel |
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| Neat jungle trees |
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| Post-morning snorkel |
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| Wild chickens near the bay |
We then started our trek to Hana, the most famous
drive in Maui, but not before we stocked up on some more poke. It was a
beautiful drive with lots of waterfalls and beaches to explore! We ate lunch at the top of a waterfall and stopped to take a dip in the chilly water of Chings Pond (aka the Blue Sapphire Pond). There was this neat shop on the side of the road selling all types of Hawaiian treats like macadamia nuts, pineapple and coconut. This is where I tried liliqoi for the first time, the Hawaiian passionfruit! I found another Hawaiian treasure and my newest obsession. From then on I got liliqoi flavor everything - jams, ice creams, syrups, etc.
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| Ready for the Road to Hana |
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| Lunch at the top of a waterfall |
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| Lots of waterfall sitings |
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| Fruits for sale |
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| Chings Pond |
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| Chings Pond |
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| Jodie in Chings Pond |
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| Just floating around |
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| Chings Pond |
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| Chings Pond |
We stayed in a cabin at the Wai'anapanapa State Park on the East side of Maui for the next two nights. It was
so cute and rustic and could sleep up to 8 people if you had a large group. We explored around our cabin and found
a neat path to the ocean surrounded by mangroves. The waves were really strong
crashing against the volcanic rocks along the coast. The turquoise water against the black rocks and lush green plants was gorgeous. The coastal path took us to the Black Sands Beach where we relaxed for awhile and then Jodie was brave enough to take a dip in the ice cold freshwater pools in a cave behind the beach.
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| Our cabin |
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| Mangroves lining the path to the beach |
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| Heading down to the freshwater cave |
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| Jodie braving the cold pool, I watched from above |
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| Ending the evening at Wai'anapanapa State Park |
The next day we finished the other half of the
drive past Hana. Unfortunately, the Seven Sacred Pools were dried up, so we hiked to
the huge old banyan tree and turned around. We made a pit stop at Laulima Farm where they made me a salad with all locally grown produce, it was kind of a hippy place and the salad was super tasty. We then went to Homoa Beach for several hours for some sun
tanning and body surfing. The beach was nice and tucked away with a super
consistent wave break spot so was perfect for body surfing.
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| Jodie in the banyan tree |
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| Laulima Farm |
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| Tasty salad |
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| Jodie found a kitty |
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| Homoa Beach waves for body surfing! |
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| Views along the road to Hana |
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| I found a Packers fan! |
Jodie saw an ad in our guidebook for power hang gliding in Hana so we signed up the day we arrived and were finally headed out to the Hana Airport late afternoon.
I was pretty terrified so Jodie made me go first. Our German pilot took each of
us up in a motorized hang glider for an hour. We flew by waterfalls and beaches
and even above the clouds! Yes I’m a child, but I’ve always wanted to stick my
hand out of the window of an airplane and “touch” the clouds. So I totally
stuck out my hand, knowing good and well I wouldn’t feel anything, but it was
still super fulfilling! Then the pilot turned off the engine and let us free
glide back down to the ground, I was pretty scared but the views were simply incredible! We ended the day with champagne in Hana to celebrate the awesome adventure and Jodie's last night in Hawaii.
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| Suited up for our hang gliding |
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| About to take off |
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| So cool! |
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| Trying to smile for the camera |
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| Flying over the amazing landscapes |
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| Above the clouds! |
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| Jodie flying over our cabin |
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| Jodie steering the hang glider |
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| Jodie over the waterfalls |
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| Cheers to Hana and hang gliding success |
The next morning we got some coffee and ventured out to Venus Pool. We saw some guys jumping off a 50ft cliff with go pros! Super brave, we walked down to the base of the pool and I stuck my feet in while Jodie went for a swim. We hit up one more beach near Hana before heading back to town – the Red Sands Beach. The walk there was a little treacherous and we actually
saw a couple people fall (didn't get seriously injured). Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to hang out because
Jodie had a flight to catch, but we got a couple photos of the sand. I actually flew over this beach the day before in the hang glider as well. We definitely underestimated how long it would
take to get back into town and Jodie got to the airport with 32 minutes before
her flight… but she made it onboard! In her swimsuit haha.
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| Unattended fruit stand with a jar to collect money, so cute and trusting! |
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| Headed to Venus Pool |
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| Found Venus Pool |
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| Jodie went for a swim |
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| Red Sands Beach |
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| The sand really is red |
I had 2 more vacation days to spare, so I used my
hotel points to stay at the Hilton Grand Wailea for 2 more nights. My life was about to become
super hectic with a new job, trip to South Korea, and a cross-country move, so
I wanted to relax for a few more days in the sunshine. It was the perfect end to my active vacation
and my room had another incredible view with a full wall of windows! It was
definitely tough to come back to real life after a week in paradise.
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| Amazing view |
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| Beautiful hotel |
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| I finally got a lei |
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| Tropical drinks with a jalapeño kick |
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| My last Hawaiian sunset |
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