getting ready to go to work in the rain with no pineapple, papaya, passion fruit breakfast. oh the humanity and the indignity suffered. maui come back
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we made it back to sacramento fine. mission accomplished. woke up this morning to rain in sacramento. a far cry from the maui we experienced due to el nino. it was like summer there because el nino has sent storms to California instead. the flight home was smoother in our cadillac of the skies airbus a330. it was a much faster trip too. sacramento to maui we flew into headwinds that slowed us all down. returning we had a 80mph tailwind so the flight time was around 4 hours. much better. cheryl had a much better flight time returning including watching the original jurrasic park that filmed in hawaii. fitting and funny the landings was a bit rough. in kahului we flew through the valley over the soon to be gone sugar cane fields and got bounced around but not as bad as landing in las vegas with the thermals. with the big plane for their average smaller airport runway the pilot had to hit the brakes hard. real hard! think we experienced what it is like being a crash test dummy in deceleration.
in oakland we crabbed when we landed. as the well seasoned pilot just about touched down there must have been a big wind gust. one wing lifted a bit, our left wheels hit the runway and as they grabbed the plane righted itself by pulling left. having flown a lot as a child and tried being a pilot myself i knew this was a white knuckle moment hoping our wing didnt strike the runway as the pilot fought the plane at the last minute of touchdown. most passengers didnt even realize what happened. just happy to be down. i've experienced hard landings, the hard breaking at kahului, but this landing at oakland was my most unplesdent landing experience. all seemed fine till that last few seconds of touchdown where the wing dipped, we landed and crabbed. thank you to sandy and michelle at the haiku plantation inn for the hospitality. thank you to cheryl's friend karen for cat sitting our Buttercup and entertaining her in our abscence. thanks to my wife cheryl for suggesting and being part of the decision making process of our trip. i'm very glad to have her and she made the trip all the better.
and thank you to the island, ocean, flora, fauna, and fruit of maui for a wonderfull experience. a hui hou.... goodbye till we meet again. so its almost time to reverse sacramento to maui. we flew out of oakland instead of sacramento for a few reasons including being cheaper. flights from oakland just seem to be cheaper. so sacramento to oakland. oakland to maui also known as oak to ogg instead of smf to ogg. now we wait to fly 5.5 hours arriving 7ish west coast to then drive just under two more hours. maybe we should have taken tomorrow off of work. o well. the gate is just now starting to call boarding soon with wheel chair and disabled. so eventually we'll be on board after a few zones of seating are called. we are over the wing in the middle of the plane
we returned the car wiki wiki at thrifty and got in the tsa line. the tsa front people were very island friendly but there were many more than in oakland. once past the id and getting to the body scan it got a little more intense and rushed. but we're in the airport. no worries brah. just getting a little cross breeze as the kahului airport is quite open aired like most hawaiian structures to let tge outside in and catch the breeze. being a noon time flight i grabbed a quick hot dog (yes it's bad for me) island style with a pineapple relish and maui grown onions of course. it was tasty and the store looked like a food truck. frankly gourmet... appreciated the play on words. cheryl waiting for the flight with a flower in her air. at the haiku plantation inn we stayed in the plumeria suite and sandy the owner left cheryl the fake flower clip. we also got the real thing for her later.
as i write this early monday morning nobody is stirring in the house. outside is diferrent. roosters, birds, an occassional cow mow. it hits me we didnt do a lot of traditional tourity things. yes we went to the beach but what else. we kind of did it our own way and not the costco package way.
cheryl found us a great a great funky b&b full if charm and vibe. we were able to lounge in the house and gardens vs just a room. we lived more as a local instead of tourists including eating at home not at restaurants. we went to see real island history and got a real authentic maui experience. it was interesting. we are so glad we didnt choose a resort and just sit there in its comfort zone. we got out to a lot if the island yet managed to hide out in local haiku. it certainly was a different experience and felt more like an expliration. no road to hana (car sickness issues), no pineapple tour, no high priced resort luau, no zip line, no hike to the volcano at 4am to see the sunrise. we're plenty fine without doing those. we had an amazing experience anyway; our way. not missing them having experienced a more rural green floral experience in haiku. but its about time to say goobye for now. one last fruit breakfast at the b&b and then of to vaccum and gas the car before begrudgingly turning it in and taking the free shuttle ride of shame to the airport. shame the we are leaving..... sobin an effort to find an easier beach to enjoy we returned to kihei. the makena beach was just too much that day. so we drove out of wailea (a gaudy manicured orange county town to us) and went to a more waikikiesque town of kihei again. a break at ululani's shaved ice and a spam musubi (sushi) perked us up. after a snack we drove down the main kihei drag past a bunch of resorts, condos, and timeshares to a locals beach. we had been there the day before watching the sunset. kamaole beach park III. kamaole beach park III literally has the III in the name. there are three seperate beaches named kamaole. we liked the first but the parking was full. the second we didnt like as much. the III was just right. It helped that we had already been there the day before and it funningly reminded me of Thurston Howell the III from giligan's island. this is a family beach and park. there is a large green space for locals to set up and grille all day. there were bathrooms, lifeguard station, and shower station. just down a few steps is the beach and on one end seemed like a boogie boarding class learning. we chose the quieter far south end and it ended up being a great choice. there were rock out croppings to explore and a semi circular line of rocks on the other that turned this beach into a somewhat protected harbor. low waves on a beach you could walk quite a ways out on meant you could get out in front of the waves breaking for an easier time in the water and not worry about being hit by boogie boarders. the rock wall also helped limit undercurrents especially sideways ones we experienced at makena beach. overall a nice place to chill, a nice place to start snorkeling, and if you just want to float or bob above waves safely a great option.
a short ride back to haiku to shower and we decided to drive 5 miles upcountry to makawo. not much there but a few boutiques, restaurants, cows/goats, and locals. being upcountry a little bit different terrain was seen and feeling a world away from the beach. But what views. By then it was getting dark so we grabbed a bite from a food truck, grabbed some fresh fruit, and a beer to head back to the haiku plantation inn to decompress and write on the blog. ok, today was realxing at the beach day. that was the goal. we went to the numero uno big beach (literally). makena big beach state park. a nice wide beach that is supposedly the kingly beach beach to visit on maui. I was concerned the crowds would be huge. i had read tons of people go there. the parking lot was quite full with a long walk ahead. but i gave it a go and drove to the front turnaround and it was like we received a special cozmic perk. a patking spot opened a mere 12 spaces away from the entrance. we hit the beach with a borrowed beach umbrella and towels from the haiku plantation inn and were ready for an amazing day. then things went a little sideways. this beach that was supposed to be the best or one of the best started to get angry. we were in the surf fighting big waves and undercurrents from both the left and right. it was tiresome abd worrisome. i'd have to say we just picked the wrong day.
i was having trouble and cheryl was thrown all around so we threw in the towel and left for a more relaxed ecperience beach. As we were leaving i looked back and literally two dozen others decided to leave as well. i don't know if the lifeguard said something or conditions literally changed when we showed up. but it was a mass exodus... when is say iao it reminds me off johnny carsons sideckick ed mcmahan ay ooo. the iao valley is a lovely nook between the dominant presence of huge mountains. it's a green utopia because on the other side is quite desolate as the rain storms lose power over the mountains. there is a lovely park honoring the immigrants who helped shape the island. korean, chinese, japanese, filipino, portugese. many more pics in the maui pictures section
from iao we cut through the plantation valley of maui and hit a tourist trap complete with 3 tour busses and a fourth arrived as we were leaving. i call it a tourist trap but it actually was very nice bordering on an amazing place. a huge place to buy hawaiian shirts, jewelry, and maui smelling stuff. maui tropical plantation is it's name and eventhough it's all capitalism it was designed amazingly. the touches, the finishes, the gardens and all the thought put into it was amazing. A great marketing extravagaza and amazing event space for weddings etc. we almost bought some stuff but we needed to keep going to maximize beach time. |
AuthorThe Randalls. Neil who is married to Cheryl have been planning a Maui vacation for months. We are sharing a few things to do in Maui on this Maui Travel Blog Archives
January 2018
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