A Few of Our Favorite Things

Mother's Top Three Favorite things about Hawaii:
1. The Hawaiian people are so nice.
2. The beautiful mountains, beaches and flowers
3. I enjoyed staying at the B&B's, it was nice to meet up with other people and visit with them.

Julia's Top Three Favorite things about Hawaii
1. Coffee - there is great coffee everywhere you go. I used YELP to find local favorites.
2. KPOA - Hawaiian radio makes driving all the more enjoyable.
3. Aloha - There are bumper stickers here that say "Live Aloha" and when you are on the islands you definitely feel the aloha

Tips for Your Hawaiian Vacation

* The only guide book you need is Andrew Doughty's "(insert island name) REVEALED: The Ultimate Guidebook." It is usually current and it is well researched and filled with great travel tips. We found his restaurant picks to be good too.
* Bring a jacket or sweater -- it gets cool at night and up in the mountains
* Be prepared for scenic diversions and don't over plan your day
* Make sure your rental car has cruise control. The speed limit is lower than anywhere I've ever been but you'll need it to insure you are at least going the posted minimum speed. There are so many breathtaking distractions that driving is quite challenging.
* If your phone doesn't have GPS, be sure to get GPS with your car. The street street names are so similar to one another that every vowel counts when looking for your location.
* If you are prone to motion sickness, pack ginger tablets. You'll need them for driving just as much if not more than you need them for adventures on the sea.
* Always carry your bathing suit, a beach towel and your snorkel gear. You never know when the a picturesque beach will call your name.
* Bring binoculars -- you can see whales from the shore
* When going inside places be mindful of whether or not you need to take your shoes off

AS FOR THE ISLANDS WE VISITED:

OAHU

* Bring an umbrella or rain jacket with you. It rains at least a dozen times a day
* Go to ISLAND SNOW for "shave ice" (we liked the Pali Pog)
* Spend time at KAILUA BEACH PARK
* Snokel at HANAUMA BAY (the best snorkel spot on our three island tour)
* Go to LEONARD'S BAKERY for the Li Hing malasadas
* Visit PEARL HARBOR and tour all the on-site museums. Take time to watch all the videos. Be sure to leave all your bags at the hotel or in your car otherwise you will have to check it for $3.

BIG ISLAND

* Whenever you have the option to eat something made with LILIKOI do it.
* If you are staying near KEALAKEKUA go to ISLAND NATURALS MARKET, get a cup of organic Hawaiian java and watch the sunset from the lanai
* MOUNTAIN THUNDER coffee is delicious and the drive up the mountain to the plantation is nice.
* If you are staying in Waimea go to MAMANE BAKERY and get a cheese danish. The store looks like a warehouse but if you enter from the side they will sell you yummy baked goods.
* The best meal we had on our trip was at HILO BAY CAFE in HILO. Save room for desert.
* When you first arrive at VOLCANO NATIONAL PARK check at the visitor's center for the daily activities. We enjoyed the crater walk/tour with a park ranger and the ukelele lesson at the art center.
* The food at the LAVA ROCK CAFE in the town of Volcano was OK but the lilikoi cheesecake was the best treat we had on our trip.
MISSED: Mauna Kea stargazing ideally on a night when there is no moon or it is at less than 15%. Here's a link: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/visiting-mauna-kea/star-gazing-program.html

MAUI

* We really enjoyed the TRILOGY snorkel cruise to Lana'i. Don't skip the tour of the city of Lana'i if you go.
* WHALES! There are whales all along the HONOAPIILANI HIGHWAY and we often pulled over and just watched the show.
* Ma La restaurant for a nightcap or nosh
* If you are near Lahaina on a Sunday, go to the 10:30a service at LAHAINA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. It is a lovely Hawaiian experience.
* If you go to HANA, take the back road home. They sell t-shirts that say "I survived the Road to Hana." Forget that... when you finish you will feel worthy of a medal.
MISSED: There is a sunset lookout on Highway 37. I think it is Sun Yat Sen Park near Keokea. I wanted to stop and take in the sunset but it was threatening rain so we kept on going. If I had another day in Maui, I would have gone back.

Day 13 - Aloha, Hawai'i

We woke up early and began our 24-hour journey home. We saw whales on the drive to the Kahului airport, made one last bakery stop and joined the island commuters on the flight from Maui to Oahu. I don't want to leave. This has been a great vacation.

Hawaiian nachos

Day 12 - Aloha and Mahola, Hawai'i

Today was our last full day in Hawaii. Unfortunately, Mother woke up a little under the weather. She stayed in bed all day long bundled up in several outfits so she could stay warm. I ran around the island some but stayed close by and checked up on her throughout the day.

Like most local businesses in Hawaii, Penny, the owner of the lovely B&B we called our Maui home, doesn't work on Sunday. I think it goes back to the missionary history of the island -- Sunday is a day of rest. The touring company we sailed with to Lana'i works on Sunday but out of respect to the locals, they do not go ashore on Sundays. Penny had several recommendations for breakfast so I Yelped her top picks and decided to go to Gazebo, a restaurant nestled within the Napili Shore Condos right on the coast. The restaurant looks like it has 15 tables and according to the reviews you always have to wait. When I got there at 8:15am the restaurant was full and I was maybe the 10th person on line. While waiting on line my inner New Yorker surged to the surface and I called the restaurant to see if I could place an order to go. To my complete surprise the woman who answered the phone said, "Sure thing." My breakfast burrito was ready five minutes later. The gazebo that holds the restaurant and gives it its name is poolside and surrounded by patio tables so I just sat down and ate my to go breakfast right there. There was free coffee for guests and an amazing ocean view with windsurfers, snorkelers and whales. All that and no tipping required! All good by me.

I was hoping Mother would rebound in time for church but she was officially down for the count. I went to Lahaina United Methodist Church without her. Penny is a member and invited us when we asked about nearby churches. The church is built like a house, a very large house, and it sits across the street from the ocean. All the stained glass has tropical flowers. The front doors and most of the windows were left open. It was nice to hear the ocean and birds throughout the service. When I walked in, a woman greeted me with a plumeria lei. If Hawaii had a state scent, it would definitely be plumeria. The call to worship was performed by the preacher blowing a conch shell outside. It sounded like a ship's horn. When we sang the first hymn, Penny leaned over and told me that the organist is Maui's state senator. All the men wore Aloha shirts and all the women wore lovely floral print dresses or blouses. Some men wore shorts, most slacks, one a man skirt. I thought it was interesting that the only people wearing real shoes (not sandals or flip flops) were natives. They did the Lord's Prayer in English but said a Hawaiian prayer afterward. The sermon was nice. It was about understanding that God has a purpose for everything. During the offering, a "Tongan Choir" sang a very familiar hymn in their native tongue as beautiful koa bowls were passed from row to row. According to the church bulletin, the service ended with "Circle of Ohana." This entailed the entire congregation forming a circle inside the church, holding hands and singing "Hawaii Aloha" as the minister played the ukelele. Interestingly enough, this is the song that Mother and I learned during our ukelele lesson on the Big Island. Honestly, the whole experience ranks pretty close to the highlight of my entire trip. I was very sad that Mother couldn't be there with me because I felt like I was having a Hawaiian experience that was very personal and earnest.

I spent the afternoon hunting down good coffee and bumming around from beach to beach.

At some point in the day, I bought some ginger ale and some crackers and rented a movie to take back to Mom. She was in and out and the movie was terrible but I tried.

I ended up going out at sunset. I wanted to watch the sea turtles come ashore and feed on the seaweed. I watched them for close to an hour before returning to Ma La, the place we first ate on Lahaina. I sat at the bar, ate a small Greek salad and chatted with a couple from Monterey, California.

It was a lazy last day for me. I enjoyed myself as much as I could but it was not nearly as much fun without my traveling companion.


Mother's Highlight: The lei. (Penny gave me her lei at the end of the church service and told me to give it to Mother. She knew how much Mom liked the plumeria.)

Julia's Highlight: Church. It was a perfect morning. At one point two birds flew in, hung out for a bit then left. I really feel the beauty and reverence of both God and nature here on the islands.

One last island sunset

The downside to island life

Day 11 - The road to Hana (Maui)

So that Maui wouldn't feel left out of our bakery tour of the islands we hunted down the best one in Lahaina which was aptly named "The Bakery." We bought some treats for our drive then headed back to the B&B for breakfast.

We left for Hana at around 9am which was pretty late according to everyone we talked to this morning. There is evidently so much to see along the way and people pull off the road so often that the 52-mile drive takes all day. Our guide book wisely suggested that you pick four or five sites that you must see and realize before you start that there isn't time to do everything.

The Road to Hana gives new meaning to "long and winding road." There are 609 curves and 54 one way bridges according to the owner of our B&B, Penny. Someone else joked, "How do they come up with how many curves there are when there isn't one stretch of road that's straight?" We recorded our own stat on our trek -- the number of gasps Mother made. She kept it in the single digits and maxed out at nine. She only startled me once or twice. The road is so twisty and turny that we had to pull over several times to let locals and lead-footed mainlanders pass. Several times mother leaned my way to try and peak around the corner to see if there was oncoming traffic. The views were nice but we only stopped twice before Hana.

Our first stop was in Keanae where we went to Auntie's for lunch. Auntie's is a little sandwich shack that is off the beaten path but appears to do a lot of business solely on word of mouth. We sat on a bench across from the ocean and ate a veggie burger.

Our second stop was less than a mile away, Ching's Pond. It is a little spot in the crook of mountainous curve that went straight down about 25 feet where people dive. Just as we pulled up I saw a guy standing on the edge of the road jump. This isn't cliff diving. This is jumping off the ledge into a puddle. If I hadn't witnessed it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed that people actually jumped from there. If I hadn't read about it beforehand would have thought the jumper I saw had had enough with the drive and had decided to end it all. Mother thought the road was crazy. I thought Ching's Pond was crazy.

In Hana, we got a scoop of Kona Mud ice cream that is made by an island favorite, Roselani. It is Kona coffee ice cream with crushed up Oreos and a chocolate swirl. It was a nice reward after an often harrowing drive. We calmed our nerves further by taking in some art at the Hana Coast Gallery.

We decided to keep going forward instead of doubling back and doing the infamous part of the road to Hana in reverse. In Hawaii, "mauka" means mountain side and "makai" means ocean side. I definitely prefer to drive mauka. I don't want to go makai on a twisty road for fear of just driving off into the sea. We were told that the drive along the southeast side of Maui no longer requires four-wheel drive although there are sections that are unpaved and sections that have been repaved so much they made you wish for longer stretches of unpaved road. Where the Hana side is twists and turns, this road is up and down. Sometimes the up was so steep that when we got to the top we couldn't actually see down. I just drove slowly and hoped that the road would be there as I edged over the peak.

We only stopped once on the backside. We pulled over at mile marker 42 and took a .5 mile hike out to the Ohe' o Gulch (not a sexy name so some tourism guy started calling the site "The Seven Sacred Pools" even though there are actual 20+ pools that were never sacred). I wanted to check out Charles Lindbergh's grave but the sun was sinking and Mother did not want to be on that road after dark. As we walked to the car, I saw a whale. It is so strange to see whales from land as you walk or drive.

I read yesterday that whales are not monogamous and that they have lots of casual relationships. Sometimes they might swim with another whale for a few minutes, and other times for several days but rarely do they form lasting relationships (with the exception of mothers and their calves). I felt something similar to that today on the drive back. As we zigged, zagged, climbed and descended I noticed that a little red car was behind us. At the nearest pullout I pulled over to the side and waved the red car to pass. The guy driving the car waved back motioning us to go ahead. We continued for several hours together on the back road occasionally leap frogging because he wanted to take a photo or we wanted to study the map. I felt such a bond with this guy and then the road smoothed out and he was gone. We were two whales who swam together for a brief time but then parted ways without a gesture or word.

The drive back was not as treacherous as the Hana Highway but the site of newly paved road was appreciated as much as any view of paradise we'd had along the way.

We saw lots of things as we circumnavigated the larger lobe of the island: waterfalls, fantastic ocean views, wild chickens, red cardinals, a peacock, a woodpecker, an owl, several mynah birds and the biggest surprise of all -- a small herd of cows blocking the narrow road back to town (neither your average traffic jam nor an encounter I thought I'd have in Hawaii).

Ten hours after we left the B&B, seven hours after we had our little setback at Hookipa Beach Park we finally made it back to Kahului. Mother actually applauded when she saw the "Welcome to Lahaina" sign on highway 31. It was a 150 mile trip do we averaged 15mph.

We had dinner along the main drag in Lahaina at Cool Cat's. I had a lilikoi beer (not as good as lilikoi cheesecake) and we shared a salad and an order of onion rings. While we were eating, one of the guys in yesterday's boat crew sat down beside me. We chatted for a bit about life on the island and we bought him a beer as a small token of our appreciation for yesterday.

Mother's highlight: I enjoyed talking to the crew guy. It was nice to tell him how much I appreciated the trip and how nice they were. He seemed genuinely moved.

Julia's highlight: The vistas along the southeast side of Maui were honestly some of the most beautiful sites I've ever seen. I also enjoyed our time with the red car. It was entertaining to form such a bond with someone you don't know and yet you've traveled so far with. We actually talked briefly about gears and brakes. I was afraid I'd burn out the breaks so I threw the car into second. Then I got concerned about burning out the transmission. The red car guy told me he just rode the breaks and never shifted.

One last night on the islands

The road to Hana

The road to Hana is 50 miles long.  We stopped just shy of mile marker nine and locked our keys in the car.  This is our view while we wait on AAA.  There are worse places to be stuck. Even the banyan tree by the car has a bench with an ocean view.

Day 10 - Lana'i

We are still based in Lahaina on Maui but this morning we took a boat trip to Lana'i with an outfitter called Trilogy. The trip was so well planned and the crew was amazing. They really took care of everyone.

We met up at the marina at 9:45a. Our boat was late departing because the sunrise trip was delayed returning due to whales. It appears as if the whales have the right of way in Hawaii. Lana'i is about 14 miles away port-to-port and the trip took us about an hour and a half. As we motored from Maui to Lana'i we saw dozens of whales and a school of spinner dolphins and lots of flying fish (they were blue and looked like giant dragonflies and they skimmed along the water for an impressive distance).

When we got to Manele Bay we got on a raft and jetted around the island. I was excited when we saw a sea turtle but then we got a whale show. We saw several whales breach as well as a baby one. It is so amazing that these animals can propel themselves out of water. Our guide told us it only takes them two swishes of their tail to get them airborne. Think of the power -- they weigh 40 tons and it only takes the back and forth of their tail to thrust them out of the water and into the air.

At sunset, the whale show continued as we sailed back to Maui. We saw one whale slowly dive down and show us its entire tail. It wasn't a little flip of the tail, it was showing of its fluke. we also saw several pairs of mother and calf humpbacks. The babies have little sprays when they exhale through their blow hole. The guide told us that the mother often lifts the baby with her fin so the two of them can stay together. He also said that the mother's milk is as thick as cottage cheese and that the little one ton baby gains about five pounds an hour. I read online that the mother's milk is 50% fat. The babies are only 12-14 feet long whereas mature whales are 39-52.

We were intending to go to Gallery Night in Lahaina tonight but we are beat.

Tomorrow we brave the road to Hana.


Mother's highlight: The boat trip. The crew were very accommodating. It was nice to take a tour into the city of Lana'i and hear the history of the island.

Julia's highlight: Today was a lovely day. I enjoyed all the time on the boat. It was also very exciting to see the whales. We got quite a show today.