Flash Back Friday Post: Celebrating 6 Years of Being Maui'd

Spring has sprung (and gone) here in Hawaii, and the sweet fragrance of the blooming Plumeria trees once again fills the air as we welcome Summer here in the islands. The temperatures are steadily inching their way back up from the treacherous depths of the low 80s/high 70s of Winter and early Spring,  and with a whole season passed, I find so too have many memories that have been yet left undocumented. Once again, I am at a loss of where to begin and overwhelmed by so much to share. I have decided that this will be the first of many "Flash Back Friday Posts," where I reflect back on some recent (or perhaps, some not-so-recent) ongoings and new experiences.

Earlier this month, and in celebration of our 6th wedding anniversary, Jordan and I both took a couple of days off of work to make a trip to the neighboring island of Maui. This was our first trip to a neighboring island since moving to Oahu. Although, I guess for the sake of authenticity, I should clarify that this was our first recreational trip together to a neighboring island, as Jordan often does flying missions to and from the other islands, as well as spends multiple weeks a year on the Big Island for weapons training. However, after officially living on the island of Oahu for over a year now (the longest we have ever lived in one place since we started on this Marine Corps journey back in 2011), we felt like a little trip was definitely in order. And despite discussing and lightly throwing around the possibilities of which island we would like to explore, when and if we ever had time to go between Jordan's demanding daily work schedule and his upcoming 6 week joint forces training in Australia, I was completely surprised when Jordan texted me at work one day and said, take Friday off work, flights and hotel have been booked, we are going to Maui!!!!!! Not only did Jordan surprise me by booking this trip in the first place, he had booked us at the Ritz Carlton! Boy, was I IM-PRESSED!

I could hardly contain my excitement, and after furiously typing up and shooting off an email to my boss, I headed to the nearby bookstore to grab a travel guide on Maui. Yes, a bookstore. Yes, I know there is a wealth of information just at my fingertips on the internet, but there is something I still find so wonderful about an old-fashioned, travel-guide book. I ended up deciding on Maui Reveled, and spent the rest of the afternoon pouring over the book, marking and highlighting pages with places of interest to share with Jordan later that evening, so that together we could plan the most out of our 3 days on the island.

Day One:

We hoped to take advantage of the fact that we currently live less than a 30 minute flight away from Maui, and therefore opted for the first available morning flight to get every possible minute out of Day One of our trip. We touched down on The Valley Isle at 7:40 am and hit the ground running! Well, initially. We disembarked the plane and marveled at how smoothly our morning was already going! It was so wonderful to be feeling so light and free from the weight of any stress or traveling complications; and while that may sound odd, it is something that we are relentlessly plagued with any time we go somewhere, so much so that it has become the norm, and a feeling we now subconsciously always associate with traveling. I think I may have even commented to Jordan on more than one occasion, is this how it's supposed to be? Is this how normal people feel when they travel? It's funny that I am choosing to spend my time and energy documenting this seemingly insignificant part of our trip, but it is truly a memorable and happy moment that stands out to me looking back even now. Gosh were we feeling (notably) great as we walked through the airport, light on our toes, giddy with excitement for the adventure that lie before us and the successful morning that already lay behind us!

We had not only left on time this morning, but a whole 15 minutes early! This alone is a feat in and of itself! Those of you who know us, know well that in order for us to make it to places on time, I often have to fib to Jordan about the actual time of events or the time we need to leave.  And even then, we are usually 5-10 minutes late, at minimum, and most likely to be the last people to arrive. As we backed out of the driveway that morning and headed down the street, we began to check and double check one another, running through our routine mental checklist of the million and one things that we undoubtedly may have forgotten and that, without fail, always has us turning the car back around for or sends us running back into the house multiple times before we even depart to begin with. Are the car keys in the car? Let me see them (the push-button ignition has caused us one too many frustrating incidents to count). Did you unplug the iron? Are you sure? I think I need to double check or I won't be able to relax. Do you have you have everything? What about your military ID? Thankfully, we were only one street away when our "start-up checklist" alerted Jordan to the fact that he had forgotten his entire wallet! And even after returning home and heading out once again, we still found ourselves ahead of schedule. We continued to marvel at our good fortune as we arrived to the airport in record time, and were pleasantly surprised as we next discovered that the long-term parking lot was a mere 100 feet from the small and separate inter-island terminal and not out in the boonies that required tram transportation, which always seems to swallow up any sort of time buffer safety net that you thought you had carefully accounted for and built into your schedule.

Check-in was a breeze, and we conspiringly congratulated one another over conning the transportation baggage scale at the self check-in station and avoided having to pay the extra fee for our extremely overweight piece of luggage. The line at the Starbucks cart was ungodly, but hey, we had time our hands and we savoringly enjoyed our reward for a morning of successful teamwork!

Cheers! 

Landing in Maui, we commented on the ease of navigating these small island airports, and as we headed to the baggage claim, wouldn't you know it but, our large, overweight, outlaw of a suitcase made it without incident and was the first one circling the conveyor belt. We didn't even have to slow our stride as we scooped it up on the move and continued walking to pick up our cheapest available, economy rental car. Expecting a tiny sardine can of a car like a Chevy Spark, or equivalent death trap, we were instead greeted with a line of mid-size sedans, of which the lady said we had our choice!!! Alright!

ANNDDDD...this is where our morning lost momentum. While I was ready to jump in the very first car and hit the Road to Hana, Jordan had to analyze each. and every. single. car. in the line! We needed to check out the comfort of the front seats, the dashboard display, the bluetooth capabilities. We needed to google the gas mileage statistics. And after all of this analyzation, and finally narrowing it down to a couple lucky contenders (the Dodge Dart versus Ford Fusion), we then needed to make the final decision on which of the two looked the sportiest. This was a big decision as we couldn't possibly roll up to the Ritz Carlton looking like riffraff in an unsporty, mid-size sedan with great gas-mileage, rental car! Oh my goodness was I ready to strangle him after nearly 30 minutes of this! In the end, the Dart won out. However, after driving off the lot we soon realized that the bluetooth connectivity that we thought came with this car, which we so carefully and painstakingly picked out, unfortunately was now nowhere to be found. I just had to laugh! A (somewhat) quick trip to K-Mart later to get a AV adapter plug into our phone to makeup for the lack of bluetooth connectivity, and we were finally ready to hit the Road to Hana, nearly an hour later! *big exhale*

Waiting patiently, in the SPORTY Dodge Dart, while Jordan goes to K-Mart to get the AV cord. 

The Road to Hana:

Before leaving, we received a great recommendation from another couple, who had recently traveled the Road to Hana, about a phone app that navigates you the entire drive, pointing out notable stopping points and providing you with history along the journey. And while my trusty guidebook proved to be a valuable resource for our trip, I was not opposed to the luxury of modern technology that allowed us both to keep our eyes on the beautiful scenery the entire drive, as well as, most likely saved me from a bout of dreadful car sickness along this unforgivingly winding road. If I had had to read anything during that drive, there more than likely would have been quite a few more stops along the way. So, we gladly paid the $4.99 for this phone app (hence our previous need for bluetooth connectivity so that the app would broadcast from our phone through our car speakers) and would strongly recommend it to anyone who makes the Road to Hana journey themselves.

The beginning of the Road to Hana started very near to the airport and we quickly found ourselves driving through the most authentic little Hawaiian town of Paia. Having finally just gotten on the road, we chose not to stop and lose our newly regained momentum, thinking that this was just a taste of what was to come on the rest of our journey. This was the only regret I have from our trip. If you go to Maui, stop in Paia! There isn't anything else like it on the rest of the drive to Hana like we had wrongly assumed. We continued down the road and pulled off at our first stop, Twin Falls. The trailhead was marked by a colorful, little fruit stand, selling fresh coconuts, banana bread, and delicious coconut candy. It was also impossible to miss because of all the cars that were parked along the side of the road!

 Following along the Ho'olawa stream, the trail meanders through the lush, natural Hawaiian vegetation on the Wailele Farm. Our phone app narrator, whom we decided to call George for the remainder of our trip, told us this would be a "quick and easy walk." We expected to spend no more than 15 minutes at this stop, and were promptly greeted by the sound of rushing water. However, this was only one of the two waterfalls, and while beautiful, was very small. So we decided to continue to the second waterfall, which was quite a bit further than we expected. After about 20 minutes of trucking along a dirt and gravel path, and crossing an occasional running stream bed or two, we cursed George as we both realized we definitely should have changed out of flip-flops and into our running shoes or water shoes and brought some bug spray! However, we cut George some slack once we finally arrived at the "Caveman Swimming Hole and Falls." The view was spectacular. We ditched our sandals on the path, and waded through the mid-thigh deep water on a bed of (loose and sharp) rocks (again, those water shoes George) out to the falls, where a few brave souls were scaling the hillside to jump from the top.

We were surrounded by lush vegetation (humidity and mosquitos) along the trail. We loved this Ginger flower, it reminded us of a Parrot!

Almost to the falls, you can see how deep the waterline previously got  before this picture on this ladies jean shorts! Apparently, George didn't warn her either!

Pictures, and a humidity blurred camera, don't do these falls justice. It was just magical in person!

We next attempted to go to Jaws, a world famous surfing spot that has waves known to reach up 70 ft in the winter; however, we quickly discovered our sporty rental car would not make it down this (definitely trespassing on private property) dirt gulch of a road. So instead, our next stop was at the Ke'ane Peninsula and nearby Ke'ane Arboretum. The Ke'ane Peninsula is home to very small, old Hawaiian village, known for it's taro fields. We parked along the Peninsula's edge, in the black sand of a magnificently, rugged, lava-rock shoreline.  In 1946 Ke'anae was hit by a giant Tsunami, destroying every building. All the remained amongst the rubble was the stone church, which still stands today. 

View looking back down on the Ke'anae Peninsula and the taro fields

The Ke'anae Arboretum was less manicured more natural than we both expected. We actually weren't quite sure that we were in the right place and thought there was a pretty good chance we were trespassing. It wouldn't be the first, or the last, time that George was leading us astray! We decided to take our chances, opened a large swinging gate and proceeded to walk down, what looked like, a completely deserted, emergency access road. However, after turning the corner, we noticed that what looked like just a dense jungle of wild-growing plants and native vegetation actually had small, moss-covered labels and informational signs nestled amongst the foliage. And while this Arboretum had the look of being long-neglected, we greatly enjoyed the serenity of the stop, immersed in nature with one another, and without another tourist in sight. Seeing the Rainbow Eucalyptus trees here up close and personal, which we were only able to see quickly in passing from the road, was definitely worth the stop.

This little chicken and I had a stare down for a good while. I was afraid to get out of the car, and he would not move! I worried he was either going to jump in the car or try to peck me!

Are we trespassing?!? 

Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees

At the Ke'anae Arboretum

Anyone that drives the Road to Hana will tell you, the drive is about the journey and not the destination. The scenery during the entire Road to Hana is endlessly breathtaking and spectacular. It is a tropical wonderland of winding two lane roads and one lane bridges, hairpin turns and waterfalls around every corner, lush vegetation hugging you from all sides, and constant and expansive views of the coastline. Nahiku Marketplace was a cute, and welcome, place to stop for lunch along the drive. We greatly appreciated the opportunity to stretch our legs and refuel our energy levels before driving the remaining 6 miles to Hana. 

Sights along the way:

Waterfalls around every turn! This one was called, 3 Bears Falls.

Nahiku Marketplace

We arrived at Wai'anapanapa Black Sand Beach next. As we pulled in to the parking lot, the darkening clouds that had been taunting us for hours, finally decided to release the rain upon us. However, not knowing if we would ever have another chance to visit this place again in our lifetime, we decided to brave and embrace the tropical rain and at least hike down to the lava caves and pools, which were on our list of must-sees. We hiked down a series of lava-rock stairs, encompassed in an umbrella of foilage, which provided some relief from the rain, and came upon the first of two pool caves.  Once again, the pictures we took do not possibly do seclusive and serene setting justice. Legend has it that a Hawaiian princess, fleeing from her cruel husband, once hid in these caves. Discovering a reflection in the water, he uncovered her hiding spot and murdered her. Every spring, red shrimp fill the waters of this cave as they hatch, turning it red. Legend says its a reminder of the murder that once took place in this spot. Like at the Arborteum, we appreciated the opportunity to experience this tranquility and stillness of this site in complete solitude, without any other tourists around.

Next stop, Hana! Or so we thought. As we drove the final stretch to Hana, we just had to pull over one more time when we saw this beautiful waterfall and swimming hole right off the side of the road. Luckily, there was a wide shoulder that allowed us to park the car and get a closer look.

We picked up my beautiful Plumeria lei at a roadside stand along the way. It was one of the most beautiful leis I've ever seen. It was handmade by a local lady, who did not speak any english, and only $3!!!!

Well, we made it to Hana, or so George and our GPS told us we did. I don't have any pictures to prove it, and I kind of think we may have missed it to be honest. We found a small, square box of a building that said it was the historic courthouse, and a harbor, but without any boats. We found a small general store, but nothing that beckoned us to stop the car, get out and explore, so we just kept on driving.  By 3:30 pm, we finally made it to our top choice on our things-to-see list, the Haleakala National Park! The Haleakala National Park is home to the Seven Sacred Falls, the Pipiwai Trail and the Wahiku Falls. I originally had my heart set on hiking the Pipiwai Trail, through a magnificent bamboo forest, to the 400ft Wahiku Falls, but with this hike estimated to take between 2.5-5 hours round trip, and with a minimum 3 hour drive back to our hotel along a treacherous road that we would rather not drive in the dark, we "settled"  for just seeing the Seven Sacred Falls. The Seven Sacred Falls is exactly what it sounds like, a series of waterfalls flowing into one another, with crystal clear swimming pools at the base of each one. It was so serene and absolutely magical (have I used that word enough already), and well worth the journey!

Jordan and I were both extremely exhausted by this point in our day and slightly overwhelmed by the long drive ahead of us. We decided to take the shortest route possible, which was to continue around the south side of the island and up the west coast, rather than back through Hana and the way he had just come. And while this road was previously banned by rental car agencies(and for good reason!), we were assured by multiple people that this was outdated information and the road was perfectly safe and maintained often. Come to find out, this highway turns into a (barely) one lane road of bumpy gravel, carved into the side of cliff, along the backside of the Haleakala crater. There is hardly any room, if any at all, to pull over if a car approaches from the opposite direction! If you have always wanted to travel the road less traveled, this one is for you. This was not for me, and sent me into a full fledged panic attack. And while this recent panic attack development is a another story for another day, I was completely unsettled by this dangerous drive and quickly spiraled myself further into hysteria by thinking of how far from civilization we were, how many hours it would take for an ambulance to reach us in an emergency, and the fact that neither one of us even had phone service to call 9-1-1 in the first place! A couple of stops to get out of the car to walk, take deep breaths and get fresh air, a chocolate covered ice cream bar, and one "magic pill" later, I was finally feeling more relaxed just as the smooth highways eventually returned to relieve us. Well, for the most part that is, and with the exception of an occasional dried riverbed that we had to cross. Thankfully, there were no recent rains that prevented us from crossing these riverbeds because I would have forced Jordan to camp right there on the road until they dried up, rather then return through those treacherous cliff roads once again.

Once I was able to settle down, I began to appreciate what this road less traveled had to offer. It was quite the opposite from the lush east side of the island we had just explored. Replacing the tropical jungle of dense, green vegetation and a line of winding cars driving the popular tourist road , there was now an eerie desolation and a vast landscape of red and brown rolling hills, sloping up to the Haleakala Volcano.  However, amongst our barren surroundings, there were a few notable sites, including Charles Lindbergh's grave and one of Hawaii's oldest churches. Mass is still celebrated there today whenever there is a 5th Sunday in a month. Although, where the people live that come to these masses, God only knows.

The Kaupo General store had the strangest collection of antique cameras, money and other odds and ends, along with my life-saving Haagen Dazs ice cream bar!

St. Joseph's Church

As we made our way around the island and up the west coast back towards civilization, we were treated to a beautiful, full rainbow, and the most spectacular sunset, with views of both Lanai and Molokai off the coast. We arrived at the hotel after the sun had already set, but it was still just as magnificent as you would expect from the Ritz. The criss-crossed tiki torches announcing our destination and the beautifully lantern-lit banyan tree in the center of the round-about were such welcome sights for these two, travel-weary passengers. As we got out of the car and walked up to the foyer, I was so taken aback by the beautiful starry night set against the backdrop of pine-trees. Yes, pine-trees! I loved how different this place felt from what we were used to on Oahu, and was so excited to spend the next two days relaxing at this fabulous, secluded resort! And as if things couldn't get any better, upon check-in, we were greeted with shell leis, refreshing fruit-infused waters, a surprise gift card from my parents, and an upgraded room (with a nice card and chocolate covered strawberries), compliments of the Ritz for our anniversary! Why did we waste all day doing the Road to Hana again? Just kidding!

Gift card from my mom and an upgraded room and chocolate covered strawberries from the Ritz. Boy, were we feeling special!

We resisted the urge just to fall into bed and go to sleep at 8pm, and instead showered and freshened up to go to dinner at the nearby Maui Brewing Co. And thennnn, we went straight to bed!

Day Two:

Wow, what a beautiful surprise it was waking up at the Ritz the next morning. The resort was covered in a blanket of darkness when we arrived the previous evening and we didn't really get to appreciate just how breathtakingly beautiful the resort was until stepping out on our balcony Saturdan morning. Eager to see all that there was to offer, we set out to walk the grounds and explore the hotel. It took us about 5 minutes to come to the realization that neither one of us had any desire to leave this resort for the remainder of the trip, that is until they kicked us out on Sunday at 12pm. This place was definitely the definition of luxury and relaxation: hammocks strung between palm trees, comfy cabanas by the pools, a sunscreen station and pineapple-infused water at the towel hut, and servers that come around offering you trays of complimentary fresh fruit and offering to clean your sunglasses. And since I too am now ready to plop myself in a hammock, completely exhausted from spending hours so far writing all of this, I think I am going to let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

View from our balcony

Nothing says vacation like white robes and espresso!

Ready for Day Two!

The lower end of the resort, with views of Molokai

Looking back up at the resort from the beach area

Jordan had a difficult time with the hammock, haha

Yum! Skinny Pina Coladas, poolside in our private cabana!

Lunch was absolutely delicious, and the restaurant was right on the water.

Food coma!

Once I got Jordan up from the grass, we took an afternoon, post-lunch, food-coma nap in this hammock, which we had staked out earlier in the day. When we woke up, we found ourselves spectators of a wedding!

Jordan versus the hammock, round 2 (hehehe):

Another day, another rainbow. This one from our balcony.

We went to dinner at the Banyan Tree restaurant on the resort. The restaurant is known for it's locally-sourced, organic ingredients and it's seasonal, farm-to-fork menu. 

 

The food was delicious. We shared an appetizer of Harissa Lamb Meatballs. Jordan had the special, the Jerk Pork Loin with Okinawa Smashed Sweet Potatoes, and I had the Kula Corn and Farro Risotto. And although we didn't specifically tell the restaurant that it was our anniversary, the hotel had informed them when they booked our reservations and they wanted to surprise us with a free dessert. However, since we had already declined, they took the appetizer off our bill! The Ritz wrote the book on wonderful, 5-star customer service, literally.

Day Three:

On Sunday, we got up early so that we could soak up every last minute at the pool and the resort before checkout. And while we were sad to go, the timing worked out perfectly. IBM had rented out 90% of the hotel starting on Sunday, and they were reserving the pool area starting at 1pm.

Getting to the pool by 7am has it's advantages! We had the place practically to ourselves!

Bye Ritz, it's been fabulous!

After checking out of the hotel, we explored the Dragon's Teeth at Kapalua, a lava formation that has been shaped and bleached by the wind and sea over the years.

It felt like we were on another planet!

On the way back down the coast towards the airport, we checked out the charming, little town of Lahaina. Lahaina was once an old whaling village, and before that, the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii before Honolulu. Lahaina has many historic sites, as well as, an adorable downtown, lined with colorful buildings. 

We stopped into one of these brightly colored shops to buy a gelato and sat on a lava rock wall taking in this beautiful view (well and giggling like little kids as we watched with excited anticipation of the waves crashing onto the people sitting outside at the restaurants). The island of Lanai can be seen in the distance.

Lahiana is home to the largest banyan tree in Hawaii, and one of the oldest in the United States. The banyan tree covers this entire park. Yes, this is all one tree. The tree drops roots from it's branches. These roots eventually grow into additional trunks. 

The Lahaina Old Prison

Apparently the prisoners slept in hammocks, according to Rule #8.

We thought "Furious riding" was quite hysterical when we saw it in the Prison's list of offenses.

The old prison was built in 1852 and used primarily for locking up rowdy soldiers who failed to return to their ships at sundown. The walls of the prison are built from coral rock.

Well although this is my first official Flash Back Friday post, it is now technically (and barely still) Saturday as I finally wrap this up and hit publish. I always forget just how long these blog posts take, and just how many little minuscule details I like to document for memory sake.  I will need to start my next FBF post much earlier in the week. However, as you can see, we had the most wonderful mini-vacation earlier this month, and what better way to celebrate 6 years of being maui'd, than on Maui!