Finding Our Way Home

We had a miserably hot, sleepless night because the AC didn't work in our room and surprisingly, in February it was about 90 degrees in the room. We should have moved rooms, but we kept thinking the AC would eventually cool things off. We were wrong. I slept with a cold wet washcloth on my head. I use the term "slept" loosely. I laid in bed and listened to documentaries about Hawaii all night.

We were out of the lava room by 6:30 am to catch the shuttle back to the airport.  I hope the kids had a better night than we did.

We had a decent breakfast and lots of coffee at California Pizza Kitchen.

And just like that, we were back in Austin, safe and sound. 

I'm grateful for a beautiful trip and a safe return. Mahalo!🤙🏝

The Floor Is Lava

Take some advice from me. Don't ever go to Los Angeles and stay at Embassy Suites North LAX and stay in Room 326. The room is 90 degrees and the AC doesn't work.
🥵🥵🥵🥵

OGG to LAX

Everything has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Today was our last day in Hawaii.
We had breakfast, packed up our stuff, got on the Speedi Shuttle, and headed for Kahului Airport at 10:30 am.

Ricky and I headed down to Swan Court for the breakfast buffet.

Majestic light at the top of the staircase going down to the restaurant 

I watched the swans while we ate. Matt and Shana came down after we were already eating. Jon and Jennifer opted for breakfast at Honolulu Coffee. Jennifer said her acai bowl was delicious.

This macadamia nut muffin was really good.

Last goodbye to our ocean view. I waved goodbye to the whales and turtles.

View from our floor walking to the elevator 

Looking down on the lobby from our floor

A wood carver set up shop in the lobby and was carving and selling his wares.

These leis are strung with tiny shells called pupus.

Tiny like seed pearls

Loading up on Speedi Shuttle

Arriving at Kahului Airport

Ricky made a new friend!

Ricky, Matt, and I had a quick bite at Sammy Hagar's cafe. Jon, Jennifer, and Shana opted for pizza across the way.

Saimin is a Hawaiian dish I was unfamiliar with. It's an egg noodle soup made with fish stock.

Our flight was uneventful. Four and a half hours later we landed in Los Angeles.

We all crammed ourselves and our suitcases into an elevator like sardines in a can.

On the shuttle to Embassy Suites North. The driver was listening to some crazy fishing podcast.  The stranger next to me started grilling me with questions about where I was from and where was I going and where had I been. 🙄 This kind of probing questioning behavior from strangers happened multiple times on our trip. 😜 Next time that happens I'm going to smile and say something like, "I'm an alien from Mars. How about you?" 😂

We checked into the hotel and said our goodbyes in the lobby. Ricky and I will leave earlier than the kids. We had a great time and I'm sad the trip is over so soon.  

On a happy note, I finally got the egg salad sandwich I have been craving all day!

Kimos

The weather remained cool and rainy all day. It did warm up enough in the afternoon for us to be outside. We had a casual lunch at Umalu, then headed for the pool and beach.

When the weather drove us back inside, we cleaned up and got a taxi into Lahaina for supper at Kimos on Front St.

Pretty smiles! It was crowded in the restaurant so I didn't get any pictures of our entire table. We all seemed kind of tired and mellow. Last night on Maui blues.

Carrot muffins instead of bread

Lettuce pork wraps

Vegetable dip with flatbread 

Ricky got the prime rib and a monster baked potato.

We got the cab to come back and take us back to the Hyatt. It was an early night for Ricky and I.

Whale Watch Tour

We got up early (again) on Thursday morning to get a cab into Lahaina. The driver dropped us off at a small breakfast cafe that we discovered was closed. We walked down the street in search of breakfast.

We decided to eat at Down the Hatch, of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives fame. It didn't open until 7:30 so we had to wait. They gave us complimentary coffee which was very nice.

Maui boy having Moco Loco

Jennifer and Shana both had chicken and waffles.

Matt and Jon had big burritos with lava lava sauce.

We walked by the banyan tree on our way to the harbor.

Our tour operator. Our guide and his assistant did a very good job of finding whales and explaining their behavior. The one thing no one could control was the weather. It was drizzly with temps in the low to mid 60s when we left and flat out raining before we got back. We were soaked. Every stitch of clothing I had on was soaked through to the skin, including the water resistant rain coat I was wearing. It was like standing in a cold shower with all my clothes on! 

We saw lots and lots of whale action. My photography skills weren't up to the challenge of capturing the moment. I hope Matt and Jon got better pictures. This is a humpback whale slapping the water with a pectoral fin. I missed all the good shots. 😭😖

You can barely see the head lunge. 

The humpback whales migrate from Alaska to Hawaii every year December -May to mate and give birth in the warm shallow waters.

The whales are amazing! And I will remember that rain soaked boat ride for a long time! 

Paia Day

Today we enjoyed some leisure time at the resort in the morning before heading out to Paia in our rental car.

Balcony time.

With a view like this, we spent as much time as possible on the balcony.

We enjoyed the breakfast buffet at Swan Court. It was hard not to over eat. I ate as much fresh pineapple as possible!

Looking out toward the waterfall 

It was a beautiful day.

In a happy place!

Macaw in the lobby.

Samson

Ricky rented a GMC Yukon through the service at the resort. Matt drove us to Paia. It was a very nice ride.

We had a casual lunch at Milagros in downtown Paia.

Ricky met the manager/bartender when we were here in May 2019. She's an Austinite.

Ricky and PBR 

Shana, Jennifer, and I did some power shopping for a few hours. Super cute pants!

We drove up the coast to Ho'okipa Beach on the recommendation of several people to find turtles. This is the view from the lookout. This beach is known for wind surfing and turtles. We saw lots of surfers, but no wind surfers.

Walking down to sea level

I spotted a few turtles in the beginning. Then I was like "Oh My God!" I thought all these were rocks until I took a closer look.

Crawling up out of the water

This big guy was all alone way up on the sand.

Beach babes!

We left the beach and drove about a mile south along the coastline to have our evening meal at Mama's Fish House. We were early, so we waited in the bar area.

Mama's is right on a beautiful cove. This was a great place to take photos. 

Beautiful! 

We celebrated the new grandchild with a wonderful meal.

We also celebrated Matt's recent birthday with a baby key lime pie, a candle, and the Happy Birthday song.

Interesting plant in the hallway. I was surprised it was real.

After our meal, I drove us back to the Hyatt. We were all full and ready for bed.  Another great day in Maui!