Last Minute Maui

Day 1

This was a very last minute trip and because it's not one we planned for, we're making it up as we go.  We've been to Hawaii before and did it resort style when Jade was young.  This time, though, we wanted to live like a local so we rented a tiny little condo on the beach.  I like to do that now since I have so many food allergies and can control what I eat better.  We also rented a car, but that was it!  No other planning went into this trip at all.  In fact, we didn't even pack a camera!  This is going to be an iPhone captured trip (sorry in advance for the less than professional pics).

As we flew into Maui, we could see the top of the mountains we will be hiking later above the clouds.

We landed in the early evening, so we hit happy hour and watched the sunset, then had dinner at a great little place called The Monkeypod.

Day 1

• Big Beach
• Waihee Ridge Trail

This morning I was up incredibly early and Jason wasn't too far behind me, we really didn't know what to do and we were tired and pale, so we packed some water and snacks and headed to one of Maui's famous beaches.  We chose the Big Beach in Makena.  It's over a 1/2 mile long and wide, with soft sand and big breaking waves.  It was a little windy, but we read a little, dipped in the ocean, walked the length of the beach and really enjoyed this beautiful spot.  The view of the island from in the water was pretty amazing, and since we got there so early, we had to ourselves for a little while.

We decided maybe this is how we should start every day, just pick a different beach and relax each morning while we plan our day!

When we started getting hungry, we headed off to lunch at a little place called 808 Deli.  It was such a great lunch in this little tiny tucked away place.

After some good grub, we went home, got changed, and headed out for a short 5 mile hike on the Waihee Ridge Trail.  We had to pass through a cattle-proof gate and up a 200-ft cement road that was pretty steep, I'm not going to lie, I was winded, but once we got off the paved road, we turned into the forest and it was so pretty.  Pictures don't really capture it...

Treated to a view of waterfalls about 1/3 of the way up.

Our first turn into the forest

The tops of the mountains were in the clouds

Jason can't read

The views were so great, but the iPhone just can't capture it.

Again, the phone doesn't capture it, but parts of the path looked like they belonged in the Lord of the Rings

Made it to the top in the clouds

Had to play with the colors to get the rainbow to show

Then we ran back down

The views were amazing on the way down.  I'm in the picture there somewhere.

After our hike we decided to clean up and head out to dinner someplace close by and hit the sack.  We were beat!