Archive for the ‘Trip 5 Journal’ Category

Going Upcountry

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Trip Journal entry for Tuesday, September 15th, 2009.

There were quite a few things left from our trip in February that we needed to catch up on this week, and visiting more of Upcountry Maui was near the top of the list.

With only a few days to ourselves before the Maui Photo Festival starts, we knew our schedule was going to be pretty ambitious. Our plans for Tuesday were no exception, as we found ourselves driving across the island to the upcountry and up to the hills of Kula.

First on the morning’s agenda was a trip to H. A. Baldwin Beach park, which is a favorite spot of our painter friend, Mort Luby. While we had a later start to the day than anticipated, we made pretty good time and had our feet in the sand before we knew it. I was a little thrown by just how big Baldwin Beach actually was, but that just meant more ground to cover.

Baldwin Beach

Baldwin Beach

Baldwin Beach

In fact, I was shooting for over an hour, even though I was battling a pretty stiff wind on the way back to where Cindy was sitting.

That’s when the late start began catching up with us, because we had a booking for the 2:30pm walking tour at the Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm. That meant we had less time to spend on our next stop, which was walking through Paia town. Short on time, we found a little place called the Green Banana Cafe that looked worth a shot. We ordered a few panini sandwiches (and Cindy’s favorite, Smart Water) and ate outside.

Green Banana Cafe

The food was good, and the people were really nice. Certainly worth a return visit when we visit Paia again. Looking down at the time, we realize we had to jet, which meant we had to pass on the Ono Gelato place right down the street. Plans are to pay them a visit before we leave on Sunday.

Off to Kula
Nervously watching the clock, we began our mad dash to Kula and the lavender farm. We ended up making it with about 5 minutes to spare, and as fate would have it, we were the only ones signed up for the 2:30pm tour, so it wouldn’t have been too big of a deal if we were a little late.

Lavender Farm Gift Shop

The View from Kula

Plants at the Lavender Farm

Plants at the Lavender Farm

I, of course, was blown away by the views from that elevation. The fragrance in the air up there was memorable. That could also be from the lavender samples we brought back with us that filled the rental car with that sweet aroma for the rest of the day. :)   The air was noticeably cooler up in Kula, too, which was a welcomed change from the morning at the beach.

Close, But No Cigar
Well, you can’t win them all. Our next stop on Tuesday was supposed to be the Surfboard Fence that Shelia at Go Visit Hawaii recently posted about, but I couldn’t find it. :(

It was ultimately my bad, since I hadn’t been prepared enough to map out the directions ahead of time. Yup, I do that sometimes, but in my defense, it’s been a busy week already. ;)

I decided to follow along with the GPS on my phone, which itself chose when it wanted to work and when it wanted to lose a signal around important turns and intersections. No worries, though, since it was still a beautiful drive back to the Hana Highway and heading back towards Lahaina. Leave it to the lavender to have that calming effect on getting lost.

Let the Night Begin
With a day of close calls in terms of timing, we made it back to the hotel early enough in the evening to enjoy the sunset from our balcony.

Sunset from 20 floors up

It was lovely scene, for sure. But than again, West Maui sunsets always are spectacular.

Back to the timing, we would have had plenty of time to make our way back to our room if it hadn’t taken 20 minutes to find parking at the Hyatt. Adding that to the list of things we like much better about our rooms at the Sheraton over the Hyatt, but I’ll save that for another time.

Who’s Hungry?
After a full day of driving, sun, and lavender, it was time to get cleaned up and think about dinner. We didn’t have to think very hard about what we wanted, since Leilani’s at Whalers Village was on our minds for most of the day. More specifically, the Hula Pie.

Hula Pie - Before

Yes, that’s an old photo, but perfection like that doesn’t change much over time.

After dinner, we took our usual stroll around Whalers Village, but this time headed south instead of north back to our resort. We actually were able to take our time this trip going back to the resort, as opposed to February where the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating with our attempts to enjoy the beachwalk at night.

And A Lovely Night It Was
Speaking of the beachwalk, it was as lovely as it gets at night. Once again, the sky was filled with stars above us, and we just had to stop more than a few times to enjoy the view. It was all too much to for me to pass up, so after we made it back to our room, I packed up the camera gear and headed back downstairs.

Swan Court at Night

Beachwalk at Night

Milky Way over Lanai

If that’s not as lovely as it gets, I don’t know what is!

Mahalo,
- Kris

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Off to Explore

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Trip Journal entry for Monday, September 14th, 2009

The first full day of our trip called for a little exploring and some familiar scenery.

One of the cool things about Maui is that even when you’re plans don’t work out, there are still some great memories to be made. Case in point for Monday was our drive north of Kapalua in search of the Nakalele Blowhole. Maybe a little bit of arrogance on my part, but we decided to just wing it drive up on our own without reading too much about where it was.

We never actually made it to the blowhole itself, although I could tell we were close. Instead, we did end up spending about 2.5 hours hiking, climbing, and taking photos of some breathtaking views from the sea cliffs in the area nearby.

Where's Kris?

Jagged Maui Coastline

Maui Cliffs

Us On Maui

Nice hair, eh?

It was a beautiful morning to be out there, and definitely something we’ll want to do again. With a little more preparation, that is.

Show Me The Turtles
Two weeks ago I shared an article about the new turtle hatchlings that arrived at the Maui Ocean Center courtesy of Sea Life Park on Oahu. Seeing that we love honu, we just had to check these guys out.  They were too cute, for sure.

Baby Honu

Baby Honu

Baby Honu

Well worth the stop. This little guy had his own tank, while the slightly old ones were taking over the Turtle Lagoon. Certainly much smaller than the ones we saw back in April of last year.

After that, we made our way into my favorite exhibit, the Open Ocean Exhibit. The timing couldn’t have been perfect because it was feeding time. We came in near the tail end, but there was a big group outside the shark tank and one of the naturalists holding a Q&A session with one of the divers in the tank. Very cool to see, if you get a chance.

Photos didn’t turn out that great (I didn’t bring my tripod in from the car), but I did shoot some video that I’ll hopefully get around to posting once we get back.

Before we left Ma’alaea, we took a quick stroll through the shops there and came across one of the 808 Clothing Company stores. We first found them last February during the Whale Day Festival and were going to try and find time for a trip down to their Kihei store, but this was much more convenient for us on our short trip. I really love the cool designs they have there, plus the fact that everything is made right there on Maui. You can’t get much better than that.

Going to Town
After the stop at the ocean center, it was time for our usual day one tradition. Yup, a stop at Cheeseburger in Paradise for a meal with a view.

Cheeseburger with a View 

Sure, it’s a tourist place right in the middle of Lahaina, but it’s been a regular stop of ours since we found them in Waikiki on our honeymoon quite a few years ago. We joke because we always have one of two waiters that we see there each time, and last night was no exception.

New Aloha Wear
While we couldn’t fit in a luau this trip, we were on the lookout for some new Aloha wear to bring home with us, another one of our traditions. Actually, this time it found us, as we spotted it in the window along one of the shops on Front Street. I’ll post a picture later in a week when we take our Aloha photo for this trip.

It was quite a busy first full day, with Tuesday shaping to be just as busy. And this is all before the 6am – 10pm activities begin on Thursday for the Maui Photo Festival. I’m going to be completely wiped out once this week is over. :)

Mahalo,
– Kris

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The Early Bird…

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Trip Journal Entry for Sunday, September 13th, 2009.

An early start to our travel day, and 3 flights later returned us to the island that we love.

Things are going to get really, really busy once the Maui Photo Festival starts Wednesday night, so I thought I’d try to squeeze in a few journal entries before my free time goes out the window. Our travel day started earlier than most, with our first flight leaving O’Hare airport in Chicago at 7:30am. It was only the first of three flights for the day. Given the circumstances that made us wait until the last minute to book our flights, the 3 flight journey was better than not, but nothing something we’d volunteer for again.

The flights went off without a hitch, which was a welcomed change from last year. After about an hour getting our rental car, we made it to the Hyatt by around 5pm.

Aloha Hyatt
Regulars at the blog here now we’re big fans of the Sheraton over on Black Rock, so we knew it would be different coming back to Maui and staying at the opposite end of the beach. The Hyatt itself is a very lovely hotel, don’t get me wrong. We’re just not convinced yet, however, that it will overtake the one-and-only Sheraton in our hearts.

Because we booked our trip late, there weren’t any rooms available as part of the Maui Photo Festival rate. That didn’t turn out to be such a bad thing, however, since we were able take advantage of another one of the Hyatt’s current deals and score a deluxe ocean view room for only about $400 more for our week stay than festival rate. The deal included 2 nights free and breakfast for the week, so it turned out in our favor.

Our room is up on the 20th floor of the center building (aka Atrium Tower). Of course, I had to snap a shot before we headed out for the night.

View from Hyatt

The lighting wasn’t ideal, and I didn’t take the time to fuss around with it too much, but you’ll see more like this from the week, for sure. After unpacking, it was off to our arrival day tradition.

First Things, First
After a total of 17 hours from leaving home for the airport and getting settled at the hotel, it was time to eat. Since we were stopping at Safeway at the Lahaina Cannery Mall after dinner, we decided to return to Lulu’s for flatbread pizza. Okay, it was really for their malasadas, but don’t tell anyone.

We discovered Lulu’s last February and had enjoyed their malasadas for Fat Tuesday during Mardi Gras. In fact, it was around that time when my diet starting going to you know where. ;) In any case, Lulu’s might have just earned a spot in our arrival day tradition going forward.

After the yummy food, we hit Safeway and headed back to the hotel. After we parked, Cindy looked up and noticed the stars were out on a very clear summer night. Sure enough, right above us was the Milky Way, and my tired body started wondering if it could stay up for a few hours of nighttime shooting. It turns out I was able to get a few shots before the clouds rolled in, one of the better ones is below. These clear nights have been hit or miss for me on our trips in the past, so I try to take advantage of them whenever I can.

Milky Way over Maui

Once the clouds started rolling in, I turned my aim lower and grabbed a few shots of the nicely lit Hyatt grounds down below. From 20 floors up, and with a few tweaks, I got a few photos to be proud of.

Hyatt at Night

I’ve always been a big fan of Maui at night, and given that the night time temps will be warmer this week then during our trip back in February, you can be sure we’ll be down there enjoying a stroll or two this week.

All in all, a great first evening on the Valley Isle. Looking forward to a lot of fun on this bonus trip for us this year. Be sure to stay tuned.

Mahalo,
– Kris

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