Completed 3/10/20 - Maui Christmas - a TR of Our Return to Aulani and First Visit to Maui

Love your trip reports. Always great pics and lots of interesting, helpful info. Thanks for sharing.
 
Loving your trip report- we are doing a week in Oahu and a week in Maui in May/June this year and this is getting me excited for our trip!
 
Love your trip reports. Always great pics and lots of interesting, helpful info. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much! I binge on reports when planning so I always hope mine are helpful too!

Loving your trip report- we are doing a week in Oahu and a week in Maui in May/June this year and this is getting me excited for our trip!
WOO HOO! That would be fantastic. I always wish we had more time. Thanks for the kind words and for saying hi!!!
 
Road to Hana Continued...

The next point of interest as we continued our drive was the Waianapanapa State Park. Famous for its black sand beach, there are bathrooms and picnic tables here, and we'd plan to get at least this far before enjoying the sandwiches we'd packed for our picnic lunch.

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One of Hawaii's historic legends is based here. The legend is that a Hawaiian princess fled here to escape her cruel husband, who brutally murdered her in one of the sea caves. Romantic huh? :crazy2: Well it gets even better, as each year tiny red shrimp appear in the pools, reminding visitors of the blood of the princess shed here.

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Sounds like a perfect stop for newlyweds to me! :love:

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There's also a seriously incredible traditional family cemetery located within the park, where this beautiful plumeria was planted. Unfortunately the guide app didn't share anything about these cemeteries and I could only find little information regarding them online - it was neat to look at them but I didn't take any photos thinking it seemed a little disrespectful. I did find this description on the web - "Within the park are three private cemeteries dating from the early 1920s to the present. These cemeteries are delineated by stack rock wall enclosures and are maintained by the lineal descendants." There were indeed newish graves there marking lives lost in the last few years. It was touching to see the tributes left by loved ones.

Speaking of romance and nothing macabre, here's my husband exploring some of the caves made by the lashing of the incredible waves. He invited me to come take a look and I tried not to be too suspicious... :rotfl:

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After our picnic and use of the comfort facilities, we headed further on, through the little blip of Hana town itself, which is nothing much to speak of, and on to the Hamoa Beach area.

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There are a lot of Maui's famous beef farms in this area.

The beach itself is famous for being postcard-perfect and popular with surfers.

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The red cliffs were stunning but the overcast weather put a damper on the picturesque little beach. We did see some surfers there waiting for the perfect swell.

Our next stop was the highly-lauded (in Maui Revealed at least) Venus Pool at Waioka Pond just beyond Hamoa. Unfortunately, I left my phone in the car and my gopro battery had died without my knowing. :headache: So this stop is largely documented only in my mind. Just as well, as we found ourselves frustrated. I was looking forward to taking a dip in what was touted as a wonderful oasis of a hidden gem swimming hole. Of course, DH wasn't in his swimsuit, though he'd brought it along in the car. Then it was a bit of an excursion through some fencing, around liability signs, over a cow pasture, to a steep trail leading to some overlooking cliffs that yielded a cumbersome trek down to the pool. So due to our miscommunication about swimming and failure to lug our towels along, I really didn't want to fool with getting in. :confused3

We got a little cranky here. Also, it wasn't very nice weather still and there were more other people there than I thought there'd be. This isn't my photo, but it's a fairly good depiction of our conditions, versus what the pool looks like in beautiful sunny conditions:

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Womp womp.

We moved along and stopped once more for some beautiful, lacy waterfalls. These were the Wailua Falls. It seems so weird to say it now but we were starting to get burnt out on amazing waterfalls, so we snapped a couple photos and moved along. We knew Kipahulu was just ahead and we were really looking forward to that last stop.

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As further background, we were in the beginning days of the US government shutdown when we were traveling. We didn't know what this would mean for the facilities and resources at the Kipahulu portion of Haleakala National Park. It turns out that the sole impact on us was that we didn't have to pay the entry fee (woo hoo?) as the restrooms were well stocked with toilet paper, soap, and even paper towels. Signs warned us at entry that there would be no emergency response in the event of trouble. We'd also read online that the pools at the Oheo Gulch, the main attraction here, had been closed for quite some time due to mudslides and dangerous conditions. I also read a lot of opinion-type pieces basically accusing the "powers that be" of using these bad storms as an excuse to close the pools for swimming permanently. I agree that it is a real shame that you can't swim there. The stairs down to the pools remain there, albeit behind a gate and padlock. That was disappointing, but our visit to the park surely was not!

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It's a short walk from the parking area to the overlook of the gulch and pools.

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Waterfalls spill down multiple layers of rock, creating these multiple pools on the stream's way to meet the ocean.

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It was incredibly difficult to narrow down my photos to share of this stop. It was gorgeous! (and windy...)

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We sat for a while on the rocks overlooking the gulch and just soaked in the rushing water and sound of waves.

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While we were there, we noticed a couple with their dog ignoring the closure signs, walking along the stream and pools. I sort of wished I knew how they made it down, but I'm a rule follower at heart so we stayed atop the cliff.

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We finally had our fill and took our leave. We discussed our choices for returning back to Kahului and "civilization" - we could either retrace our route back through Hana and the hairpin turns the way we'd come, or ignore the advice of the GyPSy Guide and take the more risky path back over the "back side" of Haleakala. We knew there was a scaryish patch of road that was one lane, unpaved, and bordering sea cliffs. We ultimately decided you only live once, we'd seen the other direction already, and our car seemed in good shape. We decided to go for it and took the scary way back! It was a little nerve-wracking, all told. I didn't take any pictures as I was probably clutching a handle in the car for a good bit, but here's our approximate location on the map during the "oh shoot" phase of the drive, on a one-lane road just inches from the ocean, with rocks on the cliff held back by an imposing netting system miraculously keeping us from a rockslide.

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After the worst of the road, the single-lane gravel road yielded to gloriously smooth pavement that traversed Maui's farmland

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It was really neat to see an as-yet unseen terrain - Maui seems to have every kind you could think of!

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And they were all beautiful. Some little goats ran across the road just in front of us! I was enjoying our potentially foolish decision to take the road less traveled.

What did we do as soon as we got back to town? Why, stop at Home Maid Bakery again for the second time that day! We had malasadas to acquire.

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This time we met success! We ordered 3 plain sugar coated and 3 custard filled. I wasted no time tucking into a custard one.

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How can fresh fried dough ever be bad? This certainly did not let me down. But I still prefer Leonard's on Oahu. We also picked up a few other pastries to enjoy in our condo, as we'd managed to polish off what we'd acquired that morning.

Upon returning to Maalaea, I convinced R to drive a bit past the harbor to see what was there. We found the sunset:

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Exhausted, we returned to our condo and the comfort of our hot tub and some delicious homemade dinner.



Road to Hana Wrap-up and Thoughts...

Overall, both DH and I are glad that we didn't miss out on the famous Road to Hana. I will say that we're not likely to do it again if we return to Maui. I think we had just heard too much hype and the experience didn't live up to our expectations. :duck:

Now, I understand that this is going to sound bratty, but we've had the incredible fortune of seeing dramatic views, amazing waterfalls, volcanic climates, rainforest gulches, and rapidly changing ecosystems - mainly because we'd been to Hawaii together just a year prior and specifically the Na Pali coast of Kauai is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. We've also visited Costa Rica and travelled there fairly extensively - and I kept remarking that the road to Hana experience reminded me of Costa Rica. So perhaps our experience was a product of our own expectations. In addition, it was fairly grey and overcast while we were doing the drive, casting a literal shadow over many of our most anticipated photo ops. And, as far as I know, the pools at the Oheo Gulch remain closed - not as a part of the government shutdown, but "just because". I think if we had been able to swim there our experience would have been much more worthwhile. It was definitely my favorite stop.

We read so much on both sides of the argument regarding doing the "full loop" tour, including the harrowing unpaved cliffside road on the trip back from Hana to Kahului. I was nervous about making the drive in a small sedan, but I really needn't have been so concerned. Yes, it is true that if you experience a breakdown or flat tire, you are going to be up the creek without a paddle, but I felt that way about the entire drive, not just the "backside" portion. Overall I was glad to see something else and not backtrack the exact route back that we'd taken to get to Kipahulu.

My biggest regret is that we somehow missed the turnoff to get to visit the Charles Lindberg gravesite, and my biggest "thank goodness we did this" reflection is regarding the GyPSy Guide. It was so useful having the extra narrative and real-time directions for some of the points of interest. We saw a lot of tour buses/vans along the route - I am not sure if we would have liked being part of a guided excursion as much as we liked the freedom to come and go at our own pace, but we did see some of the same groups at our stops, so maybe the amount of time you'd spend per point of interest is standard enough that a guided tour is worth it. Ultimately, it wasn't in the budget for us, so that was a non-starter. If we wanted to do the drive, we'd be going it alone, and the GyPSy Guide was just enough narrative so that the importance of our stops wasn't lost on us.

I also suffer from pretty severe motion sickness, and with the scopolamine patch on I really wasn't too bothered by this experience - it was much worse coming down Haleakala behind a bad driver than it was making the hairpin turns (so long as I didn't try to read the guidebook too much).

I guess my parting wisdom is that everyone should do their own research and read counterpoints to the many "OMG YOU MUST DO THIS" reports of the experience. It's not for everyone and I wouldn't want to do it without the motion sickness patches or if I had kids traveling with me.

December 30, 2018

This day was a pool/beach day for us, so there's not much to say other than we enjoyed our downtime in the sun.

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Does it get better than having access to this view just steps away from your condo?

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Only if you are also in convenient driving distance to awesome food options! We had a little aloha hour in our condo and enjoyed the beautiful pink sunset.

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And then we headed off to dinner, once again at Coconuts in Kihei! I was craving some kind of delicious fish dinner and the macadamia crusted mahi mahi caught my eye from their menu online. We knew it wasn't far and that we would enjoy our dinner, so we headed over that way.

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Here's my mac nut mahi served with homemade mango sauce and coleslaw. Holy cow, it was SOOOOOoooooo good, especially with that tasty sauce! The $20.99 price was very fair for such a great dinner. The piece of fish was huge and amazingly delicious.

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DH went with the seafood pasta alfredo, which had ono, mahi mahi, shrimp, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and tons of parmesan cheese in it, served with garlic bread for $22.99. This was decadent and heavenly! We shared both entrees and loved both of them. We ate as much as we could and left some pasta behind. It was so rich!

I can't recommend Coconuts highly enough. The prices are reasonable and the food was fabulous. It's such a great little casual place and can be equally suitable for a quick light lunch or a decadent casual date night.

Coming up: we visit East Maui's famous beaches! and another dining review.
 
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Love all your pictures!!! Even the ones from the road to Hana when it was overcast. :-)

We moved along and stopped once more for some beautiful, lacy waterfalls. These were the Wailua Falls. It seems so weird to say it now but we were starting to get burnt out on amazing waterfalls, so we snapped a couple photos and moved along.

I can totally relate to this idea. When I went to Europe in college, it was so cool to see a big old beautiful church...but then we'd go visit another one, and then another one, and then another....you get the idea. All the beautiful old churches started to run together in my brain! They're so common over there, just like waterfalls on the road to Hana.

my biggest "thank goodness we did this" reflection is regarding the GyPSy Guide. It was so useful having the extra narrative and real-time directions for some of the points of interest.

We got the GyPSy Guide to Yellowstone on our trip there last summer. We loved it! I wonder if it would be worth getting for our trip to Maui this summer even though we're not planning to drive the road to Hana?

I guess my parting wisdom is that everyone should do their own research and read counterpoints to the many "OMG YOU MUST DO THIS" reports of the experience. It's not for everyone and I wouldn't want to do it without the motion sickness patches or if I had kids traveling with me.

We were told to do the road to Hana on our honeymoon, but never got around to it. We did Haleakala instead. So when we went back to Maui in 2006, we decided to do it. I remember getting a little motion sickness, which is unusual for me, but it is a lot of twisting and winding roads. I think I felt the same way as you, but I also put in little to no research. That is so not me now, I consider planning and researching vacations my favorite hobby! But I did have a 1-yr old and 3-yr old at that time, so that probably explains. I think I would like to try the road to Hana again some time, with proper preparation and research, but that time will not be this summer. My kids would hate being in the car most of the day to do something like that, so perhaps on a kid-free vacation or when they're much older!
 
Omg I sound like a fangirl but you guys are adorable! How you both eat like that and look so good is amazing to me LOL (I like to eat too!!!)

I totally agree with your whole assessment of the road to Hana. I was (and still am) more obsessed with the black beaches than the waterfalls, but yes, I’m thrilled to have done it but probably won’t do it again next trip. I think DH and my teens agree.

I love all your pics—you have a great eye—but I LOVE the one looking along the top of the concrete guardrail! I took a dozen pics of those cool old things, but I never really captured how neat they looked. You totally nailed it. I absolutely adore the photo book I made and love to look at it and dream of going back in 2022!!
 


Love all your pictures!!! Even the ones from the road to Hana when it was overcast. :-)
:flower3: Thank you! It was still beautiful. I think we were both just crabby, honestly. I am glad I at least took lots of photos to look back on!

All the beautiful old churches started to run together in my brain! They're so common over there, just like waterfalls on the road to Hana.
I totally understand! That happened to me too. Once you're totally immersed in the beauty of whatever it is - be it churches, historical sites, waterfalls, whatever, the novelty wears off and you really have to center yourself.

We got the GyPSy Guide to Yellowstone on our trip there last summer. We loved it! I wonder if it would be worth getting for our trip to Maui this summer even though we're not planning to drive the road to Hana?
I was shocked at how affordable it was - I think the app for the whole island was only $10 or $15 and I would consider it money well spent even if you only use it a few times. If you're like us, you also might have some iTunes gift cards sitting around collecting dust and it's a great way to use those up!

That is so not me now, I consider planning and researching vacations my favorite hobby!
planning and researching are half the fun, I think!

I think I would like to try the road to Hana again some time, with proper preparation and research, but that time will not be this summer. My kids would hate being in the car most of the day to do something like that, so perhaps on a kid-free vacation or when they're much older!
I was afraid I was going to catch flack for this opinion so I am glad I am not totally alone!

Your pictures are so amazing! Can't wait for our trip to Maui next year. Thank you for taking the time to share.
Thank you! Thanks for reading along as well.

Omg I sound like a fangirl but you guys are adorable! How you both eat like that and look so good is amazing to me LOL (I like to eat too!!!)
:rotfl: I told R you said this and he was shocked. We didn't do a good job of staying on the diet wagon after our wedding, but in general we diet at home so we can eat like crazy on vacation!!! Actually I guess that is our whole life approach, we live like paupers at home so we can spend all our money on vacation too, haha.

I totally agree with your whole assessment of the road to Hana. I was (and still am) more obsessed with the black beaches than the waterfalls, but yes, I’m thrilled to have done it but probably won’t do it again next trip. I think DH and my teens agree.
Thank goodness! I was afraid I'd lose everyone by having a lukewarm opinion of it. It was a bucket list thing so I am glad we did it overall but I guess I just wasn't prepared fully.

I love all your pics—you have a great eye—but I LOVE the one looking along the top of the concrete guardrail! I took a dozen pics of those cool old things, but I never really captured how neat they looked. You totally nailed it. I absolutely adore the photo book I made and love to look at it and dream of going back in 2022!!
Okay the check I promised for saying all these sweet things will be in the mail, haha. :flower3::flower3::flower3:
 
Really enjoying your trip report (also enjoyed your last report too) my daughter and I are heading to Aulani this December and can’t wait. The photos you have taken are amazing!
 
Really enjoying your trip report (also enjoyed your last report too) my daughter and I are heading to Aulani this December and can’t wait. The photos you have taken are amazing!

Thank you so much for reading along and for the very kind words! I would love to go back to Hawaii with my mom. That sounds like a very special trip!!
 
12/31/18 and 1/1/19 - Relaxing at Maui's Beautiful Beaches!

The next day was New Year's Eve, and we planned to spend the day visiting one of Maui's many famous beaches. We knew we wanted to visit a beach near Wailea but we were hoping for a quieter area. After paging through Maui Revealed, I decided that Po'olenalena beach park sounded ideal. Driving through all of the resort and golf areas on our way to the beach was interesting. It is vastly different seeing the planned resorts of Wailea versus the rest of the island. Shortly, we found the beach park and found a parking spot in the lot.

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vvvv

We brought a cooler of beer and some sandwiches for lunch. We spent the majority of the day swimming and enjoying the beautiful sunshine. This is a great beach for bobbing in the waves! It turned out to be my favorite swimming beach that we visited. As you can see, the sand here is almost a red color - very different from the sugary white beaches of the Gulf of Mexico that I'm used to visiting in Florida. While we were out enjoying a swim, we struck up a conversation with a family from the West Coast. They asked why we didn't go to the Caribbean instead of Hawaii! :confused3 I didn't even know what to say! They are nothing alike... while I love the Caribbean, there's no Aloha spirit there. It's just two totally different vibes.


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A family built this sand turtle. He was so cute! I had to get a photo before he washed away in the surf.

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As you can see, it wasn't all that busy at this beach. The parking was full but the beach is huge so you didn't have to be closer to any neighbors than you wanted. Plenty of trees line the beach so shade is just a few paces away if necessary, and there were families setting up for cookouts to be held later. There is a rock outcropping at each end of the beach that makes for interesting snorkeling since the waves are pretty tame. I snorkeled for a few minutes but didn't love being out there alone. DH tried but didn't like the feeling of breathing through the snorkel so we didn't spend long on that.

The family we'd befriended in the ocean told us they come to Maui every year and recommended some local restaurants. In particular they were fans of Aloha Hour at Three's Bar and Grill in Kihei. We decided that after we'd soaked up all the sun we needed for the day, we'd go try out the happy hour specials our new friends had told us about.

We got there around 4:00 and were seated on the back patio, which was blissfully quiet and surrounded by a thin screen of bamboo. We wasted no time ordering two top shelf mai tai specials ($6.75 during aloha hour)

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They were good but not mind-blowing. Speaking of mind-blowing, we also ordered food, my favorite of which was the Kalua pork nachos:

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"House made trio of chips, tomato, thai basil guacamole, pepperjack, jalapenos, cilantro-lime aioli, truffle oil" - $8.00 for the aloha hour portion. Holy moly! I would love a plate of these right now! The flavors all worked together so well and the chips were thick and perfectly crunchy. The pork was savory and added a nice salty component to each bite. I am a nacho fiend so I was in heaven. My husband didn't like these as much so I got the lion's share. More for me!!!

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The next pupu we decided to try was the coconut crusted shrimp:

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which were served with asian peanut slaw and chipotle fruit relish for $7.50. These were good but they were just coconut shrimp so I wouldn't go out of my way for them.

R couldn't pass up discounted sushi, so he wanted to try the spicy tuna roll, which was $5.25 durng happy hour:

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This was incredibly fresh and tasty. I would highly recommend the sushi and the nachos and I wouldn't stray away from coconut shrimp if that appeals to you! I didn't photograph our second round of drinks, but we both ordered a 20 oz local beer for the happy hour price of $6.50 (!!!!) Compared to Aulani prices, we were very very pleased indeed. R got the Maui Brewing Big Swell IPA and I went for a Lahaina Town Brown. We really loved Three's and the atmosphere was just so great - relaxing, relaxed, casual, and great food. Our service was a little slow but who cares? We had nowhere better to be. And at $49.01 before tip for a happy hour, we were so glad we'd stopped in.

... So I gotta say, it seemed like they practically roll up the sidewalks in the non-resort areas of Maui after sunset. We're not much for partying, so we had just planned on a quiet NYE with a night swim, a bottle of prosecco and a dinner in the condo. We watched some Rockin New Years Eve and poor husband fell asleep by 10:30! haha. I hung tight until midnight but our evening was a little boring.

It's hard to see here, but we had a really cool view across Maalaea Bay to the beach resorts and farther down to Wailea. From up on Haleakala all the way down to Wailea, fireworks were shot intermittently from dark until well after midnight. Here's a little timelapse I made, though compressing the file to a gif made it a little too dark to be impressive:

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(Editor's Note: Sadly, this gif is likely lost to time forever. I'm not making it again...)

You'll just have to take my word for it that it was really cool!

I think it makes sense to add a few photos from our adventure the next day to the end of this post, so I'll keep going. We decided that New Year's Day was as good a time as any to visit world-famous Kaanapali Beach in west Maui. We circled a few public parking areas before snagging a spot in public parking between the Westin and Whaler's Village.

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The beach itself was fine with waves nearly as calm as the previous day, a few patches of shade, and sand as far as the eye could see. But I think we chose poorly by parking in such a busy area (though admittedly it's not that we found much other choice available) and there were constantly tour boats coming and going from the beach all in front of and around us. At one point a whale watching catamaran lined up their tour group literally on each side of us, and the clueless tour group was kicking sand all over us and kids were touching us, and it was just beyond bizarre considering the vast expanse of beach available and yet people needed to stand inches from our two little chairs. :scratchin After we ate our packed lunch, I was ready to get out of there.

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While I'm glad we visited so I could see what all the fuss was about, I would not find Kaanapali to be a "must do" in future. I guess I am more of a beach park gal than a resort area gal (everywhere except Aulani, of course) - who knew?! :rotfl:

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I snapped this photo after we got back to the condo - Maui is just beautiful everywhere, even from the condo parking lot!

After our return it was time to get cleaned up for the evening's adventure... we were in for a huge treat! My review of the Feast at Lele, coming up next.
 
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So this time I spent $40 on checked luggage fees to bring along an older suitcase we didn't mind parting with and ditching in Hawaii. I packed anything we planned to cook that was dry goods as well as several meals that we'd prepared in advance and anything we could freeze - tamales, lasagna, meatballs and gravy, frozen meat, frozen hot dogs, and so on. If you are thinking of this, it worked great. I packed the frozen and refrigerated items in an insulated grocery tote inside of the suitcase. The frozen stuff stayed frozen clear through til we arrived at Aulani, except for some frozen garlic bread, but who cares if that defrosts? Not us.
This is the stuff of pure genius!!!

I am more than a little embarrassed to admit that until you posted this picture, I had NO idea POG stands for Passion-Orange-Guava. My mind is blown.

With this view began my daily humming of "Jolly Holiday" from Mary Poppins. I couldn't shake the line "Did you ever see the grass so green, or a bluer sky?"
How could you not!? It looks incredible!

Also, where the heck did the rest of my quotes go?!

I can't believe that you're only on page 2 with all of the amazing adventures and beautiful pictures you've shared so far!!! Everything looks simply incredible. I have never wanted to travel to Hawaii, but boy, following along here sure has me giving it a second thought!
 
Loving this TR as much as I enjoyed your engagement TR. Congratulations on now being Mr & Mrs.

We'll be in Waikiki over the 4th of July, then moving to Aulani on the 5th - can't wait - and seeing all you beautiful photos is making me wish away time! Haha
 
Can you share more of which airbnb or VRBO you booked in Maui. We are currently shopping now for west maui beaches and I'd like to see if where you stayed is available and meets our needs. Your trip is mirroring ours in many ways coming up soon in October!
 
Please tell me you are going to finish this wonderful report because I literally just reserved an ocean view studio at Aulani from December 21 to December 26, 2019 and then spending December 26 to December 31, 2019 in Maui. It’s like kismet that I just found this report! I cannot wait to read the rest!
 
Loving your TR! We were at Aulani for New Year's in 2018. We loved it and can't wait to return to Hawaii. Thanks so much for your honest review of the Road to Hana. It just does not sound like 'our thing' but there's so much pressure because everyone says it is so amazing. I think we will skip it and spend more time on Oahu or head to Kauai. Na Pali coast DOES sound like 'our thing.'
 
Eek! I'm sorry it has been so long since I've updated, guys. Lots of stuff keeping me away due to "real life". I will work on an update as soon as I can. Spoiler alert: it's partially because I took SO MANY pictures at Lele!
 
I am all caught up now! LOVE all the pictures, really takes me back to my other happy place, Hawaii!
Yum, poke, my favorite food! Ahi tuna just tastes sooo good there!
When we're in Maui we usually stay in the Kihei or Wailea area, I like it much better than Kaanapali, but Maalea is great too because it's so convenient!
If you're ever in Kaanapali again though, the Blackrock point area of Kaanapali beach, which is the area right in front of the Sheraton Waikiki, near Whaler's village has the most amazing sea turtles. We are always guaranteed to see and swim with them whenever we visit!
I miss the Aloha spirit!
 
I so enjoyed this TR! I loved all your pics and details. Aulani is a dream of ours but seems so far-fetched currently so I loved living vicariously through you!

And I gotta say, you and your dh are so cute! You have so many dresses I now desperately want lol!
 
This is the stuff of pure genius!!!
Or pure cheapness... I'm not very good at being a budget traveler so I have to do what I can where I can!

I am more than a little embarrassed to admit that until you posted this picture, I had NO idea POG stands for Passion-Orange-Guava. My mind is blown.
I always learn a few new things with every TR I read so I am glad to have *something* to contribute ::yes::

I can't believe that you're only on page 2 with all of the amazing adventures and beautiful pictures you've shared so far!!! Everything looks simply incredible. I have never wanted to travel to Hawaii, but boy, following along here sure has me giving it a second thought!
Oh my gosh, I had no idea how hard I'd fall in love. And I had even been there once before! It's so romantic and wonderful. Maybe an anniversary trip for you???

It's funny, there's not much activity on the Hawaii TRs but I have binged MANY of them in all my planning so I like to think I can give at least a tip or two that will help someone.

Loving this TR as much as I enjoyed your engagement TR. Congratulations on now being Mr & Mrs.

We'll be in Waikiki over the 4th of July, then moving to Aulani on the 5th - can't wait - and seeing all you beautiful photos is making me wish away time! Haha
Thank you so much! The time is drawing much closer since I've taken so dang long getting the next post ready... haha

Can you share more of which airbnb or VRBO you booked in Maui. We are currently shopping now for west maui beaches and I'd like to see if where you stayed is available and meets our needs. Your trip is mirroring ours in many ways coming up soon in October!
I think I got to this in a PM but if anyone else ever wants to know, just message me! :wave2:

Please tell me you are going to finish this wonderful report because I literally just reserved an ocean view studio at Aulani from December 21 to December 26, 2019 and then spending December 26 to December 31, 2019 in Maui. It’s like kismet that I just found this report! I cannot wait to read the rest!
I feel like I can promise you it will be done before December. :rotfl: I lived on TRs when planning!!!

Loving your TR! We were at Aulani for New Year's in 2018. We loved it and can't wait to return to Hawaii. Thanks so much for your honest review of the Road to Hana. It just does not sound like 'our thing' but there's so much pressure because everyone says it is so amazing. I think we will skip it and spend more time on Oahu or head to Kauai. Na Pali coast DOES sound like 'our thing.'
OMG take me with you! I already miss Hawaii but Kauai was totally my jam! Hawaii is so addictive, I wonder when I can convince DH to go back...

I am all caught up now! LOVE all the pictures, really takes me back to my other happy place, Hawaii!
Me too! Did I tell you my hypothesis last week that Disney should make another Aulani at WDW and just make it not convenient to any of the parks? :rotfl: I would pay Aulani prices for amazing pools and maybe a view of... Bay lake? I don't know, I know it's not the same I just miss it so much :sad:

Yum, poke, my favorite food! Ahi tuna just tastes sooo good there!
All the seafood there is so much better! And I'm not even a seafood person!!!

When we're in Maui we usually stay in the Kihei or Wailea area, I like it much better than Kaanapali, but Maalea is great too because it's so convenient!
If you're ever in Kaanapali again though, the Blackrock point area of Kaanapali beach, which is the area right in front of the Sheraton Waikiki, near Whaler's village has the most amazing sea turtles. We are always guaranteed to see and swim with them whenever we visit!
Duly noted. For *next time* ::yes:: (I'm convinced, let's work on ChunkyR)

I so enjoyed this TR! I loved all your pics and details. Aulani is a dream of ours but seems so far-fetched currently so I loved living vicariously through you!

And I gotta say, you and your dh are so cute! You have so many dresses I now desperately want lol!

Thank you Wendy! I appreciate you reading along even if it is just a quick imaginary get away!!! :laughing: I live in dresses on vacation as I can pair them with some bike shorts and be cool and comfortable!
 

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