huh-WAH-ee! Maui (Part I: Sunsets, Stuffing ourselves silly and Snorkeling)

So Nate and I decided to go wild and crazy for our 15th wedding anniversary and took a trip to Hawaii. For eight days. Without kids! Some people had a hard time understanding why we would want to vacation on a tropical island paradise without our entire family. And to them I say, "Pbbbbttthhh". Just kidding. But Nate and I had never spent more than two nights away from our children before. And it was our anniversary. (Our 15th anniversary!) And also that pbbbbttthhh thing again.

We took gobs of photos on our vacation. Literally, gobs. (Yes, there are literal gobs of photos scattered across our hard drive. GOBS.) With so many gobs, gobs of beauty and wonder, it's difficult to choose what to share with you all. I've decided to give you a day by day rundown of our activities, throwing in a picture now and then to make sure you are sufficiently jealous. I mean, so you can share in the beauty and wonder.

Saturday, June 20

We flew into Maui, and based on recommendations from a couple of friends, headed straight to Mama's Fish House for lunch. At Mama's the food is good--really good--and you pay a few pretty pennies for it, but you're not just paying for the food, you're paying for the experience. And it's worth it. We could not have dreamed up a more perfect setting for our introduction to Maui.

The view from our table:

Outside the restaurant:

Happy to be in Hawaii:

After picking up a few provisions at the local Walmart (note: Maui Walmarts are no fancier than regular mainland Walmarts, just more expensive), we checked into our B&B in Lahaina, the Wai Ola Vacation Paradise. Wai Ola had great reviews on Trip Advisor, and we were not disappointed. We had a little cottage off the main house to ourselves and never saw another guest there (there were other guests, we just never saw them). Our hosts, Jim and Kim were very welcoming, gracious, funny and helpful, and had a knack for popping up whenever we happened to need something.

That evening we decided to head down to Ka'anapali Beach to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous.

See?

While we were there, we also saw the sunset cliff diver, which was also very cool. After sunset, we walked around Whaler's Village, a collection of shops and restaurants. They happened to have a hula show that night with singing and dancing. It was the perfect first day.

Sunday, June 21

Our B&B happened to be just three blocks away from the local ward building. We had a great time attending church with the locals, though, it seemed the visitors almost outnumbered the locals. It was a cool, old building--very open with large windows and a lot of ceiling fans. One of the ward families was leaving, so we got treated to the tradition of the Aloha song complete with the bestowing of the leis. I'm glad we didn't miss the opportunity to attend church there.

Later, we headed to downtown Lahaina for lunch and to take in the sights. We had lunch at a place called Kimo's, famous for it's Hula Pie. What is Hula Pie, you ask?

This is Hula Pie (and also one of the many reasons Nate had six more pounds of Laurzia to love at the end of the week):

Downtown Lahaina is beautiful. There are lots of fun shops and restaurants all along the coastline. Everywhere you looked there was an amazing view.

Later that day, Nate somehow managed to talk me into snorkeling. Now, snorkeling in the crystal blue waters of a tropical island paradise sounds just peachy in theory, but the reality of a possible close encounter with wild marine life was not particularly appealing to me. Plus, I'm not exactly the strongest swimmer, so I had my worries. But Nate insisted that I would not drown and that I would have a great time, so I gave it a shot.

We went to Kahekili. Nate went out first to check out the conditions and the scenery. He didn't go more than 10-15 feet offshore before turning around and waving me in. So I put on a brave face and in I went. And wow! There were fish! Beautiful tropical fish, like right there! And better yet, they were minding their own business and not touching me at all! I was really surprised that I had absolutely no trouble getting used to the snorkel and mask. Oh! And the very best part! We saw a sea turtle! A freakin' sea turtle (as Nate said). Nate could hardly believe I saw a sea turtle on my first ever snorkling run. In all the years he lived and snorkeled in Hawaii, he only ever saw a sea turtle one other time. We took some pictures with a cheapy underwater camera we picked up, but we haven't developed the film yet.

After Kahekili, we went to check out the snorkeling at Kapalua. Kapalua is a beautiful resort area, but the snorkeling conditions were not so hot that day. Nate went out for awhile, but said the water was pretty cloudy, so I decided to just watch and enjoy the beach. I even got to see a wedding while I waited, complete with conch-blowing officiator!

Kapalua:

That night we had dinner at Mala, a small local place, where I had one of the most delicious dining experiences of my life. So, so yummy.


Speaking of food, it's dinner time (actually past) and the natives are getting restless. Stay tuned for Part II: Road to Hana and Big Beach.