toothless in sammamish

update

Here is my official Maui vacation summery in pictures.

Let's begin . . .

We drove into the clouds,

and when they blew past,

this was revealed!
Behold!!! The Haleakala Summit. Truly a site to see.

We had breakfast company at the Gazabo. Actually this birdie has lots and lots of friends but she was the only one who held still long enough for me to snap a picture of while we waited for our macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup to arrive.

Here's the Gazebo restaurant from Napili Bay where all the cool tide pools were.
Sea Urchins galore!!

We dared the Road to Hana.

Don't be fooled by J's smile, he is white knuckling it all the way. The speedy locals and the one lane bridges made for quite the adventure.

Hana itself was pretty whaa waa wa. (Insert Charlie Brown's teacher's voice). I wouldn't go to Maui as a tourist to stay in Hana. But along the way, we saw some pretty amazing sites.

Like jungles straight out of the old Vietnam movies.

Windy paths to awe inspiring look outs.
Waterfalls.
The smell of guava was so thick, I spent many minutes just breathing in the sweet goodness. We stopped at the Garden of Eden along the way to Hana and it was by far my most favorite stop. In fact, if we had known, we could have called it quits right then and there and saved ourselves hours on the narrow highway to nowhere-ville.

On our trek to see the Nakalele Blowhole, we encountered thousands of these stacked rocks. I was immediately reminded of the Blair Witch movie. I swear the movie makers had taken a recent trip to the blowhole themselves and discovered this eerie phenomenon themselves.

We read many tourist believe this has some sort of meaning to native Hawaiians, but it does not. Doesn't stop people from stacking rocks of their own.
This was also found along the way.

(I'm beginning to hear the Twilight Show theme song play in my head right about now.)

We trekked over the 'alien war-zone' landscape that looked like we were hiking through Mars.
But once we arrived, the blowhole was AWESOME and oh so worth it!

The mist from the ocean's spray would leave your lips tasting salty.

Maui is a wonderful, mystical place full of rainbows and hidden treasures.

We can not wait to go back someday.

still on hawaiian time . . . . well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it

I know, I know, y'all don't want to look at my toes anymore. I get it! And I apologize. I have so many pictures and stories to share like the weird "Blair Witch" stacked rocks on the trek to Nakalele Blowhole that have no meaning to the locals, but apparently all the tourists think they do. Or the fun Boogie Boarding and snorkeling we did. And posting the video of the ghost of Annabelle or the video of the very funny magician, Warren. Or the story of our adventurous trip on The Road to Hana. Good God, it's amazing we are alive!! And the gecko that lived in our condo bedroom and wanted to offer us ways to save money on our car insurance. Or the many sunsets we enjoyed and the fabulous mai tais. M'm, m'm! And my theory on "Hawaiian Time" and the time warp Hawaii seems to be in. Or the gigantic joke natives I believe are playing with their unpronounceable street names on the silly tourists and retirees who move there. Or how the air was oh so sweet, you could taste the salty guava on your lips. How I loved every moment of it (although my hair didn't) and in spite of the five pounds of SPF 50 I applied to my skin every hour, I still managed to get burned. But it was all worth it, I tell ya, all worth it indeed.

Ahh yes, so much to say . . . . . but it seems to be getting all jumbled up in my mind. I've been unable to get all my stories out in coherent, witty fashion. So I've left you with a picture of my feet baking in the sun for four days now. I've probably lost my five readers to the demise of toe jam because I've been too lazy to post something, anything. I know when I check back to my favorite reads and see the same words or same picture staring back at me, I get a little cranky. I love checking in and seeing what's new and I'm sorry if you've been clicking in only to see my puffy, unpedicured, piggies, yet again.

I promise I'll be getting back on the bloggy band wagon and roll into blogville again very soon. The kids are going back to school next week and J and I are about to enter the world of "selling our house and buying a new one" very soon so I'm sure to have more adventurous and rants to share very soon. Until then, I'll leave with how I found the girls tonight . . . . . ya gotta love that sistery cuteness going on right there!!!

The Divine Miss O has so many stuffed animals and blankets and dolls in her bed, it's a wonder Baby Love even fit.

:: hawaiian time ::

This is pretty much what we did today (in a nutshell). We enjoyed the sun and the surf. Snorkeling and playing around with boogie boards is the best! We've been on the go since we got to Maui, so we decided to slow it down and relax a bit today. After we played in the water and soaked up some sun (translation: Little Irish's very Irish skin got burnt to a crisp even after using mass amounts of sun block), we walked downtown Lanaina and saw the ginormous Banyan Tree. We took in a Happy Hour in a cute little place with an awesome view while a one-man band played many good tunes. So much fun! It was there, when I stopped to make a pit stop, I realized my fun in the sun left a lasting impression on my backside.

We are eating dinner in tonight. J-man is down by the pool cooking our entree at the BBQ as I type. I have tons of pictures and stories but I'm too pooped to go through it all and come up with witty antidotes. So I'll leave you with "Aloha" my friends!!

hiking haleakala

We drove up to the Haleakala National Park this morning. Although the drive on the winding roads made me feel a little sick, it was worth it. The Pu'u'ula'ula (no, I didn't make that up) summit was awe-inspiring. Truly a site to see!

We came back to the condo, jumped in the pool for a swim and then headed to the very cool Warren and Annabelle's magic show. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. So funny!

Annabelle (the ghost) playing at her piano. Pssst! She takes requests.

Warren, about to burn someone's $100 bill. You'll never guess where he found it. . . .

:: 10 years ::

We celebrated 1o years of marriage last night with mai tais on the balcony of The Plantation House. We got several tips to make our reservation for 6:00 pm and arrive 15 minutes early. Because we didn't know how long it would take us to get there, we ended up arriving a half hour early. Good thing too because four couples arrived after us. We got a really good spot because of it, sitting front and center in the restaurant with incredible views of the ocean, the pineapple fields and the islands of Lanai and Molokai.

Our very kind waiter bought us dessert and took this picture of us with the sunset.

Here's to 10 more!

Cheers!

there she blows

We headed out to the Nakalele Blowhole this afternoon for a hike. It was so amazing and so fun to watch. I caught J-man on video getting wet . . . . .so funny! At first I'm just waiting for it to blow, so be patient and watch a minute. It is awesome!! Aloha!

yesterday

Aloha from Maui friends!

I didn't post yesterday because I was too pooped and that most delish mai tai I had with dinner last night put me to sleepy-ville right quick!

So here goes . . .

Yesterday we enjoyed breakfast from our lanai, listening to the birds chirp and the ocean waves crash. Lovely!We stopped at the Whaler's Village and did a little shopping. We rented snorkeling gear too, haven't tried it out yet though. Maybe this morning??

We walked down to Ka'anapali beach and watched the many people and activities. Our little beach in front of our condo is very quiet and nice.


Then we headed to Maui Ocean Center. We loved it and spent a lot of time looking and touring the center. My favorite? The sea turtles at the turtle lagoon. They were awesome and so cool to watch.

Later, we watched sailboats float across the ocean and enjoyed the sunset. Awwwww, what a view!
Then we went back to the Whaler's Village and ate dinner at Hula Grill. We lucked out and got seating right on the beach. It was awesome. The food was so, so, so good. The best!! And like I said before, the mai tais were oh so tasty! M'm m'm!
Afterwards we got ice cream and walked on the beach in the dark.

The end!

:: ALOHA ::

Leaving Washington.

We got up at 5:30am this morning and it's now 8:30 pm, but only 5:30 pm Maui time.

Over the ocean and clouds, nearing the island.

Almost there . . . about to touch down.

Views from our top floor condo (sweet!!) :

More updates and pictures sure to come.