Maui - Day 1

The day was finally here... Joey and I were headed for Maui! I had been dreaming of this for as long as I could remember !!! It was so difficult though, to get on a plane and leave my babies 3 thousand miles away for 7 days. So, I'm sort of conflicted to report that we had the time of our lives!!! The absolute best time we ever had! Really, this vacation had everything... Romance, intrigue, adventure, comedy, excitement, and even a little danger.

Our plane took off around noon, and after a quick layover in Phoenix, we arrived in Paradise that evening. Picking up the rental car took a while, so it was dark when we got to our hotel. (Well, condo actually. It was recommended to us by our travel agent who just happens to be a Maui expert!) We stayed at The Whaler on Kaanapali Beach, which was absolutely perfect. Perfect location as well. Right on the beach, and just a short walk from fantastic restaurants and an outdoor mall!!!

We were amazed when we got to the hotel and breezed into the open-air lobby. We could NOT wipe the smiles off our faces!!! We got all settled into our ocean-view room and enjoyed the complimentary pineapple. Then we decided to hit the grocery store we saw on our way in, since it was too dark to see anything anyway. It was shocking how much groceries cost in Hawaii- especially the cereal! But, thankfully, the pineapples were cheap!!!

We couldn't wait to get to sleep that first night- so we could see the sunrise and the beach in the morning!!! We slept with the sliding glass doors open, and the waves lulled us to sleep in no time.

The view that morning was almost more than we could handle!! We couldn't believe it was real, and couldn't wait to get down to the beach and put our toes in that sand! Which was such a fine, perfect golden powder. Oh yes indeed, there was frolicking. It really is every bit as perfect as you imagine it would be. We just wanted to camp out there all day long, (since we couldn't manage to take enough pictures!!) but we didn't want to mistakenly get a sunburn before our Vow Renewal Ceremony that was 2 days away. So, we decided to walk over to the outdoor mall for some souvenir shopping and lunch.

Then we hopped in our zippy little rental car and explored the island a little. Don't know why I found it so strange to see an Old Navy and Krispy Kreme there... probably because it just feels like an entirely different planet.

Then we changed into our swimsuits, and headed down to the Hula Grill for some Happy Hour Mai Tais. We also tried a tropical fruit sampler, which included bananas, pineapple, mango, papaya, lychee, lillikoi, strawberries & watermelon. It had this amazing pina colada dipping sauce that was out of this world. It was a truly Hawaiian experience!

Then we hit the beach for just a little while that evening, again trying to avoid those dreaded tanlines/sunburns! The water was pretty cold at first, but once we were fully immersed, it was just exhilerating and completely refreshing.

Then we headed into Lahaina Town for some dinner, and stumbled upon the best meal of our entire lives- at Aloha Mixed Plate. Sure, they serve the food on compostable paper plates, plastic forks and cups. (But to quote the New York Times, "Paper plate meets million dollar view".) The entire restaurant was completely open-air and our view for that first Hawaiian sunset was nothing short of spectacular. The thing that astounded us the most was, there were NO mosquitos. None. AND we were sitting OUTSIDE in August without breaking out into a sweat. It made me realize that, although I love Texas, temperately speaking... it is an armpit.

We began our dinner experience with a yummy Pina Colada, and Coconut Prawns with Pineapple Chutney. AMAZING! We knew then that we were in for something special. Joey ordered the Kalbi Ribs (Grilled Korean-style sesame teriyaki short ribs)and I had the Shoyu Chicken (oven baked chicken in a soy sauce marinade) both were served with white rice and macaroni salad. Sounds simple, but this food was to die for! We shared a dessert that rocked our world, the name of it was so not appetizing: Cheesecake Lumpia, but we were so glad we ventured to try it. It was a cinnamon-sugary caramel fried cheesecake. It was truly the best.meal.ever.

Our first full day was incredible, and we relished the fact that we had 6 more to go!