For once, jet lag works in our favor. We woke up dark and early and hit the road by 5:30. Places to go, awesomeness to see! Today’s adventure was all about the journey. The Road to Hana is a long, narrow, windy road full of beautiful scenery. We downloaded an app (Gypsy Guide) and an awesome tour guide told us when to pull over, when to keep moving, and fun facts about Maui. The start of the Road to Hana is in a little town called Paia. Loved this surfboard fence!

The first stop we made was at Keanae Arboretum. Lots of different plants and trees from all over the world. My favorite were the painted gum trees. The bark looked like someone painted them.

Isn’t this a lovely place for a morning stroll. Someone even dropped flower petals all along the path for Jay and I.

This little tree reminded me that life can thrive even in hard places.

Biggest leaf ever…My painted gums. The pictures don’t do it justice.

At the back of the Arboretum there was a farm. The Hawaiian farmers were clever in how they diverted the water to their fields. Kalo is a staple food on the island. We haven’t tried it yet but should give it a go before we leave.

We drove down to this pretty little bay. Stopped and bought some hot, fresh banana bread alongside the road. Delicious!This waterfall is called The Three Bears. Daddy, Mama, and Baby. Wow!! The beach at Wai’ Anapanapa State Park was completely black. Black sand, black rocks. Apparently sometimes when hot lava hits the cold ocean, it explodes into a million tiny pieces, leaving behind black sand. I loved watching the water retreating back to sea, rolling over the black rocks. There was a neat little cave that was just big enough to squeeze through and watch the waves rolling into the opening.

Next stop…Hana! There really wasn’t much to see or do there. We went to Hana Tropicals and got a flower. And there were neat lava rock fences along the property lines.

Coconut tree on a small island.

We drove a little past Hana to Kipahulu, which for me was the highlight of the day. Best purchase before coming to Maui was new hiking shoes, which I definitely needed for this jaunt. We did the big loop – about 2 miles from the road. I felt like I was on an episode of Dora… Makahiku waterfall! Bamboo Forest!! Waimoku Falls!!!

Seriously. The Bamboo Forest…. I was not expecting that much awesomeness. It went on and on and on. I guess I didn’t know what to expect having never been in a bamboo forest before, but it was SO AMAZING! Quiet. Green. Beautiful. We made it!! These falls were HUGE!I was thirsty…

Here’s the thing about the Road to Hana. While technically the road goes all around the east side of the island, most rental car contracts don’t allow cars to go beyond Hana. Yes, the roads are that bad. So, we turned the Jeep around and headed back the way we came. We stopped at a roadside stand and bought toasted coconut, fresh pineapple, and Maui chocolate. Yummy.

By this point my Dramamine was really wanting to take over my body, so I dozed off while Jay drove like a racecar driver down the curvy roads. Probably a good thing I slept through that adventure.

This sign pretty much sums up the whole day…

So we left our hotel at 5:30 AM and got home around 6:30 PM. 72 miles. Over 600 curves. Around 60 one lane bridges. Waterfalls. Hikes to bamboo forests. Lush greenery. Black sandy beaches. Crashing ocean waves. Pretty good 13 hour day!!

Aloha!!

The jet lag makes us wake up around 4:00 AM. We decided not to fight it on Day 2 and went to the gym again. After a good sweat, we came back to the hotel just after sunrise. We walked by the lu’au stage and noticed these sweet tiki dudes.

The Cyclones were playing in the Alamo Bowl at 4:00 PM Hawaii time, so we decided to change our plans and not drive to Hana. Instead, we ventured out around the western part of Maui. We had zero plans, just decided to go where the road took us. First stop – Kapalua Coastal Trail. It was a little rainy, a lot cloudy, but it was worth getting a little wet. When the lava off of the ancient volcano hit the sea, it cooled and made amazing rock formations.

We continued our drive past the golf course where the Sentry tournament will be held next week. The rest of the drive was full of beautiful ocean views, really narrow winding roads, chickens, cats, and the occasional mongoose. And it was hot and humid…hence the glistening faces.

We got back to Lahaina around 2:00, so we found a couple barstools at MonkeyPod and had some appetizers and drinks. I noticed the guy sitting at the bar next to me had a giant ring on his right hand. I kept trying to subtly see what it said. First thought was Notre Dame, then Super Bowl…turns out it was an NFL Alumni ring. My bar mate was Kurt Petersen, played for the Dallas Cowboys in the late 1990’s. He was a good sport about letting me try on his ring and get a photo. He was a BIG dude.

On our way back to the hotel Jay spotted a baby humpback whale breaching off the coast. This picture is basically impossible to see, but the little black spot in the ocean is a jumping baby whale!

And then it was game time!! We parked our Cyclone booties at the Ka’anapali Grill in front of a TV. For a while we were the only ISU fans in the place, so we took some heckling from Washington State fans. Then a few other Cyclone fans rolled in. At one point during the game, everyone’s phones erupted at the same time. Flash flood watch. I was nervous for a second until the bartender told us to follow him if there was a real emergency. 🙂 Unfortunately the game didn’t end up like we hoped, but it was a great season Cyclones!!

Jay and I have not been on a vacation without kids since before we had kids over 8 years ago. (The weekend road trip to Milwaukee doesn’t count). We were long overdue. I have wanted to go to Hawaii forever, but Jay has always been anti-Hawaii (the accountant in him has a hard time stomaching the thought of a non-all-inclusive resort). Somehow the stars aligned (and the heaps of United miles to get free flights) and Jay agreed that we should go to Hawaii!! We booked our flights to Maui on October 26.

Oh crap. This mama’s body is so not ready to wear a swimsuit for 9 days… there is not room for my muffin top in the airplane seat.

November 6: hello The Foundation CrossFit gym!! You will be my new best friend. I will be seeing a LOT of you between now and December 26. (Thank you Ann for convincing me to give it a try!). After Erika tried to kill my friend Brooke and I multiple times, I graduated CrossFit Kindergarten, and have been at the gym at least 3 times a week (usually 4-5) ever since. I will spare you the eye pain of seeing my before and after picture from just a couple months, but I can assure you it is working!! Unfortunately I couldn’t miraculously achieve a 6 pack in that short timeframe, but I at least have taken a much smaller muffin top with me to Hawaii. Still not thrilled about walking around in a swimsuit, but I feel a whole lot better about it now than I did when we booked our trip.

Ok, enough about CrossFit. Let’s talk about VACATION!!!

After another memorable Christmas celebration at my parents’ farm, Jay and I left the kiddos and drove to Chicago on Christmas Day. Thankfully the weather in December is surprisingly warm so we didn’t have to drive through a blizzard to get to O’Hare. We had an early morning flight on Dec 26 so we tried Sleep Park Fly. It’s a pretty slick deal where you spend a night at a hotel near the airport, leave your vehicle in their parking garage for your entire vacation, and they shuttle you to the airport. Much cheaper than airport parking.

No drama getting through security (helps to travel with a United 1K member), breakfast in the United Club lounge, smooth first flight to San Francisco. The people watching in SF airport is amazing… flight to Maui was delayed 1 hour. Boarded. Waited for 2 hours for maintenance to fix a computer problem (kind of an important part to get us 6 hours across the ocean) before we had a relatively smooth flight to paradise. It was a little cloudy when we approached the islands, but still amazing.

By the time we got our luggage and sweet rental Jeep, and made a quick stop at Costco for water, snacks and sunscreen, the sun had set, leaving us in complete darkness on our drive to the Ka’anapali beach area on the west side of the island. I am sure the drive would have been beautiful if we had sunlight. We made our way to the Hyatt Regency resort, got checked in. It was around 8:00 PM in Maui, which was midnight in Iowa, so my exhausted brain was ready for sleep. A bellhop took us to our room – upgraded to corner room with ocean view (thank you Jay) – opened one of the sliding doors, and I thought, oh, they must have a water feature making the sound of water crashing. And then I realized, oh, gosh, that’s the OCEAN. Jet lag brain…

We walked down to grab a quick bite to eat, passing by the 7 penguins that live at the resort!!!

After a nice meal, we called it a night and fell asleep to the sound of crashing waves.

We woke up around 4:00 AM (8 in Iowa) and I decided to go work out at a local CrossFit gym’s 6 AM class – Lahaina CrossFit. It was fun to be able to work out outside, and it helped that when the sun rose and I finally caught my first glimpse of Maui’s green hills.

Jay worked out at the hotel gym then came to pick me up. Hello ocean!!!! We didn’t have plans for the first day in Maui, so we wandered up the sidewalk along the beach to Whaler’s Village. No shops were open that early, but I made a mental note to come back later. We ate breakfast at Ka’anapali Grill and Tap Room (yummy) and soaked in the view.

We went back to the hotel. Finally was able to see that ocean view…wowza.

Check out the birds in the hotel atrium…

We wandered around the hotel grounds to get the lay of the land, then walked back to Whalers to do some shopping. I found a couple cute swimsuits, jay found some new sunglasses, and we had a drink and delicious truffle French fries at MonkeyPod. Back to the hotel Grotto bar for a drink and a sandwich. In full vacation mode at this point…

I left jay at the bar and went to the spa for a facial and massage. Life doesn’t suck…

We found a couple lounge chairs and watched the sun set.

Then the jet lag kicked in and we were both ready to crash. You know, it was a pretty exhausting first day in paradise….

Aloha!!!!