Maui Part 1

I’m way behind on my blog posting sooo sorry!!!  Thanks Uncle Bill for giving me a nudge via Marybeth!  

The day after we all learned to love surfing we flew over to Maui!  It took us less time to fly than to drive to the airport lol!  We left while Oahu was being drenched by a monsoon and arrived in Maui to clouds and a little rain.  


View from the plane as we approached Maui!

We drove up the coast to Napili bay where we were staying.  It was a beautiful drive despite a lot of traffic. 







The sunset was spectacular with all the clouds. 

We found our condo and I found us a restaurant that was listed as one of the best Mai Tais on the island. It did not disappoint!  


Mai Tai at Monkey Pod with lilikoi (passion fruit) foam.  


The boys enjoyed a frozen lava flow, their new favorite drink to try everywhere we go thanks to Brandi & Maria.  

The next day we decided we didn’t have enough time to do the drive to Hana so we found a different crazy drive with a start closer to our condo.  The Honoapolani Highway which goes around the edge of the western most part of Maui.  Before we left we hit up breakfast at The Gazebo which was at our complex and has been tauted as the best breakfast in Maui.  45 min in line with a view of the ocean did not disappoint.  


The beach view. 


Banana, pineapple macadamia nut pancakes!


 Our view at breakfast.  

The drive was beautiful!  It started safe enough with 1-2 lanes in each direction and well paved.  That didn’t last though lol!  The end was one lane that you shared with oncoming traffic and not well paved.  Along the way we saw crazy views, sea turtles, blow holes, and mountain goats.  We stopped at a little roadside stand for the best banana bread I have ever had and shave ice.   











Our first sign of what was to come road wise. 


Stopping for some banana bread. 


Taro fields. 






The cows that were just grazing along the road.  Thankfully none wandered into the road lol!


Super sketchy!  You had to honk around corners in case a car was headed towards you. 


Next stop the beach in Kihei.  Grayson is sitting in the hole he built himself.  


I spotted a turtle swimming next to me!


Beach views!

Up next we drove to the top of Haleakalā for sunset.  Everyone says to do sunrise but after some research and really not wanting to get up at 3 am we decided sunset seemed like a perfect plan.  It did not disappoint!   I literally have 100 pictures, don’t worry I’m just posting a few.  Even more spectacular than sunset were the stars.  Ted and I have never seen so many.  We saw the Milky Way!  It was astounding and something none of us will ever forget.  Unfortunately stars are very difficult to photograph without the right equipment so we don’t have any pictures.  


The drive up. 


More cows lol!  I almost hit one on our way down who decided to stand up on the very edge of the toad as we were coming down in pitch blackness!






Really high and getting really cold!


Above the clouds. 










I wasn’t kidding about the cold!  We dropped over 30 degrees!


An unopened bag of pretzel chips!  The altitude made them go a little crazy!

The drive back was long but sooo worth it!  The kids and I had Julia’s banana bread for dinner lol!!

Maui was so full of fun that I’m splitting it into 2 posts!  I’ll post tomorrow with part 2 of 2!




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