Sunday, May 18, 2008

DAY 6

The first thing Matt said upon leaving our studio the morning of Day 6 was, "How nice it's not blowing."

We headed down to Wailea/Kihei area. The trees are very well groomed. They have "diaper-rubbed" palm trees as Matt calls them. Also, there are no power lines to interrupt the horizon. It is a very cool area.



We stopped at Po'olenalena Beach. I played in the waves and Matt went snorkeling around the northern point of the beach. He saw a bunch of turtles there. It was one of the areas advertised as "Turtle Town".

We went into Kihei for lunch. We stopped at Da Kitchen for some local food. I had the Loco Moco, which is like stroganoff sauce over a HUGE patty of hamburger, rice, with sauteed mushrooms and onions. It was good, but very big. We also liked their salad which was like potato salad with elbow noodles. Matt got the Hawaiian plate which was meat wrapped in taro and cooked ... and completely not my thing, but he liked it a lot.

I thought this was a cool picture; the balcony with the surfboard.



I don't know what it is with the high-handled bikes. We saw a lot of them. And a lot of naked brown bodies.



Everything celebrated the ocean.



We saw a couple surfboard fences during our visit. This is a pretty blurry picture, but it's the only one I got.



Churches are so pretty. I really liked this one with the trees in front.



This is the West Maui mountain on the south side. There are windmills on top.



Yes, I'm a geek, but I took this picture purely because I wanted a picture of the rainbow license plate.



And I took this picture purely to show that there are WAY TOO MANY convertible Mustangs. They are one of my favorite cars (I am an owner of a 1965 Mustang), but I actually got sick of seeing them here.



I wish my feet could always be dusted in sand.



So, I look a little sinister in this picture, but I had to take a picture of my newly acquired bandanna! I have very fair skin and used a lot of sunscreen, including spraying it on my head, which honestly is icky.

Also, we drove with the windows down a lot, and the little wispies of hair would constantly blow in my mouth and eyes. My 99 cent bandanna fixed both the sunscreen and wispy problem!



Maui cemeteries are interesting. This one was practically on the beach!



We drove into Lahaina and went shopping for 3-hours. It was a non-cruise ship day, so the crowds were tolerable. It was pretty hot. Of course it didn't help that "it's not blowing". Lahaina was consistently the warmest part of the island.

Matt wanted me to take this picture for T. Cowdell. I really need to send it to him.



After leaving Lahaina, we stopped by Oneloa Beach and watched the surfers. I stood in the shade and got my only batch of mosquito bites during our trip. Little buggers!

I can't believe this is the first that I'll write about this. I guess being on an island that when something breaks down, it's easiest just to drop it off somewhere to be reclaimed by the Maui jungles. That's what happened to this car.

We saw abandoned cars, washers, and stoves.



This picture makes me laugh.

We were driving on the north side of West Maui. There is a particularly long stretch of 1-lane road. You have to wait your turn at the bottom. It's probably 1/4 - 1/2 mile long.

This is the second time we'd driven this section. We saw it was clear and started driving up the road. We had covered most of the distance and that white car right there decided to drive down. The driver was pretty nervous and stopped, waiting for us to make our move. Matt backed up and pulled into a small pull-out. She moved down the road and sat there, clearly communicating that she didn't dare drive past. So, Matt began a long drive in reverse down the 1-lane road on the side of the mountain.

By the time we got to the bottom, there were three cars that were behind the white car caravaning down the mountain as Matt lead the way in reverse.

We think they felt a little bad when they realized how far he had to drive in reverse.

So, the road was now clear again and we drove back up the 1-lane road. We hit the same spot, only to be met with a truck coming down. Matt stood his ground, making it clear that we would not be the ones to back up this time.

The truck moved backward about 15-feet to a large parking area/look-out. And we drove by. Yeah!



Why did the chicken cross the road?
Because it was in Maui, and chickens are always crossing the road.



We picked up some of Julia's banana bread in Kahakuloa and headed down to Serpico's in Pukalani for a late dinner. Being in West Maui at sunset always got us back in Haiku late.

Tune in to Day 7 to find out what happens when you're happy about no wind on the island ....

1 comment:

Heather said...

Crazy experience having to go back up the windy hill! You guys are awesome!