Aloha...

It truly is paradise over here...the beautiful beaches, the warm weather, sunshine, soothing sounds of the waves washing on shore and the relaxed lifestyle...this is truly something we could get used to!! :) We arrived on Thursday afternoon, a bit early, but of course, the luggage delay made up for the early arrival. Once we got our rental car, we headed to Costco to stock up on things for the week ahead. Then, we headed to the Kihei area, where our condo was...Sugar Beach Resort. We'd not stayed here before and are really happy with it...great beach and location and we've got a wonderful view of the ocean. We're on the sixth floor, so it's quite a walk, but that's okay...it's good for us, right?! So, between our walks on the beach and climbing the stairs a couple times a day, we're getting our exercise.


Our first full day, Friday, we drove along the coast, through, Wailea, Makena and on to La Perouse Bay. We found some wonderful areas to photograph and just enjoy the great weather and beaches here. It was a relaxing drive. Dinner that night was grilled chicken here at the condo and had a nice dinner on our lanai. Saturday found us heading to the other side of the island to find some surfers to photograph and ended up at Ho'okipa Lookout and found it to be a great beach to surf and to photograph surfers...of course, we were doing the later of the two! We also enjoyed lunch on the rocks (don't tell anyone, we had a Mai Tai in a bottle that we drank along with it!).


Sunday, we headed to the Iao Needle/Valley fairly early and beat the crowds for that, so we had some time to walk through and photograph without too many people around. It was starting to cloud up as we left and we headed back to Kihei where we had lunch at Fred's Mexican Cafe...I know, it sounds kind of odd for a Mexican place, but we had a good lunch and a GREAT margarita...best we've ever had! Highly recommended! It was quite windy and cooler, and we ended up back at the condo and read books on the lanai...very relaxing.


We've seen many whales out in the bay around us and on Saturday went to a light beacon and scenic lookout where we could see them as well...lots of blowholes and occasional tails and more...but nothing really close, although we've talked with many who have said they've seen them much closer before. We are continually keeping our eyes peeled for them.


This morning...it was our big day, we got up at 3 am...so that we could get up to Haleakala to see the sunrise. It had rained a bit overnight although was dry for the drive across the island....as we started up, there were dry and wet areas, but nothing bad. Since we were climbing to 10,000 feet, we figured that it would break and we'd be fine....NOT!!!!! We arrived there about 1 1/2 hours before sunrise...to find the parking lot half full and it was raining sideways and that wind was cutting when it hit you on the face. We sat in the car for quite a while and then ventured to the visitor center once it opened. So, our early rising was for not...we saw nothing other than a lot of fog and a few rocks...it never broke. After a while, we gave up and headed down, most had already left. We found more rain and wind on the way down than we had on the way up. At one point, just after you enter the national park, there was a break and it was really nice...we were below the "yuck" from above and above the clouds below...that was really pretty and the best view we'd had all morning! The ranger up there said it's actually much better at sunset, so we may head out there tomorrow. After that, we went to Costco to pick up a few things, then headed back and went back to the lookout by Kihei to see if we could see any whales. There were a few, but they were far out...so we headed back to the condo for lunch and then a long walk on the beach! Walking on the beach has been a daily event and it's wonderful...I'm trying to figure out how I can "recreate" this when we get home...any ideas?!!

Tonight we went to Mama's Fish House in Paia and it was WONDERFUL...very pricey, but well worth it for the whole experience! It'll probably be our only dinner out while here and we did it right! While waiting for our table, we hear a family talking about their day at Haleakala...and how wonderful it was! They obviously were up there later and they said the sun was out, above all the clouds below...so we missed it all! We are thinking that tomorrow we'll head up there for sunset...and see if we can experience something totally different from what we had this morning!

It's Monday night and we have through Saturday mid-day before we have to head back to reality...so for now, we'll take advantage of all that we can here in "paradise!" We're planning on the road to Hana on Wednesday and maybe Tuesday...depending on how long we take....and of course that would entail MANY more photos!! So stay tuned! This has been a wonderful time so far, and I'm sure that the rest of our time will be the same...we've enjoyed hearing from all of you and will reply, if we haven't yet...in time! We're busy "relaxing" and soaking up the laid back life of Maui!! :-) We love you all!

It's now Tuesday morning...and needless to say, we didn't get this finished last night...didn't get the photos uploaded, so figured we'd wait until today. And...boy, did we pick the wrong day to head to Haleakala...it's perfectly clear out this morning, everywhere, so today would have been a MUCH better day! Figures! We'll probably give sunset a try up there tonight and get something from there! Terri slept in this morning, making up for the couple of hours sleep from the night before...it felt good. Rick was up a bit earlier, make a conference call for work and answered a few emails, but mostly just enjoyed the great view outside...and saw some whales playing in the bay! So, now, the photos are loaded and we'll get this posted! Maybe more later this week, or after we get home...stay tuned!!