Maui Day 1

We woke our first day in paradise to a delicious breakfast prepared by our hosts. After asking them for pointers, we began our Maui adventure. Some of the roads in the less touristy sections are pretty rough.

 So it was with the north side of west Maui. The road itself was smooth enough, but it was 1 lane wide while accommodating 2 directions of traffic. Thankfully Jay was in the driver’s seat to deal with all that stress.

Our first stop was a fruit stand – but not just any fruit stand – Julia’s. This stop was highly lauded by both our hosts and the guide book. We sampled some taro chips – and the world’s cheapest couple paid $4 for a tiny bag of chips. We also purchased a couple of loaves of banana bread – one for Jay and one for Chad and Caroline.

As we munched on the taro chips, we hit the road again looking for the Nakalele blowhole. It was a tiny hike, but very much worth it when we got down there.

Caroline had told us of a group of kids that got killed getting to close, so I made sure Jay observed from a distance. Thankfully another couple was down at the base to snap our photo.

We returned the favor and snapped their picture.  When we saw their pose we knew we had to play copy cat!!

Next on our list were the Olivine Pools – the footing here was a bit more tricky to navigate and this Dare Devil Diva had to be talked into it.

After pouting and refusing to go down for about 5 minutes, I saw another couple safely make their way to the pools and I decided to give it a go.

Here we learned our first rule of Maui travel – always wear a bathing suit. These pools would have been the perfect place to relax and enjoy the water, but neither Jay nor I had though far enough ahead. We soaked our feet for a bit, and did dare to walk around in the pools that only met our knees.

I was starving, so I made Jay stop in the nearest city (Wailuku) for lunch. Typically we prefer Mom & Pop restaurants, but we couldn’t spot any and Jay knows better than to make his wife go hungry for very long. McDonalds would have to do. After a successful refueling stop (both body and vehicle) we headed toward the ‘Iao Needle. This site was geared more toward older folk and families as far as the trails were concerned, but the view wasn’t disappointing.

On the way to our temporary home, we stopped at a beacon I read about in the guidebook. The lighthouse fixture itself wasn’t anything impressive, but our stop was well worth it. While there we saw our first whales of the trip.  We also kicked back to relax a bit at a nearby beach park, but since we didn't have our swimming gear we just enjoyed it from the beach.

A brief trip to Lahaina (a touristy area similar to Gatlinburg near where Jay & I live in Tennessee) for ice cream and shaved ice, as well as a pop into the used book store (I can’t pass one by without stopping) and our first day in paradise was almost complete.

We dined on the first of many dinners prepared by our expert chef/hosts then called it a night.

Check back in a month or so to read/see all about day 2!  I kid (hopefully).