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Quick recap of what we've done so far:
Sunday - After Arriving
- Maui Beach Resort, Kihei - You can read what I wrote a couple days ago or read my review at the provided link on Yahoo. A couple extra notes, the pool is pretty nice and there are two new community Jenn-aire gas grills if you want to cook out. Also, the in-unit laundry is nice.
- Isana Sushi, Kihei - It was late so we just had a quick sushi snack. Decently sized fish on the nigiri
Monday
- Maui Tropical Plantation, Waikapu - Nice little tram tour ($10) of a small plantation with several tropical fruit trees and a coconut husking demonstration.
- Iao Needle, Wailuku - A short hike to see the Iao Needle, a tall narrow rock formation once used as a lookout by Hawaiian natives.
- Lunch was at the Tropical Plantation's dining room which was western and mediocre. The rest of the day was spent exploring Kuhului and shopping. We found Hilo Hattie, a Hawaiian clothing and gift store, then we went grocery shopping for an in-room dinner.
Tuesday
- Haleakala National Park ($10), via Kula - Great mountain roads and beautiful views of the Haleakala Crater and the endangered ?Ahinahina or Silversword. Also some hiking trails.
- Surfing Goat Dairy, Kula - "Da' Feta Mo' Betta!" This small goat dairy has award winning cheese, goats milk soap and goat cheese truffles. After feeding some goats, I spent over $120 on various products including several cheeses, a 6 cheese flight and some other products.
- Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm, Kula - A beautiful farm specializing in Protea flowers and Lavender. You can pay for private tours or walk around yourself for free.
- Da Kitchen, Kihei - A local dive that is the personal favorite of our concierge. This small restaurant serves "local and hawaiian style food" (with noted Asian influences) solely in styrofoam take-out containers and they do as much take-out business as they do dine-in. Their plate specials are large and well priced, especially the Hawaiian plate, although their Shrimp Scampi pasta was excellent as well. The Mango Cream and Purple Sweet Potato Haupia (coconut cream) pies were tasty too.
Wednesday
- The Road to Hana - This 30-50 mile mountain drive, depending how far you go, can easily take a couple hours to traverse each way with hundreds of curves and 56 one lane bridges. Tip, follow the advice to get gas in Paia. You'll suck up a 1/3 of a tank with a full car and A/C, but an even bigger reason is that the single gas station in Hana charges 50 cents more per gallon than the rest of the island. There are lots of scenic stops and waterfalls and hiking trails and lookout points and small fruit stands. The turning point was a second stop in Haleakala National Park (on the Kipahulu side) to see the Seven Pools at Ohe'o Gulch. We could use the same park pass we used previously because it's good for three days) so you may want to plan your Haleakala visits around this. The trip back was faster since very few people stay past 5 so we had a very easy trip back. One note though, if someone is riding your ass, LET THEM PASS!
- Geo Trek Hawaii, Ma'Alaea - Located in the Harbor Shops by the Maui Ocean Center, we didn't discover this place until the day after we needed it. They rent out Garmin GPS systems for $39/day (less for longer periods) that include a location triggered system that plays audio tour information when you drive past certain coordinates on the road to Hana or Haleakala. This is an awesome idea and would have been perfect to keep us from getting lost and helping us to anticipate road conditions. I'm really sad that we didn't find this place earlier. The couple that runs the shop is really nice too, so I highly recommend you try them out.
- Fragrant Orchids of Maui, Haiku - We got lost for almost an hour looking for this tiny orchid garden, but thanks to two internet capable phones and Google, we finally found it. My dad ordered some orchids while I played with a really cute mixed retriever that laid it's head on my feet.
- Keanae Landing Fruit Stand, Keanae - Supposedly the best banana bread in Maui, this was one of our must try stops. There isn't that much in Keanae so it should be easy to find, just look for the Banana Bread sign.
- Hana Bay, Hana - Here we viewed a semi-black sand beach and had Beef Tomato stew out of a snack truck. Most of their food was sold out so we though it would be worth trying, despite my mom's reluctance to eat from such a place. The rest of us thought it was pretty good and enjoyed it.
- Misc. Fruit Stand - We passed lots of fruit stands but one popped out to us because they had 6 varieties of banana bread and (for me) an attractive blonde running it. Look for the "6 Types of Banana Bread" sign.
- Paia Fish Market, Paia - We stopped for dinner on our way back for amazingly fresh and tender fish tacos, pasta and fried calamari.
Thursday
- Maui Ocean Center ($23), Ma'Alaea - A beautiful aquarium facility, but given the cost, we ended up just shopped around the nearby Harbor Shops.
- Hula Cookies, Ma'Alaea - In the Harbor Shops, these tasty cookies have a Hawaiian flaire such is Lilikoi (Passion Fruit) Shortbread cookies and Pineapple, Mango, Coconut cookies. Very tasty.
- Honolulu Cookie Company, Lahaina - Yes, this is from Honolulu, not Maui, but these shortbread style cookies were quite tasty as well and they gave lots of free samples. I ended up picking up a box of Lilikoi Mango cookies but they also had things like White Chocolate Dipped Kona Coffee cookies and Mango and Pineapple cookies as well.
- Lahaina Historic Tour - This self guided walking tour wasn't all that interesting: it listed many shops and attractions that existed in the past, but apparently do not exist any more. Instead, there were just several plaques commemorating them, but unfortunately we could not enjoy any of them, except for the giant 120 year old Banyan tree. Once again we ended up shopping for most of this, only reading the plaques if we happened to spot them.
- Blue Lagoon Tropical Bar and Grill, Lahaina - This spot for lunch wasn't particularly special but their seafood chowder was tasty.
- Tiki Terrace Ka'anapali - In the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel, this outdoor covered restaurant sits across from the stage where the hotel has nightly hula entertainment. The lamb chops and filet were excellent and the all-you-can-eat king crab legs, while not Hawaiian, were good as well.
Posted
06/15/2007 06:13 PM in Uncategorized
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Comments
Wow, that's quite a list (for future reference)...
I'm sure it'll come in handy for someone in the future. Actually, this could form the basis for a simple, but comprehensive travelogue. Are you taking pictures of all the different foods you're trying?
Submitted by Dan on 06/16/2007 01:58 AM
I don't have my camera... but it dawned on me that I can use my phone...
Submitted by filbert on 06/16/2007 04:04 AM
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