oh, and we went to Maui!!!!

We left December 10th and came back December 18th!!  My mom stayed with the kids and they did great!  We're so grateful for her help!! We bought buddy passes from Mark's brother (THANKS Ryan!) and used our points to stay in a condo.  We rented a car - got a free upgrade to a Dodge Charger because there weren't any mid-size cars left!  We went to Church when we first got there and then went to get some groceries.  Kihei has the second busiest Costco in the world (Honolulu is the busiest because it has a gas bar.  Kihei is putting in a gas station).  Our Condo had Expedia Local Experts on site & they do a presentation each morning on stuff you can do on the island, so we went to that Monday morning.  We ended up winning a buy-one-get-one-free "Gold Tour to Hana"!!  Then we went to the Condo update thing & got a $70 voucher to use toward any activity we wanted.  Monday afternoon we found a beach up past Lahaina & tried snorkelling.  Mark's favorite fish is the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a - the state fish, also known as the trigger fish.  My favorite were the ones that didn't come up to us.  I made Mark hold my hand when were snorkelling.  We did the trip to Hana on Tuesday for around $70 rather than $260 thanks to our winnings & whatnot!!!  Score!  We rode in a small tour bus (think "short bus" just not school style).  The road has something like 200+ curves and corners & inclines.  There's an hour-long stretch of unmaintained road on the backside ("not recommended for pregnant women or those with back or neck injuries").  I had the doctor prescribe me some anti-nausea medicine because I was worried about being sick on the plane.  It came in handy in more than one situation.  But it didn't help Mark much.  He was sick the entire day.  Except when we stopped & got off the bus.

 

One of our stops was Waianapanapa State Park.  There was a black sand beach there.  And lava tubes.  And a blow hole that we didn't have time to see.  Some guy was fishing way out on the rocks.

 It was pretty rainy on Tuesday......we didn't mind spending the day in the bus.  All the waterfalls and streams, etc were running really high and fast and brown.  The wild pigs that live up in the mountains eat all the vegetation so there's nothing to keep the soil from running off with the water - hence the brown waterfalls.

This was Hana - the "destination" of the trip.  The journey is really what it's all about.  It was rainy.  We stopped for lunch at the Hana Ranch.  Mark had a Wrangler burger - Maui beef - and I had the grilled Mahi sandwich.  Good but not to die for.  Our guide had all kinds of facts and information.  We got the impression that the big business men of the old days (and modern days) weren't very good to the locals.  They were all about the bottom line and didn't keep their promises.  The celebrities who live on the island have a good reputation of giving a lot to the island.  Oprah bought a couple of pieces of land to keep them from getting developed by resorts & lets the ranchers keep their cattle/run their ranches for free.  Willie Nelson lives near the "hippy" town.  There were others that were mentioned - some I recognized, some I didn't.

brown river

cool tree with above-ground roots.  not a banyan tree, but still cool.

A view from somewhere along the way.  Above is Mark by the banana bread stand we stopped at.  They were sampling it.  It tasted like mine, so we didn't spend the $7 on a mini loaf.  They had fresh fruit and smoothies & little gift-y things too.

A view of the road from the opposite side of an inlet.  You can see how wind-y/nausea-causing it is!

Some foliage.  The trip was fun -aside from the carsickness- and now we can say we've done it & next time we can spend all our time on the beach!  Hana is on the rainy side of the island - the rain forest.  Kihei, where we stayed, is the desert side & was actually really brown except for the big sugarcane fields that get irrigated from the aquaducts that the big business put in 100+ years ago to re-route the water (and keep it from others).

We spent a lot of time on the beach.  We went to 3 or 4 different ones and snorkelled at all of them.  The weather cleared up at the end of the week & I was able to get some good sun!!  We read & people watched & played in the waves.  Pretty much my ideal holiday!

One morning - to get out of the sun for a while - we went to see the Iao Needle & park.  It was so lush and green - think Jurassic Park.  The natives fought a war around here & used the needle as a lookout, etc.  I couldn't imagine living in the dense jungle let alone defending my territory/fighting a war!

Iao Needle on the left.  All those clouds are covering the cliffs behind that seemed to go on forever into the sky!

Taro field.  The natives grind up the root and make poi.  We didn't try it this trip, but I've tried it before & really have no desire to do it again.

Chickens run wild all over the island.

Some huge leaves.  Each one was at least 3 feet long.

Sunset on the way to Lahaina when we were going to see "Ulalena" one night.  We booked a snorkelling trip for early Friday morning (check in at 6:30) that was going to take us to 5 different spots to snorkel........but it was a speed raft & they wouldn't let me on because I was pregnant.  So we got our money back & went to Ulalena that night instead.  It was good.  Think tribal meets modern dance - telling the story of how Maui was created & all the inhabitants since then.  Another thing we're glad we did this time & can spend more time on the beach or doing other things the next time we go.  The next 3 pictures are more from our drive to Lahaina that night.  After the show we got ice cream and walked down Front Street - crammed with tons of little shops & restaurants right next to the ocean & consequently crowded with people.  It was fun though!

Our Dodge Charger!  Good little car!

We checked out of the Condo on Saturday morning and spent the day driving around the island.  We went to the north shore & watched the surfers for a while & then went back to Lahaina.  Then back to Kuhului where the airport is & walked around K-mart.  Then we got some supper & went to the airport at 7pm.  Our flight didn't leave until 11:15!!!!  Longest day ever.  I got really sick part way through the first flight.  I was shaky & tense & was really worried about what was going on.  I laid down near the gate when we got off & started to feel slightly better when we got on the plane for our flight from LA to SLC.  I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning, but I wasn't throwing up because of the anti-nausea meds.  Not a very good note to end on, but glad it wasn't anything more serious.

My mom had dinner made for us & the house spic and span when we got back.  The kids were at Seiter's when we got home so we'd be able to rest.  Mark went to Tithing Settlement for us.  I slept for a long time and started to feel better/like eating.  It was so fun to see the kids.  I didn't worry about them at all while we were gone, but did miss them a little.  Burke seems to have even more personality since we've gotten back - if that's even possible!

I "took the day off" on Monday & slept & tried to recover.  Mark left for Boston at 9 on Monday morning & got back late Wednesday night.  I've been finishing up Christmas projects and am working on getting in the Christmas spirit.  This trip was so so fun & just what we needed, but I think next time we'll plan it for after Christmas and have something to look forward to after the holidays are done.