Maui 2012 video by Rob

Hooray, the video of our Maui trip is complete. And wonderful!



Return to Maui from New Land Media Works on Vimeo.


Now, how can I manage to go back again next year?

Looking back: Road to Hana

At the end of last summer we went on a trip to Hawaii with Rob's parents. I posted about it, but had meant to post more - I especially wanted to post about our time on the Road to Hana. And now, in the middle of a cold winter, I'm thinking about Hawaii almost every day!

Driving the Road to Hana is one of the most popular things to do when you go to Maui. The road used to go only as far has Hana and that's how it got it's name. But the getting there is the attraction, not the city of Hana itself (although I know people who have stayed there and have enjoyed it). There is more to see after Hana, but we turned around and went back not far past it. Supposedly one reason to keep going is for the Seven Sacred Pools. Sounds cool, huh. I don't know if it is, though, because we had a baby to get back to (and, we were satisfied with what we had seen).

We left Henry back at the condo with his grandparents, so it was just a day to ourselves. It took us about six hours from the "start" to get to the point that we turned around and only about an hour and a half to get back. That's how much there is to see and do on the way! As these pictures illustrate...

Here is a look at the road from our GPS. The windiness of the road is pretty out-of-control. I can't imagine ever seeing another road with this many turns. In fact, that can detract a lot of people from going, yet for others (us included, I'd say) that is one aspect that makes the trip so cool! Rob wondered if, as the driver, he would feel like he got to see enough. At the end he said he felt like he didn't miss much.

Here is a view of the road that we just came from - can you tell from across where where we are standing how the road, cut into the hill, winds?

This picture is from the Ke'anae peninsula (there are a couple of places you can veer away from the main road to see). The shore of this peninsula is almost entirely made of these black lava rocks. That shows how "young" of an island Maui is. Weird, huh. It's hard to walk away from the scene of waves crashing onto these rocks - always wanting to see if the next wave is going to be "the big one."

A lot of homemade banana bread is sold along the Road. Eating chunks of banana bread grabbed directly from the loaf while traveling the most beautiful road in Hawaii? Count. Me. In!

This is Keanae Peninsula. I don't know if it looks like much in this pictures, but the view of this valley was quite stunning. We stood there for a while looking at the couple of churches, the farms and the houses and tried to imagine what's it like to live the way these people do.

This was the biggest waterfall we viewed - the Upper Waikani Falls, and it also happened to be the only one we got up close to. It wasn't much, but we were on the Road during a dryer season and I guess when it's at its heaviest flow it appears as one waterfall, not a few separate falls (divided by rock) as it looks here.

The next four pictures are also from the same falls. It was quite the adventure. It started with a sketchy steep descent from the road. We followed another couple down, letting them be the guinea pigs before we ventured. They offered to take our picture for us (the above picture) and us for them, but getting around the base of the waterfall was a little tricky, especially when it comes to exchanging cameras. Here is that guy and Rob slowly and carefully exchanging spots so we could take their picture (without dropping expensive cameras in the process).

 Does it look easy to walk in the swirling water around the slippery rocks? Because it wasn't.

And then... downpour! Just after taking pictures and saying goodbye to the other couple the rain came! The rain came and went during our whole trip that day. Another exciting aspect of the trip. In fact, I had dreamed of traveling the Road in a jeep so we could ride with the top down. What a waste that would have been! We would have been constantly attaching and detaching the roof! We got pretty wet.

This is the last picture from the Waikani Falls. First of all, the bridge. There are countless (well, I'm sure someone has counted them) of these one-direction bridges along the Road. They are beautiful and add to the general ambiance of the location. The spot where I am standing is where we came up from the falls. It looks like a drop-off from that exact spot, but once you're beyond that it's actually an easy path. Now, just to the right of the browned "grassy" looking bush near the right edge of the picture - do you see a drop-off that looks like a black hole? That's how we got down to the falls. It was kind of nuts. Our guide book told us how to get down to the falls. That black hole was what we thought it meant. It wasn't until our way back that we realized the path we were supposed to take!

 

These next falls and pool were also an adventure to get to. They are at Pua'a Ka'a State Park. There were a couple more accessible swimming pools that people were swimming in, but our guidebook told us to go further for an even better pool. So we trudged through some muddy paths for a little while and crossed a high-up aquaduct until we found the pool. It was totally secluded. And that actually spooked me. I had in my mind that I wanted to swim under a waterfall but once we got there I chickened out (I tend to chicken out when it comes to water). Just Rob went in. He said it was cold and agreed that it was a little freaky.

Then Rob got out and... whoops. The key to our rental car-the key that explicitly states on the keychain that it's not supposed to get wet- was in his pocket when he jumped in. Well, it all turned out fine. It ended up still working, but it could have been really bad. I was running our plan through my head as we ran back (we ran because another downpour hit us) of how we'd have to hitch a ride all the way back down the Road with someone heading the other direction. We'd then have to somehow get back to the airport to get a new key - then back to retrieve our car. I'm so glad we didn't have that adventure.

So fun - stopping at a roadside taco stand. There's not a ton of places to eat (there's not a ton of anything - besides amazing views and adventures) along the Road, but at one point there are a handful of food stands along the way. The longest line was at this taco stand. How cute is he ordering tacos at a stand in the middle of the tropics in his swim trunks and looking all sun kissed?

Tasty tacos. I don't even remember what meat we got on them. But I do remember them being worth the small fortune we paid for them.

I love this picture of Rob eating his tacos. I think when my dad saw this picture on facebook he said something about Rob being in his element. So true.

Our last stop was Wai'anapanapa State Park. We read about a fresh water cave and Rob wanted to jump in. I wasn't going to (remember me+water?). But Rob did and he promised me I could do it. The fact that I did is testament to how much I trust my husband. He knows and is sympathetic to my fears but still thought I could do it. So - I did! Cold! But not bad (as he promised) Freaky! But not too much (as he promised).

And the best part of the whole day - and one of my favorite experiences of the entire trip - was our swim at the black sand beach. This picture really doesn't show how gorgeously aqua the water was. What made it so much fun was how warm the water was. Bath water warm. All the water we swam in in Hawaii was warm (warmer than our condo's pool even), but only after getting used to it. The water in this bay was completely warm as you stepped in. The other amazing thing was how huge the waves were! So big, and everyone just waited around for a wave to come and ride. Oh man, so much fun! Even for me, the girl who's afraid of water.

So that's the (long) summary of the best parts of our trip on the Road to Hana. It was such a magical day. One hope I had when going to Hawaii for the first time was to see lush tropical views - and that was satisfied by our experiences this day.

Here is Rob's video of our Maui trip. The Road to Hana begins at 3:00 in the video. If you watch it you'll see the lava rocks at the Keanae peninsula, us at the Waikani falls, Rob swimming in the pool (with key in pocket), Rob jumping into the fresh water cave, and me jumping over waves at the black sand beach (and more!).


A Trip to Maui from rob nyland on Vimeo.

Hawaiian baby

Here is how Henry spent most of his time in Hawaii... he is staring at the palm trees. This kid loves to watch the trees and sky. I think that Henry was so happy in Hawaii because we spent so much time outdoors! Even many of the places we ate were outside (this is our first day in Maui, eating at the 808 Deli -yum!)

Not so much of a beach-bum baby. This picture is of the only time we took him swimming in the ocean. He was okay with it, seemed to enjoy the waves on his feet a little, but it's hard to tell. His parents just didn't like it very much - too much sand to deal with if he wasn't going to even enjoy it that much! He did swim at the condo most mornings.

He wore this hat everywhere we went. It was perfect for keeping the sun rays off his head (which we liked) and the sun shine out of his eyes (which he liked). Thanks Lismarie! He has a shirt to match (in pictures below) and the one day he wore them both he got a lot of attention.

This restaurant didn't have space for him other than on the floor. He was not happy about being put in the corner (insert quote from Dirty Dancing here).

And here is another time he wasn't happy. Henry took a lot of naps in the car, and this is right before one of those naps....

... he was made at me for laughing and taking pictures while he was crying...

... starting to be interested in the noise the camera is making...

...All better.

I just love this picture. Henry with his Maui shirt.

Henry says he wants to go back to Hawaii. We're thinking about it.

Maui Top 3

Oh, Maui, you are as wonderful as everyone said you would be.

Last month Rob's parents took us on a trip to Maui with them - we were there for 10-ish days! (10-ish due to the nasty 14 hour flight delay leaving Seattle). It was a trip of a lifetime.

It was all so so wonderful. The island. The food. The beach. The sun. The adventures. The doing-nothing. The company - having grandparents adore my baby as much as I adore him... I loved that.

Here is MY Maui Top 3, in descending order.

 #1 the Wailea Coastal Walk.
I had to look up the name because it's kind of hidden/unnamed (at least that I could tell). It's basically a pathway on the water - between fancy resorts and beaches. The above picture doesn't do the view from the pathway justice (can any photo do any Maui scene justice?). We walked the path two separate evenings - as the sun was setting. It just felt so... relaxing. Warm, but breezy. It was also a lot of fun to walk around the pools and in the lobby of the Grand Wailea and the Four Seasons. Super fancy. We joked about how our time-share condo wasn't much different than the hotels. In reality, I would have felt super out of place there anyway. Wailea is one of the many beautiful places on Maui - but it was one of my favorites because I think it's what I had always pictured Hawaii being like.

#2 Road to Hana
If you've been to Maui, you know what this is. It's one of the most popular tourist activities. And now I know why - it's just what I wanted to see in Hawaii: tropical views. This picture is just one of the amazing vantage points, it's looking across to another part of the road and you can see the highway "snaking" along the mountainside. Each view of the ocean, waterfalls, valleys, pools of water, or crashing waves was better than the one previous. It was also a really fun adventure. We hiked down to a couple waterfalls, swam in large aqua-colored waves, jumped into a fresh-water cave, and ate food at roadside stands. We left the baby boy with his grandparents (so they had an adventure of their own!). Later, I'll dedicate a post to the Road to Hana's Top 3.

#3 Watching the waves at Big Beach.

We were fortunate enough to experience a little of a South Swell - I don't really know what that is, just there were big waves coming from... somewhere that resulted in big surfs around the island, especially the south side where we stayed (we stayed in Kihea). Big Beach (the least interesting name on the island) usually has the biggest waves on the island anyway, so we decided to head there on our last evening to see how big they could get. Oh wow, I really got an idea of the power of the ocean. We heard the loud low crash of the waves from a couple hundred feet away as we walked down the path to the beach from the parking lot. You really had to be careful, not turn your back on the ocean. We stayed there until after the sun set (Rob took this picture of us) - it was hard to leave, we kept wanting to stay for just one more swell. When the island experiences a swell like that you are advised to either not swim in the ocean or, at least, use extreme caution. It was perfect timing for us - we were able to be in the water swimming and snorkeling for most of our stay but still got to see the wonder that the swell brought.

Honorable mention:

- walking around Lahaina - especially rounding this corner and seeing the aqua-colored water

- eating at Hali'imaile General Store (and every other place we ate, really)

- snorkeling. No pictures of that, unfortunately. Or fortunately.
- sitting around the air conditioned condo

- eating shave ice (our goal was one per day, but we missed a few days). The best was Ulalani in Lahaina - I did.not.know that shave ice could have the texture of a sorbet. So so good (the guy who gave us the shave ice said it was as big as Henry's head). And, yes, it's shave ice, not shaved ice. I didn't know that either.

- being super close to the beach. Walk out the door and cross the street-close. (here is Henry the ONE time we took him to the beach across the street. Too much sand. We went by ourselves after that.)

- Having extra someones around to hand Henry off to anytime I wanted. (this is Henry and Grandpa's favorite way to hang out)

 - Hearing Henry's laugh every time he played with Grandma.

- romantic location with my honey (and with my baby and my in-laws)

 

It's super hard to pick any favorites. I have no complaints about our trip, it was all so great. We feel so blessed to have been able to go and so grateful for our parents for making it happen and for sharing it with us! Rob made this video of our trip (yet another great video from my talented husband). More posts to follow too!

A Trip to Maui from rob nyland on Vimeo.