Maui: Day 7 (and the out takes)

Just arrived back into the Twin Cities this afternoon and needless to say, we're exhausted. We had one of the most amazing vacations in Maui - a place we're sure to visit again and again.

Yesterday, Andi and I started our last day on the island checking out a few more sites in Hana. There's a red sand beach and a black sand beach many locals told us we just had to see for ourselves. The black sand beach was neat, not much of a 'beach, beach' but enough to see how the black lava had eroded over time.

Directions in our guide book said the red sand beach was a little harder to find. Park on the street and head down to the ocean. Follow the trail along the coastline until you see the blood red sand and crashing waves. Some people treat this little hidden gem as a nude beach, although they're aren't any official nude beaches in Hawaii. As we started down the path following the directions, it was clear the trail was very muddy and slippery from the rain the night before and there wasn't a whole lot to hang onto. Normally when you're hiking down a trail you wouldn't necessarily have to hang onto anything; except, when you're walking along a trail that's as wide as your shoe on the edge of a cliff, you kinda do. After a few 'oh hell no's!' from me, Andi convinced me to climb along the rock to find the hidden beach. The trek was definitely worth it - we'd never seen anything quite like it.

Afterwards, we grabbed lunch at a roadside island taco stand, then headed back to the West end of Maui toward the airport. Note for future travelers: It is NOT in your best interest to eat a gigantic taco before driving 2 1/2 hours on the winding road from Hana. I asked Andi to slow down about a dozen times, but there wasn't much he could do as he was already driving about 10 miles an hour around all the curves. At the half way point, we stopped at a town called Keanae so I could 'lose my lunch' and take a breather from the car ride. Thankfully, the second half wasn't as nearly as nausating.

I just had to post a photo of a sign we saw in Keanae.
Note the Zorbaz bumber sticker stuck to the sign - a popular lakeside restaurant in Northern Minnesota. On my top list of things that drive my to drink: people that spell words incorrectly ON PURPOSE. I about died when I saw this all the way in Hawaii.

When we rolled back into Kahului about 2pm, Andi and I had about 5 hours to kill before heading to the airport. We decided to go to a movie (because somehow we always end up seeing movies on vacation). Not a whole lot of movie goers at 2:30pm on a Monday apparently ... we were the only ones in the theatre.

This is me, stuffing my face full of popcorn:

Now the out-takes:

1) We had the hooptiest car on the planet: A $30/day Chrystler Sebring convertable. After a week, our car reeked like arm pit. There were ants everywhere inside the car. At first we thought we must have parked near a tree, but I'm now convinced there was some sort of ant hill inside the console. Where else were they all coming from?

On the last day, about 20 minutes before we drove on the curvy Hana Highway (oh, did I mention the highway hugs cliffs with hundred feet drop-offs?) our hoopty car died. Twice. Thank goodness it didn't happen on the highway. We were both a little nervous.

2) Hawaiians really do eat SPAM. And so does Andi. Ick!

3) Timeshare ladies are the devil.
About half-way through our trip, we stopped at a sales booth on Lahaina's Front St. boardwalk for some suggestions on activities to do on the island. We spoke with Timeshare Lady for about 20 minutes and then said we were going to dinner to think it over. As Andi and I sat down to eat in the nearby restaurant, Timeshare Lady walks up to our table to continue her sales pitch. Are you kidding me? Go away lady. We're having dinner! After she tells us what a great deal she's going to give us, she leaves. This lady's really getting under my skin. Andi and I start discussing the various activities we want to do the rest of the trip and he looks up the company websites on his iPhone while we talk. He sees the prices on the websites are $20 cheaper than what Timeshare Lady is offering to book. Even with the discount she's giving us for sitting through a 1 hour timeshare presentation, we'd still be better off booking on our own. Just then, Timeshare Lady COMES BACK to our table to start on the schpil again. Is this lady nuts? Andi tells her the prices he's found online are still cheaper. Timeshare Lady's not happy. She says to stop back to her desk after we finish eating to talk more about the deals she's offering. So we do. And she argues with Andi for another 15 minutes about how "she's not making any money on this deal" and "it's been a slow day so she's giving us a break." Andi starts to say OK we'll take her discount and book with her. But I said no, wait a minute. We're not driving all the way back to Lahaina on the last day of our trip to listen to a sales pitch. We told Timeshare Lady thanks, but no thanks. Let's just say she wasn't happy. Timeshare Lady huffed and crumpled up her papers, throwing them into the trash can. She mumbled something about us wasting 30 minutes of her time. I guess not every Hawaiian is a happy one.

4) I lost 2 iPods on this trip. TWO. In January I misplaced my original iPod and couldn't find it for the longest time. Then last week, when we were packing for Hawaii I found it in one of our luggage bags. By then, Andi had already bought me a new iPod Nano so I brought both to Hawaii. During the trip, we were using the new iPod Nano to listen to tunes in the car. I guess I must have left it in the car one evening when we valeted our car beacuse the next day it was gone. I can't be 100% sure someone took it out of the car, but that's the last place we saw it and then it was gone. At the airport yesterday, I was listening to the old iPod before our plane boarded. I put the iPod in my hoodie pocket after I was done listening. While we were at our layover in LAX I reached into my pocket and it was gone. Must have fallen out on the airplane from Maui to LAX. Gone. That's 2 iPods in a week.

A few people have already asked us about our trip to Maui. We both said we'd recommend it 100 times over. Plenty of time in the sun, lots of fun activities and an awesome way to rejuvinate.

Maui Trip 2010 - A video montage


Maui Trip. 2010 from Andi Dickson on Vimeo.