Ready or not... Here we come to.... DENVER?!?!?

Saturday June 11, 2011

Our early morning flight to Denver would meet us up with the entire Thomson family - Rick's mom and dad, 2 sisters and their husbands, and 4 kids aged 7-12.  Rick and I had a much longer layover, so we made our way around - Rick needed a massage to get his back ready for the long flights and I wanted to shop at Jet Pets - an airline themed pet boutique.  Rick's massage went well, Jet Pets was closed.  Boo.  On to Pour la France Cafe for a lunch and hella Colorado beers - Breckenridge Irish Red for me, Black Butte Porter for Rick.

Met up with the entire clan about 11:00 am and waited.  And waited.  Delayed mechanical.  Boarded the plane. I looked out my window and the ramper gave me a head shake and a thumbs down.  Just then, I noticed them offloading our luggage.  Cancelled the flight.  WHA? Now we're on to the Airport Ramada for the night at United's expense.

Rick, bro in law Arnie, and I bided our time at the Sporting News Grill where we partook in their $6 pitchers of Coors Light.  Other bro in law Steve joined us at the hotel's wonderfully concrete indoor pool with a 12 of the Silver Bullet.  It was fun to drink, listen to music, and catch up on things, but it should've been in Maui!

United put us all on the same ship (767-322) the next morning at 8... ON OUR WAY!

Finally ON OUR WAY!

Sunday June 12, 2011

Boarding and takeoff of UA301 take 3 was uneventful.  TAP THE ROCKIES!

Rick's brother in law Steve won the "Halfway to Hawaii" game by correctly writing down what time we'd be, well, halfway to Hawaii! *duh* He received a ukulele CD that I don't think we ever listened to.  Honorable Mention went to a woman who simply answered "yesterday."  She got the better prize - a bottle of champagne.  Drinks were free throughout the flight because of yesterday's cancellation, so it was a pretty decent ride into Maui.  Rum and Cokes all the way!

I'd never seen people run off a plane so fast before but they must've jumped out of windows or something in Maui.  While I was waiting at baggage, Rick surprised me with a yellow lei that smelled AMAZING!

Yeah, I'm just a bit tired, don't ya think?

On a random note: there are chickens everywhere.  Yes, CHICKENS! Just like the ones all over Lafreniere park down here in Metairie.  Anyhow, rentals were picked up and we made the 30 minute drive to Lahaina.

Wai Ola Vacation Paradise

Sunday June 12, 2011 - Wai Ola Guest House (click on the title above to see their website)

This is where we ALL stayed while in Lahaina,  It was just what everyone needed - separate suites for all 4 families, a common kitchen and living room, laundry access, multiple decks, BBQ area, and a really great pool and spa area.  There is a quiet "honeymoon cottage" to the side of the house.  We all thought the "honeymooners" Rick's mom and dad would want the extra luxuries here but they didn't.  Carrie and Rick are BANISHED to the honeymoon cottage.  No complaints from us! The pool and spa is beautiful and even I swam in it a ton.  If you know me, you know I despise being in the water, but I was having fun with the kids.  We spent the day getting acclimated, buying groceries, and discovering the owner, Jim's, birds Loni and Loki.

Morgan, Me, Mikayla, Katie, Bob

After grilling burgers at the house, we went to Kaanapali Beach to see the sunset.

Vow Renewal Day!

Monday June 13, 2011

Rick, Barb, Arnie, and Morgan all got up at 3 am to see the sunrise at Haleakala.  Not something I really wanted to get up early for.  The pictures are great but Rick says I should be glad I didn't go because: a) it was freezing cold with very high winds on top of the (dormant) volcano.  Even those from Wisconsin had trouble with how cold it was up there. and b) the winding roads were sickening.  Rick also commented that the staff there told them it was the worst looking sunrise in weeks.  Oh well.

One of Rick's pics from Haleakala

This trip was, technically, for my in laws' 45th wedding anniversary.  They planned to renew their vows in a nice ceremony on the beach.  The original plans fell through the day of the ceremony when the wedding planner just stopped taking their calls - long story in itself, but not one that needs to be told here.  Luckily, someone was found that would do a ceremony that very night on Baby Beach in Lahaina.

It was a great ceremony.  Very touching to see my in laws still so very much in love.  Bob (father in law) surprised Sally with a new wedding ring.  She was very shocked! She was even more shocked that all of us except for her had known about the new rings since day 1!

The entire Thomson side of my family

After the ceremony, we all had reservations at Kimo's in Lahaina Town (http://www.kimosmaui.com). Great food and service.  We all had too many mai tais.  They were just way to damn good! Rick decided he wanted to try the Wicked Wahini which was, indeed, wicked.  Glad I just had another mai tai.

Road to Hana... Well, not really.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Rick was up early to pick up the convertible for our drive on the Road to Hana.  Our first stop was the village of Pa'ia and Anthony's Coffee Shop.  Here, they make excellent picnic lunches for people driving the Road to Hana.

We started on the winding road and stopped at Twin Falls.  The hike to the falls was over a mile - something we weren't expecting.  I'm really not a nature kind of girl, so I was rather miserable yet trying to make the best of it.

(L) The main falls of Twin Falls... we didn't make the extra mile hike to the other one.

(R) Me being as one with nature as I possibly can.  Not sure what it is, but I liked to think it was a huge agave - mmmm, tequila.

The Road to Hana itself is 60 miles of VERY tight, winding and narrow road.  We made it to mile 4 before I started getting really nervous and sick.  We turned around and decided to just use the convertible to cruise around Lahaina all day.  Those wonderful picnic lunches were consumed on the upper deck of the rental house! Mmmm... Maui Onion Chips!

The remainder of the day was spent snorkeling at Ka'anipali where Rick happened upon a small sea turtle.  We swam with him for an hour or so.  I can't believe the people who thought the poor turtle was there for them to grab at and touch.  FYI, it's a $5,000 fine to touch a sea turtle in the wild.  Poor little guy.

Shopping, Shave Ice, and Sh.... (Luau Night)

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

This morning, I went souvenir shopping in Lahaina Town with my sister in law Barb and niece Morgan. Rick stayed behind to enjoy the house alone while his father took the younger kids to the Maui Ocean Center.  Arnie and Steve went golfing very early.  Diane and Sally went snorkeling.  I found some fun, cheap sundresses for Fiji and tried to shop for everyone back home, but I just couldn't imagine dragging everything on to Fiji.  After shopping, Barb and Morgan got shave (not "shaved" they make a huge deal of that!) ice and shared with me.  It was heavenly! Difficult to think of a pile of shaved ice with flavors described that way but there really are no words for how good it was.

This isn't our picture, but this is exactly what it looked like - HUGE!  Vanilla ice cream underneath, too!

All of us went snorkeling in Kapalua for the afternoon.  Rick came upon 5 VERY large sea turtles (honu).

Only 2 of them - the biggest was twice the size of these.

Being as afraid of the water as I am (only because I can't hold my breath underwater like normal people because of nasal/frontal sinus issues), it usually takes a good 15 minutes to suck up the courage to even put my snorkeling equipment on.  This time, I actually didn't think twice about throwing on my snorkeling equipment and jumping in in less than 5 minutes of Rick yelling for me to come see the turtles.  Heck, I didn't even take the time to put my snorkeling vest on - a first for me - and now I don't think I'll ever use a vest again! Anyhow, YAY! After all of the turtles except the largest one swam away, I was feeling pretty good about my snorkeling skills.  I found a lone, glowing fish and decided to just follow him wherever he went.  Lame, maybe, but it's very rare for me to enjoy being in the water, so I just went with it! This was the type of fish I followed (Picasso Triggerfish):

From Wikipedia 

Tonight, I was really looking forward to the Grand Lahaina Luau.  Having lived in tourist cities and currently living in an over sized tourist city, I wasn't ready for the island's largest tourist trap.  It rained most of the time and they seated us in an area that looked like an outdoor cafeteria - complete with... wait for it... PLASTIC RAIN PONCHOS! I was imagining people walking around Cedar Point and Bourbon Street in those stupid things and here I was, needing to wear one.  Oh well, everyone else was doing it, right? There's a picture of Rick and me being really goofy in ours, pretending to be walruses with our drink straws to entertain the kids.  I'll put it in this post as soon as I find out who has it.  It was classic.  I must say, the kids had a great time.  I don't think I saw them without smiles all night.  Another cool thing was the rainbows.  There were some amazing rainbows that appeared throughout the night.  The food was incredible, too.  I won't say too much about the Polynesian dancing because I think I'd be hypocritical.  I can't dance, period. However, I've seen better Polynesian dancers at Disney.  I was hoping that native dancing on a native island would blow me away.  But it didn't.  Let's just say it was all a bit "Love Boat-esqe."  

A Maui Day to Ourselves

The rest of the family went on the Molokini Snorkeling tour.  We thought we'd get our fill of snorkeling later in Fiji (didn't happen, but oh well).  We lounged around the house with coffee and mimosas deciding that we would go to the Maui Brewing Company for lunch and then go parasailing at Whaler's Village.  We arrived at the Maui Brewing Company as soon as they opened their doors for lunch. All of Maui Brewing Companies beers are poured then served on a frozen bar:

We started with their Hummus Trio: Sundried tomato, roasted garlic, and balsamic hummus with grilled vegetables and pita bread.  All were great.  Then, we shared a Cuban sandwich and a Mahi Mahi sandwich.

Feeling an early buzz, it was time to go parasail! But we didn't see anyone parasailing.  It was really windy, so we went to talk with the guys at UFO Parasail where we had a 2:00 reservation.  We had to cancel that idea - too windy.  But, there was some shopping to be had and a sale at the Coach Store.  I finally bit the bullet and bought the new Poppy perfume and found $100 shoes on sale for $40.  Good times.  Rick had gone back to get our parking ticket validated and somehow found $200 in a bush.  I'll let him tell that story.

Sweet man Rick is, he runs straight to a jewelry store, then when he doesn't find anything he likes, remembers I'm still at Coach.  I don't think I'll ever hear him say "Here's $200 I found.  Go buy that purse you were looking at" ever again! In hindsight, we could've done something else with it, but sometimes you just go on impulse.  Sometimes I wish Rick would think of himself first in situations like this, but I sure am a lucky girl.

After this adventure, we went to have drinks and appetizers at Cane and Taro.  Dinner was at the house that night and we were in bed early to be on to Honolulu in the morning.