Kihei, Wailea and Makena

We had planned for this day to be somewhat laid back.  David, still trying to stick as closely as possible to his gout diet, had a nice breakfast of fresh pineapple from the local farmers market and lovely ripe strawberries.  Then it was off to Starbucks for a satisfying cup of espresso for David and Karen’s chai tea latte.  

Today’s agenda was to drive south and east to Kihei, Wailea and Makena.  We have a friend at our home Starbucks in Hood River who has a best friend that operates a food truck in Kihei.  That was our first stop – to try and find the food truck.  Alas, search as we might, we never did find it.  Sorry Kathy!

Continuing around the coast from Kihei, the next town was Wailea.  You could immediately tell that this was the “high end” area. The fancy resorts (Ritz-Carlton,Four Seasons, etc.) lined this stretch, and the uber upscale retail shops (Tiffany’s, Coach, etc.) were right beside them.  No doubt this was a beautiful area.  Everything was perfectly manicured.  But, as beautiful as it was, it lacked the natural beauty that we found in other locations on the island.  This could have been Beverly Hills, or any other toney place.  These towns are all very close together, and the flavor changes quickly.  Within just a couple of miles, we had left the beautiful people and got back into the more aboriginal setting of Makena.  Ok, I somewhat jest here.  Makena is just a little toned down from Wailea.  But, once having passed Makena, we quickly got to, literally, the end of the road.  In fact, the sign read “This road leads to nowhere.”  We figured that even in our rental jeep, that this was a good place to turn around.

Backtracking along the coast, we found another neat little farmers’ market on the outskirts of Kihei.  We just love stopping at these farmers’ markets, stocking up on fresh fruits and nuts and, in this case, macadamia flower honey!  Directly across the road from the farmers’ market was one of the myriad of shore side parks that the state has provided.  We sat down under the shade of some coconut palms and enjoyed the bounty we had just purchased.  It was absolutely idyllic, and made quite a feast of a lunch that will not be soon forgotten.  Fresh bananas, fresh pineapples, fresh roasted macadamia nuts, dried mango, and, of course, the honey.

 On the way down the coast in the morning, we had marveled at the clouds and mist hanging over the mountains to the north of us.  As we worked our way back up the coast, we could see the mountains were still shrouded in mist.  We wanted to see if we could work our way up into the mountains to get a close-up view.  We found a road leading to a State Park in a valley called Ioa.  The park commemorates the spot where King Kamehameha defeated the Maui army in 1790.  What a lush, beautiful and mystical place this was.  It was truly a verdant tropical jungle, complete with colorful birds and a multi-storied tree canopy.

After leaving the Valley of Ioa, we stopped at what had at one time been a sugar cane plantation.  It is now a beautiful tourist trap and purveyor of expensive, exotic organic fruits and vegetables.  But it was so nice, and since we were in fact tourists, we had to visit it.  We were glad we did, if only for the opportunity it gave us to buy some more fresh fruit!  This time, it was more of those to-die-for apple bananas (mentioned earlier) and uncommon black raspberries.

 We had enjoyed visiting Lahaina so much the day before that we decided to spend some more time there today.  It is a quaint old fishing town that is now almost overrun by tourists.  But, even though it was packed with tourists, they somehow just seemed to add to the charm and were not the distraction you might think.  And besides, we really enjoy people watching.  Here, there was no shortage of specimens to observe!  

And speaking of specimens, there is a huge Banyan tree right in the middle of Lahaina.  Keep in mind that Lahaina consists mostly of one main street, with a few side streets jutting off at various odd angles.  The town contains an eclectic mix of old fishing shacks, Victorian beauties and mid-century and modern mansions, one on top of another.  All are set off by the backdrop of the beautiful bay.  Ok, now back to the Banyan tree - this tree literally takes up a whole city block.  We tried taking some pictures of it, but they truly do not do it justice.  The eye just can’t take it in all at once.  You keep thinking you are looking at a small forest of trees.  You have to force your mind to accept the fact that this is just one tree.  

 There is also a really neat art gallery there that sells both real and reproduction maps from the 1800’s.  David had a great time drooling over those maps.  One that we really liked was of North America from the 1850’s.  It was interesting to see the northwest and our area on the Washington/Oregon border that still belonged to Russian and England. On this map, Mexico ran all the way up to northern California.

By now, it was getting on to dinner time.  Someone had recommended a restaurant in Lahaina called the Aloha Mixed Plate.  I’m sure it probably seems like this whole trip centers around food.  Is that a problem?  Not for us! 

 Happy Hour was still on when we got there, so we started out with a wonderful Mai Tai. 

 Dinner consisted of Kahlua Pork and steamed cabbage over rice with a side of pasta.  The only added seasoning was some sea salt.  It is hard to believe how something so simple can be so delicious.  Since happy hour was still going when our meal was over, we had to have a Pina Colada for dessert.  We both agreed that we had never had a better one.  The fresh coconut and pineapple were just amazing.

 

Then it was back to the Westin for the evening.  Yesterday, we had rushed back from our day’s outing to try to get down to the beach to watch the sunset.  We almost made it.  Although we technically got there before official sunset, the fact that the Island of Lanai is due west of us meant that the sun had just dropped below a ridge of Lanai as we reached the shore.  So, today, we made sure we got there in plenty of time.  Lots of other people had the same idea, and we all shared a spectacular sunset – a sunset punctuated by humpback whales breaching and putting on a spectacular show for us.

We decided to take a stroll along the beach while watching the whales play.  Believe it or not, this was actually the first time since we had been here that we put our feet in the ocean.  

Now off to bed to rest up for another adventure tomorrow!

David and Karen