Maui Trip - Part 1

Geoff and I went to Maui the 3rd week of January to meet up with my parents. It was snowing fast and furiously the morning we left. Our 6:15am flight was delayed about 20 minutes for runway clearing and/or de-icing. We were lucky we got out - I heard that other flights were canceled that day.

We had a 2 1/2 hour flight to Chicago, then a 9 1/2 hour flight from Chicago to Maui. It was a long second leg, but we were on a 777 and it was relatively comfortable.

I had my nosed pressed against the window the whole time we were over the Rockies - it was so fun to see them from above, all covered in snow. We also flew over San Francisco, which was a treat. I've never been there, but would love to go one day. I took quite a few photos from the plane.

We arrived in Maui around 4pm and were pretty tired. We went to pick up our rental car and the office was seriously crowded. They must have had an influx of winter weather escapees, because the only cars they had left were luxury models. They told us that we had to take a black Lincoln Town Car or wait another hour or more.

So we drove the behemoth about 3 miles to the hotel in Kahului where we were staying for the night, checked in, attempted to park without hitting anything, changed into flip flops, strolled on the beach, took photos, then went to the local mall to stock up on sunscreen and find something to eat.

Monday morning we went back to the car rental office and exchanged the mafia mobile for a Mazda M6, which was much more comfortable for us - easier to maneuver on the twisty coastal and mountain roads.

We headed over to the Iao Valley State Monument to check out the Iao Needle and learn a little bit about the island's history. We were lucky to get in and out just before a large tour bus from one of the cruise ships arrived. Then we headed over to the beautiful Maui Tropical Plantation for lunch, where we our first (and possibly best) smoothies of the vacation.

After lunch we drove around to the west side of the island, where we would be staying with my parents for the rest of the week. We stopped at West Maui Cycles to pick up Geoff's rental bike, then headed to the timeshare resort on Kaanapali Beach.

My parents had reserved a beautiful oceanfront room with wonderful views of Molokai across the water. We unpacked some stuff and headed to dinner.

Iao Valley & Molokai photos.

End of Part 1, more to come.