Are We There Yet?

My inner clock work me up at 4am. Enjoying the sound of the surf and palm trees for awhile, I put on my suit, shorts and t shirt and sat on the lanai for a bit.  I think it will be my favorite room.  We are so close to the water I could almost dive off the lanai into the water.  It’s amazing.  

Our journey here on Tuesday was uneventful, that’s the best kind of travel.  I got to RDU early, breezed through security and found my gate.  

Finally boarded  the plane and sat near the back of the plane next to a young girl maybe 16 or 17 with an infant in her arms and a young boy maybe 3 next to her.  Oh, boy, I thought.  The two younger children were 2 of 4 of the woman in front of me.  Bless her.  The young lady next to me was either a sister or a caregiver, I think originally from Goldsboro now living in Fresno.  The infant maybe 6-7 months old was infatuated we me.  What can I say, I was “fresh meat.”  She touched my arm, ogled my paisley jacket and just ooohhhed and aaahhhed over me.  At one time, she held out her arms towards me, so I held her for awhile, relieving the sister/caregiver for a few minutes.  American Airlines menu was limited but did serve complementary sodas, coffee, juice and water.  Everything else was at a cost.

Landing at DFW, I texted Crystal and found out she was already at the departure gate for our OGG flight, just 5 gates away from my arrival.  How convenient.  We met up, chatted a bit, took a walk, got take-a-way lunch and boarded our flight.  (Through all my travels, DFW is still the only place I’ve visited in Texas.  Hope that changes sometime!!)  

The Maui flight was 6 hours that included a six hour time change for East Coast Time.  What a shock to my system, but I’ve had worse.  Due to issues, we were 45 minutes late departing.  Our flight had two movies: Mirror Mirror and Tower Heist, which I watched part of both.  Crystal and I read, laughed, ate our lunches and tried to sleep. About an hour to 45 minutes prior to landing I could see the view of other islands, cloud covered in parts, which was really nice to see.  As we began to fly over Maui, we saw a mountain range with windmills on one ridge.  Since part of Maui is supposed to receive a lot of tradewinds and leeward winds, that’s smart. 

We landed around 4pm, deplaned and walked toward the Baggage Claims signs.  OGG isn’t a huge airport, so it’s easy to maneuver.  Taking the escalator down, Crystal told me we were going to experience a Hawaiian tradition.  A smile came over my face as we walked toward a woman with a card holding our names.  She asked if we were Crystal and Beth, then she put Hawaiian leis around our necks.   That was so sweet of Crystal to do that  for me.  

We picked up our luggage, got our rental car and started our drive through the narrow part of Maui to Maalaea.  Along the way, I saw sugar cane fields, some sugar refinery smoke stacks and windmills.  Those windmills we had flown over are very close to us.  I think we will be seeing a lot of them this week. 

It wasn’t difficult to find our condo group, we are near the end of Hauoli St with a state park at the end.  Lucky for us, Crystal had done her homework when looking on VRBO and there is a beach right outside our unit, not so for the condos further toward the harbor.  We have a lovely 2 bedroom, 2 baths,  living/dining room and kitchen.  Oh, and our favorite room, the lanai!  After bringing in our luggage, looking around for a few minutes, then drinking in our gorgeous view of the bay,  we hopped back into our car and drove to the greater downtown part of the city….  town, I mean.  It’s all centered around the harbor with lovely boats: catamarans and sail boats mostly, with the Coast Guard too.  The town businesses consist of 4 restaurants, a small shopping area, a general store, an aquarium, and a Circle K/Carl Jrs/76 gas station complex close by.  Later I found out on my Gas Buddy app that the 76 gas has the most expensive prices in the area….. note to self, find another station to refill the tank before returning car.

For dinner we chose Beach Bums that had outside seating overlooking the harbor and live music: what better way to begin our Maui adventures.  Our waiter looked run-ragged as it was Lobster Night.  We opted for a tropical drink and Mahi Mango Wrap, mine with cole slaw that had a hint of pineapple juice in it.   The music from a solo singer was good as he played mainly classic rock…. Just up my alley.  After sipping on my Maalaea Tea (a version of Long Island Iced Tea, only one, thank goodness), I asked the singer if he knew any Jackson Browne and he happily obliged with “Rosie”.   Our waiter had picked up on my Southern Accent and asked us where we were from.  Saying North Carolina she asked me to get up to show me that they had a Duke sign at the back of their bar.  As some of you can imagine, I shot her the ugliest look and started to walk back to my seat, but she then tried to redeem herself and pointed to the Carolina sign right next to it.  We laughed, paid for our meal, thanked the singer for his song, then walked back to the car.  

By this time, the winds had really picked up.  The windmills on the ridge were really moving by now.  We found the general store to buy a few provisions to hold us over till tomorrow and at 7:20pm all the workers were outside locking up.  Oh, well, so much for downtown Maalaea “late night” shopping, luckily we weren’t far from the Circle K.  

Back at the condo, we quickly unpacked, Crystal made us Cosmos and we relaxed on our lanai.  Being dark, we could see the lights of Kihei, the water lapping up to our beach and our own palm trees swaying to the strong breezes.  For some reason, those strong breezes and those strong drinks had made the palm trees take on human characteristics.  One palm was swaying toward us and reminded me of a sadistic Stephen King Jack in the Box, which Crystal named Chuckie in a Box.  Also in the mix we saw the yet unnamed Needs a Personality with a Bad Hair Day, Thing One and Thing Two, Roadrunner and Priscilla after Priscilla Queen of the Desert.  Later in our lanai time, Crystal named some other palms: Marge and the rest of the Simpson family….. yep, a few drinks there, too.

As it was bordering on 9pm (3am were I had gotten up that morning), I decided it was bedtime.  Leaving the lanai door and my windows opened, I enjoyed the sounds of the surf and wonderful breezes all night.  Great as we have no air conditioning in our condo.  

(will posts pictures later)