December 22nd was our 15th wedding anniversary and we knew we wanted to do something special, but who can leave their children three days before Christmas? So we planned to celebrate in January after the holiday festivities wound down. As it turned out a trip to Hawaii was awarded Glen by GE and the dates were predetermined, so off we went January 10th. With some clever planning by Glen we were able to cover major expenses, like travel and hotel through business and additional perks and rewards from frequent travel.
From the 11th to the 15th we were on the island of Maui for Glens business obligations and then we extended for three more days on the Big Island.
Upon our arrival to the Hilton's Grand Wailea we were given these beautiful leis.
This hotel is one of the most fantastic places I've seen. It includes a fabulous spa, seven pools (many of which are connected by water slides), with a lazy river and the worlds only water elevator, beautiful views, and access to the 1.5 mile walking path along the beach.
While Glen "worked" I walked/jogged the 3 mile round trip path along the beach, read in undisturbed peace and quiet, and explored the resort.
This view from our room greeted us each morning (3:00am for me until by the fourth day when I started to adjust to the time change).
After Glen put in his time the first day we took off with our "Garmin" looking for some good food to eat. Little did we know that when we happened upon a humbly named restaurant, "Mama's Fish House", we would be in for the best food of our lives! The name may be humble, but the prices are not, however it was worth every penny to eat the Stuffed Mahi Mahi (stuffed with lobster and crab, encrusted with macadamia nuts) and Black Pearl Dessert (chocolate mouse confection with tuile cookies and passion fruit sauce)!
Insanely Good!!
On the next day we took a road trip! We bought a simple picnic lunch in Paia and drove the 52 plus miles of curvy, narrow road to the tiny town of Hana. It was quite beautiful, but I felt like I was on the longest, most horrendous roller coaster of my life! It has been years since I've experienced car sickness, but this brought it all back!!
When we stopped for lunch we were greeted by the locals, in this case, cats and chickens.
This cat had the greenest eyes I'd ever seen. And although I find rooster annoying, I also think they are beautiful. This big guy ruled the roost (the park), chickens and cats alike.
We stopped a couple of times to get a closer look at water falls and highlighted view points.
This park had a beautiful cave system with tragic stories of a murdered princesses and a small secluded black beach.
This is one of Glen's artistic shots...
Because of restaurant reservations we had to turn back before we reached the "end", but I don't think I could manage this trip again to see what I missed. It will forever be a mystery!
As we drove we listened to a CD sold by the locals that gives a bit of history and information on the native and imported flowers and trees.
These cows on the Hana Ranch have to be the luckiest beef on earth! Their days may be numbered, but they live the good life with free roaming on ocean front property!
The sun didn't shine much on our visit, a little bit here and there, with a major rain storm covering a couple of days, but the warm temperatures were still a nice reprieve from our snow covered Utah.
This beautiful tree has multi colored bark and for obvious reasons is called, rainbow eucalyptus. It is so beautiful in real life I'd think it was fake if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.
Finally our time came to move on and say farewell to Maui. On our final day as Glen cleaned up the GE booth I spent the morning in the spa. What a fabulous treat!
I sat in the relaxing salt and clay infused waters hoping for the miracles each ingredient claimed to posses. After an hour there I was blessed with a hour massage that was so soothing and relaxing I never wanted to get up.
Glen captured the moment of final departure as I purchased my lunch to go, an $11 Chinese chicken salad, and that was at the cheep place!
We had a lovely time there and looked forward to our Big Island adventures.
1 comment:
I have made that trip to Hana and the only way I managed was because we actually stayed over night there and didn't have to turn around and do the drive back on the same day. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, but you certainly have to pay a price to see it! :-)
So glad that you got a trip to Hawaii....dreamy! Sorry we missed you when we stopped by last saturday, but I did drop off your drink holder...hope you got it! ;-)
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