17 April 2015

Michelle and I had breakfast on the balcony.  We went down to the beach again for the morning.  We saw lots of fish in the water.  They tend to swim right around your feet, and because the water is so clear, you can actually see them.  Around noon, we headed back to the condo for some lunch.  I read some more on the balcony once the wind picked up.

That’s one thing I wasn’t really expecting—the crazy strong winds.  It actually wasn’t bad though, because it always started around the same time and made the really hot part of the afternoon bearable.

After lunch, the four of us drove up to Kaanapali to visit Whalers Village.  We walked along the shops for a bit and even stopped to get a bite to eat.  We stopped at Hula Grill to get a drink—hey happy hour!  Since we saved so much on drinks, we got two slices of Hula Pie for dessert.  It was the biggest slice of ice cream cake I have ever seen.  Side note: hula pie is phenomenal! An Oreo cookie bottom, macadamia ice cream, a layer of chocolate ganache, whipped cream, and macadamia nuts!  Delicious!

Kaanapali is the first master-planned resort in the United States (a fact I learned in a brochure).  The first hotel was completed in 1963.  This area was very ritzy and seemed to be a big golf area.  On the drive home, we went through Lahaina and Olowalu. Lahaina was the original capital of the city.  It was moved to Honolulu in 1845.

We noticed a lot of memorials on the side of the road.  According to one of the maps I read, these memorials are for those who were killed in a fatal car accident at that spot.  Most of these are between Maalaea and Lahaina.

Along the way to Maalaea, we pass a long line of windmills.  The 32 windmills are 180 feet high and can power 18,700 homes!  It’s crazy because you can actually see them in the distance from where we stayed, even though they’re actually pretty far away.

On the drive, we also noticed chain-link fencing draped along certain parts of the mountain to keep rocks from falling down onto the road and crushing the cars.

When we got back from our drive, we went to the shops to take a look around again.  Michelle and I found some gifts to bring home for our family.  After shopping, we had dinner, followed by a long walk along the beach at sunset—this became our usual end to the day.

Interesting fact that I learned on day five: in Hawaiian, Makai means towards the ocean and Mauka means towards the mountain!  The first people on the Hawaiian Islands didn’t have directions like north and south, so they used Makai and Mauka.  There are still signs on the island that use these terms.

Until next time, aloha!