A much needed, warm, tropical paradise was awaiting us in Maui over Christmas this year. It has been especially gray in Richland this winter so this sun and the light felt so nice. We stayed in a condo in Kihei this time and really enjoyed Kihei! Our condo was almost right in front of Kamaole Beach (I) and we've never had such easy access to the beach, which was really enjoyable. Our condo was called Kamaole Beach Royale and our unit was #701.
We accidentally got a view of Lahaina when we went the wrong way to our zip lining tour and was able to see some of the fire damage, but it just looked more like there was not much developed. If you didn't know any different you wouldn't know it had had a fire a year ago. All the roads to old town Lahaina were blocked off by tape, large cones, and people manning each entrance. Not sure if it was 24 hour security but there wasn't any way people were getting in.
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| We got the most beautiful views of the sunset directly from our place each night, and the weather was absolutely perfect. |
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| Directly across the street from our airbnb was several strip malls with great offerings. Olin one evening goes "tattoo and Pizza Hut...I know we're home!" because this is the corner that we always turn on to get home |
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| Maui airport on departure |
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| Beautiful sunlight coming through Jaws Beach |
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| We loved overlooking Jaws beach. Tons of surfers on the first day and huge 'swells' |
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| Maui Gold Pineapple tour in Mali'imaile. Was surprisingly fun - 90 minutes of learning about how pineapples grow (takes 2 years to grow a pineapple) and we each got a pineapple to take home which we carted through several airports. haha. |
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| Kamaole Beach (I) across from our place |
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| We waited about an hour for a table at the Gazebo restaurant. Always worth it. This time I got combo pancake (Mac nut, pineapple, banana I think) and everyone else got fried rice, Eggs Benedict, and Corned Beef Hash. |
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| Little gecko hanging out next to our Christmas Day dinner at Monkeypod in Wailea. Their famous mai tais were good |
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| Monkeypod in Wailea. Our condo in Kihei was about 8 minutes north of Wailea, really close and easy to drive to |
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| Connect 4. I finally beat Dae a few times |
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| (Half of) Road to Hana! It was much more jungly and lush than I imagined. |
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| I can't remember the name of this valley about halfway to Hana but it was beautiful and the book said it was taro farms |
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| More sunset cruise |
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| More road to Hana |
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| This photo surprised me how good it was. Ha! This was on board our sunset (Calypso) dinner cruise out of Maalaea Harbor about 15 minutes from our place. |
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| Kitchen of the condo. We bought a lot of Costco food and ate in quite a few meals which was nice. Unfortunately we couldn't find fried rice at Costco - our Hawaii staple! |
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| Christian's foot looked like French Manicure. I was laughing. |
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| I got the kids these surprisingly difficult Escape room games. The three of them managed to figure out some of the clues but I sat myself out and read my book after about one clue. |
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| Spammer at the natural food store |
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| Pickleball! We brought our rackets and went out and had fun two mornings. There is a serious pickleball circuit going on at the local park (Waipuilani Park) in Kihei where people sign up on a list and there's a constant rotation of people playing. We opted to play in the open courts next door which weren't lined as well for pickle ball but it was very playable. |
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| Outdoor chess at this cool place in Kihei called South Maui Gardens. Food trucks and several really beautiful areas to sit. |
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| Walk down the beach on the first day. |
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| Riding the new tram to the rental car place when we arrived. |
