Day 7

8:05am
Last Maui Morning

so we woke up at 5am today to catch the sunrise.


this morning is bittersweet. i don't want to leave, but i'm excited to go home. i'm gonna miss driving through rolling hills of sugar cane, the sweet, sweet air, and the big blue water.



*sigh* time to go back home.

Day 6

10:37pm
Last Night in Hawaii

Today's mission: find Makena Beach (Black Sand) and bring back sand.

we drove through Kihei and Wailea, which were kind of resort-ish and just looked like Santa Monica (architecturally). so, not really that impressive.
while trying to find the "black beach" (which isn't what it's named, but seems to be what everybody calls it), we found ourselves on Big Beach. i asked the life guard where Black Beach was, he told us, but we stayed on Big Beach for a while.

we followed his directions, didn't go far enough, and found ourselves on Big Beach again.
so we continued on, and found where the bumpy little road was, but the orange gate was closed. so we had to walk the path instead of drive it. it's a nice little hike.
but we got there and it was GORGEOUS! or at least i thought so! all this beautiful dark, dark brown sand, and NO ONE ELSE THERE! it was pretty small, but also secluded. it was super-awesome. i was kind of surprised since everyone on the snorkeling tour was told about it. you would think they would want to go to it as well. no sense of adventure, i guess. and before we left, i filled a bag with sand, so mission accomplished!

then we decided that we needed to have dinner in Paia. (you know? that town i said i want to move to?) we got there just before all the shops closed and i was able to get the sarongs my mom wanted. we asked what was a good place to have dinner and the shop ladies suggested a pizza place. we didn't want to go to some old pizza place. so we walked down the block to look at the menu of one of the restaurants. it had all the same stuff i could find at any restaurant in LA. we didn't want The Fish Co. because we already had a lot of fish during this trip. So we went back to Flatbread Company, the pizza place.
as it turns out, everything at Flatbread Company (animal and vegetable) is locally grown, organic, and cruelty free. they also make everything there from scratch (sausage, pepperoni, bread). and it was DELICIOUS! so it wound up being the perfect place to eat! also, each of the drawings on the menus were different and drawn in crayon! WIN!

then we went back to the Green Banana Cafe (AWESOME coffee)and i got another macadamia nut latte. so good! :)

it was a long, dark, rainy drive back, but we made it. now we're packing up and i'm not ready to go!

ps. there's a hoopy frood who really knows where her towel is!

Day 5

10am
i slept in today! and i'm refusing to go to The Guide meeting right now because i know if i start, i'm not gonna leave it and we're planning to go out before it's over, so... i tried not to convert the time, but it was too easy. but it won't be so bad since we have The Guide chat window. i can scroll through when i get in tonight. *sigh* i'm addicted.

10:30pm
so we went to Pa'ia today. it's a little quaint town. not as touristy as the rest of the island. i wanted to move there. there's, of course gorgeous beach, and such cute little shops.

then we went to "The Road to Hana." a twisty, turny, beautiful road! this is where you'll find The Twin Falls. it was so cool!

then it was a quick stop for coffee and bathroom breaks back in Pa'ia before we headed back to our side of the island.


and finally, we came back to Front St. to have dinner. once again, we found ourselves at a table overlooking the ocean! :) we've had luck with that EVERY night! either it's early, or we get the last available one.

the ride back was dark and rainy! we could barely see the road! but it was still the end to an AWESOME day!

and i read The Guide meeting. progress. and new people. and new ideas. i love it!