The alarm went off much earlier than I would have preferred at 5:15am. I would have given anything to snooze it a couple times, but we needed to get up and get going so we didn’t miss our last intra-hawaii flight back to Maui. We rolled out of bed, threw the covers off the kids so they’d wake up, grabbed our 95% packed bags and headed out, but not before one more excellent sunrise view out the window.
We were on the road at 6am. I needed to stop for one more quick fill-up of gas before we got to the airport. Before we left, I snapped a pic of the trash can I got to avoid every day thanks to the sunbelt cherry picker that stole our parking spot. Our flight departs at 8:12 and don’t want to miss it…
We returned the Altima, which was a breeze at the airport in Hilo. They didn’t even have one of those spikey metal gate rental entrypoints that shred your tires if you back up after you go through them. It was all just open to everyone, feeling like it was a relic of a previous generation. The enterprise rental return guy didn’t notice any damage and sent us on our way with our luggage.
We probably could have slept in 30-45 minutes longer, since the security line at the airport was almost non-existent. There were 2 people in front of us. I took this picture after they scanned our licenses – 2 people had joined in the time afterwards (or at least were about to join).
We got to the gate with plenty of time (enough time for the family to reflect on how much they love their father /husband who plans in extra time just in case…) and relaxed for a bit until it was time to board. The flight was again on Hawaiian airlines. This flight was only about half full, so we got to stretch out a bit and take quick naps. These flights are always great for pictures. Noelle actually got an amazing picture that had the exact location where we were staying (it’s the first picture with the 4 story building to the closest to the bay).
We arrived a short time later at the Maui airport. This is the second time at this airport so we knew exactly where we needed to go for rental pickup. I had booked another full-size sedan, but decided at the last minute to upgrade to the convertible. We’re doing the drive to Hana in a couple days, and I’ve actually never driven a convertible before, so this should be exciting.
For this enterprise, they just point you to the section and tell you to pick out the one you want. We had 3 convertibles to choose from – 2 ford mustangs (one white, one silver), and one white Chevy Camaro. We hemmed and hawed for a bit on which one to get. The Camaro looked like it had more interior room, but Noelle thought it was uglier and it had no trunk space. The ford mustangs had a little more trunk space and we picked the silver one because it looked a little newer. We dropped the hood and piled in. There wasn’t enough room for all the suit cases in the trunk so we stuck the biggest bag in between the girls in the back. Look how happy they are back there in the convertible with no space!
We left the airport and hit the road, the Maui sunshine hitting our skin and the wind blowing in our hair…maybe a little too much sunshine and wind. The kids were screaming in the back about the situation and Noelle was worried that we had no sunscreen on, so I begrudgingly had to put the roof back up and put the AC on. I think convertibles must be more of a midlife man thing.
It’s still really early at this point – 10:00 or so, and our check-in isn’t till 3. Originally I thought we might like to go do some kind of morning beach activity thing for a few hours like surfing, but all of our beach stuff is packed away in suit cases and everyone is grouchy due to lack of sleep. We pivoted plans and I texted our airbnb host to see if we could get an early check-in. While we waited for a response, we dropped by the same chick-fil-a as before to get some chick-fil-a breakfast. God’s chicken can help improve the mood of any sour-puss.
The manager of the airbnb reached back out shortly after and told us it was our lucky day and we could check-in at 12 – JACKPOT BABY! That meant we only needed to kill a couple hours. We decided to do a little convertible cruise around town. We were close to Lahaina at that point, so we turned off every cool looking road we could find, mostly in the richy, rich section where all the $2000 a night hotels were located. We drove by golf courses, high-end shopping, and 20 level high-rises with everyone walking around with their noses in the air.
As we were getting closer to our area, we saw some signs for a yard sale. Hawaiian residents yard sale is the brand of high-end shopping that I prefer, so we followed those signs to the house that was having the sale. Lydia and I pumped out to look around, leaving Noelle and Victoria hiding their faces from the embarassment. They had some good stuff. Lydia got a nice pair of sunglasses and I got a japanese style fan that was sure to come in handy later and the finest looking Hawaiian board shorts I’ve ever seen. They are a little short on the thigh, but now I get to strut around like a true Hawaiian. We only spent $6.50 for everything – that’s like 1 gallon of gas!… Noelle will be so proud!
After the yard sale, we did one more stop at the grocery store so we’d have coffee creamer and snacks for the rest of the trip and headed over to check-in to the airbnb, right at 12. We had one additional stop at the same place we got the acai bowls before and got another bowl and some smoothies to enjoy at the airbnb. It was actually only about 2 blocks away from the last place we stayed, so we knew the location well.
It was a similar complex to the last one, but this one had 4 levels instead of 2 and was a much larger unit with more parking and a swimming pool. We parked, had to drop the top so we could unload the girls out of the back, and took the elevator up to the 2nd level. I went to put the security code in, but the door was actually unlocked when we got there. It was another great airbnb, basically a few steps away from the ocean with a great view. The decor of this spot was much more modern. We didn’t have AC again, but they had fans everywhere – 4 in the bedroom and 3 in the living room where the girls would sleep. With the fans on, you barely noticed the heat, not that it was that hot anyway.
We all took showers, and basically just spent the afternoon relaxing. The girls played on their electronics and Noelle and I napped in the bedroom for several hours. We were all really behind on sleep and it felt great to sleep with the fans on full blast hitting you with the ocean sound in the background. It was exactly what we needed.
When I woke back up around 5, Noelle had unpacked and organized the house, but we were getting hungry again so asked me to get dinner. One of the other places I had scouted out that was supposed to be good was literally across the street from us – Honokowai Okazuya & Deli. It was a Japanese hybrid restaurant with great reviews – I got Noelle coconut shrimp and I got a combo plate with steak and bbq chicken. It’s hard to keep track of all the good food we’ve had, but I swear this one was the best from just a hole-in-the-wall grill that you’d never guess was good. Noelle and I ate out on the lanai and watched the sun set into the ocean.
The sunset was another one for the record books. Every second it got more beautiful than the last second to a final crowning glory of purples mixed with orange. We took dozens of pictures, but kept taking more since it kept getting better. They should name Hawaii the sunset state.
After sunset, Noelle and Victoria went out to look for cragbs on the shore. Lydia doesn’t care for crabs pinching her toes, and I needed to catch up on the blog, so they went out on the hunt. They didn’t see any good crabs, but saw this massive bullfrog:
It was a great lazy day that we decided to end early to try to catch up on whatever remaining sleep we had left. I dreamed of driving a convertible with the top down without anyone complaining about it…good luck with that.