Brent & Sherry finish their week in paradise

We decided to have a last day at the beach, but first back up to watch the boarders at Ho'opika Bay. There was a photo shoot going on for a windsurf company and Sherry took some shots from the bluff.

There were also some female models but
unfortunately none of those pictures came out -- haha

Before we knew it, there were dozens of surfers out -- it was surfer soup.  The guys were encouraged to try their hand at boogie-boarding but not in this rough wave area, so we headed to Big Beach so they could hone their skills.  But... after a few violent face plants, they retired to the safety of their beach chairs and we had a great afternoon.

Brent decided to impress us with his grilling skills for dinner and boy did he!  

The master

The helper

Since Brent and Sherry's flight was later in the evening on Saturday, we decided we had time to take a trip to Maui's volcano, Haleakala.  It's an amazing place and Sherry got some great pictures.

Haleakala is considered dormant, not extinct

So surreal

You can see the trails where you can go through the crater -- 27 miles worth.
Sadly we didn't have enough time to hike through it -- haha

It was cold and windy at 10,000 feet





There are strange and beautiful plants.



Sherry and huge agave plants on the way to Haleakala



Haleakala Silversword - only grows one place on earth

The silversword blooms only once in its lifetime and then dies --
but it can live as long as 50 years before it blooms


We really enjoyed our week so much and it went by much too fast!  Aloha Brent and Sherry.

Brent & Sherry Visit continues

We are having a great time with Brent & Sherry and I believe they are falling in love with the island too. 

We heard once again that the waves were going to be very high (upwards of 18 feet) throughout the islands so headed up to Ho'opika to show them the surfers and apparently the word was out because everyone was out there!  We were treated to three types of surfing this time -- surfers, windsurfers and kiteboarding.




Kiteboarders




High waves




Apparently there are "zones" for each type of surfing but Sherry caught a picture of all three overlaping.

We left at dark and headed to Paia for dinner at Charley's Restaurant & Saloon.  Willie Nelson does the commercials for Charley's and it's quite a place -- plus the food is really good.  Then we got to introduce Brent and Sherry to Ono Gelato -- yum yum!



Brent & Joe with a replica of Willie Nelson's guitar


Today (Thursday) was "Hana" day and we left in the morning to take on the famous Road to Hana.   It was a clear and beautiful day and we stopped often to take pictures.  It took us about 8 hours and we traveled about 125 miles.  We took so many beautiful pictures (Sherry has a big la-ti-da camera and got some great shots) and I'd like to share a few of them:




I actually took this one --
I'm so proud that I had to include it





The water was such an amazing color
against the black lava cliffs

 



Seven Pools waterfalls




Rainbow Eucaylptus - we just couldn't capture
how cool they really were




Hawaiian Red Ti plants




Bad Joe follows in Bad Sherry's footsteps





Brent & Sherry



After such a long and treacherous trip (600 hairpin curves and 54 narrow bridges!), we felt it was crucial that we end our day with some great margaritas at Fred's Mexican Cantina in Kehei... yeah, that was a nice ending :)

Brent & Sherry Visit Maui

We are so happy that our good friends, Brent and Sherry Miller, are here visiting for a week.  Joe and Brent worked together at GVPD.  They got here late Saturday afternoon.



Happy to arrive after the long flight from KC


After a quick stop at the condo to freshen up, we headed to Lahiana for a great dinner and beautiful sunset at the Lahiana Fish Factory.



Someone to drink martinis with me - Yippee!



The sunset started out slow, but became quite beautiful


It quickly became apparent that "keep out" signs meant nothing to Sherry -- haha.



Bad Sherry in the Banyon Tree




Bad Sherry 2




Bad Sherry 3


We got up early Sunday and headed back to the Sports Page bar to watch the Chiefs lose to Houston :(  But we had a great time and met up again with our new Maui-Chiefs-fans friends.  After the game, we headed to Big Beach for some beach fun.



Big Beach


Monday we rented snorkle equipment and went to Honolu'a and Kapalua.  Mid-way through Sherry came face-to-face (and I mean right in her face!) with a huge sea turtle - boy, I wish I'd gotten that picture!  But she says the picture is imbedded forever in her memory - haha.




Joe & Brent on the way to Honolu'a



Happy Brent & Sherry pre-sea-turtle experience



Tuesday, Brent and Sherry made arrangements to go on a fishing excursion so up early again for a 7:30 check-in.  Unfortunately, the fish weren't biting very well but Brent managed to catch the first fish and Sherry caught the biggest.  Neither Joe or I really fish that much, so we went along as photographers.




Sherry's catch - a Pipio



Brent looking disappointed in his little fish





Brent caught this ugly thing called a Squirrel fish -- we threw it back


We've had a great time and it's only Tuesday!

Windsurfers at Ho'okipa Beach

We heard on the evening news that the trade winds were moving out and the next day would be a good windsurfing day in North Maui. So we headed up to Ho'okipa Beach.  This beach is known as "...possibly the best place in the world for windsurfing and is the site of two major world-class competitions".




Ho'okipa Beach

 
And it must have been a great surfing day because there were so many surfers out. They were so amazing that we stayed watching them for a couple of hours -- hard to believe they can actually do flips with those!  We sat up on a cliff and got some great pictures so I'm sharing a few:




Windsurfers





Windsurfers 2

 



Windsurfers 3






We also got our new rental car.  Love the red pads on the roof racks -- I can find it in the parking lots!



Ready to load up the surfboards - hehehe


So bye-bye convertible but now we can keep the beach chairs and bags in the back at all times.  Never know when the beach-time mood may hit...  :)
 

Adventure Day!

We decided to have an "Adventure Day" -- that is, get in the car and just wander without any specific destination.  We headed toward East Maui, where we had spent the least amount of time on previous visits.  So we packed a picnic lunch and grabbed tennis shoes and headed out! 

This part of Maui is very rugged and mountainous and, until you get to the lava fields, it is where the Maui ranches are located -- both cow and goat ranches (including one called the Surfing Goat Dairy).  Because you're basically driving through the base of the volcano and lava fields, there are lots of one lane bridges, hairpin turns and undeveloped roads.  Here are a few pictures of our day:

This person has an interesting way of handling his mail delivery -- hilarious.



 

Mt. Haleakala (the East Maui Volcano):


In Kula, we found a great roadside park so we stopped for lunch.  We were at about 3700 ft elevation at this point and the views were breathtaking.



Lunch at Rice Park in Kula, Maui HI





Great homemade cookies and
chocolate lava bars for dessert



We've been to this area before, but it just amazes me.  There are thousands of round bowling-ball-size rocks that constantly roll with the ebb and flow of the water.  The clacking noise is so loud you can hear it above the crashing waves.



Joe walking down to a rolling rock beach




Some of the rolling rock beaches --
each of these rocks is the size of a bolling ball





Painted marker at one of the black beach entrances


Traveling on up the mountain side.  This is considered the "back road" to Hana:



Hui'aloha Church, est. 1859

 



Black beach




View from one of the cliffs


We drove until dark -- our wandering turned into a 7-hour trip -- but we got to see this outstanding sunset from up in the mountains.



Sunset from East Maui



Such a change from the white sand beaches, but it definitely does have a stark beauty of its own.  Great Adventure Day.