Maui Days 1-3: Haleakala and Beaches

I had a healthy fear of flying with a two and a half year old, especially since our last relatively short flight wasn't super smooth. But, Grace did great and apparently flying to Maui = party jet. There were free Mai Tais (I promptly dumped Steve's in his lap; it was awesome), they played Hawaiian music, and everyone cheered and clapped when the plane landed. We then entered a curious sub-culture of vacationers - we kept bumping into people from our flight at the grocery stores and Costco where I guess all the condo-renters stock up for the week.

Anyhow, we made our way to Kapalua via a gorgeous drive up the northwest coast of Maui. The water was sparkling, whales were spouting and Lana'i was in the distance. We headed over to the pool to try to get our wiggles out, and although it was windy and raining, Grace was game for some swimming. There was a great children's pool with fountains and waterfalls and an amazing view of the beach and Moloka'i. We vegged and prepared for our very early morning rise on Monday.

We had decided to split up the week and alternate site seeing/activity (lots of car) days with beach/pool days. So, first up was the drive to Haleakala, the volcano that formed east Maui, for sunrise while we were still on California time. Everything we read said we had to leave early - the summit was about two and a half hours from where we were staying, and we had heard that the parking lot at the top fills up early. Plus, the road is serious with tons of switchbacks and a climb to 10,000 feet, all in the dark. So we were on the road about 3:15. There were two or three parking spots left when we got there around 6:00. And it was FREEZING. We knew it would be much colder than the sea level areas and we'd brought some warmer clothes, but we saw that the forecast was for the fifties and packed for San Francisco. Whoops - we forgot about the wind chill. It was really windy and people were all bundled up and we weren't. Steve was brave and stood at the edge of the crater with the camera. Grace pretty much refused to be outside so fortunately there was an indoor area where we could still see the sunrise. I won't lie - I was glad Grace insisted on being with me.

It really was gorgeous. I don't often watch the sunrise (though i'm usually awake...) so I didn't realize how light it would be so long before the sun came up. We could see mostly clouds, the crater, and the island of Hawaii in the distance. Grace and I ventured out a few times to give Steve moral support.

We had planned to hike into the crater and spend the morning at Haleakala. Grace, however, was not interested and asked to get in the car to sleep. So we gave up and took a leisurely drive back down and enjoyed actually seeing all the switchbacks and views along the way. We took backroads over to a beach in Kahalui to break up the trip and then headed "home."

Post naps, we went down to Kapalua Bay Beach for the afternoon. It was pretty much exactly as you imagine Hawaii should be - clear, turquoise water, fine sand, palm trees all around and islands in the distance. It was also a perfect beach for us because the waves break sideways so the beach is protected and quite calm. Grace could go to the water's edge without getting too nervous (However, despite her recent enthusiasm for swimming, she suddenly decided all water was too cold during our trip. A kid who last summer wanted to get in the ocean in San Francisco, found the tropical water around Maui too cold... she wasn't even that into the pools. But she was more than happy to play in the sand endlessly). I was also surprised at most of the beaches we visited - they are much smaller and cove-like than I'm used to in most of California as well as up and down the East Coast, so they were not very crowded and felt more secluded.

Steve and I swam. The water was fabulous. We all napped and read and played in the sand. Eventually we packed up and walked along the coastal trail that runs throughout Kapalua.

That's me - swimming with Moloka'i in the background.

Along the coastal trail.

Tuesday morning we headed over to the pool, planning to spend the day. We staked out a sweet spot under the umbrellas, with a beach view. It was quite excellent... we had our books and newspapers, the playground was right there for when we got bored with the pools, hammocks, a gorgeous view, friendly families and mid-morning fruit brought around by the attendants. We stayed until Grace curled up on her lounge chair and tried to sleep. I think I would have been content to stay there the rest of the week, but we mobilized to go down to the Beach House for lunch. It was in an amazing setting just above DT Fleming Beach. We had a yummy Valentine's Day lunch of "PuPus".

We headed back to the condo so Grace could sleep while we sat on the lanai and napped and read. That lanai might have been my favorite place. Eventually we headed down to "our" pool and finally convinced Grace to really swim. She had quite a good time "convincing" her dad to swim too...

Back to our lanai for dinner and sunset and gearing up for our next day of adventuring. Sneak preview of the rest of the trip here.