I was a little sad Saturday morning, knowing we had just one more full day of vacation before heading home. I felt like we needed to maximize the day by totally relaxing (it is so ridiculous that i stress myself out about whether i'm relaxing enough). We had a lazy morning and enjoyed the rainbows - double at first and then a full one.
We headed over to the playground for a bit.
I love this picture because Grace is actually off the ground.
Then for the main event, we headed down to the beach again.
Grace collected seashells
and played in the sand.
Steve and I rented snorkel gear - it would have been fun to go together, but obv we couldn't so we traded off. I know this will make me sound like an idiot, but it was just amazing to see how there's a whole world under the surface! We don't have an underwater camera, but it was really so beautiful. You can see some underwater pix from Kapalua Bay on Lars' site. Tempting as it is, I'm not claiming credit... i'll leave that to Steve. Anyhow, there I am snorkeling!
After lots of beach time and reading (and lamenting the end of vacation) we enjoyed one last sunset.
Sunday we walked over to the village for breakfast. We really got no good photos from the day since we had packed the camera and were being kind of lazy. Grace had stuck a sticker to her forehead the previous night and it was caught on her hair and she refused to take it off. She really liked her giant chocolate muffin (vacation!).
We were right next to the chapel at at the resort and though we hadn't planned to go to mass, it turned out we were there just before it started. Grace saw the people streaming into the tiny church and said she wanted to go so we went. It was packed and we had to stand and although we had none of our usual paraphernalia to keep her entertained, she did great. Plus, the music was really good - a lot of Hawaiian styling to the hymns.
We headed out to the airport, and it was another breathtakingly beautiful day to drive along the west coast of the island. It was interesting that all along the beaches there were small, impromptu gatherings of chairs set up with banners for worship services.
We waited in the loooongest security line I've ever seen and just made it in time for our flight. We got lucky because after takeoff Grace quickly fell asleep with her head on my lap and slept for about two hours while I read (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - totally obsessed now!).
It was such good trip and bonus, the bridge was open when we got home which made the late night return much easier. I immediately started researching when we can go back, if we should try another island, or if we should go somewhere else tropical. It's' nice to dream...
A few other thoughts -
I had actually been a little ambivalent about going to Maui in the first place. Having been to the Big Island and Oahu as a kid, I just had this bias against Maui as if it was too touristy and commercial. Parts of it were, but other parts were amazingly rural and authentic. Of course, the anthropologist in me was really intrigued by the remnants of Hawaiian culture and trying to figure out what's real and what has been overdone for tourists. And I wondered about the extent to which the native culture has been destroyed and replaced by the service and tourism industries. Plus, the divide between the affluent touristy areas and the residential areas was blatant and sobering. Of course, at this point the economy is reliant on tourism so I don't mean to be paternalistic. Furthermore, Hawaii is, apparently, the most isolated place on Earth. I kept being struck by the fact that people ever found it (seriously, what are the odds that their outriggers found these tiny islands in that huge ocean). So now I need to do some reading about how the islands came to be inhabited, how the culture developed and what happened when white colonists arrived (my old Hawaiian friends from when I lived in San Diego always talked about how incredibly racist Hawaiian society is). Remember, anthropology degree.
And finally, another thing that surprised me, was how often I heard roosters - in rural and developed areas. Who knew?
Ready to go back. Aloha.
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