Battle Scars

24 hours of Maui and it's definitely growing on us. Our hotel is still not as impressive as the one on Big Island, but I'm beginning to think most of the issues center around the front desk and I'm hoping not to deal with them again until check out.

Actually my other hotel complaint is that they charge $10 a day to sit on a beach chair. THEN, they have signs posted everywhere saying not to leave things unattended or you will give up your seat. Sorry, what?! I paid $10 for that seat. I should be able to place my towel on it and peace out for the rest of the day if I want to! Okay enough complaints.

Before I even tell you about Maui, I have to tell you about our last dinner in Volcano. We ate at this place called Thai Thai...they had Chinese food... j/k :) I ordered Pad Thai and it was yummy...

Even more noteworthy was dessert. Eric ordered the sweet rice dish and I got coconut ice cream. We both shared them and we found that the combination of mango, sweet rice and ice cream was actually perfect.

The only downer on this delicious meal was this guy at the table next to us giving a massively hard time to our very sweet waitress (and he was clearly in the wrong by the way). Even his own kid was annoyed by him. I did enjoy when the guy said he hoped his (now) free meal wouldn't come out of her check and she was like "oh its okay if it does, I believe in karma" She said it in such a sweet way but it was an awesome comeback.

Yesterday we took the short flight over to Maui. They actually gave us exit rows without us asking, how come that never happens on long flights? We arrived in Maui early in the morning and we upgraded to a convertible for our new rental car. Our travel agent's company gave us it for 50% off the normal upgrade...whoa hoo, you know me I love a deal :) (this is clearly a case of, I paid more but I FEEL like I got a deal haha).

When we left the airport we ran a few errands before heading to the hotel. We've been spoiled on this trip so far with early, easy check in and unfortunately that did not continue yesterday. While we waited to check in, I did discover a self serve frozen yogurt place only a few hotels down called Yogurtland. Yay!

That's coconut yogurt (and a tiny bit of chocolate cuz it was Ghiradelli, yum) with butterfinger and gummy bears. I'll obviously be back.

Even though our hotel is only so-so, it does have a sweet view of Kaanapali Beach...

It also has a cool torch lighting ceremony which the torch lighter jumps off the famous Black Rock into the water...

Downtown Lahaina was also pretty and right on the water...

This morning we finally had a chance to sleep late after our whirlwind of a few mornings. Of course for me that meant still waking up at 7:30 (over an hour later then I've been able to sleep though) and then chatting with my mom until Eric woke up. We got to eat our first free breakfast of the trip at the hotel and it was awesome. I forgot my camera but don't worry I will be having my amazing coconut pineapple oatmeal again.

After breakfast Eric and I jumped in the car to explore the northern tip of Maui.

We started at an awesome blow hole. Check this thing out!

I did have a small fear of the GIANT waves that came over the area we were standing occasionally...

The reason for my fear can be traced back to this day in Aruba 2004.

Those waves behind us look okay...but only seconds after this picture was taken I was completely attacked by a giant wave. No I am not exaggerating the word attacked, it totally threw me into those rocks and let's just say I have some battle scars. I honestly think that if someone did not understand the meaning of the word panic and I REALLY wanted them to understand I would have them attacked by a wave. There is really no panic quite like a wave pushing you down when you are trying to push up and totally losing the battle against the wave.

This is what I looked like after...

Haha. Don't worry, I got some battle scars today as well. It started like this...

Just a trip to the Olivine Pools...

It turns out hiking down the side of a mountain in flip flops isn't the best idea ever and I went sliding down a bit, scraping up my ankle pretty well. Nothing a little dip in some salt water can't fix of course...

It was a gorgeous place and fun to look at all the little fish in the pool. It was a pretty hike back up as well. Everything in Hawaii seems to be gorgeous, what's up with that?

Coming Up Next: Kelly, Eric, and their rental car take on the Road to Hana.

Have you ever been attacked by a wave? How about the side of a mountain? Tell me about your battle scars.