Aloha from Maui Days One and Two

Aloha Readers 

We have just returned from a week long vacation on Maui and I plan to give you all the details (hopefully I don't bore too many of you in the process).  So some of you may remember I had planned to go to Viva Las Vegas this year for spring break but my fabulous husband decided we should go to Maui instead so I sold my ticket to Vegas with my room reservation to the Lovely Julie at Fab Gabs Vintage (what a nice gal).  And off we went.

Day 1
We left for Maui on a Sunday and arrived around 2 in the afternoon their time.  Our time was about 7pm so we did our best to try to stay up until 9pm Island time ( 2 am our time).  I think we made it until 8:30.  We watched our first sunset on the beach (with whales jumping out in the distance) and I had a few Mai Tai's,  Mr Living Vintage preferred to stick with a few Guinness and got a few appetizers with this at the bar next door to our hotel and experienced the inevitable Maui sticker shock.  Everything on Maui has a big price tag they will tell you this before you go but until you see a box of chicken and biscuits with a $6 price tag it will not truly sink in.  We stayed at the Days In Ocean Front in Kehei while not a grand accommodation it was right on a great beach and had very comfortable beds and a mini fridge so we could avoid eating out bills.  Now don't get me wrong this was no luxury resort but like I said it was comfortable and inexpensive by Maui standards so I would recommend it for that.  If you are looking for something grand you may want to try something like the Weston (flamingos and jellyfish in the lobby) and complimentary hair picks (ladies that is fresh flowers for your hair) can be picked up in the lobby.  Needless to say I am guessing that it was at least  times more expensive that were we stayed. Sorry to say I didn't take a single picture the first day.  I know bad blogger.

Day 2
Mr Living Vintage and I slept in and woke up at 8 am well that is our own time so it was 3 am in Maui.  Yikes what do you do at 3am?  Well we made a plan for what to visit for the day went and go some breakfast at well not much is open this early so we went to McDonalds.   We then drove along the coast.  So at 6:45 we had gone as far as our road would take us with out hitting the unpaved your rental car company will be very angry if you go any farther area.  We looked at some  tide pools saw crabs and sea anemones  We talked with a Canadian couple were were also up at 3am like us and they told us were a good snorkeling area right by us was (we did go there but not this day).  I have to say the thing that surprised me the most at this point was the landscape.  unless if was groomed and watered this was the leeward side of the island and quite dry naturally.  But I have to say this was the one thing I didn't expect to see.

Prickly Pear Cactus

Yes that is right it is not all tropics and lushness and the invasive Panini Cactus is there. 

 Next we went to the Up Country to visit the Kula Botanical Garden.  We got here right when the garden opened so for the most part we had it all to ourselves to explore.  Here are some of the pictures I took here.  (Oh and the very first photo in this post was taken here as well).

Mr Living Vintage Favorite A Bottle Brush Plant 

(picture does not do it justice)

Pin Cushion Protea from Australia

One of my favorites Protea Flower of South Africa

Kangaroo Paws from Australia 

I took this picture for my 5 year son as I knew he would love this plant and he does!!!

After the botanical garden we went to Fabric Mart.  I will post pictures later of what I bought.  If you are unfamiliar with fabric mart you should really check it out it is a great online supplier of Hawaiian fabrics and I was so excited to see they had an outlet on Maui.  I practiced lots of restraint and only bought 15 yards of fabric. Fabric Mart Websight

We went back to our room and napped, went to the beach, ate some dinner bought at the local foodland (grocery store) to save some money finally when to watch the sunset.  You have excuse my hair I forgot my end wraps for my hot sticks so the result was not as desired.  We ended the night with drinks at the bar again.

Happy Easter

Mahalo and Aloha

Susan