A Day in the Upcountry

This morning, we made a family breakfast feast of scrambled eggs, bacon, salsa, guacamole, fresh pineapple and English muffin toast. Best breakfast in Hawaii! We then decided to take a break from the sun to celebrate the Upcountry of Maui, basically the north and central/east side of the island with lush views and small towns. Since we are staying in Haiku, we figured to get to know some of our surroundings first. We looked at a plot of land near the house that was for sale but not yet developed. The trail above took us to a cliff that made us feel like we were at the edge of the world. 

After taking in the views, we headed to our first destination, Makawao, an old cowboy town that M really wanted to see. Before we got there, we drove through the legit jungle and saw an overturned, charred car and a random TV set... We were hoping this wasn't foreshadowing the rest of our trip. Luckily, it didn't. We visited a couple shops in Makawao and picked up some items like some locally made lotion and a Hawaiian baby book about noodles. We then headed over up the hill to the Farmer's Market to eat some apple bananas, pastries and coffee. The best booth was for a vegan breakfast plate. This skinny mini lady with a long braid had us sample her coconut "bacon" and vegan, gluten-free pancakes... Delicious!! T picked up a shot of homemade kombucha (aka rotten tea) from this stand as well. M said there was hair in her sample but she drank it anyway... Hippies do shed a lot! On this trip was where K got the title/nickname "Home Defense!" 

We got back in our minivan KD and decided to visit the lavender farm. This place had spectacular views. You could see the entire western tip of Maui from the mountain. It was breathtaking, so we took our time looking at all the flowers and smelling the lavender, kind of my secret fantasy! I love lavender so this was a great time for me.

Even though we weren't too hungry yet, we headed to Paia for some salad and pizza at the Flatbread company. K and I shared the kalua pork madness below. As we were dining, some familiar faces appeared at our table! It was Liz and Erin who stopped through Paia from their Half of the Road to Hana tour. They didn't stay but it was crazy to run into them. 

To burn off the pizza, we decided to go to the Iao Needle (aka peen of a God according to ancient Hawaiians) next for a short hike. This wasn't much of a hike though (more like steps) so we didn't really get much exercise in today! It was still beautiful. There was even a couple getting their wedding pictures take there!

After the hike, we did some food/souvenir shopping at the Long's and Whole Foods. We decided to pick up dinner and eat at the house tonight. At the Whole Foods, M gained the nickname "Bag Lady" because not only did she travel from Oahu to Maui in several bags, she kept buying more reusable bags at Whole Foods! I picked up some tropical fruit (longan, mango and Lilikoi aka passion fruit) for the house. We then headed to a Hawaiian restaurant called Da Kitchen for some takeout. I got the Kalua pork plate with potato macaroni salad and K got the Kalbi plate with green salad. We split an order of fried Spam musubi. M got kalua pork, too, but the whole foods version. She also got her favorite chicken long rice at Da Kitchen! This tasted like a filipino chicken soup with ginger and glass noodles. T was the only healthy one of the bunch with her pure veggie dinner. We then entertained ourselves at home (no tv!) by looking up ridiculous things on the internet like Larry Bird's daughter and other athletes with illegitimate children. We are probably going to hell for that, but at least we are enjoying this heavenly vacation together!