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!

Finally, a Beach Day in Hawaii!

After a heavenly dinner last night, we got up early again due to the time difference and took our sweet time before hitting the road for a beach day towards Lahaina. We read that it was Mariah Carey's 34th or 44th or 45th birthday today so we put on the classic "Always Be My Baby" and sang along. We then hit Kmart for some beach towels and Snorkel Bob's for some snorkel rentals. We are huge fans of Snorkel Bob's.

K's sister Liz and her roommate Erin were in town for the wedding so we decided to meet up with them at Napili Beach. It is a big snorkel spot because of the fish and turtles who live there. It is also a big family beach but it was nice. After snorkeling, it got scorching hot and T & M found some spot in the shady grassy area. The rest of us didn't make it long after that. Before we left the "tennis garden"/parking area, we saw a bunch of aloe plants and decided to take a branch for some natural sunburn healing later...

In the car, T said it smelled like potato chips. In a couple of minutes, M said it smelled like clam chowder. They realize it is that damn aloe, which was oozing out in the car! Gross! Anyway, after the first beach, we went to a taco place called Ono Tacos. We all got a combo of 2 tacos plus rice and beans. This place was awesome. We then hit a Hawaiian Shave Ice spot for dessert while T picked up a Lilikoi gelato. 

By the time we got to the next beach, the car smelled like arm pits. This aloe had to go! We dumped it off at the parking lot and had to rinse out the cup holder that was holding it in the car. It had green liquid all over it. 

This beach (we don't know the name but it's right in front of a bar/restaurant called Duke's) had fewer people. It was also kind of breezy and scorching hot. We got really lucky though because there were a pair of available unused rental umbrellas left over from a family, so we took them over! 

After taking a couple dips and naps, we got a drink at Duke's. The man with the ukulele hooked us with his rendition of Prince's "Kiss." But then he played a sped-up version of "Brown Eyed Girl." Slow down, this is beach life!! We also chatted with the waiter, who was born and raised in Maui, except for that ill-advised period of time he decided to go to Iowa for college.

When we got back to the car, there were a couple of people with their dogs running around with no leashes. For some reason, this big poodle was paying attention to Erin and aggresively lunged at her for no reason. I thought he actually bit her! The owners did not apologize at all and were thus extremely rude! Humans!

After the drink, we decided to change clothes at Liz and Erin's hotel. We then headed to the downtown area of Lahaina where all the shops were. We watched the sunset before heading out to dinner, which was more difficult than expected. We hopped in our cars and headed to Aloha Mixed Plate. Parking there was impossible so T and I got out to see how long the wait was... It was 1-1.5 hours! So we decided to head next door to Honu Seafood and Pizza. We ordered some poke and salads for the most part and couldn't linger to chat all night because a. we were all exhausted, and b. the Haiku habitants had more than an hour drive back to the house. 

Rough Landings

Hello beautiful world! We left Honolulu to embark on the Maui portion of our trip, but of course it was not as smooth as planned. We had some foreshadowing the night before when we were getting teased for booking Island Air. After a relaxing morning where everyone except me (S) went for a run, we headed to breakfast at Tucker and Bevvy again and proceeded to eat lunch at the beach. There was clearly riffraff teenagers there smoking and doing nothing. Maybe they were out of school already, but M says her brother once was part of that "wall rats" group. She then proceeded to tell us about that time a rat fell out of a tree and into her birthday cake! Trauma!!  We took a taxi to the airport and proceeded to check in. There was a really tense Canadian Asian family next to us who were weighing, opening, closing bags. They had two adorable daughters tho. Didn't think anything of them otherwise, but Karl picks some seats on the plane right next to them. It was one of those propeller type of planes. We were on board with other characters like that Russian couple who loves to dress up like each other on trips... Anyway, the baby girl who was not yet 2 was not enjoying the take-off, but she did enjoy the landing. She pooped the entire way down :( It got so stinky her mom was like "yes, she pooped." M and T had it worse than anyone else as they were sitting right in front of the baby. I told her if it were up to me, I would let them off the plane first. Her older sister who must have been 4 or something came right up to me and said "we made smoothies. Poo smoothies!" The fun with kids at the airport did not end there. We got to the rental car area and there were chickens. This is normal in Hawaii so we didn't think anything of it. Then these kids start taking seeds out and spreading them... More chickens appear! We just wanted to get into one of the mustangs and get out of there. Then this tubby Chinese kid and his angry-faced sister who evidently did not understand English at all take out some saltines and start spreading them right by our luggage!!! Rude!!! He is looking guilty below.

While trapped in the chicken coop madness, we hear some beeps. We were like "who is that?!" Annnnnnd it was M in our minivan!!!!! Seriously, how are we going to survive the road to Hana in this?! We had visions of mustang convertibles and we were discussing which colors would disappoint us most. Oh well! 

We took our mom-car to whole foods to pick up snacks and lunch. We decided to picnic in front of the house we are living in this week when we arrived. It is an absolute dream to be up here in Haiku, but it is quite a distance from the beach. We met the neighbors who gave us some tips about the area.

We took a walk to see the 'hood. Mansions on the water... Who lives here?! Oh yeah, Oprah and friends. The mighty O has not been around to greet us yet. Hopefully she will stop by and say hello.

After the walk, we got in the car to visit Paia, which has a Main Street. After checking out some boutiques and casual, non-pj rompers we headed to our final destination... Mama's Fish House! This was a huge restaurant but did not feel like it at all. This place is known for their fresh fish (swimming this morning) and also for crediting the fisherman who caught them on the menu.  We ordered some drinks and a trio of sashimi to start. Amazing. Then T ordered the Ahi with coconut rice, M ordered the Ono with kalua pork fried rice, I ordered the seared Papio and K ordered the macadamia nut crusted snapper... All were amazing!

As we were wrapping up, we notice a bunch of tall men walk by our table. We come to find out it was Kevin Durant and friends. Nice to know that he appreciates a fine seafood dinner on the beach!

Girls Dayyyy!

Aloha from Waikiki! K got up super early (like 5:30am) and ended up hiking Diamond Head with his good friend Vien. This meant that the ladies could spend the morning together on our own adventure! After sending K off and giving Vien some Baked by Melissa cupcakes from NYC, I took a walk around our neighborhood until T woke up to meet me at like 7am. M was up early, too, but was stuck working. T and I took in the sights.

We were kind of intrigued by all the homeless people in Waikiki. We heard from multiple sources a theory that other states give their homeless a one-way ticket to Hawaii. I guess if you're homeless in America, there's no better place to be? In perfect weather, who needs a home? Yikes. Kind of gave us an Athens vibe but still felt pretty safe. 

When M was done with her work, we had a quick breakfast at Tucker and Bevvy. We looked at a place called Eggs n Things but the line was crazy. We each had a smoothie or juice and I ordered a smoked salmon panini for sharing with T, while M had a BLT and shared some Maui onion chips. Yum! After breakfast we went to Pali Lookout for the amazing, lush, green view and put ourselves in the mindset of Hawaiiam warriors and Kamehameha! After that, we headed to the amazing gem that is the Kualoa Ranch. They grow macadamia nut trees and all sorts of other island crops. We entertained ourselves by cracking and snacking on nuts!!

We then got on board a bus for the Alii Tour. This was a hidden treasure at $20 a person! Our guide was so fun and took us through the "jungle" in a vehicle originally acquired for the crews during the filming of Jurassic Park. Basically every island-themed film or tv show had tapings here from Gilligan's Island and  Fantasy Island to Jurassic Park and Lost. Our guide also showed us how to use every bit of a coconut and also how to start a fire. I was amused by the coconut shaving contraption he had because my grandma used one at home. The three of us were amused by this girl below (in pj shorts?) who was so eager to participate in drinking fresh coconut milk and eating shaved coconut; also that she was part of a Korean honeymoon tour group. There were about 10 couples going on their honeymoon together! The tour guide made sure he threw in a little Korean here and there which was awesome.

There was a little kid helping him with the set, and they made headbands out of coconut palms for the ladies! Flower to the left if you're taken, right if you're single! After the short show, we got back on the bus to head to the protected fish pond that keeps barracuda, jacks and milk fish (bangus!!) as well as a green crab native to Hawaii. Before the boat ride ended, we concluded that this must be the best value in all of Hawaii.

On the way back to Waikiki, we stopped by a park to view the "chinaman hat." Plenty of Hawaiian families were gathering for picnics. These picnics were no joke with tents and huge trays of food. There was a small beach for kids to play in.

We then picked up K for a late lunch. We had Mahi Mahi sandwiches from one of M's favorite places called Kua'āina Sandwich. We do not do quality fast casual fresh fish in the east coast! Business idea?!  By the time we got back to the hotel, the NBA finals were in the 3rd quarter so we all went back to our rooms to watch the rest of the game. It was so strange watching it during the day! After it ended, K and I took a short walk and stumbled upon then pan-Asian festival parade. The best were the kids practicing judo on a float, boy vs. girl! 

After the walk, we met up with the ladies to head to M's parents' house that her grandfather built! We saw a bunch of her aunts and uncles as well as her grandparents! It was so nice to have a family dinner especially on Father's Day. They were all so happy to see M!! We ate so much!! They had a never ending tray of hamachi and ahi tuna that was so delicious. I filled my plate with more fish, ribs, rice, salad and fried rice. I barely had room for dessert, which was fresh lychees and coconut pie. Oh, and her uncle kept filling our glasses with sake and handing out fresh beers! It was a wonder K did not fall asleep at the table. We were all waiting for it! Maui tomorrow!!!

Pua everywhere!

After a long flight from JFK, K and I (S) made it to Hawaii! M and T had longer flights but we all made it to Oahu and were reunited for this awesome vacation. 

M welcomed us with leis and a Benz! Btw I am soooooo excited she has written for the blog!!!!!! I know it will be a thousand times better now. The blog just kept our old brains fresh with memories from previous trips, mostly that time when I got attacked by a monkey and when T and V found themselves in a Balinese bath together... And never forget "sh*t people"! Pardon my lack of makeup and baggy eyes below. I was tired but extremely happy for the tropical surroundings and to see M!!

After T's flight arrived from L.A., we headed over to the Rainbow Drive-In for some BBQ mixed plates, Mahi Mahi and a loco moco. Planes these days will just keep you starving on those long flights. We then checked into the hotel, which has a spectacular view of Diamond Head. Then, we ended up taking a walk to the beach where a bunch of Japanese visitors were demonstrating their passion for hula (?) before ending up at the Beach Bar in Waikiki. Listening to some Hawaiian renditions of classic 80's and other covers over some cocktails, we were able to catch up on our own adventures. T's got a new job, for one! Anyway, we were obviously still on mainland time and headed back to the hotel before 9pm! Hopefully we will have more stories tomorrow!

A-L-O-H-A

Tomorrow morning I embark on a 10+ hour trip from Philly to Honolulu.  Hello, this is M and it's my first entry into the JohnsonHoneymooners.blogspot.com.  It's hard to believe that we (S, T, and M) have been out of b-school for four years now.  T is soon starting a new job.  S is now married to K while I  am still doing my thing in Philly.  Life is quite good when we actually stop and notice. Together we've traveled to Portugal, Greece, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand since our graduation.

This year we will land in the islands of Hawai'i which is my hometown. We'll arrive in the busy island of Oahu (where I grew up) and then island hop to Maui.  I am excited to share this part of paradise, and for them to meet my family and friends. Along the way,  I know there will be many scenic views, warm waters to swim in, yummy tropical cocktails, ono foods (Hawaiian word for delicious), and good memories.

ALOHA is a lovely feeling, and it's just a flight away....more to come :)

Hawaii 2014!!!

Exciting news!  Next week, M, T and I are reuniting in Hawaii for our third, oops, FOURTH almost annual trip! Killing 2 birds with one stone is the way of life in our busy 30's so I am also attending a wedding at the end of the trip. We missed doing it last year because I went on an actual honeymoon with Kkkkk. Anyway, so much has happened since we were in Asia for V's wedding. I cannot wait to catch up with these girls, hang out with M's family and friends and create adventures. Stay tuned for more! Now onto packing and cleaning...