January 2018
Most people can’t fall asleep without some white noise in the background. When we have nights like that, we prompt our Google Home to play ocean sounds. It helps us relax and think of our happy place. After craving some beach time for a few months, we decided to spontaneously book a long-weekend getaway to Maui, one of our favorite places on Earth. Little did we know, this “relaxation” trip would actually teach us more about handling high-stress situations than we thought we could ever learn in one lifetime.
84 Hours Left…
We landed into OGG around 1pm and picked up our very necessary soft-top Jeep Wrangler. We were starving from the journey so our first stop was the best of the best, Geste Shrimp truck. We devoured 2 plates of hot and spicy buttery garlic shrimp with some roasted garlic rice and salad. It was the perfect start to our tropical vacation.
We checked into the Westin Maui Resort & Spa in Ka’anapali. As we walked into our room we took a quick stroll onto our balcony and were greeted by the beautiful ocean. We wasted no time, dropping our bags and swim-suiting up for some beach time. We walked along Ka’anapali beach, soaked in the sun, and enjoyed the backdrop from our hotel pool of the beautiful palm trees and sun setting on the ocean.
For dinner, we drove up the coast to Kahana for dinner at Miso Phat. This place is so cool and the friendly staff is incredibly fun to hang out with while you throwback a few beers and some of their delicious sashimi and sushi rolls.
60 Hours Left…
Our “Road to Hana” day started like any other, we woke up at the crack of dawn and headed out for what was soon to be an eventful day. We found a quaint outdoor cafe to have breakfast at called Paia coffee house. We ordered a bagel, some banana bread, a coffee and a fresh juice. As we were waiting for our number to be called, Rikun got a random Emergency Alert on his phone. All of a sudden, the same alert sound could be heard going off around us on other people’s phones at the cafe. People started looking around at each other to see what was going on.
Pause for a second… Try to imagine your worst day in the office… Now imagine setting off a false ballistic missile alarm to the entire state of Hawai’i. Kind of pales in comparison, no?
We received the alert and were immediately so confused. This was also around the same time where tensions were high in Hawaii given the current events with North Korea.
Was this normal for Hawaiians? Was it a false alarm? We immediately called Rikun’s brother and Maya’s dad to check the news. Nothing was on the headlines, but then again if this was real you’d assume those in the area would get the notification first. So that left us back at square one. That’s when things began to pick up. People out in shorts, tank tops and flip flops on what was a beautiful morning, all of a sudden start panicking and running – grabbing their kids, running home, leaving their cars running in the middle of the street, seeking shelter. The two of us literally had nowhere to run, so it was in this moment we probably learned more about each other than any conversation could teach us. We decided to pack up our stuff and continue our journey to Hana. If the world was going to end, we were going to be doing what we loved most – listening to music, exploring new corners of the world, and talking to each other. Drop the roof down on the jeep and give us a view of that beautiful sky, we were on our way. A few hours into our journey, and as you may recall, it was reported to be a false alarm 🙂 The side effect of this was a completely open road. Not a car in sight as we continued our road trip around the mountain.
Our first stop was the expansive Honomanū Bay lookout.
Then, we stopped off at the Ke’Anae Peninsula to see the exotic black rock beach created from volcanic eruptions and to pick up some of Aunty Sandy’s delicious banana bread!
We passed through the upper Waikani falls and stopped to admire the gushing waterfall.
Next up was Coconut Glen’s for a scoop of fresh coconut ice cream. A perfect refresher while cruising through the hot weather.
Wai’anapanapa’s black sand beach was next where we meandered along the rocks and watched the powerful waves crash along the cliffs. We crossed the beach just before high tide so we didn’t get stuck!
We grabbed lunch at a food truck in Hana town called Ae’s Thai Kitchen. We ordered a massive plate of pad see ew noodles and got some cold drinks to cool us off.
We entered Haleakala National Park from the Kipahulu Visitor Center and hiked to the the Seven Sacred Pools at Ohe’o Gulch.
We journeyed on to make our way around the entire Mount Haleakala and led a 5 car caravan on the winding, dirt roads all the way to Tedeschi Vineyards. It felt like a screaming success of a road trip when we finally sat down for a glass of celebratory wine and a plate of charcuterie on the outdoor patio while recounting all of our scariest and more exciting moments with the drivers of our caravan.
We began our journey to the hotel just as the sun was beginning to set. We obviously decided to pull the Wrangler off road onto a slight outpost to take in the breathtaking sight we were seeing. We admired the sunset from atop our roof and thought to ourselves, if this was truly our last day on Earth, it was exactly how we would have wanted to spend it.
On the way home we felt a little peckish so we made a quick stop at a taco truck in Lahaina called Ono Tacos. We sat at the picnic tables next to the truck and enjoyed some tacos and looked back on the rollercoaster of a day we just had.
36 Hours Left…
Since Maya had last been to Maui some 10 years prior, the summit of Haleakala became restricted at sunrise to those with advanced purchase tickets. Unfortunately, we couldn’t snag any last minute, so instead we drove over to a neighborhood near Io Needle to watch the sunrise against Mount Haleakala.
We drove back over to Paia Coffee House, the breakfast spot we were supposed to eat the previous day, to have the breakfast we never received. The staff were so excited to see us and celebrate the fact that we were all still alive!
With our bellies full we set our sights high! we drove up the mountain to the summit of Haleakala National Park to admire the view from 10,000 feet and bask in the sunshine. It is truly an amazing feeling to stand in the crater of a volcano – the same one that is responsible for the creation of the entire island.
We drove back down and stopped at Ba Le for a hearty bowl of pho and some spicy shrimp and noodles for lunch. That definitely hit the spot!
After picking up a case of beer and some snacks, we headed to one of our favorite spots, Makena Big Beach for some solitude in the sand. We took a windy boat ride out to Molokini Crater for some amazing snorkeling as well.
For dinner, we tried out Star Noodle in Lahaina where we had wontons, ramen, udon, and some crispy tings. You can never have too many noodles.
12 Hours Left…
On our last day in paradise, we spent most of the day beach bumming in Ka’anapali. We walked around Whalers village to grab some ice cream and stopped for a large glass of lemonade at the stand along the boardwalk. For a mid-afternoon bite and drink, we sat down for happy hour at Monkeypod where we munched on some potstickers and sweet potato fries, sipped on a few beers and enjoyed some live music while staring off into the ocean asking ourselves, why do weekends have to end?
After happy hour we took one last dip in the pool before the journey back. We checked out of our hotel, dropped our rental car off, and were on a red-eye home to SFO around 10pm.
