Sunday, November 9, 2014

Maui Day 8: Upcountry Tour and Departure

On our last day we managed to sleep until 6:30 am--a record!  Ben called down to the front desk to confirm we had our 2:00 pm late checkout as promised.  But we didn't.  But they gave us until 1:00 pm which would have to do.

Last sunrise:


At around 7:30 am we packed up and went down to the beach one last time to see if we could maybe snorkel but the flag was still yellow/red.  The beach was really lovely at this time of day with no one around and I got some great pictures.








I realized I had not yet taken a picture of the Four Seasons from the beach.




We had a nice time in the ocean practically all by ourselves.  As we stood there looking at the beach one last time together, I told Ben, look, you can see our shadow!


I wanted to stay and stay and never leave.  I let out a huge sigh as we walked back up the stairs from the beach for the last time.

All was not lost though because our plane didn't leave until 6:00 pm so we still had pretty much a full day ahead of us.  We had thought about just having another beach/resort day but it was cooler now and Ben had gotten too much sun the day before. So I went back to my original plan which was to drive to Upcountry for breakfast and a tour of the Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm, which I really wanted to see.

http://www.aliikulalavender.com/t-discover-akl.aspx

I had heard the views were beautiful and I wanted to get my sister some lavender tea.  Then we could drive to Paia for lunch and see the surfers at Ho'okipa Lookout which would be fun because the reports said the waves were 30 ft. high up there.  We looked at the Upcountry website and it said it was sunny and the high would be 72.  So we had our plan.

Before we went back up to our room, I told Ben I wanted to go down to the courtyard we could see out our window and take a few pictures.








So by the time we had showered, packed, checked out (*sob*) and were ready to hit the road, it was almost 10:00 am.  We went down to get our Fusion for the last time and said goodbye to the wonderful Four Seasons staff. 

I had wanted to have breakfast at Grandma's Coffee House in Upcountry, but that was an hour away and we were both hungry.  So I suggested Da Kitchen in Kihei, since I knew we couldn't have lunch at the one by the airport since it is closed on Sunday.  So we told Google Siri and off we went.


We found it easily and yay, there was actually parking.  I had in my notes breakfast was served until 10:30 am so we just made it.  I told Ben he could order breakfast or lunch. So he asked for a suggestion and was told to get the teriyaki beef fried noodles.  I got Da Kitchen Omelet which came with either rice or potatoes.



I wish I had asked for a suggestion because Ben's noodles were delicious.  I liked my omelet Ok though, it just wasn't as good as what Ben got.

We knew we needed to use the restroom before our long drive so we went looking for one and stopped in a little shop called Heaven on Maui.  I found the cutest Christmas ornament for my tree, which is all silver and gold.  So we asked for the code to the restroom while we were there and then we were ready to hit the road.

The drive Upcountry was nice and easy.  We kept watching the temperature on the Fusion drop as we drove up.  When we got to the lavender farm, it read 68 degrees.  I do wish we had gotten there just a little earlier, because there were a few clouds once we got there, but not many.

We got there just in time for the 11:30 am tour, however they give you a map so I told Ben, let's save the $24 and just walk around ourselves.  I knew I would want to stop and take too many pictures to take a tour anyway and would just hold up the whole thing.  Ben agreed.

I took about 1,200 pictures at the lavender farm.  I loved it and it smelled so good.  There wasn't much lavender in bloom in November but it was still beautiful anyway.  Here are just a few of my favorites:












At the gift shop, I got my tea for my sister and Ben wanted a drink so he chose a cold lavender tea.  I told him I wanted a scone so we got that and ate outside on the patio.  I didn't have a good view from there but here is the view from right next to it:



The scone was $3 and big enough for us to share.  They have lavender honey and liliko'i jelly for you to put on your scone.  Liliko'i is Hawaiian passionfruit.  I have heard people talk about it but I had never tried it.  Boy, I know now what all the fuss is about.  It was delicious.  Especially on that scone with butter.  The next time I go to Maui, whenever I see liliko'i anything, I'm getting it.  I ended up ordering some scone mix and the jelly once we got home and we had it for breakfast on Christmas morning.

After our snack, we talked about else we could do in that area as we still had time and weren't ready for lunch.  I told him about the Surfing Goat Dairy and the Ocean Vodka Distillery nearby.  Both have tours and samples.  Ben loves goats so I knew he would want to go to the dairy and Ocean Vodka is right next to it so it's easy to do both.  But I had in my notes that the last tour at the dairy was at 1:00 pm (I love being a planner) so we needed to go there first as it was now 12:30 pm and it was about a 20 minute drive from the lavender farm.

We made it just in time for the 1:00 pm tour and signed up.  You get a brief history of the farm, you get to pet and feed goats (which I knew Ben would love), you see where they milk the goats and pasteurize the milk, and it ends with a goat cheese tasting.  It was fun and well worth $10 per person, especially since that cost helps keep the farm up and running.

Ben gets to see his goats:





Our tour guide at the cheese tasting:


I love goat cheese and it was all delicious.  We got to try 6 cheeses.  My favorite one was a slightly spicy one with jalapeno and cilantro.  Mmmm.  They don't give you any water though which would have been nice.  Afterwards, we went to the gift shop and I got a papaya goat milk soap for my mom and Ben got a T-shirt.

So now it was after 2:00 pm and we discussed going to Ocean Vodka but Ben said he was tired of walking and really didn't need a whole flight of vodka before a plane ride home.  Plus it is a 45-minute tour which we felt was pushing the time just a little.  So we decided to head to Paia for lunch.

So once again, we try to find a parking spot in Paia but it's a total fail.  It's really crowded now, probably because everyone was coming to see the high surf.  It was insane. I told Ben don't go too far out of the way because we don't want to end up on the Road to Hana--I pictured us missing the lookout entirely and ending up on that crazy curvy one-lane road with no way to turn around.  I'm kind of devastated we missed seeing the crazy waves and the surfers. 

So now we have all this time to kill and we know we have to eat before our 7-hour flight because our snacks have diminished during the trip.  I think we're down to a bag of semi-crushed Cheez-Its.  Ben asks me for suggestions but at this point, I'm no help.  We finally stop at a Lexus dealership and ask for a suggestion.  The nice salesman suggests a restaurant called Marco's Grill nearby.

So we go there and have our last Maui meal.  I don't have much of an appetite so I get a sausage flatbread appetizer and Ben gets a turkey Caesar wrap.  It does the job but that's about it.  It was better than Burger King though.

We get back to Alamo and turn in our car and get checked in at the airport.  The security line is long too so I'm glad we're early.  Once through, we see a restaurant called Sammy's and decide to stop for one last cocktail.


And with that, our wonderful anniversary trip was over and we bid Aloha to Maui.


But we will be back.  Our next trip will not be like this one--this was a once every five years type of trip.  But we think we could be happy staying at a condo where we could mix our own drinks, maybe cook a meal or two.  We want to be where we can rent snorkel gear for the whole week and walk to some beaches, not have to worry about driving or parking or being anywhere at a certain time.  Lay by the pool by the ocean, see a sunset from our lanai.  Walk to a restaurant and get fish tacos.  As long I'm with my husband, everywhere is the Four Seasons.

Mahalo for reading.


Saturday, November 8, 2014

Maui Day 7: Beach day and one last toast to Maui

Day 7:  Our day of lasts.  Last full day.  Last beach day.  Last sunset.  *Sigh.*

But it's not over yet.  We must have been anxious to get started because we were up at 5:30 am. There was supposed to be a front coming in and when we went out on the lanai, we could already see that it was cooler and a little windy.  We weren't sure what this would do to our snorkel plans.

We went down to the beach right at 7:00 am and saw the red flag indicating rough conditions.  But just because it was rough on Wailea beach didn't necessarily mean it would be rough everywhere right?

Well if it is rough on Wailea beach, the Four Seasons won't give you any snorkel gear.  The lady explained there was a current and said to give it a while to see if it calmed down.

So we went down to Duo's for breakfast.  It was really chilly too as it was windy and I just had on my swimsuit with a coverup.  I sipped my smoothie while Ben ate breakfast.  I was getting a case of the blues.  This wasn't looking like a very good last day.

After breakfast, we went down to the beach again but the conditions had not changed.  We tried to sit by the beach for awhile and saw a rainbow.


It was too cool for me to sit outside so we decided to make other plans.  We didn't have our phones with us so we went back to the room to check out the conditions Upcountry to see if we could go there.  Ben found a really good weather website for Upcountry which said it was raining.  Ok, so that's out.

We finally just decide to go to Ulua Beach and hang out even if we couldn't snorkel.  So we pack our beach bag and grab some towels from the Four Seasons and head down there on the beach path.

This turned out to be one of my favorite beaches.  It was pretty with only moderate waves.  We played in the waves for awhile.





The next beach, Mokapu, was just a short walk over so after a bit, we walked there.




I took a picture of the Andaz.


After a little while, the wind kicked up and blew sand on us so we decided to walk back to Wailea beach.  We wanted to sit out on Wailea beach but the Four Seasons wouldn't put the umbrellas up because of the wind.  There was no way Ben could be out on the beach all day with no shade.  And even with the front, it had reached 79 degrees.  So that meant we had to stay at the pool. 

We walked around and finally found one lonely pool cabana on the very end of a back row.  We pooled and hot tubbed it all day and split a cheeseburger for lunch.  The hot tub felt great since the wind was a little chilly for me.

The Four Seasons comes around with all kinds of snacks and treats during the day.  One of the treats is cool towels and cucumbers.  I put mine in my water and made cucumber water.  Ben did this:


Around 3:00 pm, I looked over at him and saw how red he was and told him we needed to go.  Stick a fork in Ben, he's done!  We went upstairs and showered and I watched some college football and packed (*sniff*) until it was time for the Great Dinner Debate.  We must have looked up a half a dozen Wailea restaurants on Yelp but couldn't decide on anything.

We both wanted to see the Fairmont Kea Lani so we finally decided to just have pupus and cocktails in their Luana Lounge.  I told Ben we couldn't miss our last sunset, so we walked over to Polo Beach.




As we walked up after sunset, we saw the Fairmont's tiki lighting ceremony beginning.  The Four Seasons also had this ceremony but I was never able to get a good picture of it.


I liked the grounds of the Fairmont.  I loved the lush greenery and the tiki torches.



I also liked the Luana Lounge as it was open air with a little bit of a view.



We started with sushi and cocktails.  I got the Blue Wailea which is their version of a Blue Hawaiian.  It matched my mood I guess.  It was all just Ok, nothing was great.  I wished we had just gone back to Monkeypod.  But I was happy to have gotten to see the resort.


We had the Four Seasons come and get us since it was after dark now.  We looked at the Lobby Bar when we got back but I just wasn't in the mood.  So Ben said, let's go up to our room and drink the rest of our champagne on the lanai.  So that is what we did with our last evening.  One last toast to Maui, and to talk about what a wonderful trip it had been.


Tomorrow is departure day but we were determined to make the most of it.