Maui Anniversary Trip Day 8: Aloha Maui!

Well it’s here, the dreaded last day on Maui.  But since our flight isn't until 11 pm, we have booked the condo for the entire day, a tip I learned on Trip Advisor.  Not having to rush to check out of the condo, or having to pack right away is great and we have a full day to enjoy Maui.

Out on the lanai, we eat up the last of our banana bread and bagels for breakfast and talk about how we want to spend our last day. 

We want to spend some time at the pool again but it’s such a beautiful breezy morning, we both think we’d like to take a walk somewhere. 

So Ben suggests we make the walk to Whaler’s Village in Kaanapali and do some shopping.  I tell him I want to get my last lava flow at the Tiki Bar at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel.  

We walk the beach walk to the Royal Lahaina hotel next door to our condo and go in and look around since we haven’t seen it before.  Ben spies the Royal Scoop and says he wants ice cream on the way back.  

We walk through the hotel until we are back on the beach path and walk that to the Sheraton.  It’s a beautiful walk.

A view of north Kaanapali Beach.  The tall building is the Royal Lahaina and our condo is right next door.

The workers at the Marriott Hotels in Hawaii were on strike during our stay.  The Sheraton is like a ghost town, it just looks really drab and sad.  We felt sorry for the people staying there as the hotel did not even inform them ahead of time.

We walk to Whaler's Village and find a gift for Nick for taking us to the airport and jelly for Ben's  mom.  I had gotten jelly for my mom at the farmer’s market.   (I ended up keeping these in my carry on and the TSA confiscated them!  Although we walked about 5 feet and bought the same jelly for double the price in the gift shop!)

We are the first customers at the Tiki Bar.  I had a really good lava flow here a couple of trips ago that was probably the best one I’ve had on Maui (besides the ones we make ourselves).  It’s just as I remembered, yummy!

We hit up Royal Scoop for Ben on the way back.  

Then we spend a little time at the pool until it's time to start the dreaded packing.

For lunch we decide to try Auntie’s Kitchen at the Westin Villas since it was next door to our condo and we didn’t want to walk too far.  It's our last walk down the beach path.

I get the mahi mahi plate and Ben gets the kalua pork plate.  My fish is good but nothing else is really that great.  I ended up wishing we had just gone back to the fish market.

Back at the condo, we turn on the Cowboy game and pack and clean up the condo.  I sit on the lanai for the last time and say goodbye to the birds and then we go down to the beach for the last wonderful sunset of the trip.  

The moment I have to turn and head back up the beach to the condo is a sad one.  We stroll around the property one last time before leaving for the airport, our wonderful trip now over.  We had a great time as always.  

So our next trip to Hawaii will be this same time next year for our 10-year wedding anniversary.  We are spending three nights on Oahu and then taking the Norwegian cruise with Ben's family as their anniversary gift to us and also to celebrate Fran's retirement.  I have already started researching to make sure we see all we can.  We are all excited but it sure will be hard to wait a year!  

Then in May of 2020, we have plans to bring my mom to visit Kauai and Maui so that will be very special and my mom is already dreaming about it.  So we have a lot to look forward to.  Aloha Maui, we will see you soon!

Maui Anniversary Trip Day 7: Pool day

Today is technically our last day but it doesn’t feel like it since we have a full day tomorrow before our flight home.  We decide we have not done enough relaxing so today we are just spending the day at the pool.   

We take stock of our pantry situation and decide we need a few things so we make an early morning market run.  With shopping done, we decide to get a walk in before the expected showers come.  

We walk back down to Duke’s for breakfast enjoying the scenery along the way.

There were a couple of cats along the path that always enjoyed some attention from Ben.

For breakfast, I get the traditional breakfast and Ben gets the ahi tuna benedict.  

During our walk back, the rain comes but it’s just a light shower and I am prepared wearing sneakers and a hat and a hoodie.  We sit out on the lanai for a while watching the rain, looking at pictures and talking.  

When the rain lets up, we go down to the small pool and then the bigger one and stay out all afternoon.  It sprinkles here and there but it's nothing serious enough to make us leave our pool chairs!

I love how relaxed we look!

On the way back to the condo, I took some pictures of the Hawaiian flowers on the property.

We decide to pick up takeout from Maui Fish Market for dinner, another one of our favorites.  I get my baja fish taco plate, yum.  

Then it’s a repeat of sunset and hot tub before bed.  I didn’t think we would get a good sunset because of all the rain but it’s the best one of the week.  We discovered a little path right to the beach so we watch sunset from the beach.  

I am so glad we still have one more Maui sunset before we have to leave.