My mom surprised my sister, Tiffany, and I with an amazing gift in June 2014. She took us to Maui! This was only our second official mother/daughter trip and the first of this caliber. It was a long time coming. {ages 61, 40 and 33} Our mother is a planner and so she told us about the trip with plenty of time for us to anticipate and plan seven days in paradise. She told us 15 months before our plane departed.
It was no secret that I was very anxious about leaving Angel Baby, Cowboy and Cowgirl for that long and flying so far away because I had never done anything like that…ever. {The furthest I had gone was Jamaica for four nights and that was before Angel Baby surprised us.} It all worked out great for my husband to take a couple days off work and my mother-in-law and teenage niece came in town to wrangle the kids for five days. {They were exhausted and ready for a vacation themselves after managing this house.}
I chronicled the entire trip on social media via FB, Twitter and Instagram, but I didn't get to share the funny stories and experiences that we had in detail. It was a snap here, a click there so now is the time to catch up. The messy laundry room can wait another half hour.
DAY 1
My car service, ahem step-dad's pick up truck, arrived in my driveway at FIVE A.M. on Thursday, June 19th and we threw my bags in the back along with everyone else's and drove to the airport for our departure. A trip to Maui will wake me up quick, even with only four meager hours of sleep the night before takeoff. At the airport we dined on Wendy's breakfast sandwiches and coffee when I had this idea to tear the Wendy from the takeout bag and take her along for the ride. Flat Wendy if you will, so you will see pics of her with us, but not too many b/c my husband told me that was "weird" and no one would get my humor. {I told him he was wrong and a few days later he saw someone on his feed post a pic of them with Flat Stanley somewhere exotic. haha.}
We flew United Airlines (on frequent flier points that my mother worked very hard to earn and save so that our tickets cost only $30 TOTAL. She is an airline-points-earning guru.) The flight to LAX was uneventful, other than the instant nausea I experienced when the plane took off. (I used the vomit bag as my book marker for the entire trip just in case.) We had a short two our stop at LAX where I found a very dirty outlet to plug in and charge my iPhone and ate a quick bite from WolfGang Puck's little airport bistro. The flight to Maui dragged on forever to me but I was glad we were so high and had such cloud cover that I couldn't see the never-ending ocean beneath us. I sat on the aisle for that reason too. We landed sometime around 1 p.m. if I recall and headed to the rental car station.
Mom had purchased a deal from her hotel that included a rental car, or should we say clown car? It was some type of tiny dodge or chevy and we couldn't fit our three carry-ons in the trunk…forget about the three checked bags, two back packs and giant purse. "Somebody rented my car and it's much too small for our luggage." So Mom upgraded to a Nissan Altima. We could fit two checked bags in the trunk and maybe one carry-on. "Somebody rented my car too and it's STILL too small for all our luggage as well." Back inside Mom went and upgraded yet again to a four door Jeep Wrangler. Perfect fit! "Somebody rented my car and got a super rad Jeep and everything fits just fine!" An hour or so later and we were on the road to the hotel and haaaaaaawngry!
Mom always (as in eight times) stays at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel on Kaanapali Beach. Yes she has stayed other places but this one is her ultimate favorite. It is the oldest hotel on Kaanapali and touts itself as being the most authentic Hawaiin hotel. Both statements are true. The decor in the lobby made me instantly think I was traveling with the Brady Bunch. (an observation mom, not a complaint) I wish I had taken a pic but I didn't think of it. The staff at the hotel was fantastic. I'm talking super nice people. I didn't see one grumbling person and they were all locals. The grounds were full of gorgeous, mature Hawaiian plants and it smelled divine. Our room was a basic hotel room, but our view was INCREDIBLE. Seriously, just gorgeous. We were on the fifth floor and looked out towards Black Rock and the beach, but turn your head 45 degrees and you saw gorgeous mountains carpeted in green.
If I remember correctly we unpacked and got back in the car to get the "lay of the land". {We learned on this trip that our mama likes to say "lay of the land" and always spends time the first day driving around to get accustomed to her new surroundings.} Mom had never gone to Hawaii without her husband and he always drives so she was a little anxious about being behind the wheel all week, but she did just fine…well most of the time. ;0) We drove north towards Napili Bay and stopped along the coast for plenty of photo ops. Mom pointed out several places she likes to stop and shop along the way and then we headed back to the resort to get ready for dinner. A quick walk down the path along the beach led us to Whaler's Village where we ate dinner at Leilani's. I think we all had Ono (a white fish with a texture and density much like chicken. It really has no flavor of its own and takes on whatever seasoning you add to it). Then we walked through Whaler's village to look at some shops and I was itching to get my feet in the Pacific Ocean so we made our way to the beach for a short stroll back to our hotel where we sat for a bit to watch their nightly hula show. I know we were in bed by 9 p.m. I slept with Tiffany, wore ear plugs b/c she said her husband says she snores now and Mom got a bed to herself. Aloha Day 1!
{Click on the pics below to see the Day 1 gallery}
