Hearts in Hawai'i
Our Trip to Maui (2012)--Day 19
5/10/2012
The Final Day
We both slept in until 7:00. Did I mention how much I like sitting on the lanai early in the morning with a cup of coffee, watching the sun illuminating Lanai in the distance and listening to the ocean? This is how nearly every morning has started during our vacation.
After eating, I double checked to see if our Day Room was available. It was, and we’re only moving one room away, to Room 513! This makes the move much easier as we can just pick up and carry the smaller items which we haven’t packed yet.
We preferred this new room to 515 even though no renovations had yet been done to it. Without the Murphy Bed, it opened up a couple more feet of space in the room. The TV is oriented opposite the bed as it has been in every room except 515. The closet is full-sized, which is nice. No bar stools, however. The freezer is slightly smaller. It is oriented the same as 609, with the bed on the left side of the room. The owner has not opted for the new doors installed in many of the units in 2009, so it opens from the right wall, instead of from the middle.
Patty loved the bed as well as the extra room, as do I. It will be our “back up choice” when requesting a room for our 2014 (or 2013) visit.
We participated in many activities during this trip. But what didn’t we do here?
Trip to Hana. I would actually like to spend a night there so we can explore the Pools of Oheo and Kipahulu at our leisure on the second day.
Trip to Molokai. We would love to see Kalaupapa. Not necessarily a trip down there, but to just view the peninsula.
Waihe`e Ridge trail hike
Lahaina Pali trail hike
These are all on the list for the next visit.
We are also considering a combination kayak/snorkel with Maui Kayaks. This is the tour which heads out from Olowalu.
By the way, the Olowalu General Store was a convenient little find, a quick place to stop off and pick up snacks and drinks on the way back from the central valley and South Maui.
Restaurants we want to go to next time—first, repeat places:
Kimo’s
Cilantro
Honu
Bubba Gumps
Colleen’s
Teddy's Bigger Burgers
New places:
Buzz’s Wharf
Three’s Bar & Grill
Joe’s in Wailea
Pacific`o
Pizza Madness
This list will undoubtedly change, perhaps drastically, before our next trip.
Not much left to do here—relax in the room, shower, go to Cool Cat Café for one final meal followed by a 5 p.m. check out.
Cool Cat was good but Teddy's Bigger Burgers was better and considerably cheaper.
After stopping off at the Shell station in Ma`alaea to top off the gas tank, we drove to the Alamo location at the Kahului Airport. Piece of cake, and we then got shuttled to the airport. The checked luggage had to go through agricultural inspection first. By now it was 6 p.m. but the Delta counter wouldn't open until 6:45. No big deal, since our flight wastn't scheduled to leave until 10:00. Once we got our boarding passes (more on that later), we went through security and then headed to gate 7. Having a few hours before our plane departed, we people watched and chatted with various people. There was a large group of early-teen musicians (I believe from Oahu) who filed in, probably 45 kids in all. They made quite the ruckus until one of the chaperones took them all aside and explained issues such as care, respect, caution. Basic stuff like that. His talk took probably twenty minutes. I commented to Patty that, at their age, the attention span is about ten minutes; after that, nothing else he says gets through.
Once we boarded the plane, all was fine. Overhead space was at a premium, however, and a couple people ended up having to check their carry-ons. I only slept a few minutes during the five hour flight from Kahului to Los Angeles, a flight which was 45 minutes late.
Then, once we got to LA, we found out the flight to Minneapolis had been cancelled and replaced with another flight and another plane, another pilot, etc. They printed up new boarding passes and we found ourselves upgraded (if you can call it that) from Zone 3 to Zone 2. This meant we would board the plane a few minutes faster. Also, there were about 70 unused seats on this flight, which is something I don’t recall ever seeing before. Some passengers ended up getting an entire row (three seats) to themselves. Nice for sleeping! No such luck for us, as seats 20D, E & F were all used. I was on the aisle. Once again, no sleep to be had on this flight.
We arrived in Minneapolis with with plenty of time to get to our next departure gate, which was nice because we have to go from one end of the airport to the other end. I started wondering if the changed flight would screw up our copper checked bag; in fact, I ended up making a bet with Patty on whether it will be there in Duluth. It was; she won.
Finally, in Duluth, Shar and Steve picked us up and drove us home. Home at last! I need sleep. Serious sleep.
Previous: 5/9/2012--Our Trip to Maui (2012)--Day 18
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