Gone To Maui {Part Three}

Recaps so far:

• Part One
• Part Two

Our final day in Maui began with a walk down Wailea Beach.

We weren’t walking aimlessly – there was a final destination in mind! As I mentioned in an earlier post, an amazing coincidence put two of our friends – Joe and Nadia – on the same flight as us. We had no idea they were headed to Maui and, as it turned out, staying on the exact same part of the island for their honeymoon. When they mentioned meeting up at Mulligan’s On the Blue for some Sunday morning football, the answer was a no brainer. Of course!

I was bummed that my Packers wouldn’t be playing until later on in the day, but since I was outnumbered by Vikings fans three to one, I decided to appease them. 😉

We ordered a round of celebratory mimosas. It’s not every day you run into good friends on Maui.

Nadia and Joe are fellow high school sweethearts from our alma mater. We attended their wedding last year in Minnesota, and can now say we attended part of their honeymoon in Hawaii, as well. 🙂 All jokes aside, it was really good to see them, and even though the Minnesotans beloved Vikings lost, we had a lot of fun watching and catching up. If only they lived closer on the mainland!

I also couldn’t resist trying the breakfast burrito, which was as delicious as it looks.

After the game, Joe and Nadia got back to their honeymoon while Bobby and I made our way back to the hotel to begin our drive toward the most daunting adventure of the trip. From beach…

…back to volcanoes. The location? Kaanapali. The challenge? Ziplining!

We knew there was no turning back when the driver from Skyline Eco Adventures veered left and we were suddenly off the main road. The ride up to 1,800 feet was a bit bumpy, to say the least. It helped take my mind off what I was about to do!

I have a pretty intense fear of heights (don’t let my expression fool you). And we happened to pick the course with eight ziplines (most of them have five) to get those gorgeous ocean views.

The lines ranged from 500 to 1,200 feet, and at times we were 150 feet above ground with nothing but trees below us. Although it took some deep breathing to get me off of that first platform, I have to admit that once I got started I didn’t want it to end. The views were breathtaking and we picked up some good speed, especially when the wind was with us!

Here’s one of my zips:

And one of Bobby’s:

We look pretty natural out there, right? 😉 After the first four ziplines, our awesome instructors brought us to an overlook point for lunch. The surroundings were beautiful from every angle.

Our lunch was a teriyaki chicken sandwich with chips and a brownie. It was included as part of the package – overall I was really impressed with everything that Skyline Eco Adventures put together.

Once everyone had had a chance to refuel, we began the next leg of our ziplining journey.

The final run, Hanakao’o, was the longest at 1,200 feet.

By the time my feet hit solid ground, I realized they were shaking as though I had done 100 lunges. That adrenaline rush took a lot out of me, but I’m so glad I conquered my fear – for one day at least!

When we got back to the store, I tried my first “pog” juice, a mix of passion fruit, orange and guava.

Once we said our goodbyes, we decided to head to Kaanapali Beach to cool off.

The water was a kaleidoscope of blues, and so clear you could see to the bottom.

And then we turned around and saw a Maui rainbow to round out the trip.

We made our way to Star Noodle for dinner, another recommendation from Melissa.

Our waiter convinced us to try the sangria special – not that he needed to do much convincing.

He also recommended that we share a few of the menu items. We started out with the Pad Thai, served with chicken and shrimp. It was my favorite of the three.

We also ordered the steamed pork buns with hoisin, shiitake and cucumber…

…and the hot and sour soup, which was scrumptious with smoked prosciutto, shrimp, cilantro, Thai basil, bean sprouts and fried garlic. It was the perfect amount of food for the two of us.

After dinner, we drove back to Front Street in Lahaina to catch one last Maui sunset.

We had a little more time to spare before our red eye flight, so we decided to check out a few of the shops along the street, including a dessert stop at Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice.

Passion orange, blue raspberry and strawberry – the food version of a Maui rainbow! I loved how snowy the ice was. We would have had a few more of these if we’d been in town a little longer.

But with one last slurp of sugary syrup, we were off to the airport. Cheers to a great trip!

Happy first day of fall, everyone!  What are you up to this weekend?

Abrazos,