Thur 12/19: Kihei & Wailea

Woke up around 7am.  Sun was just coming up.  Played on my iPad for a while and finally got up around 8 and ate some breakfast at the condo.  I had cereal with soy milk.  Then we each had a papaya.

We researched Yelp and decided to drive to Kihei for lunch at Monkeypod Kitchen, Peter Merriman's casual restaurant on Maui.  We had gone to Merriman’s Mediterranean Café on the Big Island in 2008 and liked it. 

On the drive there, we stopped by the lookout point and took some photos. 

We didn't see any whales, unfortunately.  But this is the spot to see whales if you come to Maui.

The Pacific Whale Foundation was there and they keep close track of the date and time when whales are sighted.  Looked like we had just missed a sighting.

Then we drove on to Kihei.  I fell asleep on the way.  When we arrived at Monkeypod, there wasn't a wait.

I had the Reuben sandwich with garlic fries.

Todd had the fresh catch of the day fish sandwich and broccoli.  He said the sandwich was super-good.

After lunch, we stopped by Subway to get a Coke Zero.  Then we drove south to Wailea and checked out the Four Seasons Wailea and the beach there.

It was really beautiful there.  The beaches were pristine and the ocean was clear.

View from the Four Seasons.

They had a “ride” inside what looked like a big blown-up ball.  A boy got in there and tumbled around in there while they shot water in.  Looked like fun.

We also checked out The Grand Wailea.  

We had been here before with my parents in 2006, so it wasn’t really new.  But it was fun to check out the ritzy resorts on the southwest side of Maui!  After that, we drove back to Kaanapali and stopped by the pizza place across from our resort and got some haupia (coconut) gelato to share.  So delicious!

I actually really wanted Roselani’s ice cream, but we couldn’t find somewhere where they sold it by the scoop.  We stopped by several supermarkets and they only had the half gallon sizes.  Next time we go to Hawaii, I’m buying a half gallon of Roselani’s ice cream at the beginning of the trip and eating it the whole week!

Todd took a pre-sunset panoramic photo from our balcony.  It was gorgeous.

Around 5 15 we went downstairs to the pool area and checked out the sunset from the pool chairs.  It was really pretty.

Then we had a light dinner at the resort restaurant by the pool.  

I had fried calamari and Todd had Kalua Pork Sliders.

There was live music by this guy with a guitar and it was really nice.  He sang Hawaiian songs and Christmas songs, and some pop songs in a slack-key guitar style.  

After dinner, we went back upstairs to the condo and hung out and watched "Home Alone 2".  It was a nice relaxing day in paradise.  We went to bed very early because the next day is sunrise at Haleakala.  This is our 3rd time on Maui (1994 honeymoon, 2006 with my parents) and we had never gotten up for the sunrise at Haleakala!