Saturday - Surf and Suds

Sorry for the long absence. We were not going out enough to have fun blog stuff. This past past weekend was a pretty good one. Saturday we went to the Maui Ocean Center. It was a lovely freebie from our cable company. The passes were a welcome treat. It is much larger than Sea Life Park in our perspective, but no Sea World.


After seeing all the beautiful fish, we were thinking about a salt water tank of our own. I heard they are more difficult than the standard aquarium, but they are just so beautiful.


Ever since we considered living on Maui, I have wanted to visit the Maui Brewing Company. When we did arrive, we found it closed for renovations. (bummer) I read in the paper that it just reopened. This is the sampler. It had the IPA, Bikini Blonde Lager, Coconut Porter and the seasonal Xtra Pale Ale. Delicious. We took home a growler of the Xtra Pale draught.


The decor was fun. There are beer keg lights if you can see them. Also in this picture are some of the tanks of beer. They also installed a frost bar. When sitting on the bar, there is a icy strip to place your beer to keep you glass cold between sips. How awesome is that!?

Upcountry

This weekend we went a little upcountry. We tried to go to Makawao. That steep incline was not easy on our 4 cylinder car. The town itself was a bit of a let down of overpriced boutiques and a main drag that made Haleiwa seem huge.


We probably should have looked around more but we thought we would go to Haiku, big mistake. We took a sign saying east and went through a course that wound through narrow country roads. We stopped to ask these nice group of locals for directions. Cows do not give good directions. Luckily a nice couple stopped at an intersection and pointed us back to Hana Hwy. We did get to Haiku because if not, we were going to die of bladder overload. Being tired and hungry, we gave up and went home soon after. Next time I will be more prepared. It was beautiful site seeing though.

Ninjas rock

Long lazy weekend

It was a lazy Labor Day weekend for us. This weekend we just hit the gym and decided to catch up on some reading. On Saturday morning we tried a bit of a bike ride down the southern coast of Kihei town. As you can see we encountered this giant statue of a whale. The material below is polished glass bits made to shine like it is water.  There was also pigeon racing. Yep, pigeon racing!? Some trucks were lined up with crates of birds which were released and race to another site on the island. It was something to see all those birds take flight and swirl around before disappearing out of sight. 
This is a picture facing Southwest you can see a little of Molokini between the handle bars.

I am constantly reminded how Maui is so different from Oahu. On Saturday, some caucasian girl with a Hawaiian name told us that she had never been to Oahu and that she heard it is like the mainland. Wow! She needs to get out more. 

Things we miss on Oahu right now! :

Split Obsession, BC Burrito,  Gecko Books, Marukai 99 cent, Don Quijote, The Varsity, Tamura's, Leo's Greek Taverna and not forgetting to mention our friends and families too.  

If anybody knows of a good place like asian grocery stores or dollar stores, let us know. 

Pa'ia

This past weekend we went to Pa'ia. We heard it was like Haleiwa, but we did not get that impression. It was a very short stay in this micro town. They have an awesome grocery store that kicks Down To Earths butt on organic and natural products, and as a bonus they have organic meats too. Unfortunately it is not worth the drive to shop there all the time. 

A lot of the restaurants use local products such as milk, cheese, grains, and veggies. One place that was so good was this gelato shop. We tried two flavors lilikoi & pistachio. I do not like that sweet of fruit, but the pistachio was the best gelato I have ever had in America. 

On the way back, I had her try this Mexican hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Fernando's. Delicious! I had the chili rellenos and she had the ceviche tostadas. We recommend them.

To puppy or not to puppy

This weekend we went on a dog hunt. Unlike Oahu there are no puppies at the pet stores. We drove around to check at a few pet stores. There is one but often they just have "pig dogs" and pit bulls. We have a 25 lb. or less for this apartment. We went to the Humane Society after the pet shops. We did see two dogs we were interested in but they were already in adoption process. 

We then found a breeder of miniature schnauzers and visited them. These dogs were amazing. They were healthy, strong and nearly house trained. The parents we on site and these guys were quite well behaved. Naomi was ready to run home for the checkbook right there. I said we needed to think about it more. We went home and really tore ourselves up on the issue. I like the breed, but I want a short hair dog right now because we want a dog to take to the beach and hiking. So we had to pass. Now we have a better picture of what we have in mind. The odds are that we will have to go to Oahu to get our dog. 

On another note, we had Guri Guri ice cream. (Big thumbs up) Then, we headed up into the Iao Valley. That is some drive to start out in the desert like conditions into this rain forest style valley. We did not stop to do the hike because it was packed. We will go back later to take our time. This pic was taken at a turn off before the park at the top. 

Surprise... Surprise... Surprise

We got a little shock this morning after our morning shower. Naomi went to wash her face in the sink and discovered this fine fellow in the sink. We had heard there were centipedes in the area but did not expect to see one in our own house so soon. Now I normal traipse around the house in my bare feet at all hours of the night. I will reconsider this idea now. It was fun trying to kill it wearing while only wearing a towel. Naomi was on guard duty to make sure it did not leave the sink while I went to get various items to kill it. It started off with a half can of ant killer. (barely stunned it), then there were my dress shoes, but because the soles are foam rubber, it could not crush its skull(?)/shell completely. It was still madly twitching. Finally there was the scissors. I cut that evil buggers head off, with count them: 2 cuts. Geez! The head went down the drain and the body was shoveled to the commode and flushed. (just in case it is vampire like, I separated head from body to prevent reanimation.) 

Checking out Lahaina

This weekend we went to Lahaina. It was an interesting and slightly nauseating ride on the snaking road. Naomi got a little car sick. It was cool in the shade, but watch out if you step out into the sunlight. Poof! Believe it or not this moment was right before the streets filled with people. 
From Front St., you have a very nice view of Lanai. Feels like I could almost swim there. 
We had lunch here at BJ's Chicago Pizza. We saw it on a map advertised as Maui's only Chicago Style pizza. We ordered a medium and it was nearly two inches thick. We were so hungry that we forgot to take a picture. We had their specialty, but added anchovies. Delicious! We stayed about two hours just strolling along the board walk. We will comeback at a less busy time of the year. I want to ride the Atlantis Submarine. Dorky, but I can guarantee that no tiger shark will take a bite out of me while in that hunk of tin. 

Settling in

As you all know, finding a new place is a pain in the butt. All the calls, the driving around with a map on the front seat and touring all those places. I hate it. We found a place and signed a lease on Saturday. It is neither near beach nor the the mountains. It seems alright so far. I hope it is not the ghetto in disguise. 

Now it is a matter of turning on all the utilities, getting our stuff delivered and organizing. The real fun begins...

One other gripe I have. People in Maui can not park. I do not know if it is the locals or the tourists. They park over the stall line taking up a two stalls, putting the SUV in the compact spot and have very little care for their cars. I grip because cause some A-hole has already dented my car on my passenger side. I lived on Oahu with that car for 11 years, yet 1 week in Maui and bang. Now I will park a mile away or in a protected single stall. Crazy! 

The first real day in Maui

We are now in Kihei. Trying to find your way in the dark is a real nightmare. We got temporary lost and over shot our hotel. Not too bad because there are only two main roads. We checked in and decided to have a couple beers and pupus before bed at hotel restaurant.

It is so gorgeous here. When the sun came up, I was blown away by it cresting over Haleakala and shining on Lanai. I forgot my camera so that will be coming soon. Naomi's job site really is almost as south as possible. Her trailer has a great view of Lanai (coming soon).

I have found the basics so far. Post Office, Foodland, Star Market, Safeway, the bank and of course... Longs! 

On the high sea

Naomi flew while I decided to take the Superferry with the car. If you don't get seasick, I totally recommend it as the best way to go. It takes a few hours, but it was worth the experience.  First thing you must do is make sure you have a clean car for invasive species prevention. 

Once your on your way, enjoy the view. The best part was passing through the channel between Molokai and Lanai (Molokai pictured). I recommend bring your favorite songs on your player to create your own cheesy sound track. [about this time, it was Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" ...on midnight train going anywhere......] ha-ha. 

The empty apartment

You have no idea how much stuff you have or how dirty your house really was until you move. We say good bye to our little apartment. 

Moving to Maui

Moving is huge thing. We are on our way from Honolulu to Maui. There was so much to do: Movers, booking transportation for us, cleaning & cleaning & cleaning up the old apartment and all while suffering through plumber coming in to fix our leaking toilet pipe. Fun!

We decided to document our little trip. Our little friend volunteered to pose for pictures.