Hawaii Days 2 and 3: Maybe just hanging around the resort is more fun

At the close of Day 3, sipping a pinot noir and listening to the waves crash, I have some time to ponder the last few days and have concluded that perhaps renting the car was somewhat unnecessary in Maui. Or at least, maybe it tempts you to do things that aren't as fun as they sound in the tour book. More on that in a moment.

Day 2 was an interesting mix. David and I started out the day by squeezing in my "long run" for the week. I am currently up to 11 miles - which is a distance that's surprisingly hard to do in West Maui without doing routes twice or running along a fairly busy highway. We got some advice from a concierge who happened to be a runner himself - advice that took us off the resort properties and up into "No Trespassing" territory in the hillsides above the coastal areas. Mostly we just ran back and forth along the coast, but here's a shot of David up in the field looking out toward Lanai in the distance.

That run nearly killed me. Running up the hillside midway through the run about did me in (1 mile at about 6%), and then we ran another 4-5 miles. That kind of running seems a little anti-aloha-spirit.

Ethan is a very persistent child, and ever since he golfed with David in Las Vegas this past Thanksgiving, he has been looking forward to golfing in Hawaii. He was so much of a broken record about it, that David finally gave in yesterday. That sucked away an entire afternoon, but Ethan really had the time of his life.

Lucy and I spent the afternoon at the Whaler Village shopping area (hence the whale bones in back of Lucy), and then did some extended ocean swimming/fish viewing. I won't call it snorkeling because our snorkel gear leaves more than a bit to be desired and we've given it up in favor of just swimming with goggles.




This was all followed with a nice steak dinner in the villa. Aside from my incessant whining and general crabbiness from excessive leg pain (I'd missed two runs during the week and was paying for it), all in all a nice relaxing day.

So what possessed us to leave this Eden today? The accursed guidebooks, that's what!

I think those of you who have been to Maui know what I'm going to say.... the Road to Hana.

It started off happy enough. We were all loaded up with dramamine, ready to take on anything the curves and David's driving could bring.




We even had good spirits while being rained on on our nature walk, an early stop. It is a rainforest, after all, although Ethan didn't so much enjoy slipping and falling in mud. Still, the general mood was pleasant and we were completely loving the rainforest scene.






Really, it was a bit like being in the middle of a Planet Earth movie. Completely awesome.

But that was at mile...hmm... maybe 10. Maybe at 11 there was a cool waterfall. At the halfway point, we had what David deemed "the best banana bread ever" and some earth-shattering Hawaiian shave ice.

This should've been the turnaround point.

It's a little like driving through Yellowstone. The first bison you see are so freaking amazing. As are the elk. By the time you are about halfway around one of the loops (and are too far gone to cut the loop short), you are pretty much honking at the idiots still photographing the bison and just generally pent up like a Manhattan taxi driver. This is also the feeling one might get on the road to Hana.

And then Hana itself is so.... unexpectedly plain. Truly plain. And we ate at the much lauded Hana Ranch Restaurant - nothing to write home about, unless you want a good illustrative example of "Island Time" - which you could write in depth about while you wait for your food. You could drain two glasses of water and two huge mugs of coffee. You could sharpen your pencils and write an outline. And then, maybe you'd get your food.

And you would be rather unimpressed. David and I were not terribly impressed with Hawaiian food when we went to the Big Island either - hence our mostly eating in the condo. You don't want to spend $100 for lunch at a place that should cost about $25.

At least the breezes coming through the window were nice.

We spent a good deal of the drive back discussing why we shouldn't listen to tour books.

Fortunately, none of us ended up carsick - and David really did do a good job with the driving. It could've been SO MUCH worse.

He redeemed the day a little bit (from his perspective) with a stop at a beach on the north side of the island for some boogie boarding. We saw some absolultely draw-dropping wind surfing near Paia... the surf culture here kind of puts SoCal to shame.

The drive to Hana: my advice? Don't be tempted! Take David's advice and find a National Geographic movie on it online and watch it in your hotel room in the evening when you're tired from having beach fun.

I'd love to hear other people's opinions on the "Road to Hana" - I'm sure some of you out there have done it! Anyone find it life-altering (in a good way), as is so generously claimed in all the tour guides?