mindless ramblings

When we checked in, the guy at reception told us about a free breakfast and island orientation, we took advantage of that to get a free meal and some information. The breakfast itself was crap, just muffins, fruits and juice. The orientation was fairly useless for us since we had the awesome guidebook, but it made for some entertainment during breakfast.

With that out of the way, we made our way to Lahaina. Parking is reputed to be a nightmare in Lahaina, but we made it there fairly early (around 930pm even with all the scenic lookout stops) so we didn’t really have any problems. We started from the south end of town and moved north. The first major stop was the Banyan Tree Park. This entire park is covered by a single banyan tree! You’ll have to see it to believe it.

Lunch was at a supposed Lahaina legend, Cheeseburger In Paradise (811 Front St, 611-4855). Located right on the water along Front St (the main street of Lahaina), it has a fantastic view of the ocean just a couple feet away from you. They have a wide selection of burgers and all the regular sides like fries and such. We opted for a burger each, a side of fries (they cost extra) and a mai tai. The burgers were average at best, large meat patty and soggy buns made for a mess to eat. The mai tai however, was just disgusting. It was bad enough that we could only finish half of it before calling it quits. We should have noticed earlier that the table next to us left a whole drink untouched and many others half finished. Consider yourself warned. At least the fries were tasty…

With lunch out of the way, our 3 hour free parking was coming to an end, so we took a drive up towards Ka’anapali and Napili. We made our way down to this interesting rock formation called the Dragon’s Teeth. The waves were crashing again the shore pretty hard (which would explain the teeth-like shapes along the shore) and standing with your back to the waves and feeling the rumble of the next wave approaching is pretty scary!

By the time we were done there, it was getting close to the time for the lu’au. We made our way there, but they said we couldn’t go in until 515pm. They suggested that we go across the road to the Lahaina Cannery Mall. It is a really small mall with nothing interesting in it. We just sat around for about an hour before heading back to the lu’au. When we booked the lu’au, we specified traditional mat seating instead of tables and chairs. This had both good and bad sides to it. The good side was that you are located right in the front with no one to block your view. However, sitting on a mat for 3 hours isn’t all that good for blood circulation in your legs. Be sure to stand up or move your legs once in a while.

The food at the lu’au was pretty decent, with all you can eat everything, including the underground oven-cooked pig. The open bar was pretty good too, with a wide selection of drinks. There was more than enough food for everyone, including second helpings so even the hungriest person will feel at home here. The performances were interesting, although they don’t have the funky fire dancers and focus instead on the traditional Hawai’ian culture.

By the time this was done, it was pretty late already, we headed back to the hotel (a long drive at around 45 minutes on winding and dark coastal roads). We had a long day ahead driving the Hana Highway, so we hit the sack ASAP!