mindless ramblings

Like to wake up early? How about 230am early? Yup.. we woke up at 230am, washed up, packed our bags and started on the journey up Haleakala. The drive up was fairly uneventful, although you do have to be careful not to drive off the side of the road, as much of the road up does not have guardrails. We got stuck behind a couple of vans pulling tourists and a trailer of bicycles up the volcano, so all I had to do was follow at a distance and relax a little. One thing to note about those “cycle down the volcano” tours, they don’t actually bring you to the true summit! You actually stop at a visitor’s center about a mile down from the summit. If you want to go to the real summit, drive up yourself. There is a parking lot at the summit, but if you don’t get early (1.5 to 2 hours before sunrise), you won’t be able to get a spot and you’ll have to park down below and walk up in the cold weather. It is most definitely cold up there, we had our winter gear on and we still felt really cold. The wind chill usually brings it down to between around 5 below zero, so prepare for that. A flashlight is also useful for making your way around in the darkness. One more thing: you are now 10,023ft above sea level. The air is thin here, so take deep breaths and don’t walk too quickly.

Is it worth waking up that early? I’d say yes. Make it up there early enough, and you’ll see so many stars you won’t believe your eyes! The sunrise was really nice too. According to the weather report, sunrise was at 653am, and right on the dot, the sun rose over the horizon, illuminating a blanket of clouds below us. It was beautiful! Once the sun rises though, it’s kinda over, so just start making your way down.

Thanks to Maui Revealed, we found a secret little road that no one else took, and it was absolutely spectacular! It is called Skyline Road and I’d definitely recommend going on it. Take the exit near the summit and follow it to the end. Turn left onto the road that has the “Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted” sign (don’t worry). Drive to the end till you see a dirt trail on your left. Park there, walk down the trail and enjoy the stunning view. You have an unobstructed view right down to the coast, it really is something to behold. The best part was that no one knew about this; there was no one else along that road the entire time we were there, and this made it really peaceful and serene.

We found another must-see lookout spot on the way down thanks to Maui Revealed again! On the way down between the 18 and 17 mile markers, there is a little parking lot for the Lelewi Lookout. It doesn’t look like much, but persevere and follow the (boring) trail. When you reach the end, you have a fantastic view into the vast crater of Haleakala. The rest of the drive down was boring. I was sleepy by then, and we kept getting stuck behind the damn cyclists. At least they pull over once in a while to let you through, but not often enough if you ask me.

We were back in Kihei by 1030am or so. We grabbed some brunch at the Kihei Caffe, which is just down the street from our hotel. I had a most greasy but tasty pork fried rice, and Esther had a breakfast of 2 eggs, home fries (potatoes really) and bacon. Our stomachs filled with grease, we napped till 2pm before heading out to Wailea beach. This was the first real chance we had to actually spend some serious time at the beach and it was good!

After soaking up the sun, we made our way to Lahaina for dinner. Being Christmas Eve, we weren’t expecting many restaurants to be open. We did find one that was open and had a fairly short wait (20 mins). Even better, it was a restaurant that we wanted to try anyway. It is called the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and yes, it is based off the Forrest Gump movie. Basically everything in there is based off the movie. They have authentic memorabilia in a showcase by the entrance, and all the dishes are either related to the movie in some way, or contain shrimp. An interesting little thing is the license plate holder thing that you use to signal your server. The red “Stop Forrest Stop” indicates you want some help, and you set it to the blue “Run Forrest Run” otherwise. Pretty interesting.

We started with the Maui Revealed-recommended Shrimper’s Net Catch and some lemonade drink whose name I forget. We chose the garlic version over the cajun and it was not too bad. There was a really generous amount of shrimp, but the sauce could have been more garlicky. There was so much shrimp we ended up eating this all the way to the end of our meal! The lemonade drink was not bad, but I’d get the freckled lemonade for the same price, since that cames with free refills.

Barely a minute after the appy came, our mains arrived! Maui Revealed warned that this place liked to have fast turnovers, but this was pretty damn fast! I didn’t even know you could cook pasta that quickly… but apparently it is possible. Esther had fish and chips, which was pretty average, definitely not up to the gold standard of Go Fish. My shrimp scampi was much better. The top bit was a little dry but as you got down to the lemon-butter sauce, it was yummy! There was another very generous serving shrimp, which was much appreciated.

Despite the rapid-fire service, the meal itself was not too bad, and the place deserves a try, even if simply for the kitsch factor. They even have a little gift store attached that sells cutesy Forrest / Bubba Gump stuff. We finished off dinner with a Haagen Dazs ice cream, which wasn’t all that great but honestly, ice cream in the tropics never fails to please. That brought an end to a very long, but really interesting Christmas Eve!