The Rainbow House

November 18th, 2010
Day 10

Today we had two options for our last full day- go out and explore Kihei and check out the beaches down south, or just hang out around Lahaina and be mellow. I was pushing for Kihei but it was clear that Will was not in the mood to venture very far so I gave in and we found a few things to do in the area. We had not yet visited the MauiGrown Coffee, Inc. or the Ka'anapali Estate Coffee Plantation so that was the first thing on our list.

When we arrived the coffee shop was really nice and the lady working there immediately served us up 4 coffee tastings. We tasted the Peaberry, Lahaina Beach, Lava Flow and French Kiss.  I really enjoyed the coffee -my favorite was the Lava Flow which they also use in their espresso beverages.  We bought a couple different coffees to take home and we headed out to drive through the plantation, which is beautiful. It is nice to support a local farm where all of the beans are grown, harvested, roasted and brewed on site.  http://www.mauigrowncoffee.com/

They are building houses throughout the plantation and we stopped to check out the model home. I would LOVE to live there, it was one of the most amazing houses I have ever seen- in a setting that was so serene it almost seemed to good to be true. Here is a link to it- apparently they call it the Rainbow House!
http://www.kaanapalicoffeefarms.com/farms/homes_for_sale.html
I honestly would move there without hesitation. If I had a spare 4.5 million dollars in my pocket. Oh well, I can dream right???  I could work for the coffee growers and do all my training runs on the plantation.  Then I could sit in the backyard and hop in the pool when I got warm.  Not that I put too much thought into this little fantasy of mine!

We headed back down to Front Street for some lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise right down on the water.  We poked around in the old Courthouse and did some people watching on our walk down. Lunch was good and the view was great- I have definitely had better cheeseburgers and mai tai’s though! Our waitress was a kick in the pants- if anyone could sell ice to an Eskimo it would be her.  She was an upselling maniac! 

When we had walked past the Banyan Tree on our way to lunch there had been a young man weaving baskets out of bamboo leaves. We had come across many vendors creating these and I actually really liked them. Devan had her heart set on getting one of the roses they create with them so we stopped back by to find out what his prices were. He said the flowers were free, then handed Niko a fishing pole with a fish on the end made out of bamboo leaves and set about making Devan a flower. He insisted on making me one as well and I also had him make me a small bowl. We chatted with him a bit while he worked and it was obvious he had been doing this his whole life- his dad had taught him. It was a really cool experience.

After that we headed down the street to the old prison that was built in the early 1800’s. The walls were built out of coral and lava rocks and they have signs posted that list the crimes people committed. There were such things as profanity, adultery, furious riding, fornication (the second most popular crime!) and lewd conversation. Places like this fascinate me- just thinking about the events that took place on this very site 150 years ago is so interesting.

We headed back to the condo and hopped in the pool for a bit to cool off. Then reality sunk in- it was time to start getting packed up to head home tomorrow! The weather forecast at home has been crazy- there was a wind storm a few days ago that shut off the power in many places and next week there is the possibility for snow!!! Yikes! Regardless of the weather, I am ready to head home. I miss my family, my friends…and THE GYM!!!