That's a Wrap!

                            
November 19th, 2010
Day 11

Today is our last day in Maui.  As I sit on the balcony and eat my final breakfast while staring at the sun coming up over the ocean I find myself to be happy and sad at the same time.  Such a beautiful and peaceful place this has been, the perfect spot for a family vacation.  We finished the last of our packing (no small chore!) and loaded up the car and we were off.  We checked out around 9am and our flight was at 4:20pm so we had a bit of time to kill.  And of course I had a small list of activities to do!

First on my list was a quick stop at Maui Grown Coffee- I just had to have one more cup of their coffee before we left, specifically the Maui Mokka.  I was not let down, the guy working cheerfully brewed me a fresh pot and I really enjoyed it.  Next on my list was a stop at a viewpoint off of the highway where there is a lot of whale sightings.  We were about 3 weeks early for that, but I thought it would be worth a shot to stop anyways.  Plus it has a pretty view of the only portion of the island we never made it to- Kihei and the south beaches!  It was a bit windy there and the whales were nowhere to be found but it was a great spot to stop and check out the views.

We hopped back in the car and headed towards one of our favorite little towns.  I could not stop thinking about one of the best meals I had on the island and I wanted it one more time before we left- a raw veggie wrap from Mana Foods in Pa'ia!  It might not sound that great but I could honestly eat this every single day, it was that good.  And for $4.75 it was a total bargain, plus it was super healthy.  Even the kids loved this deli- they made themselves a salad from the salad bar, got a pack of sushi to share and split a fruit smoothie (yes, my kids really ARE that weird) and of course Will was in vegetarian heaven there so we were all happy.  I was also able to get my new favorite beverage- I have become somewhat addicted to coconut water while I was here- I will have to find out where I can buy it back home.   http://www.manafoodsmaui.com/

We decided to head a few miles away to one little town we had yet to make it to- Makawao.  As we drove down the road we stopped at a pretty little church with a shrine to Father Damien next to it.  We wandered around and peeked into the church.  There was a local man there who called us over to his truck.  He had buckets of seashells in the back and he gave each of the kids one to take with them.

When we arrived in Makawao I was not overly impressed.  It is in the area considered "upcountry" and coined a cowboy town.  Formerly it was well know for its art galleries and was once considered in the top 25 arts destinations in the United States.  We wandered up and down the main road for a little while and shopped a bit in some of the stores.  My handy dandy guide book told me there was a wonderful bakery to look for so we found that and got a couple of donuts plus some malasadas to take with us on the plane.  Then we hopped back in the car and headed towards the airport.  It was time to say goodbye to Maui and head home.

We dropped off our rental car and hauled all of our stuff to the airport.  Wow, airport security in Kahului is WAY less stressful than Seattle!!!  We got to our boarding gate with plenty of time to spare.  We layered up and changed into more appropriate clothing to arrive at home at 11:30pm.  The kids had magically decided they loved each other at some point during the day so they insisted on sitting together on the plane.  We had them seated in front of us and they did really great.  I let them order their own food and drinks and the flight attendants thought they were adorable.  One of them asked Niko if he wanted some coffee.  He replied "No thank you, I don't drink caffeine!"  That kid kills me, and the attendant got a kick out of it as well.

Jaime picked us up at the airport which was awesome of her considering the time and all, and we finally arrived home around 1am.  It was really nice to be home where everything is familiar and cozy.  Although it was mighty cold!!!  A couple of days after we got home this is what is looked like outside!!!  We went from 82 degrees to 22 degrees- talk about body shock!