Wednesday, Dec 7, 2011

Wednesday I woke up quite regretting all the Mai Tai's from the Luau the night before.  We had planned to drive the Hana Highway, but we needed an early start and I KNEW that was not going to happen.  Chip and. Kylie went down to the beach for 2 hours and let me sleep/rest. Grandpa Chip also helped Kylie string a beautiful Plumeria lei from all the flowers she collected that morning.  I was up by 11 a.m. and feeling better and we made an itinerary change and decided today was the day to go to the Maui Aquarium and then visit the Iao Valley.

Kylie enjoyed the aquarium which only exhibits marine animals that are native to Hawaii.  In comparison to the Newport Aquarium, she likes the Newport one better because it truly has so much more.  But we explained that was not the point of the Maui one and she understood.

From the Aquarium we drove north on 30 up into the Iao Valley.  There is a park there that contains the Iao Needle, as it is referred to.  It's beautiful and odd at the same time to drive through this neighborhood that leads into the east side of the West Maui mountains.  The views from these homes is incredible.  When we stepped out of the car we wished we had brought some jackets with us.  The temps had to be 15 degrees cooler at the foot of these mountains.  We hiked around the park and took some pictures which all look a bit dark, but the wind was howling and there was no sunshine.  Kylie kept warm by running around as she usually does.  She's so stinkin' active that if she sits still after 4 p.m on any given day, she will fall asleep right where she is.  No kidding....it's happened nearly every day here!

We cleaned up and changed back at the condo and decided to have dinner at the Hula Grill in Whaler's Village.  We sat in the dining room where we had two menus to choose from.  I tried to talk Kylie into something more local but she insisted on chicken fingers.  This is something we are going to have to work on, real hard!  I had the Maui tomato and onion salad with Surfing Goat Cheese and a fish taco.  Chip had a Goat Cheese Pizza with greek olives and spinach.  We each had a Bikini Blonde, a Maui Brewing company light wheat beer.  After dinner we walked around Whaler's Village, an upscale open air shopping mall and found a local hula group giving a show so we stopped to watch.  Kylie was amazed at the little 5 yr old boy performing and the young hula dancers that could REALLY shake those grass skirts!   I found a prezzie to add to my Christmas list.  At a Brighton store, they had rings that have a bead that you can remove and interchange with other beads, including Pandora!!  Very cool.
I'm also learning Kylie really likes to shop......