Lahaina, Spa Time, Hana - June 3-4, 2010

I was soooo sore from hiking the day before, so we ended up taking a lazy day and staying around town.  To make it even better on my muscles, Jennifer and I were also hitting the spa here at the Westin Kaanapali later in the evening; at first, I had made 9am reservations before I went on my Haleakala hike the day before, but 5pm ended up working better for Jennifer...she called the spa and made the changes while I was out of cell phone range in the middle of a crater - what a great friend!

Babe and I were looking for another tasty shave ice establishment.  We looked it up on Yelp, and found a place that served it in the Lahaina Cannery Mall.  We drive there and it's out of business. :(  I was hungry for lunch, so we Yelp'ed a restaurant and end up walking behind the mall to an eatery called Aloha Mixed Plate.  They serve local food here.  I had always wanted to try a "loco moco" - plain hamburger patty on white rice, covered in brown gravy and topped with a fried egg.  It was bland...I wouldn't order it again, but at least I've tasted it.  Also tried their specialty coconut shrimp.  It was all right, a bit dry.  Dipping sauce was good.

We searched on Yelp for another shave ice place and found one on Front Street in Lahaina, called Ululani's.  It was a 20 minute walk from where we were, so we decided to do that instead of fighting for parking in the busy Front Street area.  It was a bit warm outside, but it was nice to take a stroll after a meal, plus calories burned! :)  The reward was worth it...ice shaved so fine, the texture was heaven on your tongue.  You have to get the works - ice cream and azuki beans on the bottom, shave ice with several yummy syrups poured on (lychee is awesome!), and sweetened condensed milk (snow cap) on top.  So good.  I would love to open a shave ice stand in Folsom. 

We head back to the condo for my appointment at 5pm.  Jennifer walked over from Honua Kai to meet me at Spa Helani.  This place had more amenities such as robes and slippers, a lounging area with beverages and fruit, steam room, and showers.   Both of us had massages - I had a Heavenly Massage, and Jennifer went with the Hawaiian lomi-lomi massage.  I have always been curious about the lomi lomi massage, but never went for it because everything I've read described the technique as long smooth strokes versus deep tissue/Shiatsu, which I prefer more since I have tight knots all over my neck and shoulders.  Jennifer confirmed that it was mostly relaxing strokes, but she was content to have tried it once, since she was in Hawaii after all.  Maybe I'll do it one day when I'm not so tense.

The massage therapist introduced me to some interesting mouth sprays that's supposed to be "good for you".  I forgot the brand, but there was one to help with jet lag, one for energy, and one for relaxation.  I sprayed the relaxation one under my tongue...it didn't taste terrible, but I wasn't sure if it was doing anything.  The massage felt great on my sore muscles, and after the hour was over, she rang a chime which reverberated throughout the room, very Zen.

We were able to redeem SpaFinder certificates for both the treatment costs and gratuity!  I had picked some up for us from Costco on the way to Haleakala yesterday.  Costco sells $100 worth of certificates for $79.99, a 20% discount!  The Costco there also sells Hyatt gift certificates at a similar discount, so if you're staying at the Hyatt, you can pay for your room charges with them.

After the spa, Babe and I decided to grab dinner at the L and L Hawaiian BBQ in the cannery mall.  Their BBQ chicken is so tasty.  Sides include rice and mac salad.  I am not a fan of their mac salad...too much greasy mayo.  According to their nutritional menu, one scoop of it (about 1/2 cup) contains 350 calories!  Ouch.  I usually have them give me all rice instead.  The cannery mall had a free hula show at 7pm, so we watched a bit of it before heading back.  This was our last night in Kaanapali.

The next day, we packed up and said goodbye to our lovely home for the past 6 nights.  The Westin Kaanapali is a beautiful resort.  I'd love to exchange into there again.  I don't think I could own there (or any other Hawaiian timeshare) since the annual maintenance fees are so much higher than other timeshares.  Though, the benefit of owning there is that you don't have to sweat it out hoping for an exchange for the right time frame like what I went through!

Our last night in Maui was at the Hana Kai Maui condo resort in Hana.  Hana is a small town, and there is one major hotel there, the Hotel Hana Maui, which commands $300/night room rates and up!  I didn't think it was worth spending that much money on one night.  The Hana Kai Maui was the next option, and it was more reasonable at $185/night for a studio.  It's still expensive on my scale, being spoiled by Priceline bidding, but Hana hotels can ask for whatever they want since there aren't a lot of choices when it comes to lodging.  I could have Priceline'd a room in other parts of Maui, but since it would take around 3 hours just to get to Hana, it seemed like a good idea to stay there for the night and be able to see more Hana sights the following morning, instead of driving back.

The road to Hana is home to one-way bridges, hairpin turns, lush rain forests, spectacular views of the ocean, and waterfall after waterfall after waterfall.  You know you've reached a point of interest on the road when you see cars parked all along the almost non-existent shoulder.  We had the Maui Revealed guidebook and decided to stop only at certain places, versus stopping everywhere.  We hit the black sand beach located in a state park whose name I cannot pronounce.  The "sand" is really small bits of lava smoothed by the ocean.  People still laid on the beach anyway.  The state park also had short trails that led to caves filled with water at the bottom.  Some tourists would jump in to refresh themselves.  I don't know if they were freshwater.  Afterwards, Babe and I snacked on a small papaya bought from a fruit stand (on an honor system) just before entering the state park.  The family near us asked where we got the papaya...little did we know that we'd see them again later...

We continued on the road to Hana and I see a sign on the road proclaiming "lychees for sale".  We stopped at a fruit stand in front of a home and I saw bright red lychees in a big basket.  Jackpot!  The seller said that they came from her neighbor's yard this morning, freshly picked, with a few ants crawling on them to boot.  I filled a whole produce bag, picking the biggest globes.  I didn't even know how much a pound they were, but guessing from the total, I'd say $1.99/lb.  Small seeds too.  So good, I should have bought the entire basket.  We later stopped at the "Halfway to Hana" roadside stand to buy some banana bread.  It was really moist...rivaled even my own banana bread recipe.  We also stopped at another roadside group of stands in Nahiku as the Maui Revealed book claimed that really good fish tacos were being sold there.  Unfortunately, the vendor was closed that day, but we ended up buying some vanilla infused coconut candy from a nice old lady, and it was delicious!  The "candy" is really slivers of coconut baked for hours and basted with the flavorings.  She also had a sweet-and-sour version too, but savory candy is too weird for me.  Free samples.

We made a detour down this narrow road to get to a rocky beach that supposedly had a waterfall, however, when we got there, it was dried up. :( 

Eventually we make it to Hana and check into the studio condo.  It wasn't 5-star luxury, but very comfortable, and you can see some ocean from the lanai and hear the waves crash.  We settle in but then decided to visit Hamoa Beach, famous for body-surfing.  The waves crash at a certain point on the shore, providing ideal waves for body-surfing.  I've done it before; I didn't want to partake in having sand in places where it'd be hard to get out, so I relaxed on the beach while Babe jumped in.  When we returned to the condo, we see the family that we bumped into at the state park!  What a small world.  They were living in the unit right next door.

Hana doesn't have restaurants or food stores that are open late, so we made do with the remaining leftover groceries.  Babe created the best grilled cheese sandwich ever.  Crunchy, crusty pan-seared bread on the outside, with just the right amount of melted cheese on the inside.  He told me that he perfected making grilled cheese sandwiches while in college as it was a staple in his diet, haha.  I have no complaints.  I'm looking forward to eating another one in the near future.

Late that night, the rain poured down!  The next morning, the sky was clear, and the surroundings refreshed by the downpour.  Perfect.