Week 34

Welcome back! Finally a month after our Hawaii trip I'm ready to post that week.  Prepare for a lot of pictures.

Enjoy week 34:    

Day 230- Monday, 8/18/25

 Bailey has a new toy that she loves and will be taking it to boarding with her today.  I dropped her off just after dinner and she'll be there until Sunday while John and I are on vacation in Hawaii--yay for us but sad for her.  I hope she will be ok for that long. After dropping her off it was time for me to finish packing.

 

 

 

Day 231- Tuesday, 8/19/25

. . . And here we go off to Maui!  Thankfully there's a direct flight from Sacramento complete with a complementary Hawaiian cocktail. We stayed at Hotel Wailea on the south-east side of the island and had a room with a wonderful lanai and ocean view.  We weren't there long before it was time for dinner so we ate at the hotel's Birdcage restaurant complete with it's own flock of lovebirds that hang out and fly around in the rafters until sunset.  It was quite a cool experience with the birds, great drinks and food plus was the perfect place to see the sunset.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 232- Wednesday, 8/20/25

 

Today we enjoyed an amazing breakfast on our lanai and then headed to the beach just down the street for an outrigger excursion where we learned about the history of Maui and were able to see some sea turtles in the water.  The one I got a picture of swam right under our rig. After that we enjoyed some pool time back at our hotel before heading up north to Lahaina which is making good progress recovering from the fires 2 years ago.  We ended up just past the town at a place called Whaler's Village which is a very nice large outside mall. At the far end of the mall, where it meets the ocean, we grabbed a couple drinks while waiting to board our boat for a sunset dinner cruise. We had a great time on the cruise complete with music, fun people, good food, drinks and of course an amazing sunset. 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Day 233- Thursday, 8/21/25

Today was an early start to a really long day.  We were part of a passenger van tour experiencing the road to Hana on the north-west side of the island. Let's just say it's a very interesting road and I'm glad we didn't try to drive it ourselves but I'm also glad we went because there were so many wonderful things to see and so many local food products to try. We saw a beach with hauled out sea turtles, a beach with black lava rocks, a waterfall we could swim in, and a red sand beach all before we even made it to the town of Hana.  Once we reached Hana we headed to a state park for a picnic lunch where a couple cats joined us and then explored it's black-sand beach, water cave, and hiking trails up top for better views. After that it was time to turn around and head back. On the way out we enjoyed stopping at many local places sampling famed banana bread, amazing produce, maca-nut brittle, Huli-huli chicken, chocolate bars, and ice-cream made with coconut milk instead of traditional milk--all very good and all made from resources they grow there and are produced by small family businesses. Our driver knew them personally and we got to meet and talk with most of them.  Such a great cultural experience.  We left our hotel this morning before sunrise and got back just in time to see the sunset which never disappoints.

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

  

 

Day 234- Friday, 8/22/25

This was our final day before leaving tomorrow and our 33rd Wedding Anniversary! Thankfully we had nothing really planned for today except dinner out so it was a relaxing day where we eventually ventured out to see the local MaKena beach not far from our hotel and then we hung out by the pool before cleaning up for dinner.  We had an amazing outdoor table at the Four Seasons and were able to catch another fabulous sunset while we were there to celebrate us.  This hotel is the place where they filmed the 1st White Lotus.  Back at our hotel, after dark, we walked by the open-air lobby where they normally serve breakfast looking very pretty all lit up at night.

 

Day 235- Saturday, 8/23/25

Time to say good-bye to our lovely hotel with great views, yummy food, beautiful grounds, and amazing buildings.  Those cornmeal pancakes with mango curd are so good.  I could have eaten them everyday but did branch out here and there. Also the first few days our view was kind of hazy so I didn't realize that we could actually see the famous Molokini Crater from our lanai until today when it was clear enough and I zoomed in on my camera for a closer look.  Thank goodness I at least figured that out before leaving. Now off to the airport and away we go flying back home.  It'll be around 11pm before we land back in Sacramento so we can't pick the pup up until tomorrow.

Day 236- Sunday, 8/24/25

Home-sweet-home! Picked up Bailey as early as possible today and she is VERY happy to be relaxing back at home with her now favorite toy. Then I started laundry and we ate some of our chocolate we bought from a local merchant in Hana who makes it out of a shed behind his house on the property where he grows the cocoa beans. It was very cool to see in person, and I love the detail and craft he puts into these bars. *Sigh* back to reality tomorrow.

I'm still at least 4 week behind on my weekly posts but those weeks did not have a lot going on so I should be able to bang them out quickly and get caught up soon.