So we decided to take a short journey to Maui on Martin Luther King weekend to enjoy one last vacation before I leave to Japan. It was a great way to escape reality and take in all of what the islands have to offer. We stayed at the Sheraton at Ka’anapali and had a nice view of the oceanside. We ended up doing the whole “tourist” thing; went ziplining, walked through Front Street (Maui’s mini “Waikiki”), watched the sunrise on the top of Haleakala, watched the pounding waves at one of Maui’s beautiful beaches, and ate some mean grindz at many different well-known local shops throughout the entire trip.

Zip-lining was pretty fun, not as fun as a typical roller coaster, but still a great experience hanging from a single steel braided line. Being all the way up the mountain gave us a nice view of the coast of Kaanapali. As for the sunrise at Haleakala, I’ve been up there before, but not for a sunrise. It was by far one of the coldest moments I’ve ever experienced; freezing 44 degree winds blowing at the lookout through our hoodies, hands going numb trying to hold up the camera, but such an amazing view of the sunrise above the clouds. Another new-old experience for me was swimming for the first time in over 10-years.. It was actually pretty fun getting into the water again, it makes me wish I swam more often before.

I was actually amazed how many bike paths there were around Maui and how well the roads were paved up there. I know a couple cyclists in the fixed community expressed their interests in riding around the island on Maui. I think this is definitely a possibility and it would be a great ride.

Here’s a list of some of the awesome places we ate at:
-Scoops: Lappert’s ice-cream, Mauna Kea’s secret flavor, delicious white chocolate ice cream swirled with rasberry sorbet and loaded with chocolate chips and chocolate brownies.
-Lahaina Pizza Company: Deep-dish pizza with sausage and sweet Maui onions
-Maui Brewing Company: Maui onion soup, beer battered onion rings, sliders: Maui Cattle Co. beef, Western style (bbq sauce) and Kalua pork; fresh home-brewed beer
-Kula Lodge: milk pancake combo, toast, wedges and omelets
-Black Rock Steak & Seafood: Maui onion soup, chicken marsala, shrimp scampi, molten lava chocolate cake
-Sam Sato’s: dry min and teri-burger
-Tasaka Guri Guri Shop: strawberry and pineapple guri guri
-Mama’s Fish House: Maui onion soup, Opakapaka, Mama’s stuffed mahimahi