Maui Wowee

On our way out of Kauai, we stopped at Smith’s Paradise Gardens.  It’s really a big luau joint near the Waimea River, but for a fee you can go in during the day, walk the grounds, see the plants and animals.  It was very pretty and we were the only ones there except some grounds keepers who were laying sod (insert joke here).  They had bags of bird seed for sale, and you all know what I sucker I am for the critters.  Well, there were lots of wild chickens, a type of mourning dove, some geese, a red headed cardinal, a wild turkey, but the best part was PEACOCKS and peahens everywhere.  OMG.  They were so beautiful, their iridescent feathers and crowns on their heads.  A couple of the boys were so tame they ate right out of my hand.  Once the birds saw we had seed, they started following us around, it was like a scene out of a Hitchcock movie .  Our flight to Maui was smooth, a little prop plane and barely an hour in the air.  It was dark when we arrived, we managed to get to the Alamo counter and into a Chrysler Sebring convertible.  We were sitting in the parking lot, trying to figure out how to work the damn lights so we could read the map to get to our hotel.  One of the women who had helped us find our car came back with my wallet.  I had left it on the counter.  My experience here in Hawaii has been that people are so lovely and friendly.  Often they see I’m trying to help my mom with something and they pitch in to make things smooth.  The pace here is much slower that at home, it takes a little getting used to but my Mom moves slow anyhow, so I’m just relaxing and going with the flow.  The drive from the airport on the north side to our hotel in Lahaina on the south side was an adventure.  It was 4 lane road all the way but trying to find the turns made us both a little anxious.  After we got here to the Royal Lahaina, we had such a warm welcome and a couple drinks and all was well.  It is beautiful here, all the bathroom fixtures are shaped like bamboo.  We are much closer to the beach than at our hotel in Kauai and the beach is a lot calmer here.  Maybe because we were on the south side of Kauai and here we’re on the west side of Maui.  From our beach we can see Molokai and Lanai.  We went into Lahaina for some lunch and shopping and saw big boats come in to drop off snorkelers.  I went out into the ocean to look around after we got back but didn’t see Squanto.  No fish, no shells, just sand.  A lady was telling me that there is more to see further down the shore where there is a small promontory.  I’m going to dive on the submerged volcanic crater at Molokini and “Turtle Town” tomorrow so will see plenty then.  We walked just up the street from our hotel to a little Italian place, the food and service were good.  The restaurant is surrounded by golf course and when we came out we saw a golf cart with an OSU sticker on it.  Small world.  

Remember to be kind to strangers, you may be a stranger one day and need a helping hand