Maui is coming up soon. I am soooo excited. We spent today planning what we wanted to do. It was perfect way to spend a rainy stormy windy Fall day. Dreaming about beaches and warm tropical winds. Here are some of the items we are considering.

We’ll arrive mid-afternoon. We’ll get our car and then head for the Costco. We want to check out what is available especially for lunch and beer items. We do want to also get local food so we may not get anything at Costco. Then we’ll head for Napili and check into our condo which will be available after 3pm. We figure it will be about 1 hour to drive from the airport to Napili which is north of Lahaina. We’ll check and see what is in the condo and then head out for supplies. We’ll probably go back down into Lahaina for groceries at one of the Foodlands but I do want to check out what is Honokowai.

We will take it easy the next day – exploring around Lahaini maybe going to Aloha Mixed Plate for lunch. Next day we’ll explore the beaches of South Maui (Kihei).

Next is the big event – Crater hike at Haleakala. We are not going to get up early for the sunrise but arrive a little bit later. We plan on doing part of the Sliding Sands hike. I read that you can hike to Ka Lu’u o ka’ O’o crater which is about 2.5 miles and 1,500 ft down into the crater and see silverswords in situ. We figure that it will be about a 3 hour drive up – 4-5 hour hiking and another 3 hours returning so this is going to be a whole day event!

Next day – recover! We’ll do a couple of drives and explore central Maui. Several people have recommended ‘Iao Valley so we’ll explore in this area. I also want to pick up a couple more Hawaii quilt pattern pillows and may go to a garden. Just depends upon our energy level.

We saw that there is a guided National Park hike to the Waikamoi Cloud Forest . This sounds so much more different from the high alpine desert of the crater. We’re going to call and see if we they are doing the hike and reserve a spot. This will only take 3 hours so we hope to also explore some of the Upcountry during the afternoon.

Next is the drive to Hana. We originally were going to do the Pipiwai Trail at the end of the road but decided that we wanted to do the cloud forest instead. If we have time, we may hike to the first falls or a bit beyond to the Bamboo Forest.

Our last day is open. Of course this is all subject to change. We hope to spend time relaxing in the late afternoon at the beach at our condo. We’ll see. Hopefully this isn’t too much…..