After breakfast we headed to the Westin Spa for a couples massage. She went to the ladies locker room and I went to the men’s to get ready. Inside the locker room was a robe, slippers (or slippahs as they say here in Maui), and all sorts of gels and soaps to shower and get ready with. I tried about everything they had and sprayed off….then tried more stuff…cause, heck, it was free! We then met up in the spa lounge area and went to a room that had candlelight and soft music playing. We laid on massage tables side-by-side and was treated to a 50 minute full-body massage. WOW. I’ve never had one before, so I was making some ooh’s and ahh’s…the lady told me to be quiet. I tried…

The massage was incredible and was a nice end to a GREAT week in Maui. I’ll never be able to give Crystal a massage that comes close to comparing, but I think I can hack the candlelight and music at least…

After the massage we came back to the resort and went snorkeling. We saw some large sea turtles and lots of fish. We even got to see the unofficial state fish…the humuhumunukunukuapuaa. Say that 6 times fast…heck…just say it once! We snapped up a ton of pics with our underwater cameras, so hopefully they turn out ok. After the snorkeling adventure, we laid by the pool for a bit and soaked up some more Maui sun.

We asked around for a good place to eat dinner that had a variety of food….Crystal needed some chicken after all the seafood we’ve had. We decided on Longhi’s, which is mostly Italian with a load of variety. If you ever get the chance to go to Longhi’s in Maui…I wouldn’t suggest it. The service was slow and the food was way overpriced and bland…I swear I could whip something up tastier and you all know how I don’t cook! Crystal never got a coke she ordered (but she was originally charged for it) and she sent her food back cause…well…it had no taste. My fish was $36 for just the fish! Their food is a la carte, which means you don’t get anything with it. Not exactly my idea of a “meal”. If anything, it made leaving Maui just a BIT easier.

After leaving Longhi’s, Crystal spotted a McDonald’s and craved a burger. I pulled in and she was a happy camper. We even snapped a pic of a special menu item here in Hawaii…spam. Yep…McDonald’s sells spam, eggs, and rice as a breakfast item! Hawaiians didn’t think it was as funny as we did. Apparently they grew up on it dating back to WWII. It seems the military used up the majority of Hawaii’s livestock and gave the communities spam in return. Hawaiians enjoyed it so much that they raised their kids on it and now it’s just a cultural delicacy. Whatever the story, it’s still funny to see it on a McDonald’s menu! Oh…and, no, they don’t have a McSpam sandwich…

We’re currently packing up to head back home and I can’t say that either of us are exactly excited. We’re going to soak up some more sun at the pool tomorrow and grab dinner before heading to the airport. Our plane leaves at 9:50 (2:50am back home) and we’ll be back in GA around 2pm on Monday afternoon. We’re looking forward to seeing family and friends again……..but don’t be surprised if we try to get you all to move down to Maui…or at least visit us when we move here! Ha! We’re already trying to figure out when we can come back. This place is just paradise.

The day got started a little rough for me as I have been dealing with a financial mistake that Westin had made on my account. I had used a debit card to book our activities earlier in the week (about $400 worth) and thought I’d only be charged $400. Boy was I wrong! Apparently, the computer system reads peoples minds and automatically puts a hold on their accounts for an amount it assumes you’ll spend for the rest of your stay. What this amounted to was an extra $1000 being held on my account….yes…$1000! Someone was supposed to warn me about this, but failed to mention it and so I’ve spent the last 4 days trying to get the hold cleared off of my account. After speaking with 3 people over those days that managed to get nothing done about it, a manager named Ben stepped up and did everything possible to get it fixed…which he did. On top of that, they are giving us a 50 minute couples massage at the Westin spa to compensate for the mess. It’s a nice end to the whole financial mess I’ve had the last few days because of they screwy mind-reading computer system that works about as good as a screen door on a submarine.

While I was dealing with that, Crystal was busy baking laying out in the sun. We ended up heading out to the ocean to snorkel a bit, which was fun. I quickly figured out that facial hair and snorkel masks don’t play well together. I got tired of constantly blowing & rinsing out my mask an just went back to the beach. Crystal stayed out and saw a huge sea turtle, which she has talked about all day…she even wanted a sea turtle Christmas ornament. She probably would have brought the turtle home with her if I would have let her.

We ate lunch here at the villas. We got a Hawaiian pizza, which was quite tasty. After that, we laid at the pool a bit longer and then got ready to go on a sunset sail. Now, this “sunset cruise” was called an “Appetizer Cruise” because they served…well…appetizers. The Hawaiian word for appetizers is Pupus. I suppose Appetizer Cruise sounds a bit better than Pupu Cruise. We boarded a sailboat and met some entertaining people as we were served drinks and pupus (haha…I just love saying that) until sunset. There was a musician on board playing Hawaiian music that just made the entire experience more enjoyable.

After the sunset cruise, we walked down Front Street to snag a few gifts for people. I then got the urge to eat at the Hula Grill again. Crystal couldn’t believe I was hungry after the “Pupu Cruise”…but pupus don’t fill me up. (tired of hearing the pupu jokes yet?) We went over to Hula Grill and sat outside at the edge near the beach. The tables closest to the edge are on nothing but sand with tiki torches around you and a large straw & bamboo umbrella covering your table. To top that off, there’s a live band playing Hawaiian music about 10 feet away! The whole experience is just…Maui. I ordered the Opah again and Crystal got a salad. We finished it off with some sort of ice cream sandwich dessert cake thing that was quite tasty. We both agreed that Hula Grill is our favorite place to eat in Maui.

So here I am on the Lanai at 11:14 pm, which is 4:14 am back home. Saturday is our last full day in Maui, so we have to make it count!!

We started off around 8:30am or so to Pai’a and stopped for breakfast at Charley’s…a popular local joint in town. The service was slooooowwww and we spent more time in there than we planned. Because of that, we got a later start on the Road to Hana than we planned. We stopped by The Juice Box Company and grabbed a cooler and boxed lunch to take with us and we were on our way!

The first reaction to entering the Road to Hana was, “WOOOOWWW!” It’s such a sharp difference from the “touristy” parts of Maui. The area gets a LOT of rain and is basically a tropical forest. There are lush green plants and trees all around and driving a convertible allowed us to see, hear, & smell just about everything.

Our first adventure was a hike that led to what is called Four Waterfalls or something…I may have just made that up since there were…um….four waterfalls on the hike. We walked through an absolutely INCREDIBLE bamboo forest. I have never seen bamboo that dense and tall. It was just amazing. We ended up taking the wrong trail and found ourselves in the middle of Maui probably near the set of LOST. After getting covered in mud and working up a nasty, stinky sweat, we decided to turn back. We were having laughs along the way, so it wasn’t a big deal…Crystal may say otherwise, but this is my version of it! We made our way back to where we branched off the trail and then proceed down the CORRECT trail. About 50 yards later we found the first waterfall. It was the first waterfall we had seen in Maui and it didn’t disappoint. Just as we were leaving, I slipped on a rock. One foot went one way and the other foot decided to go the opposite way. I ended up straddling the rock as I banged up my shin pretty bad and busted my coconuts. Thank goodness for cold, Hawaiian mountain water! We glanced at the second waterfall and decided to get back on the road.

The next stop was the Garden of Eden. It’s an immaculate Arboretum with all sorts of flowers, trees, birds, etc. This is where we decided to open up our boxed lunch as they had a nice little pavilion with an awesome view of the ocean. Crystal decided to pick some fruit from a tree (in the Garden of Eden…anyone catching the irony?) and tried to eat it. Well…she couldn’t even peel it (neither could I) so she tossed it through a tree in front of her….completely unaware of the couple on the other side of the tree having a nice romantic chat on a bench. Luckily it just landed beside the lady’s foot and was enough for Crystal and I to get a good giggle out of.

We continued up the coast and snapped some incredible pictures of the mountains, ridges, coastline, and ocean. We ended up making our last stop at Blue Pool, which is about 3 miles off the main road. We had to take a dirt road and hike about 100 yard up the coast on lava rock to get to it, but WOW was it worth it. What we arrived at was this huge, beautiful waterfall with crystal clear water beneath it facing nothing but ocean. The area is completely closed off on both sides with a waterfall in front and ocean behind….simply amazing.

Our trip back was unfortunately at night. I had to drive allllll the way back up the 52 miles, 617 curves, and 50 bridges in the dark (not recommended). Somehow Crystal slept the entire way. There was no radio station available and no cell phone service…so I was on my own. Luckily I can keep a decent conversation with the voices in my head.

We rolled into the resort around 8pm and proceeded to shower the “Hana Funk” off as we both were pretty rank. We then went to Leilani’s to eat dinner where Crystal ordered Fish Tacos. Your nose just curled didn’t it!!! They are actually pretty good!!! It sounds a lot worse than it really is. After eating we came back to the resort and called it a day. Hana was simply amazing and was everything we pictured Maui to be. Check out the pictures mixed in with the others by clicking the photos up on the top-right of this page.

She immediately called back and said, “I guess this is it.” She loved it and from what we have seen on the website at http://www.westinkaanapali.com it looks perfect for what we want! It even has a ceiling fan over the bed (which Crystal has to have anywhere she goes). The reviews look great and we’re excited to say the least. This should make for a great first week as husband & wife!

I ABOUT CAME OUT OF MY BED!!!!! You heard it right! Crystal and I will be flying first class to Maui enjoying the comfy leather seats, legroom, increased food, free drinks, etc. I will be printing out the confirmation and giving it to her after I give her the ring. She is going to flip!!!