maui #2

Maui Installment #2: Paradise!!

This is the Westin Maui...it was an absolute beautiful resort. The open air lobby was pristine and so peaceful...first thing you saw was a big waterfall and the sound from it was so relaxing. I could have sat and listened all day! There was a pretty pond with big coy fish, flamingos, and even a black swan. They took definite pride in their resort and it was the perfect place to spend the week.

When we arrived, we checked in and received a nice shell necklace...then we headed up to our room to get freshened up for our first company event. The rooms were so nice, with a big King bed and a little kitchen area. We were on the second floor, and when we opened up our blinds, our view was...a very big tree. Not the best view, but behind the tree was a beautiful shot of the mountains and that in itself was gorgeous!!

The Welcome Reception was a chance for us to see all 220 attendees of the trip...there were, of course, a lot of people we didn't know. We mingled, we ate delicious foods, and we

Above is me with Ms. Kim at the Welcome Reception...aren't we pretty with our lei's??? They smelled sooooo good! Plumeria and orchid...

And here is Chris with the pina coladas...noooo, he didn't drink both himself :) One was actually for Neeley, who's plane was horribly delayed and they arrived quite late in the evening. We were thankful not to be on that plane!!!!

A close up of the lei with the shell necklace...such a wonderful welcome to paradise!!!

The next morning, after a good night of sleep, Chris, Neeley and I decided to take the Westin shuttle into the town of Lahaina...it was so nice to have a shuttle for our use. It ran once an hour, and would take us into town and back. We ended up making the trip quite a few times, it was a cute little town with good restaurants and shopping. Our first stop that first morning, after Hilo Hatties (the souvenier shop where they dropped us off) was lunch at Bubba Gumps!! We had a delicious lunch (Chris had the fish tacos and I had a salad with grilled shrimp and mango slices), and the restaurant was open air. It was so relaxing to sit at the open window and listen to the waves crash onto the building. It was also fun to see all the paraphanalia from the Forrest Gump movie...and this huge drink wasn't too bad either!!! :)

Maui was full of amazing scenery, no matter what direction you turned. There was the beautiful ocean, with the crazy crashing waves. There was also mountains topped off in fog.

To the right of our resort, the Sheraton hotel had a beautiful black rock cliff. Chris, Neeley and I took a walk down there one morning for some great photos.

My friend Faith requested that I bring back some sand for her....so, I bought a souvenier bottle that had sand from who knows where with these tiny little shells...I threw that away and here I am scooping up real Maui sand for Faith. She loved it!!

One night, Chris and I had dinner with Neeley, Kim and Gary at the resort restaurant. The food there was delicious, though pricey, and we had such an enjoyable evening together!! Ah, good friends!!! Here's me with Kim....

And here I am with my gorgeous hubby...I am such a lucky girl!!!

And one of the beautiful sunsets we witnessed...

One day, when we were strolling in Lahaina, Chris saw this young man with the dreadlocks. He was sitting alone painting. We walked by him the first time, but on the way back, Chris decided he wanted to go and talk to him. The life story of this kid was so sad. He was from Chicago, and had moved to Maui because the homeless didn't have anywhere to go there. I guess in Maui they have a lot more options. He said that groups of teenage kids beat him up daily, and that he painted with things that he found, like feathers and cigarette butts. Chris decided to buy a painting from him and donated some money to his cause. We are hopeful that he spent the money on something like food, and not drugs. We'll never know. But the experience greatly touched Chris. And we have the painting now for memories, which he signed "Rainbow Chard".

We took one excursion while we were there, which was an 8 line zipline adventure. I will be doing a separate post on that incredible experience!!! And Chris also had his own little adventure while there, which will also be a separate post. So, that leaves us with the FDLIC luau that we attended on our last evening there...

Here we are, arriving at the luau...we received another lei and a neat grass lei...and took our seats for a delicious feast and a great live show!!

The food was a lot of local fare, and of course the big pig!!! Everything I was tried was very good, and we ate way more than we should have! The show included dancing (both men and women), singing, and a fire thrower.

The fire performance was insane...the man ate fire, threw fire, twirled fire, etc. It was very impressive. Difficult to get pictures of though!! :) The whole place was reserved for our group of 220, and it was a special evening we won't ever forget!!

The next morning, we packed up our belongings, took a last walk through the resort and Whalers Village shopping area next door, and took our shuttle to the airport. It was oh so sad to realize our amazing getaway was coming to an end...

So, stay tuned for ziplining and Chris' adventure!