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Here a few impressions of our Maui trip:

As we drove from the airport to our resort on the  west end of the island, I was a bit shocked to see the land from highway 30 inward to be dry, almost desert looking while the resorts, hotels, residential and commercial properties that typically occupied the space between the highway and the sea were green, even lush in composition at times.

You can feel rain droplets coming down upon you but when you look up to find the offending cloud, only small white innocent puffs of white might appear.  We surmise that the rather strong trade winds carry the rain drops from long distances.  This was not a fluke occurrence but quite common.  I just loved this effect except tying to keep my digital still camera dry.

ABC Stores are all over the island.  We found this a terrific place to buy food and clothing items.  I found shirts and hats at very good prices.  http://www.abcstores.com/about.htm

The Safeway in Lahaina is a very good place to buy food and drink.  We took our dinner back to out room one night.

The airport at Maui is really nice.   It seems to be well planned layout, has a quiet interior and comfortable ambiance.  Problem is, the maintenance is falling behind.  We could not understand any of the voice announcements made over the public address.  Some items were marked as being broken, like a belt walkway.  The island is short of water but the faucets in the rest rooms would run way past the time anyone needed the water.

The opportunities for photo images is most impressive in two ways.  For any given measured amount of space on the island, you get many more chances to take interesting shots.  Time is also a factor.  One can stand in one small space on the island and over a short period of time the chances to take a shot that did NOT exist before presents itself.   Nature always seems to be changing on this island, especially the clouds.  Yellowstone comes close to beating out Maui for the number of opportunities for a given space and in some instances time.   My point is this, if photography is one of your hobbies, you must bring a good camera to this island.

Our daughter picked the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa for our stay using the AAA guide for Hawaii.   She did good.  This place is not cheap.   The AAA guide showed four diamonds.  My wife found a good package using Expedia.  We recommend this resort for a whole list of reasons.

The AAA guide, was most useless on for our stay once on the island.? We recommend the guide for picking out the places to say.  I would rip out the pages for restaurants to save size and weight.  The book that was most helpful was Maui Revealed by Andrew Doughty and Harriett Friedman, a Wizard Publication.

The AAA map we picked up prior to the trip, we seldom used.   The map we always used, we were given by the resort concierge called Maui Driving Map.   I think the proper web site is here for the Internet version: http://www.mauidrivingmaps.com/
This map is so well laid out, tells you so much, it rocks!

If you want a discounted price for the Road to Hana CD, call or stop by Boss Frogs Dive and Surf.  They have a couple of stores on the west side of the island.  I got my CD for $10.67.  This is also a good place to rent snorkeling gear, beach chairs, and umbrellas.  They offer 3 grades of masks and breathing.  We paid $31.20 for the top grade and weeks use.  Beach chair rate for a week was $10.42.  A float belt cost $15.62 for one week.   Note that these prices are only for reference and can change.   http://www.bossfrog.com/

Kimo?s Restaurant

845 Front Street.
Lahaina, Maui
Hawaii. 96761
808.661.4811

http://www.kimosmaui.com/

Reviewed: 6/22/09 at 5:08 PM.

The concierge at our resort made this restaurant one of their top recommendations.? As soon as I spotted ?Seafood Cioppino? in the concierge menu book, I knew I wanted to steer? our family to this place.? A few days later, my daughter wanted a burger.? I had noted that Kimo?s dinner started some time after 5pm and we needed to get my daughter fed much earlier.? We arrived and found that I could NOT order the Cippiono until later, a big disappointment.? There was a happy hour with drinks and a few menu items heavily discounted.? My daughter ordered her cheese burger for $9.95.? My wife had happy hour calamari for $3.50.? I had happy hour Mu Shu Pork for $4.50.? Happy hour margarita cost $3.50.? The well drinks cost $5.25 each.? I never got back to this restaurant to try their Cioppino which was a disappointment.? My memories of this restaurant was the total cost.? For three of us, the meal cost $53.02 for food and 5 bar drinks which included 2 virgin pina coladas for my daughter and Hula Pie.? Many of the restaurants offer a simply scrumptious concoction of ice cream pie.? The top is typically chocolate layer, filling is vanilla ice cream and the bottom crust is similar to Oreo cookie crust.? The description for Kimo?s Hula pie is as follows.? ?Hula Pie is made with macadamia nut ice cream piled high with chocolate cookie crust and toped with chocolate fudge, whipped cream and more macadamia nuts?.

We dinned at wood tables near the bar.? The bar and deck dinning was on a wood deck right on the water within the city of Lahaina.? The view from quite a few tables was impressive of the ocean.

Tip: Keep your receipt after dinning at this restaurant.? Look at the bottom of your receipt. ? It should say ?Bring this receipt in on your next visit & receive a FREE HULA PIE SLICE with the purchase of two lunch or dinner entries (1 per receipt)?.? The cost of a slice of this pie is $6.95.

We parked a few blocks away but had to pay for parking.

Tip: Some street parking is free for 3 hours.? Pay attention to your watch as they can tow your car if it sits beyond the 3 hours.

We did NOT partake of the official dinner so our review is a bit flawed. ?We definitely would go back.

Charley’s Restaurant, Pala, Maui, Hawaii

142 Hana Highway
Pala, Hawaii, 96779
808-579-9453

Date reviewed: 6/22/09 for breakfast.

Observations

• Ambiance: funky
• Seems every seat has a cushion and one does not have to sit on hard wood.
• Coffee: ok, nothing special.
• Tea?s hot water comes in nice tea pot.
• Pancakes are so large you might not see the plate they come on.

Tip: Buy ONE pancake unless you are famished.

Tip: The blueberry pancakes come with a LOT of blueberries. ?Eat this pancake center out as most of the blueberries are in the center of the pancakes.

Willie Nelson liked to eat at this establishment.

We found this restaurant quite acceptable and we recommend it.

Leilani’s On The Beach

2435 Kaanapali Pkwy
Kaanapali Beach area of Maui within the Whaler?s Village

The AAA guide for Hawaii gave us a short list of eating places near our resort.? The guide shows most of the restaurants having a score of 2 out of 4.? My concern was that any restaurant with a good view of the ocean might allow its food preparation slide in favor of providing a stunning view.

We visited the concierge at our hotel and he recommended two restaurants in Whalers Village just a short walk from our hotel.? We walked up to the Whaler?s Village and it was a neat hike.? Each hotel along the beach in this area offers connecting paved path along the beach which is really wonderful.? When we returned from dinning at Leilani?s, we found that entertainment taking place was just a few feet from this path and the entertainers typically had their backs to the path so the audience could soak up the vista of ocean (if the entertainers did not rise to the level of keeping their attention).? Just minutes later the sun was dipping close to the horizon so we reclined in lounge chairs at our resort to soak in the spectacular sunset.

This restaurant offers casual dining.? The inside decor is unremarkable.? This restaurant is right on the ocean so a good number of tables have a good view.? We rate this restaurant average.

Located in the Whaler?s Village part of Lahaina, west end of Maui.

What we chose as dishes:? The clam chowder is good.? The lettuce wedge uses a muted blue cheese so it is understated in flavor, but nice.? There is an early bird special for around $15.? We tried the chef?s early bird special of swordfish.? The sauce was unremarkable.? Everything was cooked properly and the service was slightly above average.

The Sea House Restaurant review.

We found this place by having a local family take us to this restaurant.  In my opinion this restaurant might be rather hard to find.  For breakfast, it is above average and offers some pretty unusual meal options that reward you for any effort it takes to find this place.

Address:

5900 Lower Honoapiilani Rd.

Lahaina part of Maui.

808-669-1500

www.napilikai.com

Just down the coast and almost within stone throw is the Gazebo Restaurant.  The Gazebo is a high volume, cute, picturesque facility with good food and view of the coast line and ocean.  We did a comparison of the two restaurants and it is our feeling that the Sea House is slightly better.  The Sea House offers better coffee, shorter wait to be seated, much more dinning room space, better view, very good menu items.