Going to Maui

Day One.
We need to fly to Oakland and spend the night because the nonstop flight to Maui on Alaska Airlines leaves at 745 in the morning. We are flying standby (of course) and the flight looks good, with a possibility of getting first class. One problem is that it has been storming all week in California. Yes, nearly the entire state has been pounded by four powerful storms. There have been periods of heavy rain, gusty winds, lighting, tornadoes, snow and hail. Earlier in the week flights at Orange County airport had been unable to land or voluntarily diverted because of gusty winds and nearby tornadoes. This scares Michael because he doesn't like to fly and he surely doesn't like turbulence. But I say we have to fly in it because I want to go to Maui and this looks like our best option. Besides, we are going on an adventure! So we pack in the morning and clean the apartment and are getting ready to when I check the flights from Orange County to see how they are doing and at least two of the flights to Oakland are canceled. Uh oh, I think, and check the flights from LAX to Oakland, and a few of them look good for standby travelers like us. So we go to LAX and its raining and gray and dark and ominous looking outside. I don't like the idea of flying during this storm either, but I haven't seen much of the sun in the past five days and I am already getting dark circles under my eyes. Turns out the flight to Oakland is wide open but running late. We wait in the boarding area, eat sandwiches and look outside as the clouds begin to part and the rain subsides. We board the plane, take off, and its nothing but bright blue sky and white billowing clouds. Its awesome! The clouds are bulbous and thunderstorm lookalikes and the plane veers this way and that to avoid flying directly through them. Its a little bumpy but not bad and we soon land in Oakland, having used some of the free drink coupons a friend had given us.
We rented a car and then drove out to stay with our friends Tiffany and Arthur, who live in Bay Point. I didn't know where it was either, but its east and a bit north for 45 minutes, near Pittsburgh and Antioch. The four of go out for a yummy sushi dinner and go to bed early because we have to be up at dark:30 the next morning.
Day Two.
We are up by 5 and on the road back to the airport, but of course we have time to stop and get coffee on the way. At the airport, we find out first class is full, but we get seats together in coach. The flight is pretty full and we're in the window and middle seat with a family of five taking up the rest of the row and across the aisle; they've got an infant with them that likes to scream. I'm a little disturbed, but since we are going to Hawaii, I don't care too much. Its still stormy in Oakland at this point, the sun is barely rising and its raining gently outside. All the more dramatic an exit for us to fly into the tropics 2500 miles away. The flight has some bumps, but overall its pretty smooth and the crew is in a good mood. The flight attendant looks at me and says that I had a pre-paid digiplayer (its an like a portable dvd player with built in movies, shows, music and games that an employee invented). Too bad all the movies are bad and and I don't want to watch any of them, but at least they had an episode of the Simpsons and then I go back to reading the newspaper, doing the crossword puzzle and playing solitaire on my iPod. The anticipation starts to build because its been over four hours and we are anxious to see some land. When the islands come into view, its hazy. I had looked at the forecast and it pretty much said haze forever. The locals call it volcanic haze, but I don't know what that means and I just think it has something to do with El Nino. We land at the Kahului airport and everyone claps. This is Michael's first time to Hawaii and my second time to Maui, but its been nine years since then when my brother was married. Despite the haze, its stunningly lush and beautiful. We headed over to pick up our rental car and they let me choose from a few options. I take the Mitsubishi Eclipse, which is not big on room, but fun to drive and handles curves better than most rentals. At this point its barely noon and we are hungry so we stop at a health food store near the airport which makes all sorts of veggie and non-veggie sandwiches. Then its off to our rental which is north of Lahaina but south of Napili in a small area called Honokawai. Our room isn't ready yet, but they give us towels and send us to the beach to occupy our time. The water is wonderfully cool and refreshing, I'd say mid 70s. It feels cool but once you are in you never feel cold. The sun is shining, you can see the other island of Molokai and we've finally made it to Maui. When we get to check in, we realize the room is really a condo building, which is great because it comes with a full kitchen, one bedroom and an amazing balcony that overlooks the ocean. We can see Molokai and Lanai from the balcony and promptly proclaim that we will spend most of the time on the balcony. Also, we can look down on he grassy area below by the beach to see everyone laying out, drinking, reading, or snoozing in the sun.
After a nap, we go shopping for food. There's a few grocery options on the island and we are across from another health food store, which I didn't plan for. I'm just sad there is no Trader Joes here, but they are getting a Whole Foods next month. I was expecting sticker shock, but was still surprised to see loaves of bread for $5, a bag of tortilla chips for $4 and a six pack of beer for $10. Everything is at least one dollar more here, and if you want to buy local food (like bread, eggs, chips, beer), its generally two or three dollars more than the mainland. For sunset, we had chips and salsa, sat on the balcony and drank a local Maui pale ale, which I really enjoyed. We made a pasta dinner and I was ready for bed before 9pm. I held out until 930 and was out cold.
Day Three.
We were both up early and Michael made coffee and got the local Maui Newspaper and we sat on the balcony for breakfast. The forecast was the same, low 80s and bright blue sky. We rented snorkel gear, which was a reasonable $15/week. The girl at the shop gave us a map of four local places to see fish. We started at Kapalua Bay, which was great. Not only was the beach filled with bright white sand, there are surrounding palm trees, a good size bay and rocks on either end. Michael hadn't been snorkeling before but he caught on quickly. I'm not an expert, but I've been a handful of times. We see lots of colorful fish floating about. The conditions are calm and clear and there are several people also out and about in the bay. Lots of families relaxing on the beach and kids running all over the place. Its a nice mix. While laying out, a group of kids were pointing and smiling at the water near the rocks. Turns out there was a green sea turtle hanging about, but was gone by the time I got there. After a few hours, we went back to the room, had lunch and napped. Then afternoon coffee and a drive north to find more snorkel sights. We eventually found a recommended spot. After walking through a tropical mini forest and passing many wild roosters, we arrived at a rocky beach. It was emptying out when we arrived and it was past four, so we went back to Kapalua Bay, which we knew was a sure thing. After another nice snorkel, we watched the sunset and went out for dinner at the Maui Brewing Company which had an amazing Coconut Porter beer (I love coconut) that was almost a dessert. The fish tacos were pretty good too. I could hardly keep my eyes open and was asleep around 10 that night. The sound of the waves is soothing but also loud at high tide, so we slept with the sliding doors to the balcony closed.