Blooming by the Bay – Page 78 – The Endless Stories of Dan & Misono & Their Beloved Mio

Maui 2012: Day 8

August 28, 2012 By Misono in Family and Friends, Foodie Love, Wanderlust Tags: Ahihi Bay, Ahihi-Kinau Natural Reserve, beach, craft fair, craft market, Eskimo Candy, Eskimo Candy Seafood & Deli Market, La Perouse Bay, Makena, Makena Bay, Makena beach, Sanctuary Education Center, snorkeling, Wailea, Wailea-Makena, Whale Watch Center

We didn’t have any strict plans for the rest of our time in Maui after my brother left, so on our eighth day, we decided to explore more of the Wailea-Makena area (the southern part of the island) to do more snorkeling and visit the beaches there.

Mio, Miwa, and I by our cottage in the morning.

Our first stop was the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Reserve, as we’d heard that Ahihi Bay is a good place to snorkel.

Our family at the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Preserve — Arriving at the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Preserve

It seemed a little murkier than some of the previous areas we’d snorkeled in Maui, but we still got to see a lot of coral and fish.

Back with Mio on shore. — Back from snorkeling, on the shore with Mio.

After spending a couple hours snorkeling, we headed over to La Perouse Bay, which had the most beautifully clear blue waters! According to the people there, though, it wasn’t a great place to snorkel, so we just walked around and admired the views.

Dan, Mio and I at the La Perouse Bay — Family picture atÂ La Perouse Bay

Kosei looks so stoic... lol — Yokoyama picture! Kosei looks so stoic… lol

Our next stop was Makena Bay. Mio had fallen asleep in the car ride there, so my brother Kosei stayed back to watch her while Dan, Miwa, and I had some fun on the beach.

Dipping our feet in... — Dipping our feet in…

Dan writing in the sand. — Dan’s romantic message in the sand… heehee*

Miwa pushed me into the water! — Miwa pushed me in while we were frolicking around…

We couldn't stop laughing! — We couldn’t stop laughing! We felt like kids again.

Us in the water, with the Molokini Crater in the distance. — We could see the Molokini Crater in the distance.

Miwa wrote "Hawaii 2012" in the sand — Sad that our time in Hawaii is coming to an end…

After getting our beach time, we stopped at Bubba’s Gourmet Dog Shack for a quick snack…

Garlic fries! — Garlic fries from Bubba’s Gourmet Dog Shack! Dan also got some shave ice.

We also saw a craft market by the road, so we stopped there to get some souvenirs.

Everyone sticking their faces through — Everyone’s in here! Even Mio… sort of.

We went back to Kihei to go to the Whale Watching Center / Sanctuary Education Center.

Us at the Sanctuary Education Center — It was nice and cool inside, and there was even a little play area for kids.

Clinging to her newfound friend. — Mio clinging to her newfound friend, the stuffed turtle.

We then headed over to Eskimo Candy Seafood Market & Deli for a late lunch — they’re known to have awesome poke! 🙂

Shrimp taco plate! — Shrimp taco plate for me!

Shoyu and furikake ahi poke... yum! — Shoyu and furikake ahi poke… yum!

We then went back to Makena Bay (because we loved it so much there), laid out on the beach for a couple hours, and then went back to Kihei for some shave ice before going home.

Miwa with her shave ice. — Miwa with her shave ice from Surf Monkey Shave Ice.

Dan and I sharing some shave ice. — Dan and I sharing a shave ice together.

Mio got some, too! — Oh, and of course Mio too!

The following day would be our last full day in Maui! I’m sure everyone is starting to get sick of these posts, so you can breathe a sigh of relief that the next one will be the last of our posts about our trip! 😉 It’s been a lot of work to upload all the pictures and document everything for me, too, so I’m relieved as well! haha* 😛

Maui 2012: Day 7

August 27, 2012 By Misono in Family and Friends, Foodie Love, Wanderlust Tags: Geste Shrimp, Geste Shrimp Truck, Haiku, Kahului, Leilani Farm Sanctuary, Paia Bay, shrimp, shrimp scampi, shrimp truck, Tasaka Guri Guri

We took things easy on our seventh day in Maui, because we were still pretty exhausted from the Road to Hana the day before, and because my brother Ted needed to get dropped off at the airport to fly home in the evening. We decided to just drive around and leisurely explore, hitting a couple food places we wanted to eat. One place we wanted to try together before Ted left was Geste Shrimp Truck!

The Yokoyama siblings at Geste Shrimp Truck — Geste Shrimp Truck in Kahului.

Geste Shrimp Truck — Putting our orders in.

One of the foods I’ve been dreaming of having again since our trip two years ago to Oahu was garlic shrimp from a shrimp truck. The shrimp at Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck in Kahuku had been pretty amazing, and I was eager to find out how Geste measured up, as the two are often compared to each other.

My shrimp scampi — I got the shrimp scampi, loaded with garlic – yum!

Miwa's lemon pepper shrimp — Miwa’s lemon pepper shrimp

Dan's hot shrimp! — Dan got the hot, spicy shrimp… of course.

The verdict? Geste Shrimp was pretty good… but Dan and I agreed that Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck in Oahu is better, especially with their garlic shrimp and the garlic rice that accompanies it. In terms of their variety, though, Geste has a better selection of flavors to choose from.

After stuffing ourselves with shrimp, we drove over to Leilani Farm Sanctuary in Haiku for a Mio-friendly attraction — with goats, rabbits, donkeys, cats, peahens, pigs, tortoises, ducks, chickens, and deer residing at this animal farm, it’s known as “a paradise for rescued animals.”

Maui 2012: Day 6 ~ The Road to Hana

August 24, 2012 By Misono in Family and Friends, Foodie Love, Wanderlust Tags: black sand, black sand beach, Da Kitchen CafÃ©, Hana, Hana Highway, Hana Lava Tube, Hawaii, Hawaiian food, Heavenly Hana, Ka'eleku Cave, Ka'eleku Caverns, labyrinth, lava, Maui, O'heo Gulch, O'heo Gulch Pools, Pa'iloa Beach, Road to Hana, Seven Sacred Pools, stalactites, The Road to Hana, Wai'anapanapa State Park

A visit to Maui is not complete without traveling the Road to Hana, or the Hana Highway, which offers some of the most gorgeous scenic views of the Hawaiian Islands. Even though this legendary road is only 52 miles (84 km) long from Kahului to Hana, it takes the average driver around three hours and can be quite a challenge to navigate, because of how narrow and winding it is. There are about 620 sharp curves and 59 bridges, 46 of which are one-lane bridges. I’d read that the road can take such a toll on oneâ€™s nerves, that it’s also known as the â€œDivorce Highway,â€ because the stress from driving on the road has caused quite a few arguments among couples (although thankfully, that was not the case for us). It’s also not a course you should undertake if you are prone to carsickness because of how windy it is. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? Well, we were told that it was well worth all the inconveniences, because there are so many stunning scenic views along the way; everyone who had been to Maui encouraged us to go on the Road to Hana, so we knew it was not to be missed during our time there. We at first questioned our own sanity for taking a toddler on such a long, treacherous trip, but we hoped for the best and planned to dedicate Day 6 of our trip to the Road to Hana. Because most people make frequent stops to hike and check out the breathtaking sights along the way, it is advised to dedicate a whole day to the excursion (the three hours mentioned above is driving time only). We’re so glad that we did make the effort to go, though, because we were treated to some of the most incredible views, and we were able to see for ourselves why they call it Heavenly Hana!

We left Kihei in the morning, so it took us over an hour to get to the start of the Road to Hana in Kahului. Towards the beginning, I was getting so carsick from all the winding roads that I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle the whole trip. Thankfully, the motion sickness subsided for me after the first half hour.

Dan and Mio, moments before Dan injured himself badly while trying to protect Mio. — Mio taking a much-needed break from the car. This was actually moments before Dan injured himself badly in the knee when he tripped and protected Mio from the fall.

A stop along the Road to Hana — A view along the Road to Hana.

We made a stop at the Hana Lava Tube, which is also known as the Ka’eleku Caverns. It’s one of the world’s largest lava tubes, and you can exploreÂ 1/3 mile of unusual underground formations that were created by an ancient subterranean river of lava! Liquid rock flowing through the passages one thousand years ago has cooled into myriads of beautiful stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone.

Descending into the cave. — Dan is excited to go into the lava tube. Mio, not so much.

Descending into the caverns. The cow skull is there because cattle ranchers used to dispose of the remains of slaughtered cattle in this lava tube.

Entering the Ka'eleku Cave. — Entering the Ka’eleku Cavern.

On the go!

August 23, 2012 By Misono in Mio, Videos Tags: car, dolls, Mio, stuffed animals, vehicle, video

Our place is a total mess right now with all the packing we’re doing in preparation for our move in two weeks! Mio can definitely sense the big changes and seems to have an inkling that we’re about to go somewhere new — she’s been piling stuffed animals onto her ride-on toy car and pushing them from room to room, as if to tell us, “We’re already ready to go!”

She likes to say “boo-bboo” (Japanese equivalent of “beep beep”) as she wheels her entourage around. 😛

Maui 2012: Day 5

August 22, 2012 By Misono in Family and Friends, Videos, Wanderlust Tags: dan, Fishpipe, fog, Haleakala Crater, Haleakala National Park, Haleakala summit, Hawaii, Kihei, Kosei, Local Boy Snack Shop, Maui, Mio, misono, Miwa, Polo Beach, sunrise, Ted, time-lapse, video

On our fifth day in Maui, we woke up at 3am and left the cottage at 4am to drive up to the Haleakala Crater summit, in hopes of watching the famous sunrise which is said to be the most beautiful when seen from the volcano’s highest point at 10,023 feet. The drive took over an hour and a half, but we got there just in time for when the sun was scheduled to come up. It was freezing up there, but we bundled up and eagerly waited with cameras on hand.

View of the sunrise from the Haleakala Summit — View of the sun about to rise, from the Haleakala Summit

…and then came the most disappointing moment of the entire trip. It had looked like the sun was about to shine through the clouds and light up the valleys below, and then a massive fog came in and shrouded everything. It became dark, and we couldn’t see a thing.

We ended up not being able to see the sunrise because of the fog that shrouded over. — Darn you, fog!

You can see what happened in the time-lapse that Dan created, below.

We were really bummed, as this was supposed to be one of the biggest highlights of the trip and was one of the top attractions in Maui, probably second only to the Road to Hana. We found out afterwards that there was a hotline you could call the night before with a rating/forecast of how the sunrise would look the following morning. If only we’d known about it, we could have saved ourselves the early wakeup and long drive up and down the summit that had all been for naught.

At least we got some stunning views of the sunlit valleys of Maui on the drive down for the summit. I guess it wasn’t a complete waste of time…