Aloha!

Welcome to Heaven!!!

At least as close as I can find here on earth! Here is the view off our balcony. Tough duty, huh! Paul & I are here in Maui enjoying this gorgeous scenery and this delightful Hawaiian culture for the next 2 weeks. I know, pretty indulgent! We haven't been to Hawaii since 2001 so we decided to trade in our Mexico weeks and stay US this year. We are super happy with our accommadations; it was a great trade.

As we sit at the pool or out on the beach we can see at least 2 of the neighboring islands. This one is Molokai and Lani is just to the left (out of the photo). A woman I was taking to out by the pool today said that at night you can even see the lights of Honolulu in the far distance (I don't know if that is true and I'm not sure what she was drinking).

We got here on Saturday and so far we have pretty much just sat in the sun and begun to decompress. This morning, I went for a
4-mile run/walk and Paul went for a 45-mile bike ride -- show off (just kidding, dear!). We have been eating very delicious, island food and have found some fun, unique restaurants. We like to find little local eateries that are somewhat off the beaten path. So far we have been to Cafe Mumbo in Paia, Cheeseburger in Paradise and The Front Streeet Grill in Lahaina and tonight we drove over to Kihei and ate at Stella Blues Cafe.

We haven't got too much planned yet but we are considering a few options like a snorkeling trip, a tour over to Molokai, maybe a luau but FOR SURE Paul is planning to ride his bike UP Haleakala, the volcano that most people ride bicycles DOWN! He is talking about riding his bike over to Hana tomorrow as some warm up for the BIG ride. I am planning to find the one quilt store on this island! That will be a highlight for me.

To be continued...