Tuesday, August 26, 2014

You went back and did what? - Maui Day Eight

The Maui Vacation Daily Pattern
Now that we're about to wind down our last few days on Maui, we realized that we have laid back days, and busy days, a bit of a pattern of some sort. Yesterday, we kept it low key, stayed on the south side, and cooked dinner at the condo. So if we followed the pattern accordingly, Day Eight should be crazy busy....and it sure was.

Foodie Stops
After our early morning ritual of getting the kids ready and preparing a light breakfast, we managed to leave the condo at 9:30am. First stop was supposed to be Sam Sato's, a return visit. However, on our way to Sam Sato's, we saw Tasty Crust in Wailuku. The parking lot was packed so we decided, let's try a thing or two, order it to go, and then take the kids to Sam Sato's. We ordered Breakfast Loco Moco, and Banana Pancakes with Coconut Syrup. Both were equally delicious, but it was the pancakes that I will remember since I don't get that kind of pancake when I'm on the mainland. It was light and fluffy, the syrup did not overpower the pancakes, instead, it was there to enhance the taste of the bananas. I want more!

The kids wanted Sam Sato's for early lunch, so we drove over to Sam Sato's which was just right around the corner from Tasty Crust. The same "Auntie" was there, the same lady who waited on us last week. It was like coming home when she saw us and talked to us. She gave us a few more local tips that I'm hoping to try tomorrow, or on our next trip to Maui. That's what I like about going on vacation....it's the people that we meet that enhances our trip.

Our early lunch was quite simple, Dry Noodles again, plus Wonton Mein....it was exactly how I wanted it. The noodles again were perfectly al dente. Thank you, Auntie. We hope to come back someday soon.

You went back and did what?
We decided to go back and do a "mini" Road to Hana (RTH). What? Yes, but we made sure we set  our limits, meaning, we were not to go all the way to Hana, we'd stop by 2-3 waterfalls, and not to go past Mile Marker 16. That's exactly what we did. First of all, today's weather was completely different when we did RTH last week. Last week was cloudy, and somewhat gray, although it only rained on us for a few minutes, the clouds pretty much covered the skies. Today, however, was totally different. It was sunny, warm, blue skies....just magnificent.


There were a couple of lesser known falls where we stopped at (between Mile Marker 11 and 12, and past Mile Marker 13). Both required a very easy walk from the highway....no more than 2-3 minutes. After making a couple of stops, we turned around and headed back, but with the intent of going back to Twin Falls (located on Mile Marker 2). We made our way in towards Twin Falls, the path was dry, not wet or muddy (unlike last week). There were fewer tourists too (maybe it was because we went around 2:30pm). Our goal was to stay here no more than hour. Last week, we went directly to Twin Falls, today however, we made it to the top of the lower falls. There were mini-pools of water on top and the kids were able to play for a bit. Shortly after, we decided to go to the main attraction, the not-so Identical Twin Falls. If we didn't make any stops, it would have been a 20-minute hike/walk towards the falls.

Upon reaching the entrance to the falls, we had to walk on the knee-high stream, and within minutes, we were just a few feet away from the falls. It was so hot. Madison and I jumped in and swam in the pool near Twin Falls. It was cold, but tolerable. We swam towards the falls, and found it ironic that the water falling down was warmer than the pool of water. That was very interesting. I'm glad we made this trip back to this side of RTH. After leaving the falls, I picked a couple of fresh guavas from one of the many trees.







































Local Uncle said...
"If you make it to Paia Town, you have to go Paia Fish Market, tourists and locals go there. You have to order the Ono Sandwich." Again, who was I argue with local uncle. We timed it properly. We built an appetite after driving our mini-RTH. So I ordered exactly what Uncle suggested, plus Mahi-Mahi Chips. I've had many fish and chips in my life, but this Mahi was soooo fresh, so sweet. It was lightly breaded or shrouded in batter.  My ono sandwich was just exactly how Uncle described it....ONOLICIOUS!!! I shall return!!!

So there you go.....that's our Day Eight....we have 1 more full day/afternoon tomorrow.....it's planned as a rest/kick back day. Mahalo for following our journey. Good night!







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