February 22, 2007 Kaanapali

Our alarm did not go off at 5:30 as planned, but, fortunately, we woke up a few minutes later and made it to breakfast and back in time for our 7:30 bus to the airport. There we caught a 9:20 flight to Maui on a Dash 8-100. About 25 minutes later we arrived in Kahului, the largest town on Maui. Our bus stopped in the Iao Valley where the local warriors had been driven during another battle in the war to unite the islands. Many of them also killed themselves by jumping from the Iao Needle rather than be captured.

From there we drove south, west and north to the warm sunny beaches on the opposite side of the mountains that formed the valley. We stopped in Lahaina, an old whaling town, for lunch and had a few minutes for a quick tour around the main square and whaling museum. We arrived at our hotel by 3, but not all the rooms were ready, so they gave us a chit for two free drinks in the bar, so we retired there with some of our newfound friends. After a while, they gave us a second chit because the rooms still weren’t ready.

We finally got into our room about 5, unpacked, and went for a walk. We found something to eat at an outdoor mall on the beach about 15 minutes away and then explored the mall and surrounding area. We returned to explore the hotel grounds also before returning to our room about 9.