Maui

Well, at least Heidi did.

My friends Breanne, Julie and I went on a little adventure last month. We took a week (turned into a week and a half, to be explained later) trip to Maui. It was paradise! When you step off the plane in Maui (see 1st pic), after you shake of the aches and pains of the 6 hour flight, each of your senses are immersed in all things Hawaii. You feel the warm weather; it's like being wrapped in a warm blanket. You hear birds of paradise singing their lovely songs. You smell the blooms of the tropical flowers. You see God's beautiful creation at its best. And you taste the tropical flavors of Starbucks? Yes, this was our first stop after exiting the plane. I soon found out that my 2 friends needed Starbucks to survive.
Our 1st day was spent in Kahana and Lahaina. We met up with one of Breanne's work buddies and got to see how the other half vacations. They were in the penthouse at a resort on Kahana Beach. You could see the whales frolicking in the water from their lanai! That's a fancy word for balcony or porch. As you can see (pic below), the weather wasn't too great the first day so after a quick dip in the ocean, toes only for me, we went for a walk and quick bite to eat in Lahaina.
This day happened to be St. Patrick's Day and as we were walking down the street my buddies were heckled by the local drunks because of their failure to wear green. The girls got over it pretty quickly once they had their hands on their lava flows (yummy frozen drink with pina colada and frozen strawberries). The 2nd pic below was taken at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Lahaina. Notice my green and Breanne's turquoise?
The next day we had was the gorgeous Hawaiian weather we were looking for. Low 80's in March? Yes please! We started off the day in our convertible. We went to Wailea where we found another Cheeseburger in Paradise to have breakfast at. My french toast was beyond amazing and the mimosas were pretty great too! Our waitress was super helpful in planning out the rest of our trip. She gave us directions to her favorite beach, which soon became our favorite beach. Big Beach (pic below) is just about 10 minutes south of Wailea. Little Beach is next door to Big Beach and only accessible by climbing over some rocks. WARNING! Little Beach is a nude beach. We saw some interesting people climbing over those rocks. Needless to say, we didn't make the climb. The sand on Big Beach was amazing and from our chosen spot on the beach we had a great view of the surrounding islands and the perfect spot to people watch. We spent a good 4 hours at Big Beach that day.
The next day we went on a LONG drive and a short hike. We were told by many locals that we couldn't miss out on the Road to Hana and we had already planned on taking in the sights of the Seven Sacred Pools which was at the end of that road. We left our condo by 9am, stopped by Starbucks for a few necessities and made it to Haleakala National Park (where the Seven Sacred Pools are) by noon. The drive was long, and at times scary, but so worth it once we got to the pools. On the way back we stopped at Hamoa Beach. It's a small black sand beach tucked away off the Hana Hwy. Oprah has a house on this beach, but of course you can't see it at all from the public part of the beach.
When we were in the airport on our way to Maui, Julie made friends with this man named Frankie who lived on Maui. He told us about this boat tour that he said we had to do because it was such a great experience and he could get us a deal. Well, he was right about one thing; it was a great experience. We didn't need a deal though because $42 for a 4 hour whale watching/snorkeling trip with all the beer you could want (none for me, thanks) and a delicious BBQ is a great deal! This was probably my most favorite part of the trip. I thought we see a few whales here and there, but we saw lots and lots of whales and they even came within 10 feet of our boat! I almost peed my pants I was so excited! If you're going to Maui, you have to go on this boat trip, we compared and this one was the best by far. Here I am getting ready to snorkel. And below is my favorite picture that I took of the whales. Thinking it would be our last full day in Hawaii, we spent the entire next day at Kaanapali Beach. It's a busy but beautiful beach. We parked ourselves right in front of the Marriott where we would frequent for potty breaks and treats at their outside cafe. This was a great beach for floating in the water. Once you got past the wave break it was smooth sailing. I also taught the girls how to do the "washing machine." It's a great way to exfoliate your skin while letting the waves crash you into the beach.
The next day was the day that we were planning on going home, but a call from Bobby let me know that we weren't going to make it on the flight. A flight from the day before had been canceled and everyone from that flight was being bumped onto our flight. We took it with stride and welcomed this extra day in paradise. The only problem was that the owners of the condo, Breanne's friend Stafford and his wife Nancy, were set to stay there the following day. As soon as we started to fret about that Stafford called Breanne and told her that we could stay there that night and that we shouldn't worry about it. He's so great! So we spent that day back at our favorite beach, Big Beach, and relaxed.

On the new last day of our Hawaiian adventure, we knew that Stafford and Nancy would be arriving by 10am, so we woke early to clean up after ourselves. I was amazed at how fast 3 girls can clean a condo. We spent the time waiting for them to arrive at the pool because we wanted to give them a chance to get settled in. At about 11am, Stafford arrived at the pool drink in hand and I knew I was gonna like this guy. We showed him the pool tricks (see pics below) that we had been working on and told him about all the amazing things we had done. We then went back to the condo to get cleaned up and ready for our flight. We turned our rental car back in, checked into the airport and waiting for the gate agent to call our names for our seats. She never did. Stafford was nice enough to drive to the airport to pick us stranded girls up. We had a little laugh about it, but didn't think it was as fun as we did the first time we got bumped. Thank God for Stafford and Nancy because they let us sleep on aerobeds on their living room floor. The next day we woke up and went to Charlie Young Beach, which is right across the street from the condo. It was a great beach and Julie made another friend. It was so funny, she was sitting there enjoying the sun and this guy comes and lays down about 5 feet from her, but he was right in front of her. It was bizarre! After Charlie Young Beach we went back to the pool to catch what we thought were our last rays of Maui sun. When we got to the airport that evening the ticket agent was nice enough to let us know that there was absolutely no way we were making it on this flight. So we immediately called Stafford who was still on his was back from dropping us off and had him come get us. Ok, this isn't enjoyable any longer.

Being stuck 3 days longer than any of us had planned on being in Hawaii wasn't very fun. The next day we spent at the pool and at the internet cafe trying to figure out how to get home. I was able to finally get out that evening on the red eye and Julie and Breanne got out the next afternoon. Even though it ended on a sour note, Maui Wowie 2k9 was a trip of a lifetime! I can't wait to go back. Nothing beats the Hawaiian sun. Next time, I'll bring Bobby!

Vegas!

Bobby and I went to Vegas a few weeks ago with our good friends Tony and Carmen Doud. It was a great trip because Bobby and I were able to experience things that we don't normally experience when we're in Vegas. We started off our trip at SeaTac Airport where we quickly found out that we had been bumped from our flight. No problem, we're professionals! Within an hour and a half we were on another flight to Vegas, which, because it was a direct flight, got us into Vegas sooner than we would've gotten in our original flight. When we got to Vegas the first order of business was to check into our hotel. We stayed at the Excalibur because we got a great deal and the location can't be beat! The Excalibur has 2,000 newly remodeled rooms and we were lucky enough to get to stay in one. With it's 42" wide screen TV, modern bathrooms and alarm clock with iPod inputs we couldn't ask for anything more.

We then went searching for good food, which really isn't that hard in Vegas. We headed to a place we know well and knew we could get what we were looking for. The Pyramid Cafe' in the Luxor is just what our stomachs were craving. I had the Chicken Caesar on Focaccia, and after the first bite it made the list of top 5 sandwiches I've ever had.

Next stop, slot machines. We had been told by a few different people to stay away from the slots this trip because the slots are super tight due to the bad economy. How could we resist all those flashing lights? We learned our lesson after only a few minutes of playing. We had to play long enough to get a few drinks though, right? The drinks were just as disappointing as the slots. The wine and the mixed drinks were really watered down. I guess I better start enjoying beer if I want to get that Vegas buzz going. We called it an early night as we knew that the next day was going to be a long one.

The temperatures were in the 90's and this Seattle native was HOT. I loved it though as long as there was an air conditioned casino close by. We walked from the Excalibur all the way to the Wynn. Of course we stopped along the way for a few photo ops and a couple of stints at the blackjack tables. We caught a great happy hour at Maggiano's in the Fashion Show Mall. By this time Bobby's bad ankle (old injury) was giving him a lot of pain. We caught the monorail at Harrah's and made our way back to the Excalibur. Once we got back to our room and took a look at Bobby's swollen ankle we knew we had to call it a night. Here are a few shots we took during our site seeing day. The first one is Carmen and I hanging out with The Blue Man Group at the Venetian. The second and third ones were taken in the Palazzo we thought the umbrellas were beautiful and made for an interesting photo op! The fourth one is Carmen and I getting to know the green M&M. Isn't she pretty?

The next morning after Bobby iced his ankle again and popped a few ibuprofen, Carmen and I did a little shopping while the boys sat down to play some poker. Carmen and I were in search of some good deals on Zumanity one of the Cirque du Soleil shows. We found one of the Tix 4 Tonight locations at the bottom of the giant coke bottle and got an amazing deal on some unbelievable seats.

Carmen and and I made our way back to the poker tables we left our husbands at and weren't in the slightest bit surprised that they were still there. We decided to check out the Mandalay Bay Shops to kill some time while we were waiting for them to lose their money. When we came back they were again where we left them, but Bobby was done. He and I decided that we couldn't miss out on getting some much needed sun so we checked out Excalibur's pool.

The pool at Excalibur is a great pool that's only about 3 ft deep so you can walk around on your knees and visit with friends while sipping on your favorite drink. We spent a few hours reading, relaxing and people watching before we had to get cleaned up for our night at Zumanity. I especially enjoyed watching this poor guy try to talk to this girl by slowing creeping up on her in the pool and asking her about the book she was reading. It happened to be Twilight and for anyone who has read it, you can understand why she only gave him about 1 minute of her precious time with Edward.

Once we got back to the room we cleaned up and headed to check out the buffet at our hotel. We got there at a great time because they had a 2-for-1 deal and the crowds hadn't descended upon the buffet yet. This buffet was incredible! Not only did they have all the expected buffet items, they had a Mexican food section, a Chinese food section and even a sushi bar. Needless to say, we ate ourselves silly.

When we were able to peel ourselves away from the buffet made the short walk to the Zumanity Theatre at the New York-New York. After entering the theatre we were quickly ushered to the photographer who took a few posed pictures of us just like at prom. We then got to our seats and waited for the show to start. This show is hard to describe. There were funny parts, a lot of funny parts; beautiful parts, I have no idea how she got her body to contort that way; and sexy parts, some of those sexy parts were a little too sexy for me, but it was easy to simply look away. All in all it was a great show and I'm glad we spent the money to experience it. This picture is the four of us enjoying a drink before the show.

After the show we made our way back to our hotel and sat down at some blackjack tables where we spent the rest of our night.

The next morning Bobby and I had to catch our flight back to the real world. We left a little more money in Vegas than I like to but we had a wonderful time with wonderful friends. I can't wait to take off on our next journey.