Sunday Drive

Took a break from running this morning to spend more time in the ocean.  We tried to snorkel but the waves were tossing up tons of sand and we had very poor visibility through our masks, we couldn’t see any fish and could barely make out where the rocks were.  So if at first you don’t succeed, grab the boogie board!  We spent the morning swimming, floating, and attempting to catch waves.  One of our honu friends was near and popped his head up to say hi.  We warmed up in the sun afterwards, the ocean has been on the cooler side the last few days.  Got all cleaned up to pick up our car, we’ll have a rental car for our last few days, mainly because we needed a way to get back to the airport but also because it will be fun to run around on our own schedule.  The bus served us well, but its time to get back to LA’s car culture soon and we don’t want to go into shock! Happy to know we wouldn't be sweating in our clothes waiting at bus stops, I put on a new shirt and was feeling shiny and happy!

The car rental place didn’t even make us walk the one-mile to pick up our car, they sent a shuttle right to our condo, complete with a fun spirited young man who sang along with all the pop songs as he drove us.  Our new car zipped us to Ono Kao Kao for one more plate breakfast of rice and eggs for me and Greg got the saimin, a local noodle soup dish. Properly fed, we decided to take our new rental vehicle for a Sunday drive.  We hadn’t headed south so far on this trip, so we decided to cruise the towns of Kihei and Wailea.  All of Maui is beautiful; views of the ocean on this trip were stunning.  The waves were bigger here and the wind was out of control, so we viewed most these towns from the shelter of our Chevy.  We explored a little craft fair, enjoyed seeing the vast golf courses and posh resorts of Wailea, and even stopped to visit a gourmet market and bought some world renown chocolate at Sweet Paradise Chocolatier (The Kona coffee with dark chocolate was luscious but I preferred the Lava Salt, a chewy caramel in dark chocolate topped with local red salt).  We enjoyed our venture to the south, yet we find we have grown very partial to the Westside. 

A little more sun time followed by one last fish taco dinner from the Fish Market (sigh, I’m going to miss you most of all fish taco).  Over dinner Greg said,  “Eating a fish taco from the Fish Market is like riding a wave.  It is amazing but it doesn’t last very long.”  Such is life! 

We ventured out to Java Jazz once more since Alan (the bass player who plays with Howard) said the musicians had great things to say about Greg.  Sure enough the barefoot guitarist, Steve, gave us a wave as soon as we walked into the crowded joint and the young bass player (also a server) told Greg he had just been thinking about him yesterday.  Later in the set Steve invited Greg up and Mark loaned him his bass.  It is always fun to see Greg in his element; he seems so comfortable and happy on stage.  The music finished up around ten and we went home to eat our chocolate and have sweet dreams about one more day on Maui.