Lahaina, Maui
 |
Erich and I had had planned a 3:30 am tour up to volcano summit to experience the Haleokala Crater at sunrise. And had this not been the last day of our trip, we might have had enough the energy to do. But, we were too damn tired to get up that early!! Instead, we decided to get some sleep (this is a vacation afterall!!) and join my sister and mom for a day in the city of Lahaina. |
 |
| Maui in the early morning (left); Erich takes a few moments of rest before heading for breafast (above) |
The shaded streets of Lahaina (above left); this is one banyan tree and it takes up an entire block (above); the shade from the banyon tree limbs provides a little hint of the South (left); not sure what's the story behing this boat in the harbor, the island of Moloka'i in the background means we saw each of the main islands (below)
While Erich and I tried, only somewhat successfully, to make it more than just a day of shopping by actually seeing some of the amazingly diverse architecture as well as spiritual sites of Lahaina (including the largest Buddha outside Asia), we spent most of our day scouring the downtown shops for last minute treasures.
The old colonial style Lahaina court house
One of many Buddhist Temples in Lahaina
 A bride prepares to join her groom |
|
 Beautiful temple north of Lahaina |
Supposedly the largest statue of Buddha outside Asia, this temple was a nice place for a repose
The bright and beautiful colors of island flowers on display (above); Jessica looking lovely at lunch (right)
Who knew we'd end up going to Hawaii to get tasty Chicago style pizza (left); shopping along the main strip of Lahaina (above), the guy to right bought the same shirt as me at Hilo Hatties
The smile on Erich's face is from the Coldstone's ice cream he just finished
It was actually a wonderful way to spend our last day. We had lunch at a local pizzeria with views of the harbor and the island of Moloka’i as well as ice cream by the coral beach. It was great. My impression of Maui is that it is probably the most diverse of the islands in terms of vegetation and climate, offering both urban amenities as well as nature. It also appears to be the most progressive, especially in terms of wind energy and rainwater collections (yah, yah, that’s urban geographer in me). Maui is another place we’d love to stay on again.
Wind swept trees in Kahului
return to vacation home