15th Anniversary Vacation Blog -- Day 1

Lisa and Scott on our flight to Maui

**** And so begins my blog about my vacation. You'll notice that I'm not posting my blog posts until I am almost home, just in case any of my friends' friends are home burglurists by trade. Hey, maybe you don't want to read a daily play-by-play of my vacation. I'm not sure I blame you. It might come off as boasting about my blessings and good fortune, which is not my intent. I enjoy blogging about my vacation though. I get to enjoy it twice that way: once when I experience it and again when I write about it. Call it my version of scrap-booking...and hey, if you don't want to read it...then don't. I'll never know. =)****


I'm in MAUI...80 degrees and beautiful. The heat as I exit the airport hits me like a tidal wave, of course, but I'll be getting used to it. We arrived around 5 pm Seattle time, which is 3 pm Maui time. By the time we got our rental car, drove to Ka'anapali and checked in, it was 4:30. I was a hungry, hungry hippo (remember that game?). Apparently the airline doesn't subscribe to my "let's eat something substantial every 2.5 hours" plan. Hubby and I made dinner our first priority and ate at the restaurant in our hotel. We wanted something light, so we both opted for fish. Hubby ordered a blackened Opa fish (which was awesome) and I had a macadamia nut encrusted swordfish (also good). He always manages to order just a little better than me.

After dinner we walked down the boardwalk to Whaler's village and started a little shopping. I think it is funny how many of the shops are repeated throughout the local shopping holes. There must be 16 ABC stores within the square mile. There are equally as many Honolua Surf Co. stores and Quicksilver/Roxy/Billabong/Element/Pac Sun stores. It must be like repeated advertising in televison shows. You know...when you aren't hungry when you start watching NCIS but desperately need a junk food fix when it is over because of all the repeated commercials?

Back to the hotel after some light shopping and we grab some haagen daaz for dessert. Yummy!

Saturday morning we head out first thing to go whale/dolphin watching and snorkeling at Lan'ai. It was FABULOUS. Amazing weather. The whales are so cool to watch, especially the mommy and baby calves. (Note that I cannot take a picture of a whale. I saw tons of whales on our trip and all I have to show for it is a bunch of pictures of the ocean. This, sadly, is the best one I got. What??? You can't see the whale? Shocking!)
They are expecting a bigger return of whales than they had in 2008, which was the best year in quite a long time. Snorkeling is awesome, but it always takes me about 5 minutes to quell the feelings of panic and stick my face into the water. Even though I recognize there is nothing to be fearful of (I'm wearing a bright yellow floatie, for goodness sake), I still freak out a bit. Hubby thought I wasn't going to make it for a moment, but I knew that I would eventually calm down if I could just stay with it for a few minutes. As soon as I had my face in the water and was distracted by a beautiful fish, I forgot to be so freaked out and my breathing calmed.

I love to watch hubby in the water. He dives way down to see the fish and coral. He's quick like a fish too. I spent most of my snorkeling time looking for the "elusive white human fish in the blue Hawaiian shorts".

My favorite time during the excursion was the way home. I love laying out in the sun, feeling the heat dry my hair and clothes, letting my body meld into the crashing movement of the boat, and chilling. After our excursion, we headed back into Ka'anapali hung out for awhile, making our first visit to the awesome 3 acre pool with the fun water slide. After that, all I had energy for was making plans for the rest of our week and watching lame movies on television. I was exhausted by 8 pm and fell asleep by 9:15 or so. Quite the little party animal, aren't I?