Maui

 There are those that love the Island of Maui. They love the delicate juxtaposition of land and sea. They love the beaches, the surfing, the laid back casualness of the small towns. They love the drinks along the pool and late afternoon swims in beautiful water. Etc. . .

I'm not one of them. Don't get me wrong Maui is paradise. There some cool spots and I have a good friend who loves to go there all the time to catch up on her surfing. But I guess that Maria and I are just not into the whole flip flop vacation thing. However, my friend Matt was getting married and so off like a prom dress we went.

 We arrived at the airport and luckily there are direct flights from Oakland here. (The ones from Oakland are cheaper than the ones from SFO as well). Immediately one is aware that Island life is not cheap. I think next time, we should have just rented a car and that would have given us the freedom to do whatever we wanted and would have been more cost effective than getting the shuttles.

It seems that most of the major hotels are located along a strip of hotels along the northwest side of the Island in Kaanapali. On one end of the strip is the Sheraton  -- which is really nice but incredibly expensive and on the other side is the Hyatt -- which a buddy at work mentioned was a bit run down. We stayed at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel. I can only say that this place has likely seen better days, but is cozy.

One of the best things we did every morning was to get up and got for a run along the beach walking path - which isn't very wide (which is why going early in the morning is good to avoid the crowd). Watching the sun rise over the water and seeing the nearby Islands in the distance was truly remarkable.

We did the Road to Hana as well. They told me that its called "divorce road" as all the couples who attempt this marathon trip start of happy, but by the time it ends - are at each others throats. There are a multitude of cute spots to stop and get in pics of the myriad waterfalls. There is some decent hiking as well. Along the way we stopped in a small Town called Paia - which I think will be a cool spot to stop next time we are around this neck of the woods. If they have houses to rent - this might be the perfect place to chill. From what I've been told by Airi (who goes there quite a bit) its this part of the Island that is actually very authentic if you're into the whole surf experience. By journey's end we made our way back and hit Polli's Mexican Restaurant. Food was pretty good - but I was impressed with the hot sauce that they had. We bought a bottle or two of this - but then found out we couldn't bring it on the plane!

http://www.pollismexicanrestaurant.com

It was getting close to the wedding and we had a day to kill. We checked out the local sushi and were totally blown away by how good it was. I guess being on a tiny island surrounded my thousands of miles of ocean has that effect on the seafood. We went shopping afterwards and managed to find this little number for Maria: Not bad if I can say so myself. . . . mee-YOW!

On Wedding day, we got up and managed to get in a 4 mile run. The humidity of the beach can just drain the energy out of you. Matt and his bride Ashley picked out this cute little estate overlooking the Kaanapali beach. The location provided a beautiful sunset and the happy couple was married while the rest of us raided the wine bar.

Like I said before, Maui is not a bad place to go to. For some it is their Mecca. It offers a lot to those who are into surfing, love the beach, and dig the spirit of the Islands. For my money I think I'd take Kauai (which is another entry on to itself). However, by day four I was sick of resort life and getting Island fever. I was ready to get back to San Francisco - my home by the bay. After all, from what I can remember Sinatra didn't write any songs about Maui. ; )