Planning is one of my favorite parts of traveling. To me, it makes the whole experience last longer. First you armchair travel by reading all about a place then you get the actual trip. Now that I think about it, scrapbooking rounds out the experience by letting you travel all over again a third time. (More on that in another post.)
On the upcoming trip to Hawaii we are going to Maui for a few days and then on to Kauai for a week. We've been to Kauai two other times but we haven't visited Maui. I've been thinking about how we can spend our time and have come up with a list of things I want to do while we're there. Since we haven't been to Maui yet, my list is pretty open. We are meeting a group of friends so we'll kind of go with the flow on what they're doing. We've definitely got a list of stuff to do in Kauai that we've enjoyed before but I've been thinking of a list of to do's that we haven't gotten around to yet. That is one of the great things about going to a place more than once. You are always adding to your list of fun.
Let's see how many of these things we get to.
Maui To Do List
1) Drive the
Road to Hana. I think it would just be wrong to go to Maui and not make this journey.
2) Visit
Alii Kula Lavender farm. I don't know if T will go along with this or if my allergies will allow me to enjoy it. I'd still love to see the acres of lavender.
3) Head to the North Shore and watch some big wave surfing. The ocean is a magical powerful thing. We've seen some pretty crazy surfing on the other islands we've visited but the North Shore is a mecca. I have absolutely no desire to surf myself but I love to watch man vs nature.
4) Visit a black sand beach. On the Big Island, we accidently ended up on a very, very new black sand beach. We were lost and entirely too close to the erupting volcano so I have to admit I didn't really get to enjoy it. There's one on the road to Hana so maybe it will go better this time!
Kauai To Do List (Stuff we haven't done)
I have to admit that as I was thinking of this list, almost everything involved food!
1) Go to a regular old
farmer's market. This has been on my list since our first trip. Last time we were wondering around and happened upon what I will call a "fancy" farmer's market in a new and trendy shopping center. It was interesting but way over-priced. I'd like to go to a back of the pick-up truck, bring your own bag, at the town ball field farmer's market.
2) Drink straight from a coconut. I've seen people with these drinks but haven't gotten to try it yet. Maybe at the farmer's market?
3) Buy some Hawaiian salt. I admit it. I have a salt issue. I love it entirely too much. I'd love to try some of this states varieties. Plus I can take it home!
4) Enjoy a REAL
shave ice. I'm on the hunt. As we've road tripped around the island, I've had some supposed shave ice that seemed to me like poor excuses for snow cones. I'm anxious to try to find something authentic and see if it lives up to the hype.
5) Eat some sushi. Sure I can do this anywhere but I'd like to try it here. T doesn't like sushi so we'll see how this goes.
6) Go to
Polihale State Park. We haven't been over to this coast yet. I'm not sure our rental car will make it but I'd love to see the Napali Coast from this angle.
7) Take a
helicopter tour of the island. Ok here's the deal. T refuses to do this because 1) it is expensive and 2) he thinks it is asking for some kind of terrible accident. When I pointed out the perfect safety record of one of the tour companies, he responded that they can't stay perfect forever:) So I'm not expecting to cross this off the list. (yet)
So that's my list. See! I told you - a lot of food!
(See I told you - mostly food!)
