Aloha from Maui!

Dear Readers,

Two of Between Courses' bloggers are on their long-awaited honeymoon in Maui!
You can expect the next several posts to be up-to-the minute reviews of Maui restaurants, lodgings, beaches, and activities (I'm writing this from our lanai on Kaanapali beach).

After 12 hours of flying time (piece of advice: avoid American Airlines...I have honestly never been on a plane with so little legroom in my entire life!), Sid and I arrived at Kahului airport in central Maui, commandeered our trusty rental car, and whisked ourselves away through the swaying cane fields, towering west Maui mountains, and expansive views of the south Pacific to our studio condo at the Aston Mahana Kaanapali.



Every room at the Mahana has an ocean view, and though they are not state of the art like some of the newer resorts down the beach, they are clean, comfortable, and well-appointed (another perk of being an older property is that they were built before zoning laws prohibited construction so close to the shoreline: the Mahana towers just feet away from the beach).

After settling in to our room, we drove down to Lahaina (about 15 minutes away) to grab some dinner and fight off jet lag. For a quick local dinner we opted for the Aloha Mixed Plate (located at the north end of Lahaina's Front Street). The food was unimpressive. The grilled meats and fishes (the specialty here) were flavorful but dry and cold. The fruity drinks were good, though, and the view could not be beat. Located beachside and facing west, Aloha Mixed Plate is an awesome place to watch the sun set.



Our bellies filled with mediocre food, we pushed on south in to Lahaina. Friday nights are "Art Night" in this old Hawaiian harbor town, so we strolled along and checked out the wild and sundry artistic efforts of Maui's artists. Frankly, some of the art was surprisingly good. Favorites included a gallery that sold antique European posters and a gallery that had montage photographs (such as a photo that combined images so that it looked like Venetian canals were running through a Paris cathedral).

By then, though, the 6 hour time change had caught up with us. It was light's out for these intrepid traveler.

Aloha until our next post!