Got everyone up early, packed snacks, water, and the guidebook, and we were out the door, in the car, on the road, by 7:11..... We dragged our tired, dirty, sweaty, grumpy bodies back through the hotel doors at 11.

In between we drove 175 miles, start to finish, on the longest crookedest road I've ever been on, and we drove the whole loop, didn't double back, so we had some interesting bumpy, not really sure this is a good decision moments, in the dark!

We saw some beautiful waterfalls, the kids climbed down the side of the road to get to one of the pool.    The day was a perfect sunny day with a great breeze till we got to the last hike at the 7 Sacred Pools, them it rained all over us.  Which was perfect because we were hot and sweaty and I wouldn't have been able to finish the hike due to my heat stress, except the rain cooled us all off.

My favorite stop was the Black Sand Beach.  The water was perfect, the beach was more black pebbles, less sandy.  We walked down to the beach, jumped into the ocean & floated for about 20 minutes.  It came at the perfect time to cool us down.

Most of the rest of my group loved the hike at the 7 Seven Pools to the upper falls, the Waimoku Falls along the Pipiwai Trail, the best.  This is a beautiful hike with many amazing sites all along, a ginormous Banyan tree, several huge Mango trees, waterfalls & pools, an enchanted feeling Bamboo forest, ending with a climb over lava rocks, across 2 streams, to the AHHhhh inspiring waterfall at the end which cascades down a sheer cliff wall that was wider than it was tall and it was about 400-500 feet tall.  This is a 2 mile hike, mostly up, where both the journey & the destination are amazing.

We also loved the banana bread at Aunt Sandy's roadside stand in Ke'Anae Village.  we lingered here for the beautiful lava rock coastal views, and the stunning ancient stone church.  

All in all a day where the journey was the destination.

An exhausting day filled with amazing sites, laughter, and family.  The Road To Paul & Phil was great!

Mahalo

Bobbi

As I am sitting on the patio in the dark, listening to the surf, one moment sticks out - as we were driving back with the car all loaded we passed a roadside cafe called Leoda's Kitchen & Pie Shop.  

Okay really you had me at Pie.

We quickly pulled off the road onto the dirt parking lot and went inside to check out the Pies.

The cafe is super cute, kind of industrial white tile, black & white print, family style seating.  It was busy but the line moved fast.

The front counter had a refrigerator case filled with beautiful home-made looking 6-inch pies.  Not being able to choose I started chatting up the local surf guy behind us, which pie is your favorite?

'All of them'

Oh,..... What are you getting today?

'Club sandwich'

Oh, yeah, we hadn't eaten since 7 am, we're hungry.

Now it was our turn at the counter and so I blurt out, we want a banana cream pie, a berry pie, a coconut cream pie, an apple crumb pie to go & and club sandwich for here.

Wow, didn't know that was coming out of my mouth!

After some prompting we settled on the multigrain bread and added baked macaroni & cheese.

IT WAS THE BEST CLUB SANDWICH EVER!  EVER!  I mean in my entire life! The BEST!

Pam, Sam, and I were sharing and we just kept looking at each other and moaning about how good it was.  It's a normal size sandwich.  Doesn't look amazing.  I don't know what did it; the bread was unbelievably soft and delicious, the turkey meat was fresh-super thin & sweet, the veggies were crisp, the bacon thick & crisp.   Did I tell you it yet that it was the best club sandwich I've ever had in my entire life?  It was!

And that wasn't the best part.  

After we had finished eating and Pam was in the restroom, the cafe radio started playing Carly Simon You're So Vain.  I started quietly singing along, Sam starts singing, and then the 2 ladies seated next to us start singing, and then the other 2 ladies on the other side start.  It was a perfect moment.  All of us  women singing to one of my favorite songs.

Bonded over a great song.

The song ends & Pam walks up.  Sam & I get up to leave.  We catch the other ladies eyes and we're all smiling.

Mahalo!

Bobbi

Pick up car, off to Costco, quick snack at McDonald's (must keep children fed), then Walmart, and finally arrive at the new hotel on the Kaanapali shore.  By now it was close to 4, and we were all travel weary.

That quickly changed.  The new hotel, a VRBO, is actually a resort & the teenagers are very excited!  

View of the main pool area, picture by Sam.

The rooms are amazing, and more importantly, the beds are heavenly!  After checking in, unpacking, and eating dinner, we all gathered on the shore to watch the sunset.  

I could feel myself let out another tightly held breathe & start to relax a little more.  

Thanks

Bobbi

(Photo from their official site)

It was stunning!  Ashley & I were a little nervous about snorkeling (my first time).  Ashley was amazing!  All the kids did so well!  I had to really talk to myself about calm breathing, but I snorkeled the whole time, and I can't wait to again in Kaanapali.

Lessons learned;

1 bring a waterproof camera for everyone, it's easy to use up all available shots & leave none for your camera buddy

2 bring umbrella, there is no shade except close to the cliffs

3 bring the bamboo mats, great under towels

4 buy up & down tickets for the trolley.  Snorkeling wears you out & the hike up the hill is steep.  It was so nice to ride up.

I don't have any pictures to share because they're all on our undeveloped underwater camera but we saw so many beautiful fish, Cass saw an eel, it was amazing even without turtles. 

ACCOMMODATIONS

This part of our vacation, our home base was the Waikiki Aston.  A great normal hotel with a phenomenal location, practically on the beach!  The rooms were clean and nice, lounge chair on the patio (where i blogged every day), and the service was excellent.

We made a point of enjoying our generous complimentary breakfast on the beach, we rented chairs & an umbrella (heat stress family) from the vendor across the street (super nice!), we walked or shuttled everywhere, didn't need our rental car once.

There are more expensive places to stay, but if we came again I wouldn't hesitate to stay right here!

View from my balcony office.

Thanks!  

Bobbi

  

Then we packed up, walked across the street, and parked our butts on the beach!  Signed up all the kids for surf lessons.

 

I know it's grainy but I was taking them with my cell, then had to edit on the iPad to even see if it was one of ours 😃.  Kind of looks like a hoot from the 50's.

All the kids stood up, and fell own, and tried again, a pretty successful outing.  We stood on a breaker wall to get pictures of them, then hunted for sea glass on the way back to our spot on the beach.  All of the kids got scraped up from the coral, nothing too bad, just big red scratches and bruises on all knees & elbows.

Meanwhile, we attempted to body board, and got really beat up by the coral, I took a gouge out of my big toe, it started bleeding all over.  I did not wimp out, I stayed in the water for a while, until I realized how much it was bleeding & thought.....sharks...Sharks....SHARKS live in these waters!  (Insert music theme from Jaws!)

So, I got out for a little while to stop the blood flow.

The water was so wonderful and refreshing, much saltier than in Bodega Bay.  And definitely warmer! 

We wore out all the kids, or rather the sun & fun did.  I tried to get all of them to shower & relax, instead they were playing with an app on my iPad. Aren't they so cute!

Sean got a little sick from all the sun & activity so he's sleeping in our room, and we had a lovely spaghetti dinner on our patio.  What a view!

Nite all!