Day 3: Road to Hana

On the 3rd day we decided to drive the “road to Hana.” This is a famous 54-mile trek with switchback and hairpin turns to the central east coast of Maui. We heard many great things about the drive and also of the “best banana bread in the world” that is sold alongside the road on the way. I had to find out if this was true! Up until that point my Nanny (my dad’s mother) made the BEST banana bread in my mind and it was time to challenge that notion. The weather was perfect and we set out, with the top down of course. Ben had told me about the coffee shop with the $30 coffee and we wanted to taste it to see if we could tell the difference in freshness. So we bought 2 cups, one regular and one hazelnut. It was pretty good coffee I must say! Normally I don’t finish a cup but I drank the whole thing. It did taste a lot more fresh. On our way we stopped at a market to pick up some fruit for the road. The local strawberries were so sweet and the apples very crisp. You can’t forget about the pineapple from Maui. It is sooo incredibly tasty and sweet. I ate it every single day! They are grown on the island, so freshness is always guaranteed.

We came upon a town that caught both our eyes. It was called Apia (www.paiamaui.com) Ben and I have both been to Australia before and it reminded us some of the hippy towns we saw there. We loved it. It had very unique restaurants and people. We wanted to stop but decided to wait until the way home. We wanted to get to Hana. As we enter to what I call “the beginning of the really windy roads” it becomes very dense with greenery. We had the sense that this was the land that time forgot. The road kissed the sides mountains and hugged every curve. It was hard for Ben to take his eyes off the road because they were SO narrow. About half way to Hana we came to a roadside stand that had banana bread and my mouth started to water in anticipation. Ben came back to the car with a freshly baked, still warm loaf of banana bread and we ripped it open and ate the whole thing! I don’ we think we have ever tasted anything so out of this world delicious. It was buttery, smooth and perfectly baked. We were in heaven. Sorry Nanny but this one may just beat you out. We continued on with full bellies but didn’t quite make it all the way to the end. I tend to get motion sickness a lot quicker these days. The roads were just too curvy for me and I was beginning to feel nauseas. So we headed back towards our hotel. We stopped in Paia on our way back to check it out. We really enjoyed the vibe and hung out for about an hour. We looked in the stores and read the menus at different restaurants.

When we got back to the Ritz Ben and I made our own cocktails in the room and headed down to the pool to relax a little. The pool is such a great people watching spot. We sat back on lounge chairs and enjoyed the afternoon with beverages in hand. That night we wanted to check out the hotel restaurant “Kai” which is the Ritz-Carlton signature sushi restaurant. Before we sat at a table we sat up at the bar in the lounge for a drink. It had a very soothing vibe. Ben ordered a Bikini Blonde beer (made in Maui) and I had a glass of red wine. The bar snacks were to die for! Sesame seed coated pecans, sweet and salty almonds and marinated olives. I could have just eaten that as my dinner. As we were about to pay for the drinks and move into Kai a VERY generous man sitting at the bar offered to pay for our drinks! Out of the blue! We hadn’t even been talking with him. I didn’t even notice he was there. It was such a nice gesture, something that Ben and I will never forget. He said it looked as if we were on our honeymoon and then he said something we will never forget “it is so rare to see two people so much in love.” And he is right; we are so much in love!

Our sushi dinner at Kai was fabulous. We had edamame, spicy tuna roll, caterpillar roll and a vegetable roll. They were superbly rolled and the presentation was crisp and elegant. We really enjoyed it! But the best part was dessert. It was simple homemade vanilla and chocolate ice cream in an edible caramel bowl. It was so simple and tasty!!! The bowl was pretty much made from brown sugar and butter and you would take a bite of it with each ice cream bite. We almost licked the plate. We were both tired and decided to go to bed early so we could wake up feeling ready for the next day.

**This was the night that our blog idea came to life** I feel bad that we did not start something like this earlier. We now vow to record and keep track of all the travels we go on. Good night!