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Our first port of call aboard the “Pride of America” ship, part of the Norwegian Cruise line group, was Maui. As my sister kept calling it, Maui Wowie. Then we found out that was a synonym for pot, so she stopped calling it that! The things you find out when you go on vacay.
When you are on a cruise, you get these packets called “Freestyle Daily” that tell you where you’re going to arrive on the next day. I thought these were the coolest things. A bit of literature explaining where you’re going to be, the history of the island, a list of things happening on the ship that day, and it also makes a great way to remember where you’ve been.
We were in Maui for two days and used them to our fullest. We didn’t have an activity booked for that first day in Maui, so my brother-in-law rented a minivan and off we went! He and Beth (my sister for those of you who might have forgotten) had been to Maui before and wanted to show us some of their favorite places. Our first stop was the small town of Paia. I kept referring to it as paella, that Spanish dish you eat, y’know? It is not pronounced like that as I was told many times by Beth and Grant.
Shockingly, the parking lots were full! It seems most people on Maui had the same idea as us. However, Grant (my B-I-L) wasn’t giving up easily. And guess what? I’m glad he didn’t. Downtown Paia seemed to be about two streets with a view of the ocean. There were a lot of cute jewelry stores and our Aunt found a great bracelet at one of them.
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Check out these pics full size here.
We then headed toward Kaanapali, but there was a stop off. A glorious lunch stop off! If you all follow us on Insta, I posted some pics from the restaurant at which we stopped. Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop. Guys, if you’re ever in Maui, you MUST STOP HERE! It’s honestly that good. Beth and Grant stopped at it 4 years ago and they remembered it. The great thing is that the food was just as good as they remembered, if not better. I had a turkey club, lemonade and split a key lime pie with Beth. I never really liked key lime pie before this, but I’m a convert! It was so light and tangy with just the right amount of sweetness, but not too sweet. Perfection.
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Check out these pics full size here.
Next on our stop that day was Kaanapali Beach. We were going to try and do standup paddle boarding, but the water was too choppy for that. We did pop into the ocean — SOME of us did. SOME of us thought the water was too cold after just dipping a toe in. And yes, by SOME of us, I basically mean Beth. She went in up to her ankles and ran shrieking, “too cold” back to her towel. It wasn’t the warmest it had been that trip, but it was high tide so the waves churned up all the sand.
At the beach there was a mall my mom and Aunt hit called Whaler’s Village. Grant got some sunglasses from there and we had a heart pounding moment when we couldn’t find him when we were trying to leave. Yes, to all the mom’s out there, adults sometimes can get lost, too. Especially when their phones are on silent. Just sayin’!
Hope you enjoy some of the pics of the beach and the nearby hotel. That’s where the flamingos live. I’ve heard it’s a nice one.
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Check out these pics full size here.
Let me know what you think. Is there anything in Maui you’d go to that we left out? Stay tuned to the blog for all the reviews on Hawaii and the cruise we took. Hopefully we don’t wear ya out with all of it!
