Oh Hey Kihei – Our First Stop in Maui

Kihei, Maui from a non-Hawaii obsessed traveler.

Maui was never ever on my bucket list. I know people live and die for their Hawaiian vacations, but for me it’s always been a meh, kind of destination. 

However, for our anniversary we scored a killer flight deal to Maui. Of course we jumped on it to find out what all the fuss was about. 

Bonus was that my niece and her husband were booked to be there during our stay. Thus turning it into a little mini-family getaway. And Peggy was coming along to help watch the grandbaby, so we were off.

Pat and I decided if we were doing a “most likely” one-time trip to Hawaii we couldn’t miss Pearl Harbor. Plus our future daughter-in-law is stationed on Oahu, so we would do a little island hopper while we were there.  This blog series will be broken up according to that.  Maui just us, part two Maui as a family, and a part 3 of Oahu.

Sister Side Note (ssn) – I LOVE Maui and spent most of my daughter Sydni’s high school spring breaks there. Also include in the blog series my Doors-off Helicopter Tour and our Other Unique Things to do in Maui..

The Best Place to stay for us was Kihei

Maui is really expensive, so we went the VRBO route for the first part of our trip.  We had never been to the island, so really wanted to experience as much as we could. So we rented a car and chose a place in Kihei for the first half of our trip.  Here is the link to our VRBO.

And I will say, we really scored on this find. 

The condo was right on Sugar Beach. It was an adorable, downstairs corner unit with a big sliding glass door overlooking the water. It had lawn chairs, snorkeling equipment for our use, and a condo pool.

Cute, cozy, and amazing. I am still regretting not booking it for the entire stay, because I never wanted to leave.

By a streak of good fortune, Pat and I took a flight bump out of San Francisco for flight credits, so we ended up not getting into Maui until 8 pm on our first night. 

Maui Brewing Company

Hungry and needing a beer, we immediately knew we had to hit Maui Brewing Company. Bonus points for being almost on the way to our VRBO.

This was their Kihei location, it has an amazing outdoor patio and lawn with games and picnic tables, and pretty much everything you would expect in a Hawaiian non-beach restaurant.  Their fish and chips were crispy and perfectly fried. The beer selection was fantastic, with their standard always-on-tap list and their list of specialty beers that rotate depending on the brewers whims and the time of year.

Maui Brewing Company was standard bar food. Our one and only complaint was that it wasn’t a seafood restaurant, but it was late, and it fit our needs.

Morning Number One – Haleakala Sunrise

An Early Start

We started off our week-long adventure with reservations to do Haleakala National Park for sunrise.  You have to book your reservations ahead of time, and it is about a 90-minute drive up there, so you need to plan to leave about 3 am depending on the time of year.  It’s also a very windy road, full of switchbacks, so it’s a constant 30 mph to 15 mph curve to 30 mph, take a Dramamine if you get carsick.

I highly suggest that if this is your kind of thing, do this morning one before the time change catches up with you. 

This is a pretty popular tourist event, and it is mind blowing for a sunrise.  Haleakala is at 10,000 ft elevation, so you are essentially above the clouds when the sun comes up. 

But understand, as I mentioned this is a well-known tourist event, so it’s packed (think Instagram vs reality videos); second, it is stupid cold.  We are from Washington State, so when we read it was 40 degrees, we dressed for 40 degrees thinking we would be fine.

So Damn Cold

We were not, in fact, fine.  We were freaking freezing.  It’s 40 degrees and it’s windy, so you need gloves, a hat, a scarf would be helpful, and a heavy jacket, not 40 degrees in Washington State jacket.  And the tour companies bus people up there, so you must get there early, be prepared for the cold, and just wait it out.  We didn’t fare so well. 

After about an hour, with still 45 minutes to go until sunrise, I looked at Pat and said, “you ready?” he said “definitely”, and we decided to leave. 

As we were pulling out of the parking lot, content that we had seen an amazing view of the light above the clouds, we notice that there is a turn to the Summit.  It said the lot was full, but hey, it can’t hurt to just do a drive by.

We drove up to the summit which was a higher lookout than the visitor’s center where we had stopped.  The parking lot was full, and the lookout was full, but the road up was completely empty.

We pulled over and just watched the wonderous view from the road. 

As soon as the sun peaked, we were warm and on our way down the main road before anyone else even got to their car. 

And it was amazing!!! 

Gorgeous! 

We also pulled over on the way down at one of the side lots, and had an amazing view of the Haleakala crater in the morning light.  It was a nice slow leisurely drive back down, with so many different views of the island that we hadn’t seen on the way up in the dark. 

Breakfast Time

Dying for coffee by this time, we found Grandma’s Coffee House.  Small place with only about a dozen seats, be prepared to wait if you don’t get there early.  And I got amazing coconut crusted French toast for breakfast!  Little outdoor patio on the side is a perfect place to chill with your coffee. 

And side bonus, it’s quite literally right around the corner from Oprah’s house, so you can drive up and see that (she is the largest private land owner on the island of Maui), or you can impress your friends and check in at her house on Facebook from the café.

Kihei Chill Time

It had been an early morning, so we headed back to our condo for some rest.  Grabbed a book and hung out on lawn chairs just watching the ocean.  I know you see in other people’s photos, them hanging out on the beach and in the waves, but the truth is, the water is cold.

It’s not like Mexico or Southeast Asia with the warm water, it’s Pacific Ocean cold.  We didn’t spend much time in it.  But the sunshine and down time was good for the soul just watching the waves crash on the shore.

Lunch Time

Here is one of the two places I will tell you to not ever miss if you go to Maui (second one on part two): South Maui Fish Company. 

Food truck, parked inside an outdoor market. Fresh. Super Fresh.

They fish in the morning, go back to the truck and butcher their catch of the day.  So, you are subject to what they caught that day for your order.

And it was phenomenal. 

They only had Marlin the day we were there, and that was just fine with us.

I had the poke, Pat had the tacos, we shared the smoked Marlin mac salad, then took some coconut candy to go.

Fresh is best, and this food was insane.

Plus, we had gotten there about 15 min before they opened, so we were first in line, that also gave us time to chat with Jesse. He was a great guy, who told us a little about their back story, about their daily fish, and that they were opening a little late because they were still cutting up the morning’s catch. 

So, go, get there early or don’t complain about the line.

Kihei

We really liked Kihei. 

It’s on the southside, and a little less touristy than Kaanapali or Lahaina.

We stopped by the store and grabbed some cocktails and snacks for our beachside day.

Lazy day beach side, on the patio, by the pool.  It was a little recovery time from an early morning adventure.

Dinner brag time

It was our anniversary, so I had booked us reservations at Morimoto Maui for dinner.

This was easily one of the top two best dinners of our lives.

We ate our way through the appetizer menu and kept escalating in flavors.

I know people look at the cost of the Wagyu A-5, but if you have the means to splurge even one time to get this, it is an absolutely stunning piece of meat.  Our carnivorous lives will never be the same.

We also had the tableside Ishi Yaki Buri Bop with the whitefish.  It was fantastic, and I loved it, but everything paled in comparison to that Wagyu.

The service was impeccable. The food was amazing, the view was stunning.

Everything was perfect, from the view to the service, food and cocktails, and Morimoto gets our vote for most romantic evening of our 10 years together.

Side note:  Morimoto is located in the Andaz Maui.  If you are looking for an upscale hotel stay, this place was gorgeous.  Infinity pools, balconies overlooking the ocean, lush green gardens, and a bit of beach solitude. I really want to stay here if we ever return to the island.

Ready to head to Oahu

The next morning, I took a quick drive up the coastline to Lahaina to have coffee with Peggy before heading to the airport for our island hopper over to Oahu.

While it’s about a 45-minute drive between the two coastal towns, it’s a beautiful drive along beautiful stretches of beach. I highly recommend getting a rental car in Maui as there is a lot to see and do on all four corners of the island.