The Girl That Tries Stuff: Things I tried in Maui!

I have been MIA for awhile! I apologize...during the holiday season I was in Maui enjoying the warmth and humidity! But now I'm back in the frigid 20 degree weather and trying to get back into the swing of things. I will share some of the fun things that I tried on my vacation!

For breakfast our first morning, we needed something quick and easy. McDonald's was the natural choice in the most unnatural way : ) When I am out of town or at a new place, I like to try things that I haven't tried before. So when we were looking at the menu I noticed they had a few "local" choices. I decided to try one. Now I know Spam has been around forever and a lot of people have tried it, but I have not. So I ordered the Spam platter, which came with scrambled eggs and rice. It was so good. I loved it! I loved it so much that I bought a can of spam in Maui and planned to have it for breakfast while I was there but never got around to it. So I took my Hawaiian can of spam back to Utah to make breakfast with. When I opened the can I was surprised by what it looked like. Yuck, it was one big chunk of slimy grossness! It smelled just like dog food, but I sliced it up and fried it anyway. Turns out its not that great at home... So I will save my spam eating for McDonald's in Maui.

All of the girl's in my family love going to the Pearl Factory. So we made it a point to find the one in Maui. For those of you who haven't heard about it, its a place you can go to buy an oyster and get a pearl from it. Then you can have it set in a pendant for a necklace or a ring. This is something I try in every coastal city I visit. You generally get a pretty white pearl, but its always a surprise because you have a chance and finding a blue, pink, silver or gold colored pearl. The Pearl Factory employee told me that the ugliest oyster generally has the prettiest pearl. I hadn't heard that before so I listened to her advice and picked the ugliest and hairiest oyster there. JACK POT! I got the most beautiful silver colored pearl. I was so excited, I spent a little extra and had it set in a 14K white gold flower pendant. It was the best souvenir!

We spent a day traveling the Road to Hana, which is this very narrow, winding road that follows the eastern coast of Maui. It is where most of the waterfalls and tropical rainforests are located. Its so beautiful and a must see place if you go to Maui. I put my feet in one of the waterfall ponds and after a few minutes, noticed that I had about twenty little fish nibbling at my ankles. I guess some people spend big money at the spa having fish eat the dead skin off their feet. And here I was getting it for free, lucky me! Another waterfall that we stopped at had a big rope swing. I had to try that! But when I climbed up to the top of the waterfall, there was no way to grab the rope. It was tied too far out on the tree branch and the bamboo hook to grab the rope with was broken. Bummer! I guess I would just have to jump in! The water was a lot colder than I expected. But it was so much fun that I did it 3 more times. We stopped for lunch at this little "food shack" called Aunty Sandy's. They are known for their banana bread which is really moist and yummy. I got a pulled pork sandwich and I have to say it is the best pulled pork sandwich that I have ever had.

One morning, we ate breakfast at the historic Pioneer Inn. It is known for its macadamia nut pancakes and coconut syrup. So that's what I had. The pancakes were so good. The syrup was different but very delicious. It had the perfect amount of sweet flavor. I crave them all of the time now! We sat in the open air part of the restaurant and there were many birds sneaking in looking for crumbs. I had to share a little with a brave bird that sat begging at my feet.

We obviously also spent a good amount of time at the beach relaxing and building sand castles. While at the beach we did try paddle boarding. Which is similar to surfing in the way that you stand on a board : ) The difference is you stand level on the board and use a paddle to navigate where you are going. It was really fun and I would love to get one to use at the lakes near us.

We also went snorkeling. I had never been snorkeling before and was a little nervous about it. I didn't want to have my leg eaten by a shark! But I figured people do it all of the time and I would be just fine. And if my leg did get eaten by a shark, then I would have one less leg to shave everyday! The snorkeling boat took us to 2 different areas. One area was by a large crater and we saw lots of amazing fish. The second area was what they call Turtle Town. We got to snorkel with the sea turtles. It was so awesome. I loved every minute of it! I got to see a mom and baby sea turtle and I will never forget it!

The afternoon after we went snorkeling, we stopped at the Maui Ocean Center (Aquarium). It was really neat to stand and watch the fish that we were just swimming with. They also had the most amazing 750,000 gallon tank with sharks and rays. It was huge and you also got to walk in a glass tunnel through the tank.

We took a sailboat ride one afternoon on the America II sailboat. It was a retired America's Cup Contender. The wind wasn't very strong the day we went out so we didn't get to experience the feel of a racing sailboat. But we did get to see lots of whales. We saw two male humpback whales fighting over a female, fairly close to our boat. We watched the two for about 30 minutes. It was such a nice relaxing boat ride.

I had a great time in Maui! It was a trip of a lifetime. If you ever get the chance to go, you should definitely do it! If you have already been lucky enough to go, tell me about the fun things have you done?