Aloha,
Lots of fun in Hawaii, no doubt about it. I’ll post an update, but feel free to ask questions, I’d be more than pleased to answer them.
12 days on Maui is actually too long, unless you have a ton of cash to spend. Lots and lots to do, lots of it free, but most of the free stuff you can accomplish in about a week or so. Then you need to start spending money, serious money. Helicopter tour of the island, 45 minutes, 3 people - $600! Zoiks.
Spent most of our time at the beach, playing in the waves (my four year old daughter is fearless) and snorkeling. Found a new place that we didn’t snorkel at last time, close to a beach (four year olds are not great swimmers) that was awesome. Swam with turtles on four different days, one that would fit Matt’s sweater even. It was awesomely huge, probably about 3 feet across, maybe 4 feet long, probably 400 pounds (like I said, like Matt).
Cruised up Haleakala one day, beautiful weather, could see all the way to the big Island of Hawaii, about 80-100 miles away. Lots of fun, but long, twisty drive. Fortunately my daughter survived it this time without yakking. That was also the reason we didn’t do the road to Hana, as recommended here. My daughter has (had?) A propensity to be car sick on really twisty roads. We’ll do it next time. She also isn’t entirely into the beauty thing just yet (another reason we didn’t cruise over to the big Island - only two beaches there, but spectacular history and scenery).
Did the Luau, whale cruise, scuba diving, snorkel cruise. No golfing though, did last time. A little expensive, but just didn’t golf enough this past summer to justify it. Maybe next time. Ate some great food and I’d highly recommend Bubba Gump shrimp if you’re ever over there (or wherever else they have them). Kind of chain restaurant-ish, but still enjoyable. Had the Cajun shrimp and Mahi Mahi combo. Yummy.
Got the sunburn on the 7th day. Thought we were going to the beach for about ½ hour, came back in 5 hours later. Oops, forgot the sunscreen. It’s cool though, weather here sucked so much this past summer it’s the first opportunity I’ve had for a while.
Great place to go, no doubt about it. Toys were pretty limited. K-mart would have been great, had Matt not already sent up the screen scenes. Also had the OTC generals wave and a couple of bad (Lando) VOTC. Had 12" figures as well, so pretty neat. Saw remnants of the Scorpion wave at a couple of places, but came home without. At least now I’ve seen the wave and know what to look for. Walmart was ok, not so bad as Mikey’s experience. There was some limited star wars stuff, OTC and VOTC and on the last day they had the post-OTC wave on the pegs, about three cases worth. Naturally I already have these on the way (thanks Mikey) so didn’t bother with them. Missed out on a case of NFL10 but just a little bit too - would have been nice as Canadian cases have no retros in them. There’s still a KB in the big mall in Kahului so I had to check that out to. Like the other KB’s stateside, they’re getting in the wave with Ephant Mon. I happened upon three, bought two for a grand total of $4.97. So I did find toys in paradise, just not much. I think if you lived in Kahului you could do ok. KB even had NHL Legends in stock and only 7 on the pegs.
It sucks to be back; it’s cold and slippery. Looks a lot more like Christmas for sure, but I could live without the snow. Really.