After arriving at Aina Nalu the night before at 10:30pm, we had all just fallen into bed. We got up earlier than expected (yay, jetlag!) and got showered. It took the five of us a while to get going, but we eventually headed out and around the corner to Lahaina Coolers, a restaurant that Jess had selected for breakfast. The food was delicious and not expensive: moco loco, steak & eggs, crab and avocado benedict, classic eggs benedict and kalua pork fried rice. Mmmm!
After breakfast, we stopped back in our condo and dropped off the doggy bag from breakfast, then decided to get out, see some of the Lahaina historic trail and try to get our bearings. We went to the Old Banyan Tree, which is huge and impressive. There's a very cool art fair in the shade of the tree, with things like fire-flame art and scrimshawed piano keys. We went into the Old Courthouse, which houses the tourist information center (where we picked up maps and coupons). We then walked along Front Street, saw the ancient birthing stone chair and stopped to talk to the Pacific Whale Foundation representative about whale watching tours. Our next stop was Ululani Shave Ice, where we got cones of cold deliciousness in flavors line pina colada, coconut, guava, li hing mui, pineapple and mango. Mmm!
We did a bit more wandering along Front Street (and Jess considered purchasing a pretty bauble), then we ended up back at the Pacific Whale Foundation shop, where we booked ourselves in for a whale watch the next day. We weren't yet hungry, so we headed to the Foodland grocery store (which was tucked away in a shopping center), It was something of a disorganized affair, as we all have very different tastes in food, but eventually we succeeded in making our purchases (and got a great discount with Jer's Maika'i card, from his prior Hawaii trips). Naturally, we returned to our condo to drop off the groceies, then headed back to Front Street for lunch.
Our initial plan was to go to The Window for fish tacos, but they were closed for renovations. We implemented our backup plan, which involved walking a bit further down Front Street to Kimo's. We sat on the lanai facing the ocean, and three of us stuck with our original plan and got fish tacos, while others had grilled veggies and fish and chips. Will had picked up coupons for free Hula Pie for dessert. It was killer — enormous wedges of mac nut ice cream on a chocolate cookie crust with fudge sauce. We had two of them for the five of us, and we couldn't finish them!
We were stuffed after lunch, so we decided to walk down to 505 beach (on the south end of town). It was a very nice expanse of white sand beach, where Jer, Suzanne and Will doffed their socks and walked in the surf. Jer then whipped his kite out of his backpack and started flying it along the beach, to his family's (and the bystanders') delight. It was a nice way to unwind. Jer, Suzanne and Will stopped to chat with a guy who had spent the last 12 years building a Polynesian-style double canoe, which he was going to sail around the world. He appreciated their interest and showed them around, much to their delight.
We all wandered back to our condo, where we used the Internet for a bit. Will and Suzanne headed out to the pool to swim and lounge, respectively, and the rest of us joined them eventually, Jer swam while the rest of us lounged, then we came inside so the swimmers could shower. Jess decided to write in this journal, but everyone else pitched in too. Soon, though, exhausion overcame us and we all went to read in bed (though Jess went straight to sleep).