DAY 3:
Wednesday was a bit of a more relaxed day but still fun. We took a different approach and stepped out of our comfort zone for the day. We wanted to do something fun but different, we adopted a dog for the day. The Maui humane society (the only dog shelter on the island) is an incredible organization. They have a beach buddy program where you get a dog with a bag of supplies and you are responsible for the dog for the day. All of the dogs that they give are super friendly and adoptable. We don’t have a dog back home and we both like dogs so we decided to give it a try. We lucked out and got an unbelievable dog with an incredible personality. She was a big 7 year old island mix with lots of love to give. Its very cool, you get a backpack with water and a collapsible water bowl for the dog, treats, a beach towel, and a mandatory leash that looks like a caution tape line but instead says adopt me. We picked up Puna at the Maui humane society (about 20 minutes from Wailea) at 11AM (that’s when they open up) and drove her back to our hotel (which doesn’t allow pets) and parked near the beach (the lot next the Andaz) and we had already gotten towels and chairs from the Marriott. We just hung out at the beach, walked Puna up and down the sand, she played in the water for a bit and just sat and chilled with us. It was a nice relaxing break for 2 tiring days and also a big travel day prior to that. We drove Puna back a bit early (they need the dog back by 4) at around 3 and then headed back to our hotel. We really had a great time and it was a nice break from activities but I am not sure that we'd jump to do this again.
We had some grilled cheese and salad (made with our Panini press).
We booked a sunset photoshoot with a professional photographer. We used someone named Angie that we found on Craigslist for a very reasonable price. She was excellent, the white rock beach we shot at was very empty and really nice. As the session ended, the lights got more interesting and the sky was all sorts of colors so she took out her camera and shot some more at no additional charge. She sent us a portfolio of 50 edited pictures and when we decided we wanted to see all the pictures, she mailed us a flash drive with all the pictures for $15. Feel free to reach out for her information.
For Dinner we had pretzel schnitzel with mushroom rice and roasted butternut squash. This dish was fantastic and would definitely order it again. We also had what we thought would be incredible but was a bit much for us, pastrami quinoa stuffed capons with popcorn cauliflower and Brussel sprouts with smoked veal – that side sounded to good to be true and it was lol. It was not good. The chicken itself was good but the stuffing inside the capon was not to our taste. The cauliflower was good. Again, overall, we were extremely pleased with the Pomegranate meals and would most definitely order from them again, now we know what we would do differently. Everything is a learning curve.
We went to bed early because we were doing the road to Hana the following day. We didn’t really do any planning for this but we downloaded the Shaka guide app which is the best $7 you’ll ever spend. You basically download this app, purchase the guide you want and let it download (make sure its downloaded, because you’ll go offline during the trip and lose service so it must be downloaded prior to your departure to Hana) and it guides you along the way with input on nearly every stop. It’s the best and it takes the stress out of pre-planning.
I have a hilarious story about the Road to Hana to tell. This was my 6th time in Hawaii, and my 4th in Maui. I grew up in California and we went frequently growing up during winter vacation. We went to Hana as kids and we had the worst time. A friend told my parents that the road to Hana is a must-do and you can't skip it, unfortunately for us they did not elaborate. We literally drove there stopped at the black sand beach, got to Hana and then turned around. That was it. We couldn’t figure out what the hype was all about. And my parents had 3 complaining kids in the car and some of us got car sick and it was just a terrible day. My father begged me not to do the road to Hana this time around, he said "don't you remember, it was the worst day" and he had no idea, 15 years later, that there was more to the trip. So the Road to Hana trip is not about the destination, its about the journey along the way. It was likely the best day of our trip.