Wait, There are Still More Roads To Drive? -or- The North and the South Shores

Kimono's Bakery came highly recommended from multiple sources.  We're not really pastry people but since it's in all the guidebooks, and people on O'ahu make special requests for their cream puffs of friends visiting from Maui, and it was down the street from the vacation rental we felt it imperative that we visit ourselves.  In the name of pastry.  And dinner rolls (recommended by a gym buddy).  We took our cream puffs and coffee (and pears, to ease our calorie-counting conscience) to Ho'okipa Beach Park and watched the North Shore-sized waves (i.e., big).

From there we drove south to Ma'alaea hoping to spot whales from the shore.  We were supposedly in prime whale watching territory but sadly we didn't have any luck.  This was disappointing given all of the stories we'd heard but it gives us a reason to return to Maui.

Though we didn't see any whales from here we did see KFB's father!  (Not by chance; we made plans.)  We picked him up at the Grand Wailea (wow. review based solely on the entrance) and he took us to La Perouse Bay (we think) to walk Hoapili Trail, a volcanic rock trail.  This was a wonderful end of our trip for so many reasons including seeing an old friend and seeing another side of the island which we otherwise would have missed.  From this trail we saw Haleakala from a different vantage point, old lava rocks, and feral goats.  We had just enough time to stop for a quick ice cream before heading back north to Kahului and the airport, grab a plate lunch, and turn in our fun yellow Jeep.

We know O'ahu is very pretty, but Maui is *really* very pretty.  We feel so lucky to have been able to explore each corner.  Though there is so much more to see in detail we feel we had a pretty good "Maui sampler".