WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26

We didn’t have any plans today so we decided to see where we ended up. The thought was in the back of our minds to see if we could find the visitor information center in Kahului (great timing, right? when we have 2 days left *g* ) For the record, we forgot to find the visitor center once we got to Kahului!

We took a different road in to the town and, while we were driving, noticed that the ‘Iao  (pronounced eeyow)  Valley was not covered in cloud this morning. That made our decision for us – we would go and see the ‘Iao Needle. There wasn’t much traffic on the road and we paid the parking fee of $5.00 and found the last parking spot between 2 poorly parked cars – luckily, we have a small car.

The walking trail is not very long but it climbs the hillside and there is a great view from the top. On our way back down, the rain started falling lightly but it was warm. The trail takes you down beside the creek and it was amazing to see that the waterfalls which had been so full a few days ago were now drying up. The end of the trail was an area planted with native Hawaiian plants, including taro, bananas and guavas.

While driving to the park, we noticed a small museum – the Bailey House Museum. It looked interesting so we stopped for a look. The museum is run by volunteers and wasn’t big but was fascinating, especially the Hawaiian section on the main floor. While we were looking, the lady at the desk told us that there was a small hula performance starting out in the yard if we would like to watch.

The performance was wonderful – very traditional hula (no, there were no grass skirts or skimpy tops). There were 4 participants – 3 girls and one older woman and they were students (one of the ladies said the girls have been taking classes since they were small). The ceremony started with a chant and then one of the girls started to play a ‘drum’ and the other 3 were dancing – it was fantastic and more like what we expected when we heard there would be a hula demo at the condo. The performance was 15 to 20 minutes long and left us feeling like we had seen something special.

It was close to lunch time and we were looking forward to fish and chips. Yesterday, the concierge at the condo phoned around looking for a restaurant that served fish and chips without egg in the batter. She finally found one called Coconuts so that was our destination. When we got there, we asked our usual question about eggs and were told that the batter had eggs and they would not be able to make it without. Oh well, guess we will go to The Rock Cod when we get back. Second choice, pizza. We head to Pizza Hut and ask about the dough. The woman says she thinks it has eggs but she’s not prepared to find out for sure. Never mind, we’ll go elsewhere. We finally end up at Round Table Pizza where they are very helpful and actually go and read the ingredients on the packaging- success!

Supper, a walk on the beach and laundry done – one more day to enjoy the sun (did I mention that it was 90 F today?). We leave at 8:30 on Thursday night so I will update on our last day’s activities when we get home.