A trip to Maui, Hawaii

I left with my daughter Jennifer (23) on Tuesday April 1st for Maui, Hawaii. We ldft from Nashville on Southwest Airlines and flew to Las Vegas, Nevada. Neither of us have ever been there before. We were surprised as we landed that the sript was right there next to the airport. We saw a pyramid hotel, the Stratosphere hotel and others. It was pretty neat to see. We had about a 2 hour lay over and had some pizza for dinner. We then boarded the ATA airline plane for our 6 1/2 hour flight over to Maui. It was a long flight and seemed never ending. It never got dark, as we flew into Maui we saw the sun begging to set and at that time it was midnight to us. I don't think many people can say they have seen a midnight sunset. hehehe We landed and went to the baggage claim to meet my Aunt Theresa and Uncle Richard. I saw them and they had a beautiful lie for both of us that they placed around out neck! They had purple and light green flowers. We then got out luggage and headed out to the car. It was getting dark so we could not see a lot at the time. Aunt Theresa and Uncle Richard took us to dinner at a nice little 50's diner called Rudy's. It was really nice and had model airplains all over the place. Jennifer and I shared a bacon cheeseburger meal that was very good. We then drove to there condo and it was on the North shore about an hour away. Jennifer and I to say the least were very tired form the trip. So we visitid for a bit and then went to sleep. The next morning when we awoke we could see out the window to the beautiful ocean view! The water was so blue and just gorgous. Here are a couple of pictues of our view from the condo.




On Wednesday Uncle Richard was off from work and we left to run some errands and just see the area around Maui. We stopped at an area to shop where there were many arts and craft type things. We then went to have lunch and the resturaunt was on the second floor we could not get the elevator to work, so Jennifer ran up the stairs to find out why. she came down and siad the electricity is out and they can not serve anyone. So we walked out and noticed the other businesses were out also. We got into the car to go to a different place. As we got going we heard on the radio that the most of the island was out of electricity. They said they did not know why but to just drive carefully and drive nicely and that it will be fixed eventually. After all this is Maui and it will be done on maui time! So we stopped at a little place and they said they have gas so we can come on in. We went in and the waitress/bar tender asked the cook to come out and tell us what he make for us on the menu. It was quite an experience! There were two couples there we met also that were from Canada and we visited with them some. When we were done eating Uncle Richard as a joke said "You would not have any ice cream back there that is melting that you have to use up would you?" Well the waitress soon came out with 4 dishes of ice cream with chocolate sauce and a cherry! It was a fun time! Part of the trip that will be a fun memory! After lunch we headed back to the condo. It was a beautifu drive along the ocean. We saw many surfers and lots of beautiful landscape. We had dinner at the condo that night and just visited.

On Thursdaywe got up at 2:30 am to head up the mountai to see the sun rise. Jennifer and I slept most of the way up the mountain. We dressed warm as it was quite cold up at the top of the mountain. You can see us bundled up!





The sunrise was beautiful! What a wonderul experience. I do not know how people do not think there is a God! This was the highlight of the trip for me! Here are a few pics of the beautiful sunrise!






After the sunset we stopped for breakfast a a very nice place on the ocean. It was a beautiful place with lots of flowers growing outside. We had a very nice breakfast and visited. We then went back to the condo for the afternoon. Aunt Theresa, Jennifer and I all took a long nap. Uncle Richard did some reading and went to the pool. That night we went to a Luau and really enjoyed that also. The meal was a buffett and it was wonderful with lots fo things to choose from. The pineapple there is GREAT! I tried the poy and that was utterlay yuck! LOL my Aunt loves it, I think it is an aquired taste, but I can at least say I tried it. Here are some Luau pics for you to enjoy!






On Friday my Uncle, a pharmacist, went back to work. He and my Aunt have gone to Hawaii for the past few years for the winter and he works for 4-6 months. They live in Michigan the rest of the year. We were so glad that we were able to visit them and have a good time there in Maui. So anyway on Friday morning Aunt Theresa said that I needed to call ATA and I asked why. She siad well she heard something on the news last night about them going bankrupt and closing. I was like "what"! So I called and got a recording saying something like...."This is ATA we are sorry to any inconvenince this may cause but we are no longer in business and we will not be offering any refunds, please contact another airline for your further airline needs." I was like oh no what are we going to do to get home! Aunt Theresa has a lap top but had been unable to get online all week so I called Al and told him what was going on. He looked online a bit while we were talking and then said let me let the secretary here at work figure this out and I will call you back. I said that was fine. He called me back a bit later with airline reservations for us to come home on American Airlines for $1.250 each. I said oh my gosh. I guess I will be looking for a part time job when I get home! Which by the way I am now doing!! So the rest of the day was a rather down day. We did not do much. We went to the pool and enjoyed that. That night we went to Lahaina to eat dinner at a great seafood place called Bubba Gumps. We also went to a fun souvenier shop and got some things for us and others back at home!

On Saturday Aunt Theresa, Jennifer and myself went to the Maui Oceanic Center in Lahaina. It was a fun time. It was neat to see all the marine life native to Hawaii. We also ate lunch there at the cafe and it was beautiful. Here are some pics from there.








We spent the afternoon back at the pool at the condo. When Uncle Richard got home Jennifer and I walked down to the beach with him for a little bit. It was beautiful and here are pics for you to see!








On Sunday we went to church with Aunt Theresa at St. Theresa's. After church we went to the Maui Arts and Cultural Center Castle Theater for a concert called Opera Rocks II. There was a lunch before the concert that we had and enjoyed outside. The concert was done by the Community Choral arts and 30 of the Honolulu Symphony musicians and 2 opers singers. It was wonderful concert and we all enjoyed it very much. Some good culture for the trip. The Symphony conductor was Stuart Chafetz and was very good. That night we ate at the condo and Jennifer and Uncle Richard got subway sandwiches and brought them back.

On Monday we did some shopping at a store called Hilo Hattie what a neat store with lots of things from Hawaii. Jennifer and I each got a pretty new dress. We also got other items and the rest of the gifts we wanted to bring back to friends and family. We spent the afternoon back at the pool. That night we got most of our packing done to head home on Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday we finished packing and visited with Aunt Theresa and headed to the airport. Oh boy were we in for a surprise for the trip home on American Airlines! Aunt Theresa dropped us off and asked if we wanted to her to come in with us and we said no we would be fine. So off she went and on in we went after we said our good byes. We went to the ticket counter to check in and the lady said that our flight the next morning in Dallas was cancelled and did we want the 7:30 pm or the 9:30 pm flight instead. We were landing in Dallas at 5 am. I said the 7:30 pm flight and she put us on that flight and we were off to the gate to head to Dallas! While sitting at the gate and talking to aother passengers we heard many stories for them and there travels on ATA also. Aloha Airlines also shut down and there were passengers that had been stranded from that airline also. We found out that our flight in Dallas had been cancelled due to the MD-80's being grounded. Anyway we got on the plane and headed to Dallas. We got into Dallas as expected at 5 am. By 7:30 am I said to Jennifer I am not staying here for the next 12 hours this is crazy we need to go out to the ticketing counter to see if we can get an earlier flight or something. So we did that. We got in line and got to the counter and were told that Nasheville was the hardest place to get to that day. I said well how about Memphis, we just wanted to get home we were so tired. She said well there is one at 5:15 and I said well I guess that is better than 7:30 tonight by a couple of hours. Then she said let me look and see if there is anything else. Oh here we are....I have one that leaves here for LaGuardia at 10:00 am and arriving in Nashville at 5:30 pm. I thought oh wow. Jennifer did not know where LaGuardia was and was not to sure about doing that. I said are you sure that when we get to LaGuardia that the flight from there will not be cancelled and she said I can not promise that but you just need to get out of here and the planes are a different kind. So I said ok. I would rather fly all day than sit in that airport all day. So that is what we did. When we got ready to land a flight attendant announced that we would would be landing at Gate D10 and then annonced some of the other gates for the connecting flights when she said Nashville she said gate D10 and I thought that is strange are we going to get back on the same plane naw that can't be. So we got off and sure enough we were getting back on the same plane with in an hour. We were so glad to know that we were going to at last get home.

A couple of days ago we were give by American Airlins two $500 vouchers to use with in the next year. That is a nice compensation for all we went through. Al and I will probably use them to go and see our Granson and family in Virgina this summer. We have not decided yet as we just got them!

Hope you enjoyed my story even though it was so long!!!


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