Oh yeah, we went to Maui

 Ooops.....I forgot to post this, but yeah, we decided to go to Maui in early November for 6 nights.  The price was right (more about that later), the weather was good, and due to the time change, we could still put in a full day's work and not have to take vacation time, so why not???

We got up at 5am and worked until 1pm and then enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Somewhere between Utah and Phoenix

We had a couple hour layover in Phoenix, so we tried out the brand new Sapphire Lounge

I had some pretty good legroom for the 6 hour flight from Phoenix to Maui

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Beach which is in west Maui.  Kaanapali area is a high end area with a 3 mile stretch of calm sandy beaches

Hyatt did not disappoint in this resort!  It was beautiful!

We had a normal room, but were upgraded to ocean view, and we went to sleep each night with the sounds of the ocean waves

Obligatory room video:

What we fell asleep to every night:

The hotel even had penguins!

Having been to Maui before, we've done some of the "must do" hikes, so we tried the #2 hike on the island - Waihee Ridge Trail, which we have not done.  It's a 5 mile round trip hike up steep mountain sides and ends along a ridge at an elevation of 2563 feet.  We read warnings not to go if it had rained in the last 24 hours as the trail gets extremely muddy and the weather can change in 15 minutes.  Most of the time, the mountains are covered in clouds as well.  The first few days it was rainy in the mountains where the hike was, even though it was sunny where we were.  So we walked along the beach, went snorkeling, took naps and sat by the pool

Conditions seemed good early Saturday morning, so we headed out. The trail started off a little muddy in the shaded areas, but soon we were in the sun and yes, there were still a few very very very very muddy and slippery steep spots. At one point, we almost went back knowing we would have to come down the slippery spots which were hard enough to go up, but we persisted and made it to the top

VIDEO:

Wow, this hike did not disappoint!  The photos cannot even come close to how spectacular the views were, and we were lucky that none of the mountains were in the clouds!  That changed on the way down though

VIDEO:

VIDEO FROM TOP:

This is a google earth photo of the mountains and hike in red.  Looking at this, it doesn't seem so steep!

The hike was definitely not a walk!  We loved it and it was totally worth it to get our shoes muddy and have a few steep slippery stops where we had to go slow.  The views were breathtaking and so amazing!

We read about another hike, called 13 Crossings that was literally one mile away from this hike and we had planned on doing the 13 Crossings hike, as it was rated easy and short at about 2 miles round trip.  Since we were so close, we thought sure, we can do that - it's easy right?  So we drove down the road about a mile and started the hike.

It's called 13 crossings because the hike follows a creek and you cross it 13 times to finally end at a waterfall.  And a great way to clean off our muddy shoes!

The trail was not very clear sometimes, so we just followed the stream.  The brush and trees were so thick in some areas, there was only one way to go, so that was the trail

There was even a small bamboo forest area

This is the waterfall we were supposed to end at.  But at Crossing 15, we gave up, as the trail was pretty much non-existent, our feet were hurting, we were tired and the hike wasn't as "easy" as reported.  It was a lot of bouldering and uneven rocks to go over and sometimes under.  We probably would have made it to the waterfall had we done this hike on another day.  We were probably very very close to the waterfall!
We slept good that night!

Sunday morning we went to church and it was packed!  So many visitors!

After church, we went to the 'Magical Enchanted Forest' which was about 10 minutes down the road, so nice and close.  It's a small area with big trees and very quiet and tranquil to walk around and enjoy

Fifteen minutes further down the road, was the Ohai Loop Trail.  This is a 1.5 mile loop walk/stroll  along the rugged coastline.  

The west mountains nearby, are part of the Eke Crater - 2nd wettest spot on earth!

Careful!!

VIDEO:

The next day we saw this rainbow as we were leaving the hotel to go to dinner

The hotel had a lei making class

There was a great snorkeling spot literally 6 minute walk away from the hotel. We were the only ones there - everyone goes to the other end of the beach - a mile and half away. We tried that spot too, but the one closer to us was better! We saw lots of fish and turtles and had it all to ourselves

Sitting on our balcony with our leis, hotel robes and sparkling apple cider they gave us

YUM

We ( I ) ate too many of these shave ice creations...they were heavenly.  It's not shaved ice, it's shave ice.  Yes, there is a difference

"Shave ice" (no 'd') is the authentic Hawaiian term for the soft, fluffy, snow-like frozen treat made by finely shaving ice from a block, while "shaved ice" (with 'd') is a more common, grammatically standard term used elsewhere, though they generally refer to the same dessert, with the Hawaiian version often being smoother and served with unique toppings like ice cream or condensed milk

On one of our drives, we stopped at a view point to watch the surfers, and saw all these turtles on the beach.  Nope, these are not rocks, they are turtles

VIDEO SURFERS:

Our last night provided a great sunset

We had a great time!!!  So glad we were able to do this!

What did it cost you ask?

Flights from SLC to Maui (Southwest)

Cash price: $342 per person

My price: $11 and 7000 points per person (4.8 cents per point value)

Flights from Maui to SLC: (Hawaiian Airlines)

Cash Price: $329 per person

My price: $5.60 and 15,000 points per person (2.2 cent per point value)

Rental Car for the week:  $205

Hotel stay 6 nights:

Cash Price:

Plus $18 per person breakfast each day (and afternoon snacks and evening appetizers) and $40 per night for parking so that brings the total cash price to $4,628.31!

My price: $0 and 134,000 points - yep all taxes and resort fees and parking and breakfast included! (3.4 cents per point value)

Grand grand total:

Are you ready for this? 

Cash Price for everything:        $6,751.31

My cash price for everything:    $238.20

Points used:   178,000  (3.6 cents per point value)