Hana, Maui, Hawaii

Feb 13 - 17, 2001

 Our Travel Experience

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Our Travel Experience

Driving to Hana was neat. Just as promised, the road was windy and narrow. Sometimes we had sweeping views over the ocean. Othertimes the vegetation hemming the road in on both sides was interesting in itself. We stopped a half dozen times along the route to look at a beach, a waterfall and a vista. We also stopped for a snack and for the toilets. It was an enjoyable ride. Hana itself would have been an easy to blink and miss town if it hadn't been well signed.

We drove through town once on an exporatory mission looking for Bed and Breakfast signs. We immediately saw four main possibilities of where we could stay. Plus, we'd found a B&B on the web for Hana.

Since Seth was hungry, we stopped as a yummy-smelling restaurant right off the main highway. It was the restaurant for the Hana Hotel. Immediately, we could tell we were in a US$ 200 and up hotel. The view from the restaurant was stunning. We could see a sculptured lawn, dotted with tropical trees sloping down towards the beach. We'd just driven along a road parallel to the coastline, but there was no sign of this view out the restaurant windows. The glass windows surrounding the restaurant's porch were thrown open and there was a pleasant breeze wafting through our eating environment. Tara ordered a steak sandwich and Seth ordered the special pasta of the day. Our food was delicious! It was a very, very pleasant lunch. Tara was so taken by the view that she had to take photos. Seth (of course) was not too happy to take photos.

After lunch, we wandered around the hotel library. We talked about how this sort of place was what we'd normally stay in at a tropical destination. There was a library, immaculate grounds, massage at the health club and all the other resort facilities we were used to. However, we were not willing to spend over $200 a night, so we got back in our car and headed to Joe's Place.

We'd seen Joe's Place on our drive through town. Joe advertised rooms starting at $45 a night. We were in luck! There was a room for an even $50 (including tax) that suited us just fine. Joe's Place offered you a private bedroom and shared bathroom, kitchen, TVs and phone all included. He even included a third pillow when I asked. Seth settled in for a nap while Tara went out walking about the town.

The town had a great feel to it. People who lived in the town were obvious from the vehicles they drove. People who were visiting the town as tourists were also obvious from the vehicles they drove. No fewer than five of the locals driving pick up trucks waved at Tara as they drove by. Actually put their hand out their truck window, waved and smiled! It was neat. On the way to the General Store, Tara stopped at another vacation rentals place and discovered that they rented full houses for reasonable prices. We'll have to remember this for when we decide to come to Hawaii with Bob and Eileen.

Continuing onto the General Store, Tara cut through the grounds of the Hana Hotel. She decided that the garden view rooms were not that special and in no way regretted staying at Joe's Place for $50 a night!

The General Store was neat. It was a combination grocery/hardware/video rental/tourist shop/tourist information/bank. The prices were, as expected, high - so Tara settled on some potatoes with cheese and butter for dinner. Seth's staple breakfast of toast with butter and cream cheese was not complete since there was no plain flavor cream cheese for sale. Thus, Tara headed over to the other store in town. It was only a grocery store and was more like a locally-owned 7-11. It was VERY locally owned since everyone who came in or checked out was greeted by name by the guy working behind the counter. It was quitting time for work and a bunch of men who'd been working outside were passing through on their way home. Not another tourist in sight - neat!

Tara's twice baked potatoes turned out excellently. We had a nice conversation with a guy in Hawaii for an ultimate frisbee tournament, checked our e-mail, watched a bit of TV, tried to have a conversation with a French-speaking couple from Tahiti and then went to sleep. We were very happy with Joe's Place.

However the next day was Valentine's day, so Tara thought an ocean-front room with a great view might be worth splurging on. It's odd for us to leave a place we like, but for the view, we decided to. We drove just across the street and settled in.
 
It was a perfect choice to go across the street for Valentine's Day since the weather turned stormy and we just sat on our balcony and enjoyed the view - white waves crashing against a black rock beach.

After our one night of splurge, we went back to Joe's Place and loved it.


 
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Tourist Info

United Airlines from Seattle to Los Angeles to Honolulu
United Airlines from Kahului to Los Angeles

Rental Car from Alamo
White Camaro Convertible
256.42 for one week. A little more than 100 for an extra two days.
Seth left a little flashlight he'd purchased at Eddie Bauer on the car keychain. (like in Chicago when the safety deposit box key was left on the rental car keychain).
 

Fun place to stay for $50 per night is www.joesrentals.com