Maui- Going Home

Saturday March 5th- Saying Goodbye

After the rainy day on Friday I was a little bit disappointed to be leaving the next day without one more day on the beach, soaking up the sun. However, when we awoke the next morning to more rain I was ok with checking out and flying back home to our girls. It helped to keep the tears to a minimum! Our flight was suppose to depart at 1:20pm so we only had enough time in the morning to have a breakfast down at the hotel beach spot, pack and make the drive over to the Jeep return and airport.

As we were waiting for our flight to leave (it was delayed an hour and a half) I remembered that on the flight over a week ago they had played a game- The Half way to Maui contest. The pilot instructed everyone about the local Maui time, distance we would travel, head winds and tail winds etc. They passed out papers and had everyone make a guess at what time -to the seconds- that we would be exactly half way to the island. Naturally Paul was very logical with his approach- pulling out a pencil and paper, figuring an equation and calculating his estimate- to the second. He turned it in and waited. After the plane landed and we were taxiing to the ramp they announced the winner over the intercom- it was Paul!! He was only off by 7 seconds!! I was so proud of him- the smartest person on that huge plane!! He was pretty elated to find out that he had won a CD- "Peace, Love , Ukulele" by Jake Shimabukuro. We had no idea who he was, but Paul was eager to receive his award!! Pretty cool right?

As a final tribute to our trip I thought I would share some of my favorite flowers that we encountered during our adventures. The colors that made me stop and document their beauty. I enjoy each and every one of these bright and delicate petals:

When we finally boarded the plane, with no further delays, it took off as rain continued to streak across my window. Goodbye Maui, we will miss you!
The rain again followed us home. Except this time it was welcome as we rode the storm all the way to San Francisco shaving 1 1/2 hours off our flight time giving us 15 minutes to catch our connection into Salt Lake instead of missing it. In fact, that next flight was so fast we landed 30 minutes ahead of schedule- it did feel good to be home- even if it was FREEZING and snowing.

This was such a fantastic trip- we had an incredible time. I have so many happy memories there. I will always look back fondly on our time spent in this enchanting paradise. Thanks for joining me on a look back to document everything before it begins to fade away.

Aloha and Mahalo!!