Return of the Lizz - Hawaii

I'm Back!

Haven't written in a long while, but I've got so many things to talk about nowadays on my Facebook status, that I figured I should just write about it in my spare time.

The most recent news? I've been to Maui! The trip was planned because my mom and I were both off for Berkeley's spring break (she works in athletics, and they had a furlough week) and we wanted to go somewhere other than home. So, after much deliberation, Hawaii was chosen as our destination. In the end, my Nana came with us; so there were 3 generations of Lanzafame's in one place... in other words complete (not really) chaos.

To keep things short, I'll highlight some pretty awesome things we did:
Upon getting there, we found that our condo was actually more like a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment, and that almost every room in the resort was like that. We were on Ka'anapali Beach, and although our beach was not completely swimable, there were plenty of other places less than 10 mins away that were amazing for swimming. The first day we stayed at the pool and the 2nd day we went to a beach a walk away from our own (south of our hotel); the third day we went to Napili Beach; the fourth to Kahekili Beach Park (south); and the fifth we went to Kapalua Beach (north).

We also went to some pretty awesome restaurants in the area. The first night we has some amazing DiGiorno Pizza in our condo, because we were too tired to go out. The second night was spent at Lei'Lani's, an amazing beach-front restaurant where you could hear the live music from next door and enjoy amazing fish plates. The third night we went to Aloha Mixed Plate, a really local place with paper plates and biodegradable utensils, but with awesome coconut paste and pulled pork. The fourth night we spent at the Pioneer Inn, where there was live music performed by a huge hawaiian (or samoan) guy singing and playing guitar. He winked at me before we left, probably because I was singing along with most of the songs he played. The fifth night we went to Sansei, and AWESOME(ly expensive) sushi place where we sat at the bar and got to talk to our chef (who was right in front of us). He kinda looked like the grandpa in the Karate Kid... but that might just be me... Anyway, it was too bad our chef wasn't the hot one, but whatever, it was fun because Nana had never had sushi before! The last night we went to the Hula Grill, in Whaler's Village (across from Lei'Lani's) and I had some awesome pesto pasta with macademia nuts in it. Aaaaawwwwwesome.

As for Hawaiian experiences, the snorkeling was awesome and I got to see some pretty colorful fish. No turtles, but we were able to see a HUGE puffer fish, probably the size of a cat. My mom and I saw it, and then swam on; but 5 minutes later it was actually coming toward us, and we freaked and swam as fast as we could to get out of there! We had no idea what it was gonna do, but we high-tailed it. No use getting pricked by a puffer fish... Other wild life we saw were the humpback whales that were giving birth and playing with their young ones off-shore. All day you could see them jumping and beating their tails against the water, especially when we were waiting for a table at Lei'Lani's. It was SO COOL. I also could hear either a whale song or dolphin song when completely submerged snorkeling. It was one of the coolest things I've ever heard.

On Wednesday (the 5th day), we drove to the volcano, Hale'akala, which stands at the amazing height of 10,000 ft. Our stay was stopped short because my Nana couldn't stand being at that height (we could tell she was getting kinda loopy from the lack of oxygen), so we took a couple pictures and drove to a safer altitude. We had lunch at the Kili(?) Lodge on the way down, and I bought some teas at the store next door. That was an awesome experience to be up that high though. For the record, I sacrificed a newmen for the sake of Big Game next year. GO BEARS.

Also, an experience was a little show that the hotel put on Wednesday evening, right before sunset. They had a band and hula dancers, as well as a hula lesson, and my mom and I couldn't get over the handmade dresses that the women wore during one of the numbers. They also had the oldest married couples come up on stage and talk about how long they've been together, got lei'd, and kissed the bride one more time. It was cute and showed the honeymooners what it was all about :)

One of the last things I wanted to talk about was the people I met! So there were mostly older people and families at the resort, but on the 2nd to last day of being there, I met some dudes my age in the hot tub, and we continued to hang out that night. It was really chill and refreshing to be away from my mom and Nana, although I love then both. But these guys were pretty chill. It turns out that the world is actually very small because one of them not only was in a frat with Carter, my friend from h.s., but is from the town over from my hometown, and probably was taught by my brother at a basketball camp. Weird, huh?

To prove that the world is even smaller, my mom said the last day that she thought she say Jeff Tedford in the lobby, when it in fact wasn't him. She shrugged it off, and we went to Kapalua Beach to hang out. Then 'lo: Jeff Tedford and family appeared out of the mist in front of us (it was starting to rain at that point). So my mom introduced me, and they talked for a minute, and then went on their way. My mom and I couldn't stop laughing at how weird that was for at least 15 minutes afterward! It was amazing!

So, in a nutshell, that is my visit to Maui, Hawaii. It was REALLY fun, and although having Nana on the trip slowed us down, we probably relaxed more than we would've otherwise. Mom bought my a lei right before our flight, and now it sits in the fridge until Monday when I'll wear it to class (along with my new tan) :)

Aloha!