Bringing Hawaii home

[travelplanningnerd]

We are making the chicken and noodles we had on the Sail Trilogy trip to Lanai later this week. They have all their recipes linked here.

 

[cgattis]

We are making the chicken and noodles we had on the Sail Trilogy trip to Lanai later this week. They have all their recipes linked here.

Hmmmmm I’m planning Maui in 2022 to include Molokini. Had seen several cat tours but the food sounds amazing....that might make my decision!! Or maybe make me want to do a sunset dinner cruise too, if the crater cruise doesn’t include it. What did you think about the trip overall?

 

[cgattis]

For the kalua pork and coconut rice, we just shred the purple cabbage and add it raw.

Thank you for the suggestion! Now I am adding fish tacos to my meal list for the week. I just wish I could get some good monchong fish in Minnesota...

I would loooove to have some butterfish!! That stuff was amazing......

 

[travelplanningnerd]

Hmmmmm I’m planning Maui in 2022 to include Molokini. Had seen several cat tours but the food sounds amazing....that might make my decision!! Or maybe make me want to do a sunset dinner cruise too, if the crater cruise doesn’t include it. What did you think about the trip overall?

We haven't done a crater tour because our girls haven't been old enough/strong enough swimmers to really take advantage of the snorkeling, but the Trilogy sailing trip was the best thing we've ever done on Maui. It was an hour to Lanai, a few hours on the island and then about 90 minutes back - six hours in total. They're the only charter company that has permission to land there because they own part of the island. It included cinnamon rolls on the way over, all the snorkeling and beach gear you'd need while you were there, a tour of the island and an amazing lunch plus cocktails and ice cream sundaes and some whale watching (in season) for the trip home. It was expensive but honestly when you figure in how much food costs over there and the duration of the trip, I think it was actually a decent price consider Maui prices in general. I would totally splurge on it again.

 

[cgattis]

We haven't done a crater tour because our girls haven't been old enough/strong enough swimmers to really take advantage of the snorkeling, but the Trilogy sailing trip was the best thing we've ever done on Maui. It was an hour to Lanai, a few hours on the island and then about 90 minutes back - six hours in total. They're the only charter company that has permission to land there because they own part of the island. It included cinnamon rolls on the way over, all the snorkeling and beach gear you'd need while you were there, a tour of the island and an amazing lunch plus cocktails and ice cream sundaes and some whale watching (in season) for the trip home. It was expensive but honestly when you figure in how much food costs over there and the duration of the trip, I think it was actually a decent price consider Maui prices in general. I would totally splurge on it again.

Interesting!! On our other trip, we only had two days on Maui. We did the road to Hana one day and toured Haleakala and the upcountry the other day. Would love to hear your Maui faves. I’m thinking Maui and Kauai in 2022.

 

[ksromack]

We are making the chicken and noodles we had on the Sail Trilogy trip to Lanai later this week. They have all their recipes linked here.

Wow! That looks like a lot of great recipes there! I'm bookmarking that site for future reference.

 

[travelplanningnerd]

Interesting!! On our other trip, we only had two days on Maui. We did the road to Hana one day and toured Haleakala and the upcountry the other day. Would love to hear your Maui faves. I’m thinking Maui and Kauai in 2022.

Those are our two favorite islands. I love the "Revealed" books because they are really helpful with planning. Honestly we are not crazy planners. We typically do one big splurge excursion and then just play it by ear since our kids are still at the age when just playing in the pool or on the beach is very appealing. In Kauai, we loved our Napali coast tour with Blue Dolphin tours. You got cinnamon rolls on the way out, lunch on the way back, snorkeling and lots of dolphin watching along the way. The crew was amazing.

If you want to tell me more about your family size/type and traveling style, I can offer more advice on lodging. We tend to bank up points and leverage our credit cards to stay at really nice places because we love resort pools

 

[cgattis]

Those are our two favorite islands. I love the "Revealed" books because they are really helpful with planning. Honestly we are not crazy planners. We typically do one big splurge excursion and then just play it by ear since our kids are still at the age when just playing in the pool or on the beach is very appealing. In Kauai, we loved our Napali coast tour with Blue Dolphin tours. You got cinnamon rolls on the way out, lunch on the way back, snorkeling and lots of dolphin watching along the way. The crew was amazing.

If you want to tell me more about your family size/type and traveling style, I can offer more advice on lodging. We tend to bank up points and leverage our credit cards to stay at really nice places because we love resort pools

I have the Revealed books; agree, love them. On Kauai, we’ve cruised the coast, driven Waimea Canyon, and snorkeled at Poipu Beach. Our “tubing the ditch” got cancelled due to rain. I thought Kauai was the most beautiful but Maui had more to do and diversity of sights (I mean, really just due to size difference). Would love recommendations on both islands.

By travel time, I’ll be 50 (shhhhhh), DH 51, DD21 (woohoo), and DS18 (and newly graduated). So, we really need three sleeping surfaces (although DD is tiny, so something like the Aulani fold-down is plenty), which makes it a little tough. I’m also not a big fan of condos, because I always seem to have some silly issue or other and never seem to have anyone onsite to take care of it. While obviously we love a swanky pool, we’re more into the island; I’m not willing to pay out the nose for it but we’ll use it some. The room setup is more of a driver. Love to hear your ideas!

 

[travelplanningnerd]

I have the Revealed books; agree, love them. On Kauai, we’ve cruised the coast, driven Waimea Canyon, and snorkeled at Poipu Beach. Our “tubing the ditch” got cancelled due to rain. I thought Kauai was the most beautiful but Maui had more to do and diversity of sights (I mean, really just due to size difference). Would love recommendations on both islands.

By travel time, I’ll be 50 (shhhhhh), DH 51, DD21 (woohoo), and DS18 (and newly graduated). So, we really need three sleeping surfaces (although DD is tiny, so something like the Aulani fold-down is plenty), which makes it a little tough. I’m also not a big fan of condos, because I always seem to have some silly issue or other and never seem to have anyone onsite to take care of it. While obviously we love a swanky pool, we’re more into the island; I’m not willing to pay out the nose for it but we’ll use it some. The room setup is more of a driver. Love to hear your ideas!

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Kauai and absolutely loved it. I think it was probably the best hotel experience we've ever had. The staff took care of everything. They even had on-site laundry rooms you could use free of charge. While yes, the thought of doing laundry during vacation sucks, I ran small loads here and there, so we ended up going home with nothing but clean clothes.

In Maui, we've stayed at a few places:
Grand Wailea: Breathtaking resort. The pools are the nicest we've ever seen but it's spendy. I cashed out a boatload of Hilton points to stay two nights. And everything is expensive. We spent $100 on lunch at the pool, and that was for like two kids' hotdogs, two things of Nachos and a few sodas. I couldn't see us spending a lot of time there because of how much food costs and that you only have a tiny fridge but the resort is amazing. If you saw the movie "Just Go With It' with Adam Sandler, that's the resort where they filmed it.

In general, we love the Kaanapali area and have stayed at the Westin and the Westin Villas (timeshare units). The Westin is nice and the pool is great. The Villas were really nice and it was great to have a full kitchen and more space, but the pool area was small and the chairs were all taken really quickly. I've heard great things about the Sheraton there as well. There are a ton of timeshares/condos in that area so I think you could probably pick and choose to fit your budget and family size and find something great that would work. Since the pool isn't the driving factor for you, you could probably find a really good deal. Our struggle with most of the condos is the small pool areas that just won't entertain our kids for long.

On our next trip I think we'd like to do a few days at the Grand Wailea and then a few days down in Hana so we can enjoy more of that part of the island. When we make the drive down, by the time we get down there, we feel like we have to rush that part to be able to make our way back while it's still light out.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

 

[cgattis]

On our next trip I think we'd like to do a few days at the Grand Wailea and then a few days down in Hana so we can enjoy more of that part of the island. When we make the drive down, by the time we get down there, we feel like we have to rush that part to be able to make our way back while it's still light out

Hmmmmm I actually had not considered that! I felt the same way—loved Waianapanapa beach and Hamoa but had to rush back. Maybe I don’t have to rush.........thanks for a great idea!!! You have any thoughts on where to stay? Travassa is all I remember seeing. Guess I could google. Man, I’m loving this idea!!! We could stay over on the west side for the days we want to do Molokini and Lahaina (which we skipped last time) and then move east. Would give us a chance to eat at Mama’s in Paia, too. (Omg spellcheck changed that three times to three different things....grr)

 

[travelplanningnerd]

Hmmmmm I actually had not considered that! I felt the same way—loved Waianapanapa beach and Hamoa but had to rush back. Maybe I don’t have to rush.........thanks for a great idea!!! You have any thoughts on where to stay? Travassa is all I remember seeing. Guess I could google. Man, I’m loving this idea!!! We could stay over on the west side for the days we want to do Molokini and Lahaina (which we skipped last time) and then move east. Would give us a chance to eat at Mama’s in Paia, too. (Omg spellcheck changed that three times to three different things....grr)

I haven't done any additional research beyond having the initial thought. We were just there over Christmas and said that's what we want to do on our next trip. That was our second time on the road to Hana. The first time we drove most of it and our little one was in a backpack carrier, so our ability to see a lot that wasn't right off the road was limited. This time we did more and we figure by the next time, they'll really be able to do more of the hiking so it'd be nice to have stuff closer to access instead of trying to rush it all in one day. Glad I was able to plant a fun seed for your trip! Keep me posted if you find anywhere interesting to stay.

 

[OffToDWD]

Kalua Pork - This recipe is very simple and fairly inexpensive as well. Its also great because you can use it a variety of different ways whether it's part of a plate style lunch, on top of salad greens, served on tacos, sandwich style, etc.

Ingredients:
1 (6 pound) pork butt roast
1 ½ tablespoons Hawaiian sea salt
1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring (Hickory)

1.) Pierce pork all over with a carving fork. Rub salt then liquid smoke over meat. Place roast in a slow cooker.
2.) Cover, and cook on Low for 16 to 20 hours, turning once during cooking time.
3.) Remove meat from slow cooker, and shred, adding drippings as needed to moisten.

Made this for dinner and it was a HUGE hit! The whole family gobbled it all up - kinda scary how much they ate... Thank you for sharing!