Day 1 in Maui (aka Happy Birthday to ME!)

As many of you know, my 27th birthday was on the 19th. Instead of spending it at the office working and attending meetings, I spent it on Maui! Thanks to Amy and Albert's upcoming wedding this Thursday, I was able to celebrate my birthday here in "Paradise" as well.

So, Day 1 recap:

• Get woken up at 5:15am to go to airport.
• Get dropped off at airport by mom shortly after 6am. Carrying around heavy bag to checkin.. and can't find ATA terminal (turns out it's way back next to the security line).
• Security line is loooong.. luckily they let us cut to make the flight in time. Even thought it's a "full" flight, somehow was able to switch my seat from middle to window.
• Amy and Albert were on the same flight as me, which was nice, we both get our rental cars then split up. Turns out the remote control fob on mine doesn't work...argh!
• Get to condo in Kihei around 11am, but I'm too early to check-in--they tell me to come back at 2pm.
• Get some suncreen at Long's and grab some lunch at Amigos.. food is just ok, not that great.
• Time's only 12:30, got a couple more hours to kill. Drive around to Wailea mall. Seems like some woman just got her purse robbed right when I got there. Cops/security come investigate. Doesn't sound like the type of thing that should happen at a high end mall! Wailea's supposedly one of the most upscale resort towns in America...
  
• Keep driving down the road past Wailea to Makena. Find some really nice beaches/scenery. Missed the nude beach.. maybe next time =) Too bad the road becomes progressively narrower/scarier--found some really cool lava beaches, but turn around after a while after I got poked by some thorns through my flip-flops where they were pruning some bushes.
• Go back to Kihei and check into condo. Hang out there for a couple of hours and go for a walk along the beach park right behind condo.
• There's a short coconut tree in the park, and I see this guy climb and pluck a coconut to eat on the beach.
• I want a coconut too! I grab a rock and knock down a small one--too small and unripe. Second try gets me a larger one--but the rock also bounces back and hits me... coconut cracks as it falls and the water inside starts coming out. I carry both coconuts very carefully without spilling any on myself or the camera--get 2 glasses of coconut water--sweet! Turns out after I tell this story, some of the others try to find my tree too..heheh.
  

• Time for birthday dinner at Matteos Pizzeria in Wailea. Catch an AWESOME sunset (first of many to come) in the parking lot. Cheryl and Davis also show up when I do, followed by Tina and Jeff (aka "Appletini") and Chris and Winnie (aka "WinCo") who had gone to Hana earlier in the day. Food is good and restaurant is fun and has an ocean view.
• Great way to spend my birthday!