a’a Roots Health Cafe
Our first stop for today is new spot for our daily acai bowl at a’a Roots Health Cafe. This is spot is purported to have a pretty good one. However, either they were too busy, or its just normal they forgot to add honey on all of our bowls. So while it still looks nice, it did lack a fair bit of flavour. Maybe its intentional or maybe they simply forgot because it was pretty busy when we got there. But I would probably give this place a pass when it comes to our favorite frozen treat.
Kapalua Coastal Trail
After picking up our Acai bowls, our next stop is the Kapalua Coastal Trail where we would meet up with Gimpy and Legend! They flew in the day before and our groups planned to link up and spend the day together! Since this trail isn’t super strenuous our entire party could do it and enjoy the beautiful coastal views! While it it stayed sunny, we did have to walk through the typical Maui rain storm in the middle. For the most part it’s a lovely walk and would recommend it to all.
After the trail, a few of the group ended up doing some snorkeling in the bay while Antetokounmpo and I visited the nearby Whaler’s Village, which is an upscale outdoor mall. We walked around, may or may not have picked up another Acai bowl from Island Vintage Coffee and waited for the group to meet up for lunch.
Monkey Pod
For us lunch would be at Monkey Pod. This is a very cool outdoor / patio type restaurant with some great food choices. One of the things we’d heard about a fair bit is Maui Cattle, so getting a Maui beef burger seemed to be on most of our minds. A majority of our table ended up ordering the burger and another hot commodity is the Monkey Pod Mai Tai for which many of us partook as well. Lunch is great, the burger is delicious and we spend a fair chunk of time hanging out and enjoying the cool breeze and views of the water. At one point Legend had challenged Cactoose to chug the beer she had been nursing. She wouldn’t do it and held out until five of us agreed to take Monkey Pod Mai Tai shots. In some ways it seemed like a lot just to get Cactoose to chug, but somehow no one complained haha.
Leodas Kitchen and Pie Shop
By the time we left MonkeyPod it was mid afternoon. We decided head to Leodas Kitchen and Pie shop. They are known for their pies and so we couldn’t “not” try them! Being a banana obsessive, I had to get the Banana Cream Pie, and I can safely say its really good! They come packed in these individual trays so you don’t have to feel guilty about ordering a huge pie and eating it all yourself!
After pies, we return to Whaler’s village. I think a few people still wanted an Acai bowl and since Island Vintage has a pretty good one we decide to head there. We find a few seats in the food court area and snack and chat for a good hour and a bit. You can never get enough of good friends, laughter and tasty treats in Hawaii! At this point, the sun is starting to set, and we head to the water to take in the sunset. I’d like to say that I took some amazing shots of it, but my phone had long since died and I didn’t get any photos of it unfortunately! But it did put a great exclamation mark on a day well spent with friends.
We part ways with Gimpy and Legend. While our trip is coming to an end, they will be in Maui for another week or so. We head back to our AirBnB and start the process of cleaning up and getting ready to leave the next day.
Final bites at Choice Health Bar and Jollibees
The next morning, we finish our packing and start the check out process for our AirBnB. We have a few hours to kill before needing to get to the airport so we go around to a few places to check a few last items off our eating list. The first is our final Acai bowl in Maui. Since Whaler’s Village has both Island Vintage Coffee and a stand for Choice Health Bar, we head there. Cactoose and Lebron both get Acai from Island Vintage, while Antetokounmpo and I order from Choice. Its hard for me to pick a winner, but I think gun to head, I might have to give Choice the edge. Though I think further research will be required.
After getting “breakfast” we drive for an hour into Kahului. Originally we wanted to eat at Tin Roof. But unfortunately they are closed the day we leave, so we have to “settle” for one last Jollibees meal. It’s hard to call it a consolation prize when its just so good!
With our bellies full, we do a few last housekeeping items, like cleaning our Turo car a little before returning it. then make our way to the airport.
Flying home to Vancouver
Our flight home today will be on a Westjet 787 Dreamliner. Upon checking in, I’m surprised to find that I’ve been assigned a bulkhead seat with a bit of extra leg room. So no complaints here. Maui airport is pretty busy at this early afternoon time of day and so waiting to get bags checked and through security takes a fair bit of time. But once through everything else goes fairly smoothly and we are off.
While this turns into an evening flight, we do get treated to some spectacular over the wing views of the sunset. I settle in to watch a few downloaded shows I’d been meaning to catch up on. After, getting caught up on the latest season of Picard, we’re on final approach for Vancouver and before I know it we’re back in the familiar halls of YVR.
This has been a relatively short trip, but it’s also the first trip of 2022 and now having this under my belt, it does light the fire of wanting to travel more frequently again. Stay tuned for the next post as we wrap up this Maui trip.
Mai tai mai tai! I could drink that lilikoi cream on the mai tai’s all day long!
I didn’t realize your phone had died by the time we checked out the sunset!
How did you get so lucky with bulk head seat when you don’t have status with WestJet?? Were Antetokounmpo and Lebron separated on the plane or were they able to sit together because same itinerary?