Hearts in Hawai'i
Our Trip to Maui (2014)--Day 22
5/26/2014
After a relatively short night of sleep (I didn't get to sleep until after midnight), we were up at 6:30 for breakfast. I started packing my stuff and by 8:00 packing the checked bag was nearly done, my carry-on likewise.
Our final morning
It has been a fun trip--but not our favorite. Missing Kimo detracted from the experience somewhat. The very muggy conditions we had to deal with for most of our trip certainly didn't help. Plus, I think we got a little bored, but that may be more a result of the humidity than anything else.
Our flights appear to be on schedule, so after hanging around the room and having one final meal at Betty's Beach Cafe, the plan is to check out at 5 p.m. After that follows the ugly process of driving to the airport, returning the car, going through security, waiting in line at the Delta counter for our boarding passes and to check our luggage. And then, of course, the wait at our departure gate. Not to mention flying all night on the red-eye flight, hoping to snatch a bit of sleep so we weren't too fried by the time we return to Duluth.
Betty's was an okay place to eat. My Gimme Bacon burger was big and somewhat messy, even with the tomato peeled off it. It got hot out there as the sun started shining strongly on the patio, and detracted from our enjoyment just a bit. Betty's delivered pretty much what I expected it to deliver--nice atmosphere, average food, so-so service.
Back to the room, we did one final inspection, making sure we packed everything. We did a pretty good job on estimating how much food we would need, ending up with only four pieces of bread left, about 1/6 jar of peanut butter left, all the veggies and fruits eaten. But I did have to leave behind three quarts of Gatorade, mainly because I spent so little time in the sun the last few days.
With our bags on the cart, we went downstairs and checked out, got our final bill (for the $3.55/day parking charge), said goodbye to Kaulana. On the drive to Kahului, we were treated to more of those wonderful late afternoon views of the West Maui Mountains draped in the late afternoon sun.
After a final fill-up of gas in Ma`alaea, we reached the airport at 5:30, dropped off the car, and got through security. I screwed up a bit by keeping my cell phone, keys and flash drive in my pants pocket. The full body scan picked it right up so these had to go through the screening machine. With that done, we found our departure gate. I kept looking back and thinking back on how it looked and felt when we arrived three weeks ago and were walking the opposite direction on that warm, muggy night. We had our entire vacation ahead of us! Now, it was coming to its inevitable end.
A final look in Kahului airport
At our gate, we spent some considerable time chatting with a very nice couple who were on their way to Milwaukee via LAX and Detroit. Time passes quickly when you can occupy yourself in this fashion--the next thing we knew, they were announcing the boarding!
After having already been up for 16 hours and only getting about an hour of sleep in the afternoon, this 5 1/2 hour flight to Los Angeles was not fun. Making things worse, upon landing in L.A., was the immature girl impatiently waiting for people in front of her to get off the plane. "C'mon, people...let's goooooo" she went. And then "This isn't rocket science!", to which I responded "Neither is patience and tolerance". In all likelihood, it went right over her head.
Once off the plane, we checked the departure board and realized that Delta had our terminal wrong on the previous morning's itinerary. We got off in Terminal 5 and had to go to Terminal 6. And this was with only a half hour to spare! It was our good fortune to hop a ride on one of those motorized carts. We arrived at our departure gate just as the boarding process was beginning.
On the LAX to Minneapolis flight, I managed to get about a half hour of sleep. Finally, I said **** it and just stayed awake. We had a three hour layover in Minneapolis so we found a TGI Fridays restaurant, which turned out to be a good choice for lunch. Or dinner, depending on when we planned to eat again.
Finally, we boarded the small "puddle jumper" plane for our flight to Duluth. It was mostly clear in Duluth and 70 degrees (but only in the low 50's near the lake!), so after calling Shar and retrieving our checked luggage, we headed outside the terminal to wait.
Shar arrived promptly and fifteen minutes later we had arrived at home. After dropping off macadamia nuts with a couple neighbors and getting our mail which one of them had helpfully been gathering and holding, we drove up to Harbor City Kennels to pick Kimo up. He wasn't exactly overjoyed at seeing us--Patty thought he was pissed off, but I think he just wasn't used to us yet. By the time we had gone to bed at 10 p.m., he was back to his old self for the most part, although pretty tired from his 24 day stay at the kennel! For us, it was extremely nice to be back in our big, comfortable bed.
Previous: 5/25/2014--Our Trip to Maui (2014)--Day 21
Index of Blog Pages
last updated november 15, 2021
|