Well, Maui was pretty cool. There are other places I want to visit, so I do not have a burning desire to get back anytime soon, but here is an overview:

- Our main flights over and back were about 50% full (Delta). My mother-in-law came in on American and she said her flights were all but booked. We had a direct shot from Minneapolis to Honolulu (little over 8 hours), which wasn't bad. I watched The Martian which was really good!

- On the way home we left at 8:30 pm and landed in Salt Lake City at 6:15... which would have been 2:15 Maui time. I was this close to walking out of the airport and getting a hotel room for the day. I was miserable. Normally I possess cyborg-like resilience with sleep deprivation, but the two Tylenol PMs I took before that first leg did me in. The flight was less than 5 1/2 hours, so not bad. Midway through the next flight I rebounded and was good to go.

- The helicopter ride was probably the coolest thing we did. You got a great vantage of the landscape and how magnificent and remote the islands are.

- The sunrise at Haleakala was worth the 3:30 am departure. A tremendous experience.

- I didn't have an understanding of how long it takes to get around the island... literally around it. The majority of the island is comprised of mountains/volcanoes/rain-forest/nature preserve.

- People definitely operate on "island" time. Nobody is in a hurry.

- Super pricey. At least a 50% markup on everything.... with the exception of bottled water, which was odd. It has to be the most expensive State in the US.

- The food did not disappoint; I ate fish at least once every day. The poke bowl I had at the food truck melted in my mouth like butter. Roy's was probably my favorite meal. DDD checkoffs were Miso Phat and Fleetwood's. I tried finding Thai Me Up, but their food truck wasn't in the parking lot. So I got my poke, instead. Come to find out, there was another food truck parking lot a block over where Thai Me Up was located, so I missed out on it.

- Of the places I've been, Hawaii most reminded me of Iceland... except tropical, of course.

I have a friend who lives on Maui.  Virtually every single thing you buy in the islands has to be shipped there, which is why everything is so expensive.  On the flip side, her energy costs are virtually nil.  I’m going back in October and I can’t wait!  I love Maui.  Oahu was beautiful as well, but I found Maui to be less overtly touristy and just really enjoyed the island-time way.

11 hours ago, rockmom said:

I have a friend who lives on Maui.  Virtually every single thing you buy in the islands has to be shipped there, which is why everything is so expensive.  On the flip side, her energy costs are virtually nil.  I’m going back in October and I can’t wait!  I love Maui.  Oahu was beautiful as well, but I found Maui to be less overtly touristy and just really enjoyed the island-time way.

That's interesting. I had read where their energy costs are amongst, if not the highest, in the nation. Where on the island does your friend live? We were in Kannapali.

6 hours ago, bugatti said:

That's interesting. I had read where their energy costs are amongst, if not the highest, in the nation. Where on the island does your friend live? We were in Kannapali.

I'd have to imagine the A/C runs at least 75% of the time, year round. 

43 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

I'd have to imagine the A/C runs at least 75% of the time, year round. 

Depends on where you live on the island. Maui is basically two mountains. When we went up to the top of Haleakala, the temps were in the upper 30s/lower 40s. Many of the locals live at higher elevations where the temps max out in that upper 70 range. In all it is warm in Maui, but a typical Kentucky summer day is much worse. 

1 hour ago, TheDeuce said:

I'd have to imagine the A/C runs at least 75% of the time, year round. 

In an well-insulated building, running the heat is generally significantly more expensive than A/C, though.

12 hours ago, bugatti said:

That's interesting. I had read where their energy costs are amongst, if not the highest, in the nation. Where on the island does your friend live? We were in Kannapali.

Lahaina

6 hours ago, TheDeuce said:

I'd have to imagine the A/C runs at least 75% of the time, year round. 

They don’t live at the beach level.  They live in the foothills.  The temps there vary significantly based on the altitude.  There was a drought there at the time I was visiting and it was record heat.  Even so, We only needed the AC in the late afternoon.  

The first pic is a view from the lanai.
 

The second is the inside of Maria Lanakila  Catholic Church right in Lahaina.  It had no AC but was still tolerable even though ocean.  The breezes help so much.

48 minutes ago, rockmom said:

Lahaina

Technically I think it’s Launiupoko, I think it’s called.

And finally to give perspective, this is looking back up the mountain behind the house.