Eric and Dee Dee's Honeymoon: Halloween in Lahaina

Oct 31, 2006

Today we went to see Haleakula, the volcano in Maui. We decided not getting up there to see the sunrise…sunrise is at 6:10am in Oct..which means we had to leave Kapulua by 3:30am…ugh..too early for vacation. We left the Ritz at 8:00am and got up to the preserve at Haleakula by 10:30am. Fortunately, the skies were clear in the morning with light clouds moving through. At 10K feet, the cloud layers frequently hide the views. We took some great pics of the crater and hiked around the various paths. Clouds quickly moved in and covered the views by noon.

We drove back down in dense clouds and light rain. We stopped in Makawao, a small town that supported the cattle industry and local cowboys. The main street is very rustic and has a lot of artsy shops, a few general stores and restaurants. Dee Dee bought some great souveniers for friends there. This is a must see town on the way back from Haleakula.

We stopped for a late lunch at CJs near Kaapalua. CJs is in a strip mall on the left side of the road headed north bound. This place had a great mix of Hawaii style food and standard deli food. This is a great find and was very reasonably priced. We spent roughly $25 for the two of us.

After lunch we drove the 15 min back to the Ritz to get ready for Halloween. We heard that roughly 20K people go to Lahaina to party making it the place to be in Hawaii each year. Some locals told us it’s the Mardi Gras of the Pacific. Dee Dee went as a sexy pink cat wearing a form fitting pink/black cat suit, cat gloves/claws and cat ears. Very hot. I was a NASCAR fan wearing a mullet wig, a NASCAR t-shirt and hat, and shorts…it worked. The best part was seeing Dee Dee walk through the lobby at the Ritz! She turned a lot of heads and was self conscious at first…but then enjoyed the attention.

The Ritz had a special cab service for guests to take us down to Lahaina. We took advantage of it not wanting to drive with 20K people in town. We got there at 5:30 and saw the “family” hour of costumes as adults and kids walked up and down the street. As the evening wore on the costumes got more risqué and sexier. We observed the crowds from the second floor of Cheeseburger in Paradise where we had coconut shrimp and a Mai Tai and Margaritas. We also observed the crowds sitting along a wall that ran along the street. As the evening wore on, the crowed got drunker and more out of control. Several drunk teenagers were out wearing strip club outfits and trying hard to be risqué…ugh. Dee Dee and I were AMAZED by what these teenagers were doing…where were their parents? We also saw some of the costume contest that took place at the Banyan Tree and listened to some music played by the US Navy Jazz Band.

We decided we had enough at 10:30pm and called our cab to pick us up…which was a nice service since we didn’t need to wait in line with the thousands of others…the Ritz did well by having this service. What a night!