Wow-wee Maui, that was delicious!

No vacation is complete without delicious food, and I love to eat so this was definitely a huge part of the planning for Maui.  Unfortunately Man vs Food has not visited Maui yet so I had to use different resources to find great food on the island.  Luckily my roommate's brother has been to Maui several times and had a few recommendations for great eats.  The rest was left up to Google and Froders.
When on Oahu, we discovered Shrimp Buses - and man they were delicious - so I was hoping that there would be plenty on Maui to indulge in.  No such luck, apparently Maui does not have the fresh shrimp supply that Oahu has off the island so no Shrimp Buses.  While I was searching I did find some great places to eat that did not let us down.  I will do a highlight of some of our favorite restaurants (and a quick what not to eat) for all of you to drool over.

Coconuts Fish Cafe

Our first suggested restaurant was Coconuts Fish Cafe, known for their fish tacos.  Our first day on the island we decided to explore the southern shore of Maui.  We had to pick up our packets for the marathon about 2 miles from Coconuts so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out.  After a few wrong turns we finally found our way to a strip mall center where Coconuts was tucked away between a tax center and diner.  The decor was simple, a few wooden bench tables carved to look like surf boards and a few pictures on the wall.  Apparently there were no bathrooms in the restaurant so when people asked they were given a huge kitchen mixing spoon with a key on the end and sent outside and around the corner (I decided I didn't need to go that bad!).

The menu had a mix of options including the famous fish tacos or fish sandwiches, fish and chips, and some chicken and steak dishes.  We ordered the fish tacos and an order of fries for the table.
When the tacos came, all I could say was wow.  Each taco consisted of 2 corn tortillas (the bottom was toasted and the inner was slightly warmed).  The tortillas were piled high with grilled fish, a horseradish cole slaw, mango-avocado-tomato salsa, and various other toppings (17 in all they claim).  They were as delicious as they sounded and I would highly recommend them to anyone.  This was my favorite meal on the island.

Aloha Mixed Plate
Our second day on the island, we decided to try out a restaurant I read about both online and in Froders. Aloha Mixed Plate offered a mix of traditional Hawaiian food like Kalua Pig, Lau Lau, lomi lomi salmon salad, and poi as well as some other local island food like Ono fish, stir fry, marinated beef and chicken and other tasty sounding dishes.
The restaurant was located oceanside in Lahaina with an upper tier of seating and a lower tier right next to the ocean.  We chose to wait a few minutes to get the ocean seating, and it was well worth it.  We started out by ordering the Pupu platter (pupu is what the island calls appetizers) that had onion rings, teriyaki beef and drummettes.  The onion rings were hand breaded, the beef lightly fried and was so tender and moist, and the crisp skin and moist meat in the chicken drummettes was amazing.  The commercials we heard didn't lie, it was an amazing way to start a meal!  We ordered a variety of main dishes so we could sample several things.  Heath got the Hawaiian Plate with Kalua Pig and cabbage and Lau Lau (pork wrapped in taro leaves and steamed); Sandy got the Aloha Mixed Plate with Ono, marinated beef, and marinated chicken; and I got Lau Lau.  All the plates had 2 scoops of white rice and macaroni salad (island staples), and two of the plates had lomi lomi salmon (tomato and salmon salad), poi, and coconut pudding called Haupia.   Everything was amazing and gave us an extra taste of the great authentic food of Hawaii.

Kimos
Kimos was another recommended restaurant, not for it's food but for the dessert - the Hula Pie.  So after a grueling morning of walking up and down the coast of west Maui for the Maui Oceanfront Marathon, we treated ourselves to a nice lunch at Kimos - also complemented by ocean views.  We tried some coconut shrimp for appetizers and ordered some huge burgers and fries for lunch to refuel from the race. We were careful to leave plenty of room for dessert, but we had no idea what we were getting into.  Now I know you must be thinking, what the heck is hula pie. I wondered the same thing myself so I looked it up the night before we went to Kimos.  This is what I found:

Perhaps no one wants you to know just how simple a concoction Hula Pie is. There's no baking, and you can find most of the ingredients ready made: chocolate cookie pie crust, macadamia nut ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, chopped mac nuts. 
Once you pile all this stuff dizzily high, however, the Hula Pie turns into a mountain of pure dessert indulgence that impresses the heartiest of eaters. 

Um, okay that sounds fantastic, and decadent, and sinful, and just amazing.  Gotta have some of that.  So we ordered it - and it was that good.  And we were sick afterwards - but it was well worth it!

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co 
"My name is Forrest, Forrest Gump" - yep we all know that movie - and in case you didn't know, there is also a theme restaurant that has been created from the movie, Bubba Gump.  We first discovered this restaurant in Miami during our trip to the 2000 National Championship game (OU plug) and have visited several times in different cities since then.  Since there was one on Maui in Lahaina there was no reason why we shouldn't continue this tradition.

Bubba Gump is like any other themed restaurant.  The walls are covered in props from the movie, quotes, licenses plates from different states in the movie, movie pictures - you name it.  This particular location was open air with windows that overlook the ocean. (I love the ocean view at dinner!)  The menu offers mainly seafood choices including several types of shrimp (Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.) some fish options, crab, lobster, you name it.  
We started out by ordering hush puppies - not your standard hush puppies these were full of corn, crab, and shrimp pieces.  Yum!  I got my favorite dish which is shrimp in a bucket of broth with a scoop of jasmine rice and a piece of bread.  Put the rice in the broth, make shrimp soup and soak it up with the bread.  Doesn't get much better then that!  Sandy got a seafood broil that had crab, shrimp, clams, and other various items - it was also tasty (I had a few bites); and Heath got the fried seafood platter which had more hush puppies, fried shrimp, and fish.  We stopped there thinking that the hula pie from earlier in the day was more then enough dessert.
And just to cover our bases - we went back to Bubba Gump our last day on the island - to try out some more shrimp options - just as great the second time!


I'm going to break this into 2 different blogs now because I still have 3 more restaurants to talk about and a homemade meal!  So don't short circuit your computer drooling over all of these - there will be more to come!

A Maui state of mind

My latest travels have taken me far west - to Hawaii.  This was my 3rd trip to Hawaii, so to say that it is my choice location for a vacation is an understatement.  In past trips I have gone to Oahu and stayed on Waikiki Beach.  While I've always enjoyed Oahu, there were a few things that tempted me to try out a new island.
Last time we were in Oahu, we rented a Jeep and traveled to the opposite side of the island.  We discovered a quiet, peaceful and lush countryside that does not exist at Waikiki Beach - it was really nice to not feel so crowded.  Also in 2010, we had considered going to Maui over Thanksgiving break to watch the OU basketball team play in a tournament - it never happened but the seed had been planted in my head.  So in the beginning of 2011 when I decided I wanted to run a marathon and was looking for the perfect one to run - it seemed fate that there was one on Maui in January.  Plan in action!  For the next year we planned and drooled over Maui waiting for the day to come.  I registered for the Maui Oceanfront Marathon in May and things were final.  Along the way, I ended up with a stress fracture in my foot and the marathon dream went up in smoke - but that is a story for another blog (see here if you are interested...).
So anyways - short story long, Maui was the dream vacation that came true.  For a whole week during the cold January winter (minus the cold since it has been an average 60* the last month) we spent time on the beach getting a tan and enjoying some whale watching.  I aim to share some great photography and stories in hopes of making you all jealous - or just to give those who can't get away right now something to get lost in.  Hopefully this will only take a couple of weeks to write, but no promises - I am on island time after all!

Maui Sunset

2011 Ouray, CO - Day 7 Uncompahgre Peak Hike

Well it's been a few months since my trip to Colorado and I haven't written about our biggest adventure if the trip yet. The one thing I wanted to do before we even left for Colorado was to hike a mountain. And since I'm crazy I decided it needed to be a 14er. It didn't take much convincing to get the other two on board for the expedition; took a little more time to decide on which mountain to climb (started as Mt Snuffles then we switched to Uncomphagre along the way.)  At home we started a regimen to get ready for the hike (as best possible in flat Oklahoma).

Since we camped out about 45 minutes from the trail head, we had an early wake up call so we could be hiking by 7am. 4:45 came very early after sleeping on the rocky ground all night and I think we were all a little glad to just be getting up. We quietly packed up camp and got ready to go. The first 15 minutes of the drive was nice and peaceful on a paved road. That quickly changed as we turned on the road to the trailhead. The 4-5 mile trail took about 30 minutes to climb with several sharp switchbacks, streams to cross, and tight roads to pass. We finally made it to the top and put our hiking shoes on, our packs on and we were off.

Now in deciding to hike this mountain (or any mountain) I had no.clue what to expect. The first 1/4 mile or so was through a forest of evergreens. The trail was fairly flat and wide and you couldn't see our peak. We soon emerged from the trees into a beautiful clearing full of flowers, flowing creeks, and a view of Uncomphagre Peak.   The trail through this lower clearing area was beautiful. We hiked along the babbling brook for awhile with a few small hills to climb.  This area was fairly flat also and had great views of the area. Since we were above the tree line, all the views of the surrounding mountains were unobstructed. 

As we got to the top of the clearing, we came to our first major climb.  This was a minor incline with several switch backs. This turned into a flat region for awhile before reaching a steep uphill incline with no switch backs. The weather to this point had been fairly warm. We had quickly shed our jackets at the beginning but at this point the colder air started to set back in. At this point we were hiking along the lower ridge line of the peak. There were some beautiful views of the valleys on the other side as well as the mountains in the distance. We were high enough to see some of the others 14ers in the area at this point.

We were starting to get tired legs at this point and just when we thought we were close to the final climb to the final climb to the peak we realized we had a steep section of about 12 switch backs to hike. For.each 10 steps we took we would have to stop to rest for a moment. It was slow going but we were determined. We finally made it to the top and once again thought we were almost there. Wrong!!! What awaited us was a short scramble (for those not accustom to hiking terms this means climbing up a rock slide). After several minutes of questioning if we wanted to continue, we were joined by a group that told us how to do the climb and suggested we follow them.  For me, going up isn't difficult, I was happy to be climbing up the rocks and felt secure by my pack pushing on my back, going down I knew would not be so pleasant.  

Once we got to the top of the scramble we still had about a 1/4 mile  of steady incline to hike to the peak.  With the air thin and our legs exhausted each step felt labored, but as we got within a hundred yards of the top, my racing instinct took over and I picked up the pace to the top.  And finally we were there!

There is no way to accurately describe the peak of a mountain, it is something that must be experienced.  The views were amazing and you could see for miles.  We were above the clouds in many cases and above all the surrounding peaks.  We signed the log, took a few pictures, cracked open an ice cold coke, and enjoyed the views for a few minutes.  As we stood on the top, we noticed the clouds forming quickly over us and suddenly sleet started to fall...in August! To someone from Oklahoma, this is unheard of! We quickly put on some extra clothes (we had already added gloves and ear warms awhile ago) and started climbing back down.  Now we get back to this rock slide...going down is not something I enjoy, each step was carefully calculated and I took my time to make sure each rock was secure.  After a frightful 10 minutes we finally were back on the trail.  We took a few more pictures and started the long decent back down.

Our plan had been to take the way down slowly, take pictures, and enjoy...nope - it started hailing on us, we ran.  Well as fast as you can run on steep, rocky switchbacks thousands of feet in the air on a sheer cliff... and once again I don't like going down which majorly slowed down our little group.  We stopped to put on rain jackets and pack ponchos, but outside of that it was a race to the car.
We finally made it back to the truck - 7 hour round trip to the peak and back.  It took us 5 hours to climb up, and just a little over 2 hours to make it back down - hail is great motivation!

Since we were already late to get the Jeep rental back in time, we opted for the highway over the Jeep trail for our return to Ouray.  Instead of traveling 10 miles over 3 hours, we traveled about 70 miles in 2 hours.  We were so exhausted we probably never would have made it over the those crazy trails.  We had great plans of going to the hot springs and going out to dinner after our trip, but when we made it back to camp all we could think about was a shower and bed.  And so that is what we did.

Climbing Uncomphagre Peak was similar to the feeling I had when I finished my first half marathon - it is an amazing feeling to accomplish something that not everyone can do or wants to do.  There is also something exhilarating about being able to conquer fear and overcome muscle exhaustion and push on to finish something you set your mind to. Even months later as I write this I still can feel the rush and the high of the accomplishment.

2011 Ouray, CO - Day 6 The Jeep Trails

Day 6 started the biggest part of our trip - the Jeep trails that connect Ouray to Silverton and Lake City.  We had decided before going that we wanted to rent a Jeep and drive these rocky roads that show some of the lesser seen areas of Colorado: uninhabited mountain areas, old mining towns, beautiful waterfalls and views, and sheer drops inches from the side of your vehicle.  For those of you who are runner friends, this Jeep trail we are taking is a portion of the Hardrock 100 miler, a ultra marathon in Colorado.  And for the record I will not be running that race...ever!

Uncomphagre River

We left fairly early in the morning, stopped by the bakery in Ouray to get something yummy to eat (a delicious cheddar and bacon scone for me) and headed to the head of the Jeep trail.  The head of the trail includes some parking areas for ATVs and for Jeeps that have been altered past standard road driving.  Heath and Sandy had tried to talk me into riding ATVs on the trail - I said I would rather be in a Jeep - more car around me...I quickly found out that the small width of the ATV is actually preferred as you don't have to get as close to the side of the trail (aka hug the inside edge of the mountain!)  The first mile or so of the Jeep trail was probably the worst of the entire drive.  There were tight switch backs, narrow lane, and large rocks protruding up from the road ready to jam into the bottom of the car.  After this area the roads became tamer, there were less sheer drops, and it was easier to sit back and enjoy the scenery.
The views from the Jeep trails were amazing.  We started by driving along the Uncomphagre River (which is the river that feed the waterfall next to the highway we visited earlier in the week).  There were several waterfalls and dams as we climbed in elevation beside it.  After we rose above the river area we started seeing the peaks of the surrounding mountains and the diminishing trees as we came up to the tree line.  We also saw several old mining towns along the roads.  It was crazy to wonder how these miners were able to make their ways to these villages without the use of cars and ATVs - these were really remote areas and most of them built into the side of mountains.  The danger of working in the mines was only compounded by the travel to get there.  Even though we passed and got passed by several people on the road - there were very few people in general on the trails.  Most of the time you really felt like you were out on your own.

After about 2 hours of driving we made it to our first pass of the trip - Cinnamon Pass.  As we climbed out of our warm Jeep we were hit with the winds and colder temps of being at a +12,000 elevation.  Brrrrrrr.

American Basin

As we headed down the pass we realized that we were a short 5 minute drive from the American Basin so we took a slight detour to see this basin.  This is where the people were - and obviously from the look of their vehicles they did not take the same road as us to get there!  We took a few pictures, but unfortunately the wild flowers were not at their full peak so it was not a beautiful as many of the postcards show it.

Slumgullion Slide

The remainder of the trail was relatively uneventful.  Eventually the trail became a paved road as we got closer to Lake City and we were able to make up some time that we spent going 10 mph in the beginning miles.  We stopped at a campground to make sandwiches and eat just outside of Lake City.  After lunch we headed toward our short overnight campground location.  Along the way we passed San Cristobal Lake which is the second largest natural lake in Colorado.  It was created when there was a natural earth flow (rock slide I'm guessing) called the Slumgullion Slide from a near by mountain both 700 and 350 years ago.  Reminents of the rock slide are still evident on the mountain side and scientist are able to calculate the years by the age of the trees along the side of the mountain.

Lake San Cristobal

We drove up a pass on the nearby highway to get our first real view of Uncomphagre Peak - our main hike we would face tomorrow.  Wow - I think we might be crazy!!!!

Uncomphagre Peak - center of the picture

We then headed into our campground.  It was a cute little RV park beside the river in Lake City.  There was only 1 or 2 tent sites and ours was right on the river.  It was a beautiful view and a great back drop for our tent.  The people at the park were so generous.  That night they were having a potluck dinner and invited us to join, even though we didn't have food to share.  Since we had plans to visit Lake City we said thank you but that we would probably pass.  After our Lake City outing we got back and as we sat by the fire getting ready to cook hot dogs they walked over with plates of leftover food - soup, potatoes, roast... they told us to eat up!  We were just amazed that they were so ready to adopt us into their group after a few hours!  We will definitely visit their campground on every trip.  During dinner a deer started walking into our campground, apparently she is the camp mascot.  She was very tame, drank and ate out of dog bowls and visited several different sites. So cute.  Early to bed was the theme of the night so that we could get up at 4:50 and get ready for our trip to Uncomphagre, so there ended our evening.

2011 Ouray, CO - Day 5 "Minor" Hike

Day 5 - about the time in vacation when you are comfortable in your new location and really become part of the environment.  About the time in the trip when you either love your vacation or start thinking about going home.  I was definitely thinking about how I could pull off moving to Ouray, CO at this point in vacation.  For the first time on vacation we took the morning to sleep in and enjoy just being at the campground.  Due to a strange craving for pancakes (I hate breakfast which makes this strange) we decided to go to the cafe for a filling breakfast of pancakes, biscuits and gravy, eggs, and other breakfasty foods.  We headed back to our cabin to read and sit out on the porch for a few hours.

Around lunch time we decided to head into Ouray and try a "small hike" to the Upper Cascade Falls. ... We probably should have done some more research on this hike (or atleast brought more water) before setting out - our first clue of trouble should have been the fact that the map said it was 1. 7 miles to the falls.  We should have checked out the elevation chart to go with that also...looking back.  We decided to start the hike and just see what it was like - couldn't be that bad, we thought we saw the falls the other day so it must just be a hike around the edge of the mountain.  So off we go!  The first 1/4 mile or so was fairly flat trail, nothing to exciting.  We thought we were good.  We started worrying when we would get to the signs that told us how far we had gone - and we hadn't gone very far.  Worried even more when we passed people coming back down that looked exhausted - now these people had dogs and small children so they should look exhausted but we should have paid heed.
We started ascending the mountain and going through a series of switch backs (steep rocky ones with bad footing) - what looked like 4 on the map turned out to be about 10.  We contemplated turning around but decided we had to be close - people kept saying we were close.  We finally got to the top and were treated to a 1/2 mile hike around the edge of the mountain (that hike we anticipated at the beginning...).
I have to say when we got to the falls it was really pretty.  Because it required such a hike it was very serene and peaceful, not covered in annoying tourist like the lower falls.  We took pictures, we took our shoes off and dipped our feet in the stream (brrrr), we enjoyed a few minutes on top of the mountain.
Then we started the descent.  I don't mind climbing up things - mountains, rock slides, bunk beds - but going down is not my cup of tea.  I slid, I went slow, I fell - it was sad.  After what seemed like hours (who said going back was quicker????) we made it back to the start, looked at the map again and cursed ourselves for not paying more attention.  We hoped we didn't kill ourselves and hurt our chances of making it to the top of the 14er 2 days later.  Oh well atleast we got great pictures!

On the way home we picked up our Jeep for our next grand adventure to start the next day (thankfully we got white not burnt orange).  Once we got back we made a nice camp fire to roast hot dogs and we packed our hiking bags for our trip through the passes.

2011 Ouray, CO - Day 4 Yankee Boy Basin

Day 4 turned out to be our first true adventure day in Ouray.  Our original plan we put together the trip was to climb Mt Sneffles, a 14er to the west of the Ouray area.  After doing some additional research on the Sneffles trail and climb we decided that it would be too technical for our novice Oklahoma hiking skills.  The Yankee Boy Basin at the base of the Mt Sneffles trail was supposed to be really beautiful and we still wanted to get a chance to see it so we decided to take a day trip and drive to it.

We headed out fairly early in the morning and was immediately presented with what a Colorado county road was.  Non-paved, possibly rocky in areas, and more then likely a steep drop off throughout the drive.  Wow was not expecting that at all!  Heath had inquired at the campground if his truck could make it to the Yankee Boy Basin and they said he would have no problem since it was 4 wheel drive and higher off the ground.  So trusting their expertise we forged ahead on the road.  I do have to admit that in taking these smaller roads you see a much grander scale of the beauty of Colorado. Since the surroundings are virtually untouched there are several waterfalls and streams, abandoned mining towns, wildlife, and wild flowers to enjoy during the drive.  I have to admit at the end, the first 3/4 of the trip to the basin was not that bad.  I later would discover that we were on a fairly "wide road" that was also fairly smooth.
At this point we got to a set of waterfalls called the "Twin Falls" at the lower end of the Yankee Boy Basin.  These were gorgeous waterfalls that fell several times in a small valley area, surrounded by wildflowers and the mountains.  We got out and explored the area, climbing up and down and taking pictures.  I was definitely beginning to see why people loved Colorado so much - everything was beautiful.
We saw that the road continued on from the point we were at.  Since none of us had been here we weren't sure if we had actually made it to Yankee Boy yet, if this road continued to it, if we could even take it.  As we sat and pondered for a while we saw several vehicles pass us and head up the road (one very unsuccessfully).  There was a tour group by us so Heath asked if we could make it up the road, he said he was pretty sure (comforting huh!) and so we decided to head on.  While this road was much rockier and had several water crossings, it was all flat in the valley without drop offs - something I liked much more.  There was a Y in the road at one point and we chose to go one direction (remember this for later).  When we made it to the end of the road we were in the top portion of the Yankee Boy Basin.  Several mountains came together in a valley at this area and it reminded us of the opening scene in the "Sound of Music".  For several hours we took pictures, walked around, hiked a small ways on the main trail, and ate lunch.  It was so secluded with only a few people passing during the time. 
After lunch we packed up and headed back down the road.  For adventure purposes we decided to try the other portion of the Y on the road.  Bad idea - this had a much steeper decline back to the bottom area with deeper water crossings.  At one point we got stuck on the edge of a rock just past a stream crossing backing up traffic for about 5 minutes as we maneuvered our way out of the mess.  At this point I decided I had enough of the front seat and seeing the road so I switched with Sandy and took up the back seat.  Later I would post on facebook "I saw God today - Between the beauty of the mountains and the terror of driving on the road barely wide enough for the truck"  Oh if I only knew what was coming up the rest of the week!
The remainder of the trip back to camp was uneventful.  I discovered I saw a lot more of the landscape from the backseat as I was not concerned about the road in front of me.  I did however see the drop off the side a little better though!  Once we got back to the main highway we decided to drive south to Silverton and go shopping and explore the town.  Silverton is a Victorian mining town so all of the building were more of a Victorian style look.  Unfortunately Silverton didn't appear to put as much work into upkeep of the town.  It was much more run down then Ouray - reminded me a little of a wild west town by the look.  We started by going to a restaurant and bar called "Handlebars" (like the mustache) for some french onion soup that was recommended to us by a friend.  The bar had a ton of character and the soup was very good.  After that we walked through the stores, bought a few shirts and other items, got some ice cream and headed back to Ouray.
After the excitement of the day we kicked back and relaxed at the campground that evening and ordered food from the cafe and enjoyed the campground area.  

2011 Ouray, CO - Additional Photos

If you would like to see more photos of our trip - follow this link and check them out.  There are lots, but hey we were there for 8 days!!!

2011 Ouray, CO vacation pictures