More Maui

Fear not, this was our penultimate day on Maui, so not many more photos/posts to plough through before normal blog service is resumed.

Thursday morning dawned bright and sunny and we were up and out early. Can you guess why?

No, not a fancy dress party or one of those weird 'silent disco' things, but a helicopter trip.

This is the crater of Mount Haleakala, classed as an active volcano (eeeek!) although it last erupted in 1790. The crater is 3,000 feet deep, 7.5 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. Apparently this volcano forms more than 75% of the island of Maui. The other 25% is formed by another volcano. Actually, thinking about that too much is a bit scary.

See that rock down there, out in the sea on its own? Apparently it stars in the opening scene of Jurassic Park. Who knew.

Anyway, with our feet back on terra firma we returned to the hotel and I took the opportunity to sample some rather fine Hawaiian cuisine. I present to you...

a.k.a Spam sushi. Mmmmm, doesn't it look appetising...

More Spam is consumed on Hawaii than anywhere else in the world; add that to your Pub Quiz knowledge bank. Now, I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but personally I'm quite happy to eat Spam. I actually rather like a greasy old Spam fritter from the chippy (yep, that's right, I am PURE class); but Spam Musubi wasn't all that. Too much rice, in my humble opinion. As hubby says, it's all about proportions.

After all that excitement, it was time to slump by the pool for a few hours. A welcome opportunity to read and relax, as it felt like we'd be tearing around trying to fit in as much as possible for the first few days of our trip. Clearly, I had been a little over-optimistic with regards the amount of down-time we'd have when I packed 12 magazines and four books.

Before long it was time to tidy ourselves up and head down to a dinner and drinks reception which hubby's company had laid on. Not a bad location, really.

Oh hello, peanut butter and jelly dessert. I'll take two. Or was it three? Well, I was on holiday...

The dinner and drinks reception was all part of the final night shebang which also featured something happening on this rather impressively-sited stage.

A personal concert, just for the employees of hubby's company, by Train. Not sure if you've heard of them, but if you listen to the radio I'm pretty sure you'll have heard at least one or two of their songs. The photo doesn't do it any justice at all, as they put on a superb show. The lead singer was a fantastic performer, interacting with the crowd and getting plenty of people up on stage to join in (some better than others, that's for certain), not to mention being a really great singer.

And after all that excitement, what did we find when we got back to our room...?

Oh, just an iPad mini and Vera Bradley case.

Say wha'?!?