T Minus 16.5 - Paia Town

Bet you thought today would be a TripleC blog kind of day, huh?

I woke up at about 9 to a banging sound, like the neighbors were hanging pictures, a lot of them. But then I heard something outside even louder. It was a man lugging a water heater to a truck. To much noise going on, I knew it would be disruptive to any creative process I might attempt.

So I grabbed the bus schedule to see where I could go today and when. After deliberating it over text messages with The Hubby I decided Paia Town would be interesting.

I quickly got dressed, putting on my last pair of clean britches. I frantically hand washed the rest and threw them in the dryer. I hope to get my washer hooked up soon. This is getting ridiculous.

So, then I slipped on my slippahs and headed for the bus stop around 10. Outside, everything was wet. It seemed to have rained in harbor town earlier this morning. I knew yesterday that it felt like it could rain.

Luckily I stayed dry on my way to the bus stop. I didn't double back for my umbrella.

There were still plenty of rain clouds in the skies.

The clouds as seen from Ma'alaea Harbor.

I took a lot of buses today. First from the post office area to the Wharf Cinema Center. Second from there to Kahului. In Kahului I transferred to the Haiku route bus, which has a stop in Paia Town, where I disembarked. In the first few shops along the Hana Highway I knew there was another Maui Hands gallery so I stopped in to say Hi.

I took mental note of a few eateries the girls recommended but everything was super busy, seeing it was just about noon. 

I poked in and out of various shops just to see what there was. 

Then down a side street I saw what looked like a diner. I hadn't gone wrong at dinners before. So I headed that way. The dinner is inside the Paia Plaza.

The sky was so blue and cloudless in that direction.

The dinner is called Moana. (Who out there remembers what it means on Hawaiian?) I saw Loco Moco on the menu and was tempted. I told my waitress I was torn between it and the Catch of the Day sandwich, she suggested the sandwich. I asked what the fish was... Fresh Opah. There was no more waffling. 

Not only was the sandwich amazingly good, so was the salad, dressed with a house-made sugarcane vinaigrette. Super yummy.

After lunch I cruised the rest of the area. I went towards a place called Maui Java, thinking of coffee drinks, but oddly it's a t-shirt shop... but Hiding in the corner next to them is....

Where I found Mehana Brewing Co's beers.

I asked if he had any in the back that weren't cold so they wouldn't get skunked while I carried them around the island the rest of the day, and was lucky that there was.

 I also spied this... A very yummy root beer. I'm a sucker for root beer thanks to my Papa Earl. There was some bistro tables near by outside and I just sat down to enjoy my root beer and people watch.

Then I browsed into a bead shop. Tiny, packed with overpriced beads. I couldn't bring myself to buy a single bead. Is that weird of me or what?

Along the way a picked up a few trinkets for an art project I have planned but other wise I window shopped. And really enjoyed my day there.

I caught the bus around 3 and it went up to Haiku, another cute town but didn't seem like enough to occupy me in the hour and a half until the next bus. So I rode it all the way back to Kahului, where I transferred buses in reverse of how I got there.

When I got off the last bus I'd been on today, it was too early for sunset but the clouds presented a wondrously lit sky.

Aloha!