Shopping - Hawaiian Style

Saturday - The one thing that Megan insisted that we do, happened on Saturday. And I have to say, I am glad she did.

Every Saturday on the island of Maui is the Maui Swap Meet. Now I know what some of you are thinking. Isn't that just another name for a glorified garage sale? That's kind of what I thought. In the Mid-West, swap meets are pretty popular. On the West Coast, at least in Portland, not so much. So with some trepidation, we loaded up the SUV and headed over to Kahului. To be exact, it was the Maui Community College. After a few wrong turns, since I left every map, magazine and guide book at the condo, we arrived. It cost .50 per adult, with the kids free. It was all laid out, on a very nice outdoor field, complete with paved walkways.

If you live in Portland or San Francisco, you will find this to be very familiar to the Saturday Markets both cities have. Loads and loads of local vendors selling everything imaginable. T-shirts, jewelry, photographs, plants, local food and vegetables. There were food and drink vendors selling shave ice and local food. The kids each got a whole coconut from a very, very large Hawaiian woman. She was sitting behind the table with a huge machete, ready to trim and poke open the nut for the kids to drink directly from. They walked around drinking from them, and then before we left we re-visited the lady, where she used that huge knife and cut them open so we could get at the meat. Pretty cool for $5 each.

Megan found some awesome local jewelry as well as a swimsuit for her niece. I got some pretty decent seasonings and rubs, along with some local made jelly. We would have spent more time there, but the sun was beating down something fierce. And the location was not very breezy. After that, we thought we would check out the local mall. That's right. A mall. On vacation, in Hawaii, and we go to the mall. What can I say...we like to shop. And besides, I wanted to hit up Macy's for a hat.

The mall in Kahalui was nothing special. A nice open air layout, with the basics. We were able to get a Jamba Juice as well as a hat and another swimsuit for Megan. After that, we headed down the way to Wailea. Wailea is the very upscale part of Maui. If I had to guess, I would guess that this is where the stars and special people stay when visiting. Very nice hotels and homes, along with upscale shops and restaurants.

We decided to get a bite to eat, and against my better judgement, we sat down at Cheeseburger Island Style. The location was awesome, right in the Shops at Wailea. The server got on my bad side almost immediately by trying to upsell us into a $7 pineapple plastic cup for our drinks. We all had to say no. Then, there was the upsell to Kobe beef. Then onion rings and fries, all seperate. By the time she left with our order, I was ready to go. Then, all of our food was delivered, except Meg's. Apologizing, the server said 2 minutes. We waited. Then we started eating. After 10 minutes or so, I had to get the busboy to get our server. Then, after another 5 minutes or so, out came the burger. The rest of us were almost done. No explanations, nothing more than a simple "sorry," and she still blew off a request for more ranch dressing and a refill. Needless to say, I was pretty torqued. The server knew it to, since she offered desserts to the table next to us, but dropped the bill off at our table and ran away. I had to wait quite awhile again, just to pay. I will be telling the world about this horrible woman and her lack of service skills. I got over it, but it still sucked to have something like this happen.

After walking around the Wailea area for a bit, we headed back to the West Side. The kids immediately hit the pool and I chilled and caught up on some reading. That is what vacations are for, right?? When we landed on Maui, I had picked up some steaks for grilling at the condo. And that is what I did. Steak, potato and salad. For some reason, everything tasted better. Perhaps it was the view that made it so? I suggest you give it a try.

All in all, the day was pretty relaxing. The kids and Megan got some beach time in, and we all got our shop on. It was a perfect Saturday. Later in the evening it sprinkled a bit, but even that was pleasant. Again, it must be Maui.