It is another lazy weekend here in Kihei. Once again the town is jam-packed with people, creating clogs on the walking paths, the sidewalks and the still-mind-boggling line at Kihei Caffe. Just bizarre.

We choose to lay low, avoiding the crowds, eating in (as we have been all week) and trying to get to the beach as early as possible. But even that is a challenge. Our normal arrival time of around 9am still finds the parking lot filling up quickly and tons more people on the beach. Sigh. At least on Saturday, we still have our normal tree spot, complete with our fine feathered friends.

Sunday finds us reversing our normal walking schedule and hitting the Wailea Beach Path in the morning. Again, the parking lot is jammed and we’re lucky to find a spot. The path is also busy, but virtually everyone respects the rules – single file, pass when you can or on the grass, no hogging the pavement. It is a lovely walk, if a crowded one!

We make it all the way to the end of the path at the Fairmont hotel, then retrace our steps back to the now completely full parking lot. A little worried about our beach lot, we head straight there, and yep – packed. We are lucky to find a spot at the top of the lot by the road. And it is only a little after 9am. Sheesh.

Oh, and to add insult to injury? Our spot is taken by some people who have set up 2 huge tents, tables, balloons and food. Sigh. Ok, so we’re closer to the water, still with a modicum of shade, but….this isn’t going to last long, of that I am sure.

So we enjoy our last beach day, albeit truncated,

We go back to the condo, eat our remaining luncheon food, do our final laundry and pack our bags in preparation for tomorrow’s long, long day and night flying Eastward. Figuratively, we decide not to come back here next year on our way home from Australia and SE Asia. It just doesn’t make sense to spend time here immediately after 2 weeks in Bali. And, with flight connections, it wouldn’t save much time at all. So we will go straight back to Asheville (or Charlotte or Raleigh or Atlanta or Greenville, or….) from our time in Ubud.

We spend our last night on the Lanai, in the warm air, mentally saying goodbye to Maui and planning our next adventures (because of course, we always have something up our sleeves).