The Wrap-Up - And exit rows rock!

Up at 5AM PST, a taxi to the airport and a flight that left slightly late. This was expected, we were flying into Newark. Anything related to Newark Airport = Delay. Always. The flight was ok, we flew Continental and I snagged us some exit row seats so we had legroom.

Home by 5PM and dealt with the effects of the heavy winds on our house. Our front door was knocked off and my incredible neighbors actually put it back on my house while we were gone. I have the best neighbors in existence. Also, lost some of the siding on the house. The dog was happy to see us.

So, let's tie this trip into a neat bow...

Books purchased on the trip:

• You Suck - by Christopher Moore
  
• Images of Haleakala - Picture book
• The Eyre Affair - by Jasper Fforde
• Fantasyland - by Sam Walker
• The Lost Legends of New Jersey - by Frederick Reiken
• The Tom Clancy Companion

Obscure rare book related items purchased at this incredible book shop we found in Maui called: JoAnn Carroll's Old Lahaina Book Emporium. This place was tucked away and had a crazy collection of books and other documents:

• Young Pillars by Charles M Schulz - He didn't just write Peanuts, he did this one too
• A Comics Scene Magazine from March 1982 - It had an article written by John Byrne, one of my favorite comic book writers
• A program from the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular circa 1989

And of course:

• U.S. Department of Agriculture - Painting the Farm- A US Government guide from 1925 on how to paint your farm

Oh, bought a Ninja Devil Duckie too (http://accoutrements.com/products/11573.html)

Everyone needs a Ninja Devil Duckie.

All in all, a good trip. Here's some random thoughts about it:

• If you go to Maui, try to stay in West Maui as it doesn't rain much there.
  
• The place we stayed at, the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort is a good place for good value (http://www.lahainashores.com/) For far less of a price than most resorts we had a small apartment facing the ocean with a quiet beach that was almost private, was a few blocks from town and had a fully functional kitchen.
• If you stay at a place with a kitchen, go to the local store and buy food so that you can eat a few meals a day at the hotel. Food is very expensive in Maui, having breakfast and a few dinners at the room saved us a ton of money.
• When in Hawaii, buy a pineapple (it's actually cheaper than in the mainland) and eat it. You will thank me for this. We did this twice during the trip.
  
• Rent a small car (I mentioned this in a past post).
• Do ziplining, it's really fun and as long as you don't think about what you are doing, you'll be fine.
• Seattle is a cool city, but the city itself can really be covered in one day. So it makes for an ideal stop if you have a chance to lay over there like we did. Also, the Grand Hyatt there was really good.

I'm sure there's more, but I'm kinda tired right now, so I'll do that in the next entry. Oh, and a link for pics too...