Friday night, I did the Crossfit Open workout 17.2. Which meant I had to actually be a little more careful about what I ate during the day so I didn’t feel like death. Go figure.

Breakfasts have been the same around here: mango, cheerios, yogurt bowls. After breakfast, we spent the morning at the pool (and saw our favorite kitty).

I’m not a big swimmer, but I actually deigned to go in the water this time. There was a very tame water slide that I ever went down a few times.

We cleaned up for lunch, which was Subway. Again, I wanted something familiar before the workout.

I even chose to skip the afternoon ice cream (gasp)!

We had a low key afternoon. Mostly lounging around the hotel.

Then it was Crossfit time! I dropped into Lahaina Crossfit again to do 17.2. They had a 2 hour window on Friday night for people to do it, and when I showed up, I signed up for the first slot! I quickly warmed myself up and was ready to go.

17.2:

12 minute AMRAP:

50ft walking lunge with dumbbells in front rack

16 toes to bar

8 dumbbell power cleans

50ft walking lunge with dumbbells in front rack

16 toes to bar

8 dumbbell power cleans

50ft walking lunge with dumbbells in front rack

16 muscle ups

8 dumbbell power cleans

50ft walking lunge with dumbbells in front rack

16 muscle ups

8 dumbbell power cleans

Repeat for 12 minutes.

I obviously cannot do muscle ups, but I did Rx anyways. The weights were 35#. I knew this meant I would have some time left to stare at the bar!

I was worried 35 would feel heavy for dumbbell cleans but it was a non-issue. I honestly don’t have a ton of commentary on this. It killed my grip much more than I was expecting, and my second set of toes to bar had to be more broken up as a result. My tiebreaker time was 6:37 for 78 reps, so I had about 5 minutes to “attempt” muscle ups. In reality, I’m nowhere near a muscle up. But I spent some time doing some really high quality pull ups, so there’s that.

I do appreciate how this workout didn’t have muscle ups right in the first round, so people could still do Rx and have something to do. The atmosphere is always fun, and it’s so cool that this is something I can do thousands of miles from home, because it’s something Crossfits do worldwide. I stayed an extra heat to judge someone else, and it was all a blast!

Right afterwards, we headed to Kohola Brewery in Lahaina. We stumbled upon this tiny local brewery when grabbing lunch, so we figured, why not check it out?

It was a cool vibe. It was out of a warehouse! We got a flight to start.

Apparently beer flights are becoming a post-Open workout thing for me?

Then I got a pint of my favorite, the Lilikoi Saison.

It was a great way to celebrate 17.2!

After our little happy hour, we went down to the water for dinner at Honu. We had originally made reservations for much later, but we were able to snag seats by the bar with no wait.

This place was awesome. They had a whole gluten free menu (including pizza), and the waitresses were super helpful figuring out various dietary restrictions (coming to Hawaii with a coconut allergy stinks). On top of the great service, the food was top notch. To start, we shared a date salad.

For my main dish, I had a taro burger on GF bread with truffle cheese. (How could one pass up TRUFFLE cheese??)

For dessert, my mom and I shared a beet chocolate torte. This was really delicious, and I couldn’t exactly taste the beet! It seemed a tiny bit earthy, which did a grey job counteracting the rich chocolate.

And with that, 17.2 is a wrap!

Monday morning, I dropped into Crossfit State of Mind in Lahaina .It’s a pretty small box, but everyone was really friendly. We did Grace, which is 30 clean and jerks. I did it with 85 pounds and finished in 6:08! We had extra time after the workout so we did a difficult cash out, which was a 7min AMRAP of 10 toes to bar and 10 burpee box jumps.

I have to say, I definitely felt more human after a good workout!

For breakfast, I was all about the fresh fruit.

Plus some cheerios and yogurt with sunbutter for a little protein.

After breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning at the beach.

After cleaning up, we went to Leilani’s for lunch in Whaler’s Village. I passed on the alcoholic lunch beverage (I’d be asleep that afternoon) in favor of a pineapple vanilla soda. How pretty!

For my main meal, I had a really unique salad salad with crystalized ginger, pumpkin seeds, cabbage, broccoli, kale, pickled beets, and a miso sesame vinaigrette.

After lunch, we headed into Lahaina to visit the Maui Sugar Shop, and all gluten free bakery that is AMAZING. My parents went to Maui without me on my dad’s business trip in the fall, and they still stopped in there.

For lunch dessert, my mom and I split a cream puff and a chocolate lilikoi doughnut.

The doughnut was absurdly good. I think it was actually baked, not fried! I don’t really liked the fried taste of doughnuts, so that was even better!

Then, we walked down the main road, checking out various future menus, with one destination in mind.

Piglets! Every time we’ve ever been to Maui, since I was little, we’ve come to Dan’s Greenhouse to visit the adorable mini pigs.

These guys are why I stopped eating pork back when I was pretty little. The best part is that you can feed them, and these guys were SO snuggly!

One of them was quite insistent on burrowing into my leg though, and now I have a little snout bruise!

I honestly could have sat there forever.

But alas, it was time to move on.

Back at the hotel, we did our own little happy hour, but I made mine kombucha happy hour. We made another stop at the GF bakery on the way to pick up things for later, and one item was delicious brazilian cheese bread. This was cheesier and denser than the kind we normally have, but equally delicious!

We also had some taro chips and the Surfing Goat Dairy cheese.

For dinner, we were a little burned out on food so we cooked in. Although I use the term “cooked” a little liberally here. I made a salad with local greens, rotisserie chicken soaked in GF teriyaki sauce, fresh papaya, grated carrots, sweet Maui onions sautéed, and papaya seed dressing. YUM.

For dessert, my mom and I split a Lilikoi and chocolate cupcake from the bakery.

Tuesday morning, I went to a spin class at Enjoy the Ride. It’s really cool because they have a big TV screen that shows different terrains and feels like you’re on the road. It was weird though because one of the scenes was from near my area, and I’m sure I’ve driven on that very road before!

For breakfast afterwards, I wasn’t really feeling yogurt so I had a bar and a mango. Have I mentioned how amazing the fruit here is??

Plus papaya for a snack.

That afternoon, we drove over to Kihei for a tour of Maui Brewing Company!

We had some time before the tour started, so we hung out and tried a sample of a dark beer.

The tour was really informative, and taught a lot about the beer making process. We got to see the various ingredients of beer (malt, hops, water, yeast).

After 30 minutes of learning, we finally got to taste!

I think my favorite was the Bikini Blonde, which felt like it would be a great beach beer. Apparently it had a strong malty flavor.

As part of the tour, we got a voucher for one beer out of their almost 30 options in the taproom. Unfortunately for me, some of their best and most popular beers are coconut porters, which sadly I’m allergic to. I was happy with my bikini blonde though!

I absolutely loved the glasses.

After a late breakfast, we were ready for an early dinner after our tour right down the street at Maui Brick Oven, a pizza place that is totally gluten free! This was an absolute gem of a find.

The highlight of course had to be the fried avocado.

We also got a farm salad with avocado, goat cheese, and grilled veggies.

For our pizza, my mom and I split one with grilled vegetables and garlic.

We were pretty full, but managed to find room to split an amazing molten chocolate lava cake for dessert.

Baby goats, cupcakes, Crossfit—what more could I need?

And then mango sorbet and cake batter froyo.

By the time we stopped by the grocery and made it to our condo, it was time for dinner! We went to the hotel restaurant and enjoyed dinner with a view of the pool.

I started out with a local beer: Longboard Lager. For my meal, I had a veggie burger on a GF bun with fennel kraut and sweet potato chips.

After dinner we walked down to the beach to watch the sun set, but I missed the best of it because I saw an adorable kitty. Priorities.

Back in the room, we enjoyed some chocolates we picked up along the way.

Our first full morning, my dad and I ran 3 miles along the beach. The start, of course, was delayed thanks to the same sweet kitty.

My post-run breakfast was tropical juice, and then a yogurt bowl with cheerios, passionfruit jelly, and sunbutter.

Then, it was time to head out!

We headed out for my personal highlight of the trip, Surfing Goat Dairy. They had 1-3 week old goats!

When we went last time, we did the Grand Dairy Tour which included a full tour of everything, including milking goats. This time, we did a 30 minute casual tour where we got to feed some of the December babies and taste the cheese.

I swear, my heart was going to burst!

The cheese of course was phenomenal as well. We ended up getting a chèvre flight.

And some lilikoi (passionfruit) and blueberry goat milk gelato.

For lunch, we went to a natural foods store on the way back to our side of the island. We were trying to go to a place form last time, and this wasn’t it. We’d actually been there a loooong time ago though! I got an avocado wrap and some mashed sweet potatoes.

We also enjoyed some goat cheese truffles. I had lilikoi and blueberry.

We made it back in time for happy hour by the pool. I have never in my life enjoyed a drink poolside, and now I understand how it’s nice!

And of course I went back by the kitty’s favorite spot!

That night, we drove in to Lahaina for a nice dinner right on the beach at sunset at Pacific’O.

I wasn’t super hungry, so I had a salad with goat cheese, sweet Maui onions, and smoked tomato vinaigrette, plus some of my mom’s chicken and potatoes.

More importantly, I had to save room for dessert! We ordered a few things to split, one of which had wheat and nuts. Because of that, my dad ordered two spoons for himself. EXCEPT, he’s always been a 2 spoon dessert eater, so I think we all know that’s just a cover. He was a little excited to dive in.

The entrees I split were creme brûlée and flourless chocolate cake. I liked the creme brûlée a lot; it was more custardy vs. creamy.

Any Maui recommendations?

Sunday morning began with my 10 mile half marathon training run. With record high temperatures in Maui, I knew this one was going to be a struggle. I scouted out a nice hilly route ahead of time-3 miles out from my hotel until the sidewalk ends, then back, and then I would play it by ear. I was prepared to jump on the treadmill for the last part if it got too hot.

It rained early that morning, so the air was SO thick. I got out the door by 6:30am, and it was nasty out. 1 mile in, I was drenched and felt kind of terrible. It must have been about 90% humidity. I wasn’t even sure I’d make it through half the run out there without dying. Luckily, the weather improved a bit. I ended up turning around at 3.5 miles, then running a mile in the other direction before realizing there was no shade and I was dying. At that point, when I reached the hotel I was at 9 miles so I did the last one in the comfort of the hotel gym.

I was really vigilant about hydration. I officially swear by SmartWater-I filled my bottle with it for the run and didn’t have the problems I’ve had in the past in the heat. I also drank some vitamin water before my final water. I did a really good job with fluids the rest of the day, and it really paid off!

Nothing like wear compression socks while on vacation…

For lunch that day, we stopped by a “healthy fast food” restaurant that we had passed previously. It’s called D’Lish, and it had all kinds of healthy sandwiches and bowls. We shared a beet salad with goat cheese.

And a mix of purple sweet potato and taro chips.

For my main meal, I got a veggie bowl, which was quinoa topped with broccoli, mushroom bisque, tomato, and feta. Yum! Love the idea of making a bowl using soup.

Our next stop was to the movies-we saw the Perfect Guy, which was pretty intense. Then, we stopped by Maui Tropical plantation, which is a nice little place with a gift shop, pineapples growing, and now a zipline that we tried 2 years ago when we went. It’s in a beautiful location.

That night, I made reservations for the Molokai Bistro at the Grand Wailea hotel. We put on our fancy clothes (although the restaurant was fairly casual) and headed out!

We ordered a bottle of rose for the table, and my parents still insist on taking pictures of me any time we drink wine in public. #21

To start, we shared Maui Onion rings (Maui onions are sweeter than regular onions) and sweet potato fries, with lilikoi BBQ sauce.

I got the catch of the day-mahi mahi served over purple mashed sweet potatoes and garlic broccolini.

It was delicious, and it was nice that the portions weren’t giant!

Dessert was also amazing. Butterscotch creme brûlée topped with banana mousse and shaved chocolate. YUM. What a nice dinner!

We saw 2 stray kitties and some frogs on the walk back!

I’ll spare you of Monday’s food pictures because I posted all that for WIAW, but here’s the day!

I was hoping to got to Lahaina Crossfit, but my shoulder wasn’t anywhere near ready. Instead, I took it to the hotel gym for a shoulder friendly strength workout. I started with 100 lunges, 100 squats, and some RDLs with lighter weights than I would normally use to accommodate my shoulder. I then did a 15 minute ab circuit that I am still sore from because I never do abs, and finished with some light shoulder exercises on my bad shoulder and dumbbell snatches/push presses on my good shoulder. It felt good to get some strength work in despite my injury!

I went straight from there to the beach with my family. I lost the gamble of whether or not I would burn without sunscreen in an hour or so. Oops. Later that day a former fireman came up to me and recommended I put aloe on my burn!

It was a beautiful day, but hot. We went to the gluten free bakery again in Lahaina, but decided to keep it indoors with another movie.

This time it was the Transporter-Reloaded. It was pretty good-I don’t watch too many action movies but it was a pleasant experience. We came out to find a rainbow!

We stopped by Barnes and Noble for some reading material, and then Whole Foods for dinner since my stomach was flaring. The rest of the night involved Netflix-does anyone else watch The Good Wife?

Tuesday was our last partial day in Maui. I started off with a treadmill 4 mile interval/speed run and then went out with my family for one last beach trip. I enjoyed yogurt, passionfruit, and papaya beachside and got my fill of tropical fruit!

It was nice out but definitely starting to heat up! We weren’t at the beach for long because packing still needed to happen.

We said goodbye to our hotel and stopped for lunch at a health store near the airport. I had delicious avocado salad and some really interesting soup that had gluten free oats, zucchini, and cauliflower all blended up.

I also enjoyed a couple of bites of chocolate avocado mousse! So delicious, but so chocolatey-unfortunately these days I can’t handle more than a little chocolate.

Then we were homeward bound-overall it was a great trip!

Also-shoulder update-it’s feeling better each day but it’s definitely not near where it needs to be. I can now raise my arm above my head, but I have problems rotating backwards. I’m hoping I’m healed enough for Crossfit on Monday!

The plane ride here was pretty painless. I woke up early and ran 3 miles before leaving for the airport at 7, and had plenty of plane snacks, including my banana bread. I used guava syrup as the sweetener-there wasn’t much so I’m not sure it was noticeable but it felt festive!

When we stepped off the plane, this was the view:

However, it was HOT. 90 degrees and 80% humidity. Yuck. Our first stop was the local mall that we have gone to every time for many years. There was a mini farmer’s market going on on the ground floor and we picked up some tropical fruit and some avocado! Lunch was eaten at the food court-we went to a Korean place and I got BBQ chicken+sides.

After exploring a bit, we were able to check into our hotel.

But then it was time for ice cream. I had banana salted caramel.

Followed by exploring the property. My dad is here for a conference so we’re staying in a much nicer hotel than I’ve stayed in before!

Dinner was at the hotel restaurant. It was tapas style, so we ordered several dishes for the table-highlights for me were mahi mahi with mashed purple sweet potatoes and passion fruit, miso kale salad with dried figs, goat cheese balsamic beet salad, and gooey mozzarella tomato salad.

For dessert, we shared breadfruit lilikoi cake (breadfruit gives it a similar texture to cheesecake!) and a dish that was fruit with caramel sauce and chocolate that was then broiled and topped with ice cream.

The view over the infinity pool at dusk:

The next morning began with a slice of banana bread and a 5 mile treadmill run. Normally 4 is my treadmill limit but it was HOT so I just broke it up and did it. Post run, we ordered room service breakfast, and I got a beautiful fruit platter with maple yogurt. We also split gluten free pancakes, which were so, so good! I can’t remember the last time I had real pancakes!

Then it was beach time!

On the way back to our room, we stopped by the hotel’s water slides (!). When I was younger, we’d always pass the fancy hotels with water slides and wish we could go on them, so this was our chance!

After cleaning up, we headed out to lunch at O’Lei. I had blackened mahi mahi with papaya salsa, served with rice and caesar salad.

After lunch we headed to a nearby ice cream shop for some tropical ice cream. I had mango ice cream with mango sorbet swirls, and in the heat, this hit the spot perfectly!

After a grocery stop and some time to cool off in the room, we headed to the luau hosted by our hotel!

(Do you like my tan line? The sad thing is it’s not from wearing a t-shirt, it’s from only sunscreening my shoulders this morning…cute)

When we arrived, we grabbed drinks (piña colada for me) and got a glance at the pig they were pulling out of the emu pit. To cook the pork, an entire pig is buried underground and cooked all day.

After a bit of a wait, it was time to eat! I was pleasantly surprised at what there was for me to eat given my dietary restrictions!

Salad, pineapple coleslaw, roasted purple potatoes, fried rice, teriyaki chicken, lomi lomi salmon, and poi. The lomi lomi salmon is the salsa looking thing. It’s essentially pico with chunks of salmon (that look a lot like tomatoes!). Poi is a pudding like food that is made from taro. It has a bit of a sour flavor, and is often eaten with lomi lomi salmon. If you’re less legit like I am, you eat it topped with sugar!

For dessert-key lime squares, chocolate cake, a pineapple chunk, and haupia. Haupia is sort of like creamy coconut jello.

Then-the show began!

The fire dancer was especially impressive! I cannot imagine sticking a flaming stick in my mouth.

After a fun start to our trip, we have lots of adventures ahead!

This post will cover the last couple of days of vacation plus Tuesday. First, I wanted to talk a little bit about being healthy on this vacation. My family’s vacations are often centered around food. And in Hawaii, with so many delicious things around-how could it not be? To be honest, I was a little nervous leading up to the vacation about staying reasonably healthy. The last time I went to Hawaii was almost 4 years ago. I remember getting back from that trip and being 10 pounds heavier than I left. I was not aware that was possible. While I may be a tad flabbier than I left, it certainly is nothing significant, and I returned feeling healthy and strong. So what changed?

1. I didn’t go crazy on desserts. Last time, I remember eating so many chocolate covered macadamia nuts that I felt sooo sick. While sure, I ate more sweets than normal, I didn’t really gorge at any one time. With the exception of a very large piece of chocolate cake that left me feeling off for 2 days after…

2. I split meals. Restaurant portions are often huge (especially at touristy places). Before the trip, my mom and I agreed to split things and it worked out perfectly. We didn’t split a couple of times and both agreed afterwards that we should have.

3. I exercised. I continued to follow my half marathon training plan, so I ended up running 4 times on my 10 day trip. I also visited a few local Crossfit boxes- in Lahaina, Upcountry Maui, and Kihei. Some of my favorite days of the trip were the days I got a tough Crossfit workout in, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. On one of my no-workout days, I was feeling really sluggish. I busted out a quick 5 minute workout, and I felt like a different person.

4. Eat a healthy breakfast. On vacation, we generally buy food to eat in our room. I was really excited for all the tropical fruit. A healthy breakfast helps you feel good going into your day. Example A: my tropical yogurt bowl-plain yogurt, mango, banana, passion fruit, sunflower seed butter.

I came home feeling pretty strong. Before I get into a ton of delicious food, I wanted to talk a little about the last Crossfit I visited- Crossfit Kihei. I had heard from another Crossfitter that they weren’t very friendly. Well…that was kind of right. Myabe they don’t get as many visitors-I don’t know. I wasn’t exactly comfortable the whole time, in contrast to the other Crossfits where I felt like part of the team. The coach was really uninvolved, and there was no group warm up. Plus, for the WOD, I Rxed it when I really shouldn’t have. It was 50 snatched with squats mixed in. No one else Rxed it and I ended up finished wayyy after everyone else, which was a little embarrassing as I was just a visitor. It was a good workout though so I can’t complain. My shoulders really are feeling it today. 

Ok-food time!

Vacation food:

Turkey sandwich which I got for the avocado-plus it has cranberry sauce-how fun!

Ice cream! I regretted this choice. I don’t like coffee…and this didn’t have quite enough fudge. Oh well-you live and you learn!

Salad with bleu cheese and asian pear.

DELICIOUS dinner-macadamia crusted Mahi Mahi with pineapple salsa, jasmine rice, and veggies. My dad and I split this, and they were kind enough to serve it on separate plates.

Lilikoi (passion fruit) cream pie. 

Chocolate cream pie. Sooo funny story. When my family ordered these desserts to share, my dad asked the waiter for 2 forks…for himself. And yes, he did use both. My family takes our dessert seriously.

Airplane food. You know you’re a blogger when your first instinct is to snap a shot before eating, even on a plane. There were a few pieces of lettuce under there for garnish-you better believe I ate those-vegetables are vegetables!

Aaand that leads us back to today. This morning I ate my typical pre-run breakfast-a ThinkThin bar plus fruit, and ran 8 miles. I would be so much faster if my foot wouldn’t act up! Regardless, I didn’t worry too much about pace. PRing this race will be hard since it’s a very hilly course (Nike Women’s in SF). This weekends long run is 10 miles. And that will be my last flat long run. I have a very hellish run planned for the 11 miler. Anyone from around Palo Alto knows the Dish trail-yeah, that will be smack in the center of my 11 miles. Kill me now….

I went to Whole Foods for lunch and groceries. 

I’m in love with Probiotics.

Chicken, avocado and kale salad, chinese chicken salad, and a few fried plantains. I’m starting a mini Whole30 a week from Friday (I’m doing 7 days), and I want to try to ease myself into it. I’ve been thinking about it, and the list of things I wouldn’t want to give up to eat more Paleo is shrinking. Hummus for salads. Goat cheese. Laughing cow. Gummy vitamins. Run fuel. That’s about it. In the future, I may be sort of Paleoish. The big thing for me is watching the grains and sugar I eat since my blood sugar seems to like to crash.

I also couldn’t resist trying these since I love dark chocolate. They’re good!

For dinner, we made Greek salads topped with spicy avocado hummus and a runny egg. 

I also got another kind of hummus to try, which I ate with cucumbers. It’s really interesting and different!

And dessert was some of the pineapple we brought back from Maui. So good. 

A couple of random other things- I got new shoes to replace my walking around/general workout shoes. My old ones were blue and neon green. The new models are blue and pink. I don’t know about the pink though…What do you think? I might get neon green laces. That way I can accidentally match still since all my clothes seem to be neon green and blue.

And lastly-my haul of Crossfit shirts from my trip! I swear, all I bought on the trip were 3 t-shirts but my suitcase was waaaay more full. Huh.

And I’ll leave you with that! Have a great day!

How do you approach vacation? Has anyone done a Whole30? Tips? 

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Coffee-yay or nay?

Yesterday morning began with a 3 mile run. I had a pretty good pace going, which made me happy because my runs here have been pretty slow thus far. I rolled my ankle with about a mile left in the run though. As in, I was a mile away from the condo I’m staying at. So that stunk. I’m getting really sick of rolling my ankle on runs! I was able to walk it off a little, and continue the rest of the way VERY carefully. Meh. 

But guess what yesterday’s activity was? 

SEGWAY TOUR.

It was sooo cool to ride a segway! It took a little getting used to, but it was really fun. The segway is pretty sensitive to your movements, and it can make really tight turns (you can turn around in place). It actually can go pretty fast! We started out by practicing in the parking lot with it on “beginner mode” which limits the speed. After some cone drills, we were ready for the open road! 

The tour took us to the Iao Needle, where we parked the segways and hiked around.

The Iao needle is the long and skinny rock. This area was so pretty!

After our tour, we stopped at a small fruit stand. I’ve been dying to have coconut all trip, and the stand had fresh, young coconut. I’ve never had young coconut before-it was way more tender. The guy at the stand split open the husk with an ax and let us drink the water inside, and then chopped it up. We used pieces of husk for “spoons.”

It was delicious! We also bought some passion fruit and guava, which was riper and sweeter than the fruits we had back at the condo. We have a lotttt of fruit to eat in the next 2 days, since none of it can be taken back to the Mainland. 

For lunch, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant. My mom and I shared the Make Your Own “Vietnamese burrito.” Which basically meant make your own fresh spring rolls. We were given a plate of fresh veggies, herbs, and tofu, plus rice paper which we dipped in hot water to soften.

We then got to wrap it all up to form this!

Disclaimer: this roll is actually one the server demoed for us. My were much more glob-like, but by the time I wrapped them all up, my hands were covered in food and touching my phone was a no-go.

For dinner that evening, we went to a local health foods grocery, which turned out to be entirely vegetarian. Cool! It was super fun to look around in-I’m guessing you all understand this phenomenon. I ordered a sandwich for dinner which had avocado. Enough said. 

Today was also super awesome. Since I’m a cool food blogger, I wanted to tour a pineapple plantation. The plantation is in Upcountry Maui, sort of off the beaten trail in a tiny town. Since I’m obsessed, I just happened to check local Crossfit box locations, and there was one literally right across the street from where the tour left. I emailed the box last night and heard back within minutes. 

Everyone was soooo friendly. Not that they weren’t friendly in Lahaina, but even more so here. This box definitely had a small town feel, as it’s not necessarily in tourist territory. I mean, check out these pictures of the location.

I was also a big fan of the workout. Why? the warm up included rowing. My box never does rowing since we don’t have enough ergs, but given my background in rowing, I’ve been dying to show off a little. The warm up was a team workout-5 people per team, 6 minutes. Each person would row for a minute, while everyone else held a plank. I was the first rower so I got to go twice. We competed against another team. Sadly, we lost by 12 meters. 

We then went through some other warm ups and stretching, before doing the WOD, which was an 800 meter run and then a sequence of kettle bell swings and pull ups. 

I can’t say enough how great my experience here was. I ended up staying after for a little while talking to other Crossfitters. One couple was visiting from Texas, and they had been to some other boxes on Maui as well. 

Another bonus? The drop in class was free if you bought a t-shirt. T-shirts were $25 and normal drop in was $20. So basically I got a $5 t-shirt. Score!

Before the pineapple tour, we stopped at a little organic restaurant for brunch. My mom and I split French Toast (made with Hawaiian sweet bread, and served with maple syrup and honey butter) and an omelet with goat cheese, mushrooms, and pesto.

Next, it was time for the pineapple plantation tour! Check this view of the sugar cane out.

Pineapples take 2 years to fully grow. Here’s a shot of some babies!

T

Then we proceeded to the sea of bigger pineapples.

Then, it was sampling time! This plantation grows Maui Gold pineapples, which are sweeter and less acidic than other varieties. They are only 15% acid, and 85% sugar. They regularly test their crops to make sure this ration stays this way. They’re a pretty small operation-they only ship to the West Coast (sorry to those on the East Coast-believe me, you’re missing out!)

We sampled a few different stages of ripeness. First were the green pineapples. These were still pretty darn tasty! The core wasn’t as tough either-it was fine to eat.

Then, we sampled the green-gold. These are what you’d typically buy in stores. A few pineapple facts-pineapples are as good as they’ll ever be the moment they’re picked-they don’t ripen by sitting around your kitchen like other fruits. Also, the bottom is sweeter than the top (near the crown). We could really taste the difference. A quick tip-you can store your pineapple upside down to better distribute the sweetness. Or don’t tell anyone about this and hog the sweet part for yourself. 

Then we sampled the gold-these are yellow in color and have to be eaten within 2 days; they don’t sell these because they go bad so quickly. They were soooo good and sweet. 

Now, at this point, my tongue was feeling the pineapple burn. The delicious, sweet pain that comes with overconsumption of pineapples. But did you see how many pineapples were in the field?

Pictures were in order.

My family attempted to do a silly shot-which ended with my sister accidentally pulling my mom into the pineapple patch. “Accidentally.”

There it is-a moment preserved on the internet for all to see. 

I thought the pineapple eating was over at that point. But nooo. We each got whole pineapples to eat like giant turkey legs.

They were so juicy too-I managed to stay fairly dignified and keep the juiciness to all over my face and hands. My sister? She was dripping juice from her elbows and down her legs. The pineapple was AMAZING. HOWEVER. I probably ate like 2 whole pineapples. At least 1. Can you imagine the acid burn on my tongue from the much pineapple? Heck, the burn on my lips and chin? Owwww. I pretty much had my fill of pineapple for the next 4 years.

Except that wasn’t all! They gave us each a pineapple to take home with us as well! Luckily, these can be taken home on the plane, so my tongue has some time to recover. 

Have a great Sunday everyone! I’m hoping to get a decent run in. I wanted to do repeaters on a track, but I can’t find any tracks nearby! I think I’ll try doing them on a bike trail while nursing my wounded tongue.

Do you like pineapple? My parents once tried a crazy diet where you eat nothing but pineapple. What. Were. They. Thinking. #pain

Have you ever ridden a segway? If you do Crossfit, have you ever visited a different box?

The first night I went to a luau with my family. I showed you guys some of the delicious food in WIAW. I wanted to highlight some of the other cool non-food things as well though. 

Tiki carver!

This luau had some of the best dance performances as well-there was humor integrated as well as some really impressive fire dancing. During one part, the dancers (men) put out fires with their grass skirts. Ouch.

Check out that aerial dancer-how impressive is that??

Sunday morning began with a 6 mile run. It was…not terribly fun. hot. I had been on my feet a lot the day before-it didn’t feel great. I’m SO not used to heat and humidity. I’m pushing this week’s long run back until I’m home!

The activity of the day was zipling-something DEFINITELY new to me!

We went to the Maui tropical plantation-somewhere we’ve visited many times in the past. The zipline was new to us though! It was really terrifying at first-we were up high and it was windy so the whole tower was moving. We were hooked in the whole time though, so it was totally safe. It ended up being a ton of fun!

The tropical plantation was beautiful as well.

My favorite day overall was probably Wednesday though. It began with a visit to Lahaina Crossfit. They were so friendly and welcoming. I met a few other visitors from California as well, and it was fun to visit a different box. Plus, it felt so good to get a tough workout in. Sooo now this vacation is turning into a game of “how many Crossfit boxes can I visit on one trip.” Tomorrow we’re touring a pineapple plantation in the middle of nowhere, in a tiny town, and there just happens to be a box there. So you better believe I’ll be there before the tour!

On Wednesday, while in Lahaina, we visited a pet/plant store. Let me start by saying that I’ve been to this same store a few times when I was much younger, and those visits are precisely why I stopped eating pork. 

OMG TEACUP PIGS. They are sooo adorable. I’ve wanted one as a pet for years. Since we had been in the store for kind of a while playing with birds, the owner of the store let me sit in with the pigs and feed them from my hand.

They were so sweet! They behaved just like dogs- they had wet little snouts and made little snorting noises.

They eat an entirely vegan, organic diet. 

The birds were super friendly as well. This guy-Prince, is 27 and has never bitten anyone. Another parrot was so funny-my mom and I would say “hello” to her, and she’d say hello back. When my dad said hello to her, she let out the LOUDEST squawk right in his ear, and then proceeded to laugh. A girl after my own heart.

I don’t want this to get too long, so I’ll stick to those activities for now. But since this is supposed to be a food blog as well, I guess I should add some of those as well.

Half of a chicken teriyaki plate (shared with my mom).

This is my dad’s-it has pork so I wouldn’t eat it-but I wanted to share it with you since it’s a traditional Hawaiian dish, and my dad’s favorite food ever. It’s called lau lau- it’s pork wrapped with ti leaves. 

Pineapple ice cream with an oatmeal papaya cookie. This was soooo good. The cookie was PERFECTLY chewy. Yum. 

Do you see the SIZE of this avocado? We don’t make ’em like that in CA! That makes a LOT of guac! While these are definitely fun, the California ones still have my heart. The island variety is a little starchier and less flavorful-definitely less creamy. It was a little hard to mash, and made for some chunky guac. We paired it with a nice salad-chicken, salsa, cheddar. The dressing was olive oil and lime juice, plus salt and pepper. Yum!

Sooo I guess I don’t have NEARLY as many fruit pictures as I thought when I named this post…but don’t worry-lots of tropical fruit is being consumed. Mangoes, papayas, passion fruit, coconut, and guavas. I can’t complain!

Have you ever been to Hawaii? What did you do there? What should I EAT here?

I’ve been in Maui for almost 4 days now. It’s not all just beaches and palm trees-there’s lots of goof food too! It’s hard, I know. 

This edition of What I Ate Wednesday will focus on all my eats here on vacation.

I know I already discussed this, but my dad is a big fan of authentic Hawaiian food. He loved kalua pig and lau lau-pig wrapped in ti leaves. Since I’m not a pork eater (those pigs are too darn cute!), I used to always order the Loco Moco, which is a beef burger, rice, a fried egg, and gravy. These days I stay away from red meat, so I ordered the teriyaki chicken.

The first night, we went to a Luau, with more traditional (ish) Hawaiian food. It was a buffet. Enough said.

Rice, various veggies, purple sweet potato, teriyaki chicken, macadamia encrusted mahi mahi, a roll and poi (made from taro).

And of course dessert. I had to try a little of everything.

The highlight was probably the guava mousse. Yum!

Since I don’t normally eat out quite this much and restaurant portions are usually large, my mom and I have been making an effort to share meals during this trip. Before going zip lining (!), we stopped in at a local hole in the wall sandwich shop.

The walls were lined with dollar bills which people (probably mostly tourists) left with a message. How quirky!

My mom and I split a turkey sandwich with island avocado. And after zip lining, I had some pineapple ice cream.

Yesterday was a day with a ton of good eats. My sister and her boyfriend are training for a marathon, and yesterday they ran 16 miles. They were kind of ravenous afterwards, so we went somewhere near the run, and appetizers were in order. Nachos with guac? SIgn me up!

For the main course, I split the turkey flatbread with my mom. They even served it up on separate plates- a nice touch!

For dessert, the table shared a slice of hula pie- vanilla macadamia nut ice cream on a Oreo crust, topped with hot and cold fudge.

Dinner last night was also a highlight-we went to a nice dinner at Tommy Bahama since my sister’s boyfriend has to leave today. I ordered Jerk Chicken with mango salsa, Asian slaw, and almond rice. Everything was delicious.

Aaaand some fancy desserts were shared afterwards.

Clockwise from the top left- pineapple creme brulee, butterscotch pudding, 4 layer chocolate cake, and key lime pie.

A few unpictured but other things I’ve enjoyed so far- tropical fruits (mango, papaya, passion fruit) and chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Caramacs=the bomb. They’re caramel, macadamia nut, and chocolate. Yum. 

As I’m sure you can tell, a lot of delicious and decadent food was eaten. This morning however, I’m suffering a bit of a sugar hangover and stomachache. I think I need to reign it in a little to survive the rest of this vacation with a smile on my face!

As always, I love talking to you guys! I won’t pop in again for a while, but I have some AWESOME guest posts scheduled so check back in for those!

What do you eat while on vacation? How do you stay healthy?

Yesterday was a looong day thanks to a 4:30am wakeup and a 3 hour time change. Our flight left at 7am, so we were at the airport at 6. 

Starbucks for breakfast-I actually didn’t want any caffeine since I wanted to sleep on the 5 hour flight as much as possible. A chocolate smoothie did the trick-plus it is one of the less sweet options at Starbucks.

As expected the flight felt long. And the plane was FREEZING-and I was wearing pants and a sweatshirt. Sleeping didn’t happen much, but what are you gonna do? And get this-you had to PAY to even watch a movie. Whattttt. So I did not do that!

Upon landing, our first stop was a local swap meet (crafts plus farmer’s market). We had a couple of hours before my sister’s boyfriend’s flight landed so this was perfect. I loved looking at all the exotic fruits. And look at the size of those avocados!

I’ve never seen non-CA avocados! I can’t wait to try them! Another highlight was freshly pressed green juice. Soooo good.

The perfect start to a tropical vacation!

Once we picked up my sister’s boyfriend, we headed out for some traditional Hawaiian food for lunch-one of my dad’s all time favorite things. 

My mom and I split a giant papaya seed salad and teriyaki chicken.

We then visited our hotel and shopped around at a very touristy but awesome Hawaiian store-Hilo Hattie. Fact: my dad owns 10000 Hawaiian shirts. 

Want to know what’s sad? When my family has come to Hawaii in the past, it’s usually in the winter or spring. It’s HOT in the summer. And….my weather at home is nicer. Like a lot nicer. Not hot or humid-it’s been in the 90s here and humid, and THIS California girl is drowning in her own sweat. #spoiledCAgirlproblems

This evening, we attended a Luau. More pictures on that for another post! My Internet is slow so uploading takes a little while, and I only have about 3 minutes until I have to run. It was tons of fun-and I was SO ready for bed at 9pm. What’s weird is that my ankle swelled up kind of a lot yesterday-and I don’t usually swell much. It’s the one I sprained a couple of months ago that is still kind of stiff. I guess a lot of being on my feet plus flying contributed to that…weird. 

Hope you all are having a fabulous long weekend!