Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
Tuesday morning started with a quick breakfast-on-the-go from the hotel cafe stand. We drove up to Kapalua for golf lessons at the Kapalua Golf Academy from 10-12am. Julie has never golfed before. I had only gone out a couple of times with friends and had once taken simulator training on a cruise ship. I got the idea this might be a fun way to spend a couple of hours on the island and Julie agreed to give it a try. We met our instructor Ian and stepped outside the academy building to a driving range where he focused on getting us into a good stance and having a good grip on a club. Luckily we were alone at this point so once we started hitting balls we couldn’t make fools of ourselves in front of more than one stranger. The range at Kapalua was a beautiful site overlooking the ocean. EA Tiger Woods Golf features Kapalua for this reason.
The first range we hit balls from got pretty windy about 45 minutes into our lesson so we grabbed a couple of carts and headed over to their second range which was more shielded from the wind. By the time we got over there we were both hitting balls decently although certainly not consistently. I tended to hit the ball often against the shaft instead of the middle of the club head. Julie was hitting the ball dead on but taking a fair amount of the lawn with it. By the end of the lesson we probably hit 100 balls each and had a pretty good time. We decided to come back Thursday morning for a second lesson.
After golf we headed back to a shopping area next door to our hotel called Whaler’s Village for lunch at the Hula Grill. We ate at the Hula Grill last time and enjoyed the food and atmosphere of eating right on the beach. Beware of the aggressive birds though. We got dive-bombed with bits from someone else’s plate that a bird dropped on the way back to his perch. My fish sandwich was great. Julie had a turkey sandwich that she enjoyed as well. After lunch we both split up for some quick shopping. It turns out both of us were looking for last minute anniversary gift bags and as we found out later we both bought the same one for gift giving.
Meeting up back at the hotel, Julie split for a hair styling at the salon. I would join her 1/2 hour later for a haircut. In the meantime I caught up on my blogging. As for haircuts, I’m really a Great Clips $12 haircut kinda-guy so spending $50 for basically the same haircut was sobering… Nonetheless the stylist did a good job although I’m certainly not a salon convert.
We took the recommendation of the hotel concierge and had made reservations at a restaurant in Kapalua named the Plantation House. We were advised to check-in early for our 6pm seating time to ensure a good seat. We got there around 20 minutes early and, as a result, ended up with the best seat in the house, a table at the edge of the dining room placed halfway outside of french doors that overlooked the Kapalua Golf Course with stunning views of the ocean and the islands of Lanai, and Molokai.
As we waited for our first course we exchanged gifts. Julie gifted me with a great shirt that combines two of my favorite vices: Tommy Bahama and Poker (the shirt had two Aces and the phrase Pocket Rockets on the back). Updated Tommy count this trip – (Scott: 4, Julie: 0). In addition she threw in some lotions she picked up at the Body Shop to sooth my badly sunburned feet (burned snorkeling despite the SPF 50). I gave Julie two gifts. First, Julie has been appreciating jewelry with butterflies lately so I gave her a diamond encrusted butterfly necklace. Also since this was our 8th anniversary (bronze) I gave her a simple, matching bronze bracelet and earrings.
We started dinner by sharing two salads, a Watermelon & Candied Walnut salad, and a Goat Cheese Arugala salad with Likulei dressing (passion fruit). Julie ordered a drink she loved (said it tasted like a milkshake) called a Lava Flow (basically a pina colada with a strawberry swirl). I stuck with wine for the night. For dinner, Julie ordered the Filet Mignon and I had Lobster Tail. I love lobster and rarely indulge although I had to say Julie’s steak made me pretty jealous. She gave me a taste and it was spectacular. My lobster was nothing to complain about either. We finished the meal with Creme Brulee and spiked coffee for Julie, tea for me.
Great dinner, great day altogether.
