Maui

Brief post today really just to share some pictures from a trip Boo and I just did to Maui. Yeah, it's hard work if you can find it. Seriously, we did not seek this trip. My brother and his wife have a time-share there, and had an empty room. So, for the cost of airfare, we could hang with them in Maui. Of course, we threw in for food and drinks and such, but overall it would have been prohibitive for us to do it any other way. Ultimately, I'm glad we got to see the island. I won't elaborate in a daily digest form, but there were a few things worth noting.

9-August update: In light of the wildfire disaster unfolding in west Maui today, this entire post just feels wrong. I cannot fathom how scary it must be for the residents and guests in and around Lahaina. My heart goes out while I watch the news for signs of improvement. I did not change the post by one word, but please bear in mind as you read it that my trip pre-dated the fires by a few weeks. My tourist perspective seems all the more out of touch now.

New Flash: Maui is Kinda Resorty

Yeah, that's an understatement. Boo and I are more camping / music festivals / hanging out in a Dead show parking lot types. So, being anywhere even remotely catered is a little surreal. My brother rented a minivan so there would be ample room, and picked us up at arrivals with little fanfare. After some time lost at the local stores for supplies, we crossed the island on route 380 for Lahaina and then north to the condos on the oceanfront. We spent a large percentage of the time around these towers, swimming in the ocean, partaking of happy hour, soaking in some sun and then soaking in the hot tub. Yeah, lap of luxury stuff.

Hurricane Calvin

I learned that hurricane season is not purely a Gulf-of-Mexico or Caribbean thing. Hurricane season affects Hawaii too, and while we were there, Tropical Storm (and then Hurricane and then back to Tropical Storm) Calvin passed. Fortunately, it passed a couple hundred miles south of us, but the folks on the east end of the Big Island (Hilo) felt more than just the strong winds and high surf that we did. The day prior to Calvin passing, the winds picked up and the clouds started moving in. On "hurricane day", the sky was darker, there was rain and strong winds. We were safe, as were most folks in Hawaii, so it was a fine day to hunker down with a book and a pot of coffee... and then maybe something stronger.

Ocean Distillery

It took a couple of days for the after-effects (strong wind gusts and occasional rain) to fully subsist. We stayed close to the towers, taking a nearby hike and touring the Banyan tree in downtown Lahaina (which was amazing) but otherwise hitting the beach over those days. We had taste-tour reservation at Ocean Distillery for one of the first full-on nice days after the hurricane passed. We were fortunate to have had our reservation when we did, learning that many folks who were unable to appear for their reservations due to the passing storm had mostly arrived the day prior, completely consuming the parking lot and overrunning the distillery. We walked, we learned and we tried all 3 of their rums, their vodka and their new gin (not London Dry, tho). In the café afterwards, we shared a 2oz pour of their new bourbon-barrel aged rum that seriously tasted like bourbon... until it didn't. I got a bottle of the rum for sharing when we got home. I regret not taking any pictures during or after the tour. The grounds are really beautiful with views all the way to the ocean from their mid-mountain location.

Snorkel Bob

Banyan Court Park

Boo and I had 2 things we hoped to do while in Maui (other than flop for sun and splash in the ocean): take a hike and snorkel. Back before the pandemic, Boo and I went to the big island for my 50th birthday. That time, we got snorkeling gear from "Snorkel Bob's". The Snorkel Bob's franchise spans multiple islands, it seems as they were more prevalent than Starbucks, and in a resort island like Maui, that's saying something. Regardless, we did not get gear from Snorkel Bob's this time. The towers had a little rental hut down by the beach access where you could rent all kinds of gear: snorkeling, paddle boats, kayaks, surf boards, boogie boards, etc. With our stuff, Boo and I headed for a beach further south nicknamed "Airport Beach", Kahekili Beach has some of the best snorkeling access from the sands. Other prime spots need to be reached by boat. Airport Beach has rock formations literally 15 feet from the water's edge where schools of fish are abundant. I had repeated difficulty keeping salt water out of my nose, so my snorkeling experience ended somewhat quickly. Boo, however, was able to get 3 long dives in before she was spent. Similar to the distillery, I was living in the moment and did not capture any pictures.

That's about it. We went to Maui basically on an invite from my brother, and did some stuff there. Now that we are back home, we expect to get back into the kitchen work. Thanks, as always, for following along-

Hapy B-Day to Me

So.. no real post this week since I'm celebrating my birthday with a once-in-a-lifetime / first-time-ever trip to Hawaii. I may post on what happened or not. Not really sure. As of right now, though, I'm in HI, enjoying the not-freezing (82*F daily high temps versus ~45*F daily high temps). Being thousands of miles from my projects, all I can really do is watch the waves.

I need to call out how grateful I am that Boo encouraged the idea, underwrote a large portion of it and really helped drive this, uh, home. It started with one of those internet /InstaFace things where you indicate the states you have visited. I realized that I had visited all but 3: Hawaii, Alaska and Louisiana. We decided the next big birthday (one that ends in either a 5 or a 0) we would knock one off the list. Hawaii in February sounds like a better idea than Alaska, so that was picked. I don't know which will be next. I guess it depends on how much it costs, and whether it is hurricane season (Boo b-day is in August) or winter again when we get to thinking about it.

When I consider how much money this trip is costing, it gives me pause. Normal people just can not afford to do this so it is no wonder that this is my first and probably only time. We have been saving since Summer (just saying we're normal people and that is how we managed to make this happen). For posterity, the cost breakdown is pretty severe, with an almost perfect balance of around $1200US each for flights, a condo rental and a rental car for a week for 2 people. The true math is more like $3500, and then I added my 2 boys (T and C) for another $1200 in flights. Costs for things like food and gas are much higher on the island too, so once I do the full accounting of just the grocery store and the gas station this will easily top $5k for a week in Hawaii. That is some serious scratch and that number just goes up when we think of places we went, lunches we grabbed, etc. This topic is way too heavy for this view so I am going to think about something else.... like drinks at sunset this evening... on the beach... in my flip-flops.

The money will solve and while it does we will dine at home. But that's for when we get back. I'll get back to the regular stuff next week. Enjoy this picture of the beach in the meantime...