Christy and I just got back from Maui, a place we will surely return to some day. Here are some highlights from our trip:
Ziplining at Piiholo Ranch in Makawao, where we plunged/flew/screamed over a course of three miles that gave us more than intimate views of canyons, coast, immense Eucalyptus forests, Koa and Ohia trees, and all kinds of indigenous plants. Wow.
Driving along the northern coastline from Kahului to the tiny mountain town of Hana, where we bought tasty roasted coconut candies from an old hippy who was amazingly proficient with his shell-cracking machete. Our 50-mile drive turned into a 13-hour adventure when we ignored our rental car agreement and continued past Hana into Haleakala National Park, where the already-at-times one-lane highway to Hana turned into an extremely narrow dirt road with scant guard rails and shoulders that meandered across the cliffs overlooking the Alenuiha'ha Channel.
Several days just hanging out on Ka'anapali Beach, body surfing, boogie boarding, and drinking obscenely expensive Mai Tais and Bikini Blonde lagers.
Ignoring rental car agreement once again to make the drive from Lahaina to Old Kahakuloa Village along the Honoapi’ilani Highway which becomes the Kahekili "Highway," basically a tiny slip of a single lane dirt road, without guardrails, that would feel like the biggest of roller coasters but for the 5 mph speed limit designed to prevent head-on collisions around the blind curves in the road. I almost had a panic attack (and Christy confirmed that she, too, was in such a state) when, slowly inching around a turn, we met up with a Jeep coming from the opposite direction. After a couple minutes just sitting there frozen in terror, wondering if a helicopter would come and carry us to safety, I managed to back down the road a few feet to let the Jeep driver pass. He seemed very grateful. Christy's and my knuckles started to return to normal color when a man with a lot of hair, dancing in the middle of the road in Kahakuloa, stopped us to offer fresh pineapple, coconut, and macadamia nuts. We bought a bag of the macadamias, lulled by the man's assurance that the worst of the drive was over. A couple hours of 5 mph turns later, we returned to Lahaina for the Feast at Lele, a three-hour, four-course dinner (our table was about thirty feet from the ocean, so we had a spectacular view of the sunset) that featured native cuisine from Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Samoa. The feast began with Mai Tai's, and each course included a matched beer or wine and ended with native dance and music performances. Amazing!!
Snorkeling at Black Rock on Ka'anapali Beach, known by the ancients as the "soul's leap", a place where the souls of the dead would leap to the gods. Swallowed salt water. Ack. Soul intact, but enlarged by the experience.
I can't wait to go back! We're so grateful to Banjo and Keith for loaning us their guide books and helping us plan this trip.
