May 28, 2005
Our Maui Vacation
Two days after my last final, Aaron and I headed for Hawaii for some R&R and to visit my Aunt Leyla and Uncle Frank. It was an excellent trip and we got some great pics.
View from Kalepolepo Park, Kihei, Maui
We spent most days chillin' on the beach - me in the sun and Aaron in the shade - and most nights dining or just hanging out with Frank and Leyla at their condo in Kihei. I got an awesome tan, probably on par with the one I got in Acapulco, but somehow more reddish than brown this time. Kihei is nice because it's right on the beach, on the "dry side" of the island, is relatively quiet and uncheesy for a place frequented by vacationers and has some good places to eat. Other than visiting Lahaina, which used to be the capital of Hawaiian kingdom, the only really touristy things we did were, in one day, attempting to see the Haleakala crater and taking the Hana Highway to the Seven Sacred Pools (O'heo Gulch) in Kipahulu. Interestingly, the Seven Pools are also part of the Haleakala National Park, so we didn't have to pay the $10 entry fee again (your entry ticket is good for 7 days).
The Hana Highway is about 40 miles and known for being narrow and having more nerve-wreckingly sharp turns than most people would care to experience. In many places (mostly bridges) it narrows down to one lane and the last 4 miles are so are one-lane and have many blind corners that even Aaron was a little nervous. Although he didn't seem to be nervous about my driving our huge rental Buick on the Hana Highway, which kinda makes me proud he has faith in my driving skills. After I got used to the turns and yielding to oncoming traffic on the narrow parts, I really enjoyed driving on the Hana Highway, even if I didn't get to see as much of the amazing coastal views and lush jungle surroundings as my passenger. Some people say the drive isn't worth it, and that may be true, but the Seven Pools were as beautiful as I remember them being so I thought it was worth it. On the way back, we stopped at the Hana Maui Hotel so Aaron could get a drink to steel his nerves for the ride back and I could get a soda. It's a very nice looking, quiet, laid back hotel that seems to be the ideal place for a real "get away" vacation. Also, Aaron's mai tai was incredibly good and potent... not that I could have any.
The Hana Highway is on the "wet side" of Maui
It's a long drive, but preferable to the short-yet-unpaved southern route
As for the Haleakala Crater, I'd suggest going up in the afternoon, after all the clouds and fog up there have had a chance to burn off. We went in the morning because it seemed to be clearest then, but by the time you drive all the way up the windy road to 10,000 feet the clouds may have settled in. Perhaps that's why they make the ticket good for 7 days, so you can try again if you get up there and it's too foggy to see anything. At that height, when the weather is bad, it's like being inside a rain cloud, so it's very cold and crappy and you can't see a damned thing. Now I've been up there twice and still haven't seen a thing. Lame.
Aaron's favorite activity turned out to be snorkeling. My Uncle Frank took us snorkeling a few times and we saw tons of beautiful fish and a couple sea turtles. Super cool. Once, Aaron and Frank went out early in the day and Aaron says they saw in incredible amount of fish, but by the time I got out there, I think the other snorkelers scared a lot of them away because it just wasn't the same... but at least I got to see a sea turtle.
Our two most memorable meals were the Friday night $11.99 prime rib and $2 beer/mai tai happy hour specials at Moose McGillycuddy's in Lahaina and the "sunset special" at the Five Palms at the Mana Kai Resort in Kihei. The $2 mai tai has to be the best value on the island because even Aaron had to admit that it was incredibly strong drink. Obvio observation: Hawaii knows how to do the mai tai right.
In Lahaina, after my $2 mai tai and Aaron's three $2 beers.
The only bad thing that happened on the trip was that I somehow managed to lose my iPod first thing. Aaron didn't even get a (serious) burn. I didn't notice it was missing until the day after we arrived and I assume that I left it on the airplane when we arrived in Honolulu, before our connecting flight to Maui. I called the airline's lost and found, the airport's lost and found, the TSA's lost and found... and it's been over a week and no one has it yet so I'm assuming some horrible jerk passenger or flight attendant found it on the seat and decided to keep it since they really wanted an iPod and were totally willing to fuck over a stranger and show their true evil, greedy, selfish, thieving, uncouth, uncivilized, asshole, short-sighted, inconsiderate, opportunistic, self-centered, disrepsectful, boorish, gluttonous, barbarous, piggish, vulture-like nature. Aaron thinks I'm silly for being so upset because I should just assume that people in general are too fucked up to be honest enough to turn in an item as portable, reusable and valuable as a 40GB iPod. However, I find that an incredibly depressing thought and I am incredibly angry and wounded because I sure as hell wouldn't keep something I knew someone must miss very much and would be VERY upset to have lost. Even if I knew I could never afford one, I wouldn't just assume that whoever lost it could easily go out and buy another one. As it is, I definitely don't have the money to replace it and Aaron sure isn't going to get me another since I somehow spaced out enough at the end of the flight to not realize that I hadn't put it in my carry-on bag like I thought. The kind of attitude that would lead a person to knowingly keep something of value that belongs to someone else is the kind of attitude that I think makes this world a sick, sad place and that person is among the lowest kind I can think of. To whoever has my iPod, you're a mean, selfish bastard, you sicken me. I curse you, your family and your friends and I hope someday someone gives you a taste of your own vile medicine. However, this experience won't make me more likely to take something I know I can easily get back to its rightful owner because I certainly don't want to be the kind of person that I hate and taking my revenge on an innocent person wouldn't make things right. I miss you iPod... it was good while it lasted.
