Hawai'i feb 2008

day 1: arrival
it's raining an d 40 when we left seattle, but upper 70s and sun when we get to kahalui, maui. in fact, i went and changed out of jeans and socks and into shorts and sandals while we were waiting for the shuttle bus. usually i hate waiting for them, but it was so nice and warm i totally didn't mind sitting and waiting in the sun. in fact we could see the sails of the kitesurfers from where we were. when we got checked into the hotel we decided to put together our bike that night before dinner so we wouldn't have to get up as early the next morning. it was a gorgeous night and we walked about a mile to 'the whaler's village' for dinner.

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day 2:
the official start day of tour, everyone who hadn't yet done so put their bikes together and the local bike guy checked out any issues with them. There were 34 bikes on this tour - 68 people. the map pictures show which days we rode what routes on the islands. maui has a couple extra depicting matt and my return to maui after the tour. it was only about 25 miles. a nice easy ride actually. about 3/4 of the way through we ended up at the town square. the world's largest banyon tree is there and we had hagendaas ice cream. Dinner that night was on a catamaran out in the channel between maui and lani'i. we saw a lot of whales, but my 'bike camera' was too slow to really catch anything, but i tried!

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day 3:
up at 3am! we had to be on the buses by 3.30 to make it up to the top of haleakala. we got there just about on time. the sun was just starting to rise. from sea level to 10,000'+ elevation in 3 hours. then we got to bike or should i say coast, down the volcano. you pass through 16 different eco systems en route. it was way cool. we tried to video it but it didn't really turn out. i put 1 very short clip of our brakes literally smoking and a longer ~5 minute clip of our start on youtube.com/camelland. man there were some hills this day. of course the 1st was all down, but after that there were quite a few ups. and bill and jan said it would be nothing like tuscany! there were actually days where we had steeper hills than volterra, altho none were as long. about 3/4 of the way through the ride we stopped at twin falls smoothie stand. the smoothies are made with real sugar cane and yummy! that night we attended a (tourist) luau. it was fun for what it was. ticket price included a variety of rum-based drinks and a few non-alcoholic drinks for the younger crowd. boy did we as a group get our money's worth! the dancers were pretty good - had the coconut-clad girls, the fire dancing dude, the humorous and lovable (?) emcee. but to me the star of the show was the kalua pork. OOOOoooooooohh. it was so good! they actually did do the pig in the ground. matt of course has a joke to tell about this night: "2 days in hawai'i and i finally got lei-ed!" ok, sorry, he made me do it.

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day 4:
another pre-dawn morning. we had to be at the docks to board a ferry for a 6am sailing (or something close to that). on the way to lanai we saw whales. it was cool. lanai is a private island, but the owner owns a santana bike, so he allows the santana tours to come ashore. we started with a couple hours at the sheraton's beach. bill gates got married on the back lawn just above. matt went snorkeling and i just kind of enjoyed the beach. we had to be up in lanai town for lunch. while it was nice for the hotel to pack a sack breakfast for us for on the ferry, it was so not enough to get us through lunch. that hill was like 11 miles up. well ok, i think we had to ride 11 miles from beach to resort, but most of it was all uphill, longer and steeper than bill would admit out loud to anyone. thank goodness for the garmin. lunch at the 4 seasons was superb. there's a world-reknown golf course there designed by some famous golfer. and there's a putt-putt course as well, which we allowed to play. i'm thinking 'great, take me to hawai'i for putt-putt. but as it turns out, the course was a perfect scale model of the real pro's course! so it was actually kinda cool! i totally sucked at it! i think my best hole was in 5, and my worst (ok i'll be honest) about 17. i won't tell you what par was! after lunch we rode out to the west end of the island to the cargo docks, where we boarded another ferry for molokai. the channel crossing was pretty rough. we were up top with almost everyone, and the captain comes on the PA and says he can't guarantee we won't get wet, that we'll definitely experience some spray. the crew member working up top at one point says to everyone 'ok, i'm going down below, you're on your own!' take heed - if a crew member says this to you - follow them! we got a few small sprays and then WHAM!!! a wave of cold salt water comes over the bow and just drenches us! after the 3rd wave matt and i decided to go below. i looked like a sopping wet kitty! anyone from our trip who has pics of us from this ride i would really love to get a copy! there was also whale sightings - gee, really? in fact we probably saw the largest whale on this crossing. he was breaching over and over. i wish i had my digi 35mm with us but oh well. on the ride from the ferry dock on molokai we stopped at big daddy's for the best shaved ice i've ever had. man it was good! the ice was so finely textured. that night before dinner (but after showers) we decorated and mailed coconuts. dinner was a (local) luau. the teacher and some students came down to entertain us. turns out the hula originated on molokai'i, and is quite slow more sensual than you see anyone doing in the tourist luau. the music was great! they sang the songs and explained them to us for the dance. and again, kalua pork!!!

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day 5:
today's ride consisted of yet another hill that was longer and steeper than bill admitted. you starting to see a trend here? we were on our way to the kalaupapa mule barns. matt was great. he said for valentine's day i could ride the mule both down and back up the cliff. i'm so happy, too! that was quite a climb, and while i'm getting much better at 'beign outdoors' i still have issues with hiking and climbing. but man that dam mule makani was so frustrating! he kept wanting to snack at the scrub all the way down the path. my legs hurt from kicking him. but he's well named, becuase he was sure windy on the way back up the cliff. - uh, think about it a minute. anyway, only a few people can do this tour - you have to be over a certain age and get special permission, or be an ivited guest of a resident. we saw some of the churches, got a small tour of the town, and then headed out to 'the back country'. they actually filmed the movie molokai'i here. everything was brought in by barge or ship. we saw the church where father damien presided and his grave. his right hand is still buried there. a little farther down the road we had a nice lunch stop. the view of the coastline from there is a scene from jurassic park 3. dinner was just fine, except there was this great chicken dish that just didn't serve enough people. when we ran out the chef said that was all of it and wasn't making any more of it. (or couldn't??) anyway, a lot of people didn't get any of it, and most of us were out of luck for 2nds.

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day 6:
today's ride was beautiful. ~24 miles were along the coast and then...the mutha hill. 900' elevation in 1 mile. almost at the top we finally saw ne-nes - the hawai'ian state bird, a goose. well, once we were at the top of that hill, there was no where to go but down. we were on our way to halawa point and there's only 1 road in and out. so back down 900' we go. we had a great picnic lunch and then had a couple hours to hang out on the basically private beach since there was hardly anyone there. if you wanted to hike about 90 minutes inland to a waterfall you could. that group spent about 30 minutes there before hiking back out. we didn't do this, but we did get some views of the falls on our ride down the hill. on our way back to the hotel we encountered our first rain of the trip. at least it was warm rain! we were lucky in that we were almost at a little store when it started, so we stopped, used the loo, got some chocolate bars and had a small rest while waiting out the rain. but no, it kept coming. we were only about 5 miles from the hotel so we decided to go for it. a couple miles in it just stopped. it was as if someone had drawn a chalk line across the road and said 'this side is dry, that side is wet'. i think we came the closest to laying down our bikes on this ride. a van passes us and then decides to just stop in the middle of the road. no warning, no apparent reason... we skidded a bit, but managed to stay upright. talk about getting the adrenaline pumping! dinner was pretty festive. we're supposed to get a meat course and a vege course (for those who don't eat meat) at each meal, right? well this dinner there was just fish. now there are vege people who don't eat fish, and there are meat eaters who don't eat fish. one of the gals and i decided we just couldn't get our fill with the salad and breads, so we ordered some chicken quesadillas. as it was it took about 45 mintues to put in a drink order that night. yes fridays are a big thing at this place - hotel molokai. the older crowd shows up with mics, ukuleles and a few other instruments, sit around a table and sing and play. it was fun to listen. but man the service that night was horribly slow. anyway, it was over an hour before we got our food. i almost gave up waiting i was so tired. but there was another event later that night! i could't do it! i'm so disappointed with myself, but i crashed. matt went and took pics for me. it was the bread run. there's a bakery on molokai and the ferry the goods over to maui in the morning. so if you show up at a certain time in this little dark alley and knock on this unmarked door, someone will answer and hand you some fresh-baked bread. i got to have mine in the morning when i woke up and boy was it good.

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day 7:
i don't have many pics from this day. but the food saga continues. we get to breakfast and there's not much laid out, but there's some stuff. it was just before 9 so we thought the kitchen staff might be running a little late. uh, no. turns out the head chef picked up her knives and walked out last night after being told the 'fish only option' was not good enough, and not what had been planned or paid for by the tour. anyone watch that show on food network 'the next top chef' or something like that? if you did you might remember chef mia. well, that's who this was! so breakfast was haphazzard, get what you can when it's available. they did get bacon and pancakes out while we were there so that was good for us. anyway, while we slept in and ate at 9, some of the group had gone out on a 7am sea-kayaking trip. they were supposed to be back 9.30 and eat, while we were supposed to be done eating so we could go out in the kayaks. well, they were over an hour late getting back to the hotel, and well, there was no more breakfast. they didn't get anything to eat until lunch. wah! but it also meant that we were over an hour late getting out there and we had to be washed, packed, and out of the rooms by noon. i think we just made it. another ferry crossing with - you guessed it - more whales to maui. a good number of people went straight to the airport shuttle from disembarking, but us and a few others grabbed a cab, sent 1 person with all the luggage to the hotel, and then we rode the bikes back to ka'anapali (i think that's the right name). not having an underwater camera at that time, and not knowing how much turbulence there'd be on the kayak i left the camera at the hotel. oh. america's only reef is off molokai. but it's dying. they're trying to figure out what's causing it so hopefully they can stop it. it was quite lovely. we saw sea turtles, more whales, and lots of colorful fish. even a ray of some sort. pretty much just hung out, had dinner, took it easy, enjoyed the beautiful weather and of course continued the daily routine of the must-have rum-based drink!

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day 8:
up early, we headed off for the 'road to hana'. it's this narrow, twisty, winding road with lots of blind corners and waterfalls and beautiful vistas. there are actually places to stop and visit along the way, but we skipped a few of them. we did take one of the side trips to an overlook point where we ate the lunch we picked up that morning from a local deli. it was great. we saw lots of beautiful things. there was a stop at the park at the end of the road where charles lindburg's buried, and inside haleakala state park we stopped and walked to the '7 sacred pools'. only there's more than 7. we also stopped at another park that was way cool. there was a nice little black sand beach, some trails, campgrounds. and mongoose. yup. we first saw them on molokai, but they were on maui, too. those suckers are fast! they were originally brought in to rid the island of rats. once released into the wild their dietary delight was something other than the rats however! we returned to paia for dinner at a local pizza joint.

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day 9:
no sleep on this vacation, i tell you! up and down at the docks again just after sunrise. we were off on a snorkeling trip. we were actually supposed to be returning on this day, but after 1 hour on lanai matt decided it wasn't enough. we had both wanted to stay longer and see and do more, but he's in the middle of that book for MS and just couldn't spare the time. but that last day on molokai, before we rode to the ferry, he got on the phone, extended the hotel another night, had the concierge book the rental car for our following day, sign us up for snorkeling, and pushed our flight reservations back a day. we were both so happy he made that decision! we sailed through the whales to molokini, a small sunken crater, where the depth is about 30-40' in clear blue waters. wow there were so many fish! we only had an hour, and there were way too many people - probably 50 at least on our boat, and there were about a dozen boats tied up doing the same thing. hot dog an dhamburgers for lunch, prepared by the captian himself, then off we went to turtle town. this is a hang out for the endangered green sea turtles. they sit down on the bottom and these little fishys nibble the parasites and gunk and whatever off the turtle's shells. the water wasn't quite as clear here, but still was quite amazing. there were so many turtles! we got a few good pics of them. both matt and i had gotten some underwater cameras the night before just for this trip. we both ended up following a turtle. they were so gentle and big! unfortunately we only had about an hour before we had to return to the boat and head back to lahaina. we spent the afternoon walking around town. i got fitted for a toe ring, but i can't wear it when i'm travelling or it'll turn my toe blue! we bought some souvenirs, and then returned the rental car.

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day 10: departure
no pics from this day. all we did was get up and have breakfast, then start packing. matt took care of the bike while i did the suitcases. we got to the airport a little early, but we ate lunch there. the airport reminded us of palm springs - instead of windows it's open to the outside. so it was a pleasant little relaxation before getting on a crowded flight back to seattle.

it was a great trip. we were so out of shape on the bike - 2 weeks after italy i had surgery again, then 2 more weeks before i'm allowed back on, then thanksgiving, christmas in prescott, and of course cold cold cold and rain. matt purchased himself a superwarm cycling outfit for christmas and after i saw it i was in love. so we found one for me. and boy were we glad we did! those were our 2nd layer on the haleakala ride. there were a few people who were like 'wow, wish i had one of those!' but luckily almost everyone did bring enough warm things to wear for that ride. anyway i digress. we had ridden maybe 4 times between italy and hawai'i and hardly any hills. but as sore as we were after those 5 consecutive days of riding we felt a lot better. and you know what? it's been rainy and cold ever since we got back! actually have had a couple nice days, but matt's been cranking on the book so we haven't gone out and then i just returned from 10 days in ohio with my grandma and aunt. hopefully he'll be done soon and we can start riding again. while hawai'i had never been on my top places to visit, i'm so glad we went. it was beautiful. of course there's no telling what oahu, kuai and the big island are like - i'm sure they're quite nice and i know there's more people there, but molokai'i is my place. plop me down at the hotel molokai'i with a rum drink, the sun and just let me drift off into my dreams. it's such a quiet, undeveloped place it's heaven. i actually wouldn't mind going back.