Alan's Hawaii Page

Hawaii Vacation 2008-11-08

Below are highlights from my trip to Hawaii September 18-30, 2008. Dale and MaryLee Peterson invited me along, and we had one of the best vacations of my life. Terrific scenery, exciting adventures, great company.

Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:21 am

Maybe it was the exhaustion from 1 hour sleep before catching the plane; but two Mai Tai's in, and I'm enjoying this place. REALLY enjoying it.

Our Pool in Kauai

Birds of Paradise – flowers in our hotel garden

A bird in our hotel garden

Sat Sep 20, 2008 2:20 am

Another fantastic day. We drove through Waimea Canyon and walked a lot. 

Chickens everywhere!

A view of the Napali Coast

On the drive back, we stopped at Spouting Horn, which was really cool.  I'm so tired, I can't stand up. I think I'm going to try to surf tomorrow.

Sun Sep 21, 2008 4:11 am

I tried to surf today. I succeeded.

Not that I was anything special - I took a beginner lesson, and I caught on fine to the beginner stuff. The waves were pretty small, and there were tons of kids around doing the same thing (well, not quite as good as me, but mostly the same thing). But still, I rode small-to-medium sized waves for up to a minute each, and got up on the board most every wave. Very fun and exciting.

We also ate at Bubba Burgers. Like I need a Bubba Burger. Decent, but not worth the hype.

And surfing was not even the highlight of the day. We went to the Kilauea Lighthouse this morning. There are no words. So incredibly beautiful, with wind whipping about keeping us cool. Bright and deep blues crashing against black rocks, making tons of white waves on the rocks; with mountains all around. Superb.

We also went to the end of the road, which is the beginning of the Napali Coast. I saw some of it, but my extreme phobia kicked in, and I wasn't able to make it up to the first lookout. I was crying like a little girl, hugging that rock wall as though I was on a tightrope. Ugh. But then we watched the sunset against the ocean, and the day was perfectly capped.

We ate delicious Shaved Ice in Hanalei Bay.  I had watermelon/coconut over macadamia nut ice cream, topped with sweetened condensed milk.  Good choice.

We also stopped at the Fantasy Island falls – really gorgeous.

We played Rage when we got back to the hotel.

And now, we're sleeping in tomorrow. Yay!

Sun Sep 21, 2008 8:55 pm

We tried to go to Puka Dog two nights ago, but they closed at 6pm. Maybe tomorrow before we go. We are eating at Duke's tonight for seafood.

I went hiking today on a smaller trail - Ho'opi'i Falls, I think? Two smaller (30'?) waterfalls. I swam under the second fall - very invigorating.  I wanted to hike to the bottom of the Fantasy Island falls, but the locals discouraged it, so that I wouldn’t die.

Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:34 pm

We went to a secluded (Gillin) beach this morning and swam in massive waves - very fun. Then had a Puka Dog for lunch - pretty good.

Then for our last day in Kauai, we decided to go on the helicopter tour with Blue Hawaiian Tours (the good one).

MaryLee got sick on the copter, so she didn't enjoy it. But I was blown away. I was quite terrified in a few moments - any time the pilot would get us within rock-throwing distance from a mountain cliff. So apparently, I don't like cliffs from any position. But wow, this was a spectacular experience.
* We went over the Kauai coffee fields and sugar cane fields- beautiful.

* All through Waimea canyon, and another private canyon owned by the Robinson family
* Saw tons of cliffs and waterfalls
* Saw every bit of the Napali Coast, including getting much closer than I wanted to the arch - our pilot said he had flown Harrison Ford down to the spot for 6 days 7 nights multiple times

* Then into the extinct volcano, which had 4000 foot straight-down cliffs and waterfalls - frickin' unbelievable, and so very gorgeous.

They record our entire trip, including the pilot's narration. But our trip didn't come out, for some reason - bummer, I was gonna buy it. So instead, they gave us a canned video of the same tour. Was still good.

Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:37 pm

Paddle board (surf board, where you stand up the entire time, holding a paddle) - fun, a major workout. I did pretty well. In my first lesson, I didn't get to where I could ride the wave in, but I did get to where I could traverse the waters without falling. Of course, they had me on a board the size of an aircraft carrier.

Headed to Maui in half an hour.

Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:26 am

On Maui. At the Marriott Wailea Beach Resort. On the top floor overlooking the ocean. In a suite. With ceramic tile floors and incredibly nice furniture. With a free bottle of wine and a couple of beers, and a free huge basket of fruit.

Spoiled.

Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:56 am

I needed a day to myself doing nothing, so I hung out in the (extremely nice) hotel room for the entire morning, then laid out by the pool for the afternoon.

Then, we went to Ruth's Chris tonight. Yes, I know it's a chain that you can go to anywhere, but I never do if I'm paying for my own (I've only been when others have paid). So it was a real treat, and YUMMY, so incredibly good. Perfect steaks, perfect au gratin potatoes, sublime creamed spinach, with a martini. Really excellent.

Tomorrow is a calm one, too - driving along the coast for a short while, then going to a luau tomorrow night.

Friday through Sunday, I'm taking kite surfing lessons. No idea if I'll be able to do it - they say the learning curve is steep, and I'm out of shape and old. But hopefully after 3 days, I'll at least be standing on the water some, if not doing the tricks.

Thu Sep 26, 2008 3:00 am

We drove down to the lava flows this morning.  Very cool – looks like a bull dozer dug up miles of land, but left the ground in big dirt clumps.  However, it’s not dirt – it’s lava rock – very sharp, dark black and brown and red.  It’s sort of ugly, but beautiful, too. 

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These eruptions were 400 and 200 years old, and the volcano is just dormant, not extinct.  So it could happen again at any time.  It’s bizarre to me that the island has developed so much, with such a big risk that could wipe it all out. Along the way, we saw cactus fields and palm trees that looked like Cousin Itt.

We ate fish tacos on the side of the road for lunch.  They were good, but needed more flavor; and I found 3 bones.

We drove up to Lahaina in the afternoon – nice shopping.  Then we went to the Old Lahaina Luau.  The food was good (and not as good all night long).  The wait staff were great.  The hula/entertainment portion was enjoyable, and I didn’t know much of the Hawaiian history that they described.  But overall, the luau is something that you need to only do once.

Sat Sep 27, 2008 3:10 am

I can't say that I kite surfed today. More like kite bobbed. The instructor taught me all the fundamentals of flying the 12 meter kite in the first hour. Then the next 2 hours were flying the kite out in the ocean - usually about 50 yards out - while I was bobbing in the water without the board. I mostly got the hang of flying the kite, and recovering if the kite falls in the water. If the kite lands in one specific manner, I'm screwed, and have to ride the kite back to shore and start over. But otherwise, I mostly got it. The instructor gave me a B+ (which is terrible for me, but he meant it as a compliment). On my last run, he had me take the board out, which I was able to get on my feet and fly the kite successfully. I didn't even attempt to get up and ride the board yet - but he thinks I may be able to do that tomorrow. This is a tough sport.

There were about 30 kite surfers out on the water today. It sounds crowded, but many of them are way out in the ocean. There were several pros out there going nuts - so cool to watch. Most of the others were really good, so it's mildly embarrassing to not even be on the board yet - but it sounds like it's the norm for beginners.

Laid out on the beach for the rest of the afternoon, as I was pretty tired. Not as wiped out as when I paddle boarded, but I may be even more tired tomorrow.

Incredible food at Maui Thai.

Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:14 am

Went to Ioa Valley State Park and saw the Ioa Needle. Pretty, but nothing amazing.

Went to kite surfing lessons, Day 2. On my first time out, I got up; and immediately sunk back in the water, because while I got enough power to get me out of the water, I then let the kite just sit there. Same thing second time. Same thing third time. And for 2 hours 45 minutes, same thing. I was so exhausted - feeling like I was drowning, constantly having to come back to shore and walk it up the shoreline, occasionally getting lifted in the air about 10 feet and thrown back to the water.

Then on my last run, I got up and went for a run of about 100 yards. Not a ton, but it was SO exciting - a rush. I was going way too fast for my first run, so to stop, I just let go of the kite and crashed - not too bad. I was thrilled. So I'm still not a kite surfer, but I have successfully made exactly one run. Last lesson tomorrow.

This afternoon, I was SPENT. So I just went to the beach and relaxed. Tonight, we ate Mexican, played cards, and I felt like jelly. SO VERY TIRED.

Dale and MaryLee drove up to the volcano (over 10000 feet high) and took some great pictures. This is a Silversword, a tall flower that only here.

Headed to bed. I hope I can walk in the morning. I hope I can make multiple runs tomorrow. And while this sport is ridiculously fun, I'm glad the lessons will be over. I'm beat.

Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:59 am

Alan wrote: while this sport is ridiculously fun, I'm glad the lessons will be over.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

There was no wind yesterday. Two days ago, there were over 50 kites flying. Yesterday, there was 1. On a weekend. No wind, and yet my instructor had me out there trying, trying, failing, trying, failing, failing. I simply could not get the kite in the air. So there were definitely no runs. He thankfully called off the lesson after 1 hour (I wish he'd called it off altogether). Today, the prediction was No Wind again, so I'm going snorkelling at the crater instead. There is supposed to be wind Tuesday. So I'm going back for my final two hours Tuesday morning, rushing back to the hotel, packing, then heading to the plane. Tuesday was supposed to be a relaxing day, but now, I'll probably be bruised and battered for the long plane ride home. A good thing? Bad thing? We'll see.

Tue Sep 30, 2008 12:26 pm

Snorkelling was great. There were about 30 people on a large, comfortable catamaran than fit about 70. We boated to Molokini Crater, where the reef was beautiful and the fish were everywhere.

I'd never been snorkelling before, so I don't have anything to compare it to - but it was cool. I saw multiple schools of fish - yellow/black, black/orange, green/blue, and the most bizarre was one that looked like a baby swordfish. The guide told me what it was called, but I can't remember (Trumpetfish?).

Then, we drove to a couple other locations and snorkelled, including to a place where we saw about 5 300 pound sea turtles. One was about 5 feet from me, legs spread, when I took a picture.

We then took a boat excursion to the south side of Maui, along the lava flows where I had hiked last week. It was an incredibly clear day, and I could also see Hawaii (The Big Island) for my first time, which means I've now been on or seen every Hawaiian island. In fact, there was one spot where I could see Maui, Molokini Crater, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, and The Big Island. Very cool.

Last night after dinner, I was so tired, I fell asleep for an hour and a half on my friends' couch. They tried to wake me twice, but I just couldn't come to. I think that's an indication of a great vacation.

Today, I have my last kite surfing lesson, then rush home to pack and fly out. It'll take 24 hours to get home - seems too long, but I have connections.

Tue Sep 30, 2008 6:19 pm

And now, it comes to a close. Here at my hotel, the wind is blowing like crazy. But at Hanaka beach park, where the kite surfing is, the conditions weren't suitable. So today was a bust, too. I was hoping to get up today and end the vacation with some added excitement and accomplishment, but oh well. I talked politics with the left-wing instructors instead.

I head to the airport in 15 minutes. I'm packed and very ready to be home. It's gonna be a crazy-long flight, with stops in Kona (Big Island/Hawaii); Seattle; Minneapolis; then finally to Louisville tomorrow night around 6:30ET, then the standard 1.5 hour drive home. So I'll get to my house more than 24 hours from now. I'm typically not good with red eyes; but I have a window seat, and my body is spent - so I may be able to sleep some.

Aloha.

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