Oops

I'd thought I had prepared some posts for this weekend.
Instead you get an apology for taking off .
I have a long drive to a Lions meeting in Marysville.
Then a long drive back.
Then tomorrow it's the monthly breakfast at the Senior Center.

So all you get is a picture of

Sebastian the great

doing what he does well

Meandering

I decided, since we were on the north side of the island we might explore some of it.
I had also heard there was to be some heavy surf.
So we made our way out of the Iao Valley, through the town of Wailuku, turning north (left) at the signal and drove along a main road until we found a sign that said, "Golf Course & Beach Access."

There were folks all along the beach and they were looking at the sand.
Or, maybe they were looking at the really unusual rocks?

Ooh, a ship!

It was time to move along to see if we could find some bigger waves.
Besides, we wanted to escape the nice ladies in the parking lot who were handing out religious tracts.
PHG said they find her no matter where she goes.

I took the little slips of paper to mail them to my brother for his birthday.
Then we headed east, through Kahului and Paia to Ho'okipa Beach.
Maybe that's where the big waves were.

The waves were okay, but we were able to look back and see the entrance to the Iao Valley and back to the beach we'd seen earlier.

Right below us the waves were breaking over the rocks.

There were actually some surfers in the water, but they weren't having much luck.
We got a little bored so we went for lunch at Mama's Fish House.

Now see if you can spot the airliner and the ship.
The food was good, if maybe a bit pricey.
But I think I'd go back.

Don't ask me what we did the rest of the day.
I don't have any more pictures until the next morning.

A little humor

We are still on Maui.
Once more we arose early, well before the bacon was ready. . .   even before Starbucks shook out the cobwebs.
Fortunately, there was coffee in the room.

We made our way to bacon breakfast at 6:30, observing the activities along the beach trail, seeing boats make their way to a spot for snorkeling, and occasionally catching sight of a whale in the distance.

once more from the breakfast area

Upon finishing breakfast we went back to our room to get ready for the day.
We were going sightseeing. . .   and we were going to kind of make up for yesterday by not going window shopping.

As we went toward the car I noticed the Sun was just about to come over the mountain.
So I stopped to take a picture.

. . .or four

We drove up through Kihei, rather than take the expressway, because I wanted to stop for some bandages for my feet. . .   and we were out of gummi worms [Costco does not sell gummi worms].

Then we made our way to the road along the foot of the West Maui Mountains, through Waikapu, to Wailuku.
There we turned left, onto Main Street, which eventually become Iao Valley Road.
Our destination was the Iao Valley.

It is called the Iao Valley because it's the home of the Iao bird.
The Iao bird is noted for the eggs it lays.
The eggs are quite big and shaped like cubes with very sharp corners.
That's how the bird got its name.
Whenever it lays an egg it can be heard crying, "Eeeeyow!!!"

Seriously, the valley is significant historically because it is the site of a major battle in 1790 for control of the Hawaiian Islands.

click it to read the story

It is also beautiful, with some interesting geological features [well, one anyway].

the Iao Needle is on the left
yes, you'd probably say, "Eeeeyow!" if poked with that needle

The top of the Iao Needle* is 2250ft.
While here a nice lady with an accent offered to take our picture.

There is wildlife in the Iao Valley. . .

. . .if you look in the right place.

We followed all of the trails in the park.
It still only took a little more than an hour.
So there was still plenty of daylight ahead.
I had no idea where we were going next.

but there's still more

*it has another name, but this site is family friendly

On to Lahaina . . .but first

Okie dokie  . . .before anyone gets too concerned, I posted about the distillery [and commented about the second one] because of personal knowledge and the fact we visited.
It was the bottle, not its contents that caught PHG's eye.
The bottle is not the only thing unique about the product.

Lahaina is on the western edge of Maui.
Originally it was a whaling port and once was the capital of Hawaii.
Humpback whales spend their winters in the waters off the coast of Maui.
During February they can be observed frolicking in the sea.
Unfortunately, we missed an opportunity to take a whale watching trip that was reported by others to be quite exceptional.
But we were going to Lahaina to see something else.
We were even going to meet my brother, sister-in-law, and her sister.

So there we were* with some time to kill in downtown Lahaina, which is geared to separating tourists from their money.
They do it honestly, for the most part.
You just have to be aware that nothing is free.

We found a parking spot centrally located to the shopping district.
There were plenty of signs restricting where one could park.

Carefully note how the two signs are strategically located in the first photo.

After parking the vehicle we walked along the streets, mostly window shopping and doing our best to keep from being drawn into the shops where it was fairly obvious there were some extreme measures being taken to lure patrons.
We saw lots of original artwork. . . very expensive original artwork, plenty of authentic Hawaiian souvenirs, and if there was a t-shirt depicting any kind of Hawaiian activity, it was available on the streets of Lahaina.
But we resisted.
A man asked if we planned to attend a luau.
We told him we'd thought about it.
He offered us free tickets to the very expensive luau at our hotel resort, the hottest, most desirable, one on the island.
All we had to do was take the time to tour a vacation property in Kaanapali, just up the road.
We told him we'd think about it.
That's when a young lady grabbed us right off the sidewalk and started rubbing a oily, gritty concoction on our hands.
She said something like, "Check this out."

Three hours later, we finally escaped with only a facial.
We'd missed meeting up with my brother, et al, and we still hadn't seen what we'd come for.
We did, however, make our way to Cheeseburgers in Paradise for a late lunch.
I had fish tacos.

We then went and got the car and headed for what we ultimately had come to see.
That's when I found some free parking. . .   and it wasn't all that far from where we'd first parked and paid $5.
The parking lot was only about a half block from our destination.

Banyan tree

There was no place to stand where the entire tree was visible.
It takes up two thirds of a city block.

Under the banyan tree

It's really something to be able to plant one tree that takes over a place.

I forget what we did the rest of the day.
I think it was try to figure out how we were going to get a bottle of perfume [bigger than what we think's allowed] through security in our carry-on luggage

wait, there's more

*This is know as the Standard Juvat Caveat (SJC)
it goes a Fairy Tale begins with "Once upon a time" and a War Story begins with "So, there I was"
I have modified it to - What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story? A fairy tale starts with “Once upon a time” and a sea story starts with “So there I was”
I have no war stories, only sea stories

Where were we?

The area on the hillside [yeah, yeah. . .   it's really a mountain] where my brother and sister-in-law live is called Up Country.
Where we stayed, at the beach, is called South Maui.
Lahaina is in West Maui.
That isn't important.
(Well, it is if you're in one part of Maui and have to go to another)

Day three found us at breakfast before 7am   . . .again!
The sky did not look very promising.
In the photo below, taken from the hotel's restaurant, I was attempting to capture the differences in greys on the sea's surface.
The contrast was much more vivid in person.

The bird at the bottom center sounded a lot like a pulley that needed grease.

After breakfast there was some exploration of the hotel resort.
One thing that was nearly impossible to miss.

There were a crap ton of carp koi.

just a few of many

Then we decided maybe it would be a good day to go to Lahaina.

maybe. . .

Day two redux

After ascertaining that my brother, sister-in-law, and their house guest [her sister] were awake, PHG and I made our way up the hill [Haleakala is  10,023 ft -3,055 m] to Makawao [1,578 ft -481 m] for a visit.
(There's a road all the way to the top of the mountain and a lot of folks drive up to see the Sunrise. We preferred an early breakfast, which was usually available well after we awoke.)

After some time, PHG was telling them about this really neat vodka bottle she'd seen in an ad in the in-flight magazine on the plane.

It turned out that the distillery is in the neighborhood.
(Almost everything is kinda in the neighborhood. The island isn't huge. You just can't drive more than about 55mph.)
So we all piled into our vehicles and drove over to Kula [which is described as a district] rather than a town, but if you goggle it, the little pointy thing is just about where we turned right to find the distillery.

There was a tour and a tasting.
I tasted the water used to make the spirits.
It tasted just like water.
(There is more to that water than explained in this blog)

We wandered the grounds of the distillery.
Then I took some pictures.

putting people in the picture make the mountain look even smaller

I have been nowhere on Maui that provides a viewpoint to just how high Haleakala is.
There must be one?
It looks like a hill   . . .that goes on, and on, and on, and then some.
The only time it looked really high was when I was up on top looking down.

looking toward West Maui across the valley
those mountains are, at most, 5788 ft

wait, there's more

I'm not sure this is how Buck would've handled this

He and I were regular visitors to a commercial blog.
They post funny stuff over there   . . .most of the time.
He'd sometimes re-post it.
Sometimes I did.
Friday, they had an Oscars post.

I'm not re-posting all of it.
If you want to see their take, click on the image.
I might even watch the show.
Some day I might even go to a movie again.

it's been more than 30 years

 unless you count the IMAX at OMSI

Day two. . .

. . .also known as the first full day on Maui, proved to be much better weatherwise.
We could actually see the mountains of West Maui

In the other direction we could see Molokini and behind it, Kaho'olawe Island.

Somewhere about that time the Full Moon was setting.

PHG was up early [4:00am] and her smartphone got this shot.

In fact, the entire time we were there we both were up before Sunrise each morning and first to the breakfast buffet that was included as part of the hotel package.
The upshot of that is we didn't suffer from jet lag when we returned home.

wait. . .    there's more

The "flat part"

Well, only a little.
Sooner or later we'll get back to our other story.
Suldog asked about the flat part.
A place where I lived for a brief time.

It was originally created [yep, it's landfill] by the City of San Francisco for the 1939 Worlds Fair, celebrating the opening of both the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridges.
There are still a couple of the original structures from the fair.
They may be seen in the foreground of the picture.

I took it. I can do what I want with it!

From 1940 until 1997 it was a US Naval Station.
I went to Radar School there.
You can view Alcatraz from TI  . . .almost up close and personal.
Alcatraz was still a Federal Prison when I was on TI.
One of the fun things on duty days was standing "roving patrol" watches.
It is almost always extremely windy and chilly, even more so in the evening. 

The property has reverted back to the City of San Francisco.
I have some thoughts about it's use, but will refrain from commenting.

Oh, the lagoon between TI and the real island (Yerba Buena Island) was originally used for seaplanes making the Trans-Pacific crossing.

didn't think to take a picture of Alcatraz

Did I mention. . .

It was raining when we arrived in Maui   . . .and it was really windy.

From the room, looking north

We'd made our first stop as we left the airport.
The first left takes one to. . .

Screen capture

The information I have from some pretty good authorities is this particular store is one of the busiest in the chain [Seoul is the busiest. One on Oahu used to be the busiest].
The video on Tuesday is in the parking lot.
The image above was obviously shot before the store opened.

Most other items we needed to purchase came from the. . .

I think I have mentioned they're ubiquitous

We were told the best place to purchase souvenirs is headquartered in Arkansas.
We never even saw the place.
There was only one special purchase request made.
It required a stop here.

...and Honda

A friend wanted a t-shirt [I was able to buy two authentic, made in Hawaii, aloha shirts for the same price].

Then the serious vacationing began.

A brief note about stopping at Costco.
I purposely did not pack a lot of clothes because I knew I would want to buy some new stuff in Maui.

more adventures to follow

Things that irritate me

So. . .
There are a lot of miserable folks out there.
Nobody moves fast enough for them.
You can hear them in the grocery line behind you, "Humph!"
You can see the whites of their eyes in your rear view mirror on the freeway.
They're the people who are only getting gas at the gas station and don't think they should have to wait for the clerk to ring anyone else ahead of them.

 I call them Me firsters.

They are, more times than not, late for an appointment.
They may have had a plan to be on time, but they didn't plan for any contingencies. . . like stopping for fuel.
Now it is everyone else who's at fault for them being late.

Those were the customers who made my last job almost unbearable.

My boss wouldn't let me put up this sign.

you know who they are 

Then, too, there's that bit where I get my taxes done.

One more thing today. . .

Haha. . .   you're older'n me!!!

there's something more in the mail

note: 
he's two time zones later so he won't see this until after noon because he also sleeps until the day's half gone

Two weeks ago

Feel free to click on the images to embiggen

Early on Tuesday morning we arrived at Oakland International Airport

Yep, that's the plane

Once upon a time, there I was*, on the flat part, for six months, courtesy of of Uncle Sam

You can't see it, but I lived somewhere directly below here, too

Then, for the next five hours we saw this ...or just clouds

We arrived to this.



*True story. . .   it was 53 years ago so I can make stuff up

Bologna

If you have looked at the reading list page, you'd see I have added another book to the list.
I finally finished The Seventh Child while we were at Maui, staying here.

Just one building in an entire complex at a huge resort.

The conclusion left me wanting a lot more. . .   particularly since it took me longer than usual to read it.
The suspense kept building and my interest was held fast, but at the end I'd felt like I must've missed something.
That's about as close to a book report as you will get from me.
(I will remind you that Atlas Shrugged was a real dog to read.
This wasn't.
It just disappointed at the end.)

there're more pictures

Untitled

stolen from Sarge's place

Happy President's Day Eve.

huh?