Home is Where the Heart Is

Karen was worried that some of you may be afraid that we are stuck on a beach in Hawaii...fortunately, have made it home safely after taking the red-eye flight home on Thursday evening. The flight was pretty smooth, but for some reason the pressure in the plane was weird and Karen and I both had swollen feet when we got to Salt Lake City. After enjoying the land of the Mormons for a couple of hours, we got on our flight home to Tacoma. We are both a little sad to leave the island, but are enjoying being in the friendly spaces of our home.

Before heading home, we were able to spend a full day in Maui. We drove to Lahaina and explored its many shops. Probably the coolest thing in town was the gigantic Banyan tree in the town center. It took up almost an entire block and had several trunks coming down to support the massive tree. For lunch, we headed back to one of our favorite places (Aloha Mixed Plate) and had a plate lunch. Karen ate a Lau Lau plate (pork wrapped in tea leaves) and I had the BBQ mixed plate. It was delicious. After lunch we left Lahaina and drove to a beach to read under some shady trees for an hour or so. Once we had reached our fill of the beach (well, probably my fill), we drove to Kahului and hung out at Borders while waiting for our flight. Hawaii was fantastic and we are already planning our trip to the Big Island in the near future.

Just Chillin'

After our long day on Tuesday, we decided to take it easy on Wednesday and just relax, savoring our last full day in Maui. Even though we still woke up at 6:00 a.m. (having not adjusted to the time change completely), we stayed in bed a little longer and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast while reading the newspaper. Instead of heading to one of the high-rated touristy beaches, we decided to try out one of the many "beach parks" that we had passed by while driving. Most of the locals seemed to hang out at these, mostly for surfing and sharing huge picnic meals with their families, and we wanted to see what it was like. It turned out to be really nice--lots of good shady spots where I finally got to read some more of my book, and also nice clear water. The only problem was that the bottom was pretty rocky, so we didn't swim for too long. Still, it was perfect for our relaxing day.

We spent the rest of the afternoon back at our condo, going for one last swim in the ocean and in the pool. We also got to have some tropical drinks poolside, using up most of the rest of our coconut rum for a pina colada for me (by the way, this is Karen writing this--guess I didn't mention that before) and a rum and diet coke for Ravi. It felt like the life of luxury there, without paying the ridiculous prices that the poolside bars charge, since we made our own and brought them down.

For our last night here, we decided to go to a luau at one of the hotels on our beach. We decided to use the rest of our "blow money" for this taste of Hawaiian culture, and it was definitely a good choice, especially since we once again were able to use the system to our advantage, using a buy one get one free coupon that our condo gave us. Considering that it was an all-you-can eat (and drink) buffet, it was a great deal. The food was amazing and I made sure to drink my money's worth of mai tais. The show was really neat, too, despite a somewhat cheesy emcee with a cruise director's voice and personality.

Do Go Chasing Waterfalls

Scoffing at the advice dispensed by TLC in the 90's, Karen and I chose to chase the many waterfalls on the Northern and Eastern end of Maui on the "Road to Hana." This famed highway (more like a curvy sometimes two-lane road) has been touted as one of the best roads in the US. The road to Hana is only 30+ miles long, but can take 2-3 hours to complete, depending on traffic, the number of stops you make, and the weather. Hana is on the windward side of the island, so it was to be expected that we would encounter some showers along the way. I suppose it is a good thing there is a lot of rain, because with the rain, several waterfalls appear. Once again, we awoke early to set out on our journey. After stopping to fill up for gas in Kahului we were on our way. The road from Kahului to Paia was pretty normal, but a couple of miles afterward, we were warned by a sign noting "Narrow, Winding Road for next 30 miles." I thought that the sign may be overstating things a little, but the road lived up to its reputation. There were plenty of blind curves, one-lane bridges, and narrow roads to contend with. The picture above shows the road cut into the side of the mountain. Not a lot of room for error with a cliff on one side and the ocean on the other.

Besides the challenging, yet fun highway, the one of the main reasons for traveling the Hana Highway is to see the lush jungle and the many resulting waterfalls. It seemed that at almost every bend inside the mountain a waterfall of some size would come cascading down the hill. Some of the waterfalls created beautiful pools to swim in, while others raged beneath the road below. On the way to Hana, Karen was itching to get into the water. We found a very swimmable pool, but a sign next to it informed us that water collected from this stream was used for drinking purposes and swimming was not allowed. That definitely made us both a little sad, but we pressed on. A little further down the road, I decided to stop at a state park, which the guide book only had so-so things to say about it. We crossed back over the stream and went up a trail and to our surprise, we found a little pool. I encouraged Karen to swim in it, knowing that if this was her only chance to take a plung, she better do so. After some coaxing, she hopped in and played around in the pool for a few minutes. Karen was certainly glad she took the opportunity to play in the water.

The road continued to twist and turn with ups and downs. We took a side detour to the town of Nihuku, which was down a one-lane twisty road. After a couple of miles, it dead-ended into the ocean. The view was awesome and was as close to paradise as we have found on Maui. To enjoy the moment longer, we ate a sandwich in between rain squalls. Our next scheduled stop on the tour would be a state park, where we were told we could find caves to swim in.

Sure enough, the guide book was not wrong. There were caves available; however, we were a bit disappointed when we first arrived. The first pool we saw was pretty shallow and there was a lot of debris floating around. Karen went for a short swim, but we heard rumors of a better swimming at a different spot, so we decided to check it out. The next freshwater cave was all that we had hoped for and more--it had a beautiful pool to swim in as well as lots of large and small cave around to swim into. The ceiling of the cave was all different colors, and you could swim pretty far into them if you didn't mind not being able to see what was around you. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip. When we got back to the car and consulted our guidebook (thanks again, Nicole!), we saw that the authors suggested that only one of the pools was suitable for swimming. Oh, well!

The only negative part of the day came at the end of the road, after we had passed Hana. At that point, the road really turned into a one-lane road. That is, only one car could pass through at a time. It did not mean, however, that cars traveled only one way on the road, so we had some tough squeezes, especially with locals taking their trucks through at 30 mph and not slowing down a bit when passing another car (us!). We arrived at our final stop, a national park that offered waterfalls that you could run through and play in, which we had been looking forward to as our reward for the drive. Once we got to the park though (and AFTER we paid the entrance fee), the ranger casually informed us that there was no swimming allowed today because the water was too swift and dangerous. Since this was the whole reason we had come this far, we were disappointed, although we were still able to see the waterfall and were happy to support our national park system.

To ease our pain, we bought and (Karen) polished off a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread on the way home. We also stopped at an amazing waterfall on the way back where Karen was able to fulfill her dream of swimming in a waterfall pool (again). This time, water cascaded down over 100 feet onto her, unlike the previous falls, which fell about 10 feet. We stopped to enjoy some beautiful views on the way back home. I especially liked the cows grazing in a pasture by the ocean at sunset, proving that happy cows don't come ONLY from California. The other wildlife, and especially birds and chickens, also provided me with some entertainment along the way.

Won't You Take Me to Turtle Town...

So you may have figured out that for the last couple of posts, although I wrote "today," I actually typed the entries on the day after the events took place. I got a little behind...but that all changes now. I'm in a typing mood, so when I write "today" now, it actually means Monday. As some of you know, my mom gave us some "blow money" to spend on some sort of fun thing in Hawaii that we might not normally do. We decided to use some of that cash to take a snorkeling boat tour, and we picked one that would take us to Molakini, which is the half-crater shaped island that you see in the photo above.

There are lots of people here who are happy to book adventures for tourists, often including a hefty (though hidden) booking charge on top of the cost of the activity. We took advantage of our resort's free wi-fi to book our trip on-line and saved enough money for a nice dinner tonight. We thought that we had gotten a pretty good deal, but didn't realize how good until we were waiting to check in this morning and heard a girl behind us in line brag about how she had gotten her ticket for only $89 instead of the regular $99 cost. Ravi and I did a mental high five when we heard that, since we'd gotten the same trip for $65--yes!!!

We were kind of disappointed when we arrived at our first stop, Molakini, because the crew told us that we had to stay only in this one little area (their company's reserved section of the crater). They enforced this rule by having a guy in a kayak yell at anyone who dared go beyond the boat area (me, of course, more than once). The water was super clear and beautifully blue, but the fish and coral were only average--not as good as other places we've been on Maui. They did provide a nice breakfast, lunch and free Mai Tais, though, which eased the pain a bit.

The next stop was at "Turtle Town," which sounded super gimicky to me and like it might be kind of lame. It actually ended up being pretty neat, though. Most of the people on our boat stayed in one small little area with their noodles (Kevin!), and they didn't see any turtles. Ravi and I ventured out a bit (stretching the rules and making the kayak guy keep his eagle eyes on us) and found a shy turtle. He was hiding under some coral, and only came out briefly to get some air before hiding again. I think that a lot of boats stop there and he's tired of being harassed by snorkelers. There were some neat fish and good coral, as well, so it was actually a really good stop. I also got to go down the waterslide into the water--lots of fun!

The ride back was very windy, which made for an exciting ride on the front of the ship for us. We got a great view of the Valley Island and even saw a turtle swimming in front of the boat. We were finally able to get a famous ice cream cookie sandwich when we get back to land, and it was delicious and deserving of the world famous claim.

I grew my nails out so they would look good for our wedding, but now they are making it difficult for me to type--they keep getting caught between the keys. Also, Ravi says that he'll be back on duty with the blog writing tomorrow. So this is Karen, signing off.

The Southside

As Ravi is so kindly making me a delicious fruit smoothie right now, I figured that I could do the blog post once again. We started our Sunday out at a Jazz Breakfast at a nearby hotel. It wasn't quite as cheap as I remember my family's traditional Outrigger Reef Hotel brunches being, but it was just as delicious. They had lots of good hot and greasy food, but the best part was the fresh Hawaiian fruit and the waffles with fresh coconut, macademia nuts and coconut syrup. Ravi also quite enjoyed the birds (for some reason, he's been pretty obsessed with the birds here--they are unusual, since many of them don't seem to be able to fly. Or maybe they just like the power they have over us when we have to stop our car for them to slowly walk across the road.) As Nicole and perhaps others of you may have guessed, I was not such a huge fan of the birds, but I did enjoy the "jazz" music, which was really just songs with that Hawaiian sound.

We decided to "do" South Maui today, so we drove around to the other half of the island and did a beach tour. We went to one of the highest rated beaches in America, called Wailea Beach, but it wasn't all that high on my list. My criteria for a great beach are nice sand, a beautiful view, not too crowded, shady spots and good snorkeling and/or boogie boarding waves. This beach really only had one of these things (the nice sand), so I was pretty whiney. Ravi threatened father-like to make us leave right then and there, but I refused to get up, so we stayed and ate some Maui-style potato chips instead. We did go on later to Big Beach, where we got a nice nap in, and then to a cool black sand beach, which you can see above.

On the way back to our condo, we tried to stop and get a famous ice cream cookie sandwich at Hula Cookies, but alas, it had closed about a half hour before. We drove back and did get to enjoy a beautiful sunset before eating our home-made spaghetti dinner. Ravi really loves the grill that they have here, so we also got to have Italian sausage with the pasta. At first, he tried to tell me that sausage would be really good with the sauce, but then he admitted that he just wanted to grill something, and that the sausage seemed like a good fit. And it actually was, so everyone wins.

Thar She Blows!

Ravi needed a break from the pressure-filled and tiring world of blogging, so I decided that I would take a shot at it for today. Being a Saturday, we decided to try to avoid really touristy spots on Maui today. We didn't know if it would make much difference, being an area whose economy focuses on tourists, but figured that we might as well drive into the wild and to explore new worlds and new civilizations...to boldly go where no ONE has gone before. So we ventured north of our resort area to the northwestern part of Maui and religiously followed our guidebook's advice to see some exciting and less-known sites.

Our first stop was Napili Beach, which was very nice and a good spot to start our snorkeling adventures. We moved on soon afterwards in our quest for novelty, and ate lunch at a definitely less known beach, where we shared the sand with one other group and watched a kite-boarder surf on a small board while also flying a kite--pretty impressive. It looked like a lot of fun, but I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be flying around the water for the first few hours that I tried it, so maybe next trip.

One of the highlights of the day was our next step, which was a short hike to a blowhole by the ocean. It was pretty exciting to watch the waves come in and then the water and air to shoot out of a hole in the rock. Ravi encouraged me to keep moving closer to check out what the inside of the hole looked like, but I've seen enough movies and America's Funniest Home Videos to know that would probably be a bad idea (for me). Standing nearby and getting sprayed was really neat, though.

Heaven or Hell? Either Way, it was Beautiful

Never before in my life have I purposefully awoken ahead of the sun in order to watch it rise over our great planet. This is not to say I have never seen it, but I'm usually half asleep on the way to the airport or a conference in a distant city. I was a bit skeptical when friends and guide books told me that one of the must see things in Maui is the sunrise from the top of its highest peak, Haleakela. I joked with Karen on the way up that perhaps the locals fabricated a myth in order to watch tourists get up at 2:30 in the morning to make the 2 hour trek up the mountain. Myth or no myth, we both decided that we had to see it for ourselves. After a couple hours of sleep, Karen and I were up at 2:30 and out the door by 2:50 on our way up the mountain. We made pretty good time, until we got stuck behind a car that was a little unsure about the curvy road and insisted on going 10 mph below the speed limit. Nevertheless, we made it up to the top about an hour before sunrise. Light began to emerge from the horizon about 45 minutes before the sun actually rose and it was almost more fun to watch the stars slowly fade as ligher began to pore over the horizon. The colors were awesome and when the sun finally came up, it was incredible. It was like being in heaven...we were well above the clouds and all we could see was sunlight, clouds, and the volcano. It was truly worth the the early departure.

After watching the sunrise, we went down to the visitors center, about 200 feet below the overlook and decided to take a hike on the "sliding sands trail." The trail took us into the crater (which a ranger pointed out to us really isn't a crater at all, but that is another story) and into a different world. If I had looked hard enough, I'm sure I could find the mars lander and uncover a NASA consipracy. It was truly out of this world...some might say hell-like, but it was too breathtaking to be such a bad place. The hike down was very easy and a bit deceptive. Karen wanted to go much further, but I looked up the trail we hiked down and suggested we go back. I think it was a good thing we did, because it was quite the climb back up. After ascending back to the top, we drove down to a couple of overlooks to get more photos. Haleakala is definitely one of the best places I have visited.

First Day in Paradise

We awoke this morning to an incredible view from our balcony. It is always fun arriving somewhere in the dark and then waiting to see what it will be like come daybreak. Our view is truly incredible and the extra money we paid to get the oceanview room was well worth it. After marveling at the view from the lanai, Karen and I got ready for the day and set out to find some good breakfast. Taking advice from Brandon Ahu, I asked the lady at the front desk for a place where the locals get their breakfast. She gave me a puzzled look and said I should try the buffet at the hotel next door. I was a little off-put by this, but Kare and I decided to check it out. After arriving at the hotel and seeing the $14 price tag for the buffet, we turned around and came back home. We have both pledged to indulge a little on the trip, but we also have a little bit of the frugal/deal seeking bug in our system. I asked the lady at the guardhouse to the parking lot a place for breakfast and she too said we should try the buffet. Seeing that we weren't going to get anywhere by asking hotel staff for recommendations, we took matters into our own hands. After driving up and down several streets looking for a place where the locals eat, we found such a place in a tucked away plaza. I don't recall the name of it, but it had a pretty authentic Hawaiian "plate breakfast." They were out of hashbrowns, so we both went even more local by having scoops of rice with our breakfast. I opted for the spam and hawaiian hot dogs for my breakfast meat, while Karen shied away from the spam and just ate hot dogs. She did sample a bite of my spam and told me that I can eat her share while in Hawaii. I should have taken a picture of it before eating, but as you can see, I did enjoy my breakfast.

After breakfast, we continued back to Kahului (the main town on the island) to go to Costco. I guess you can't really have a trip to paradise without making a stop at the stores you frequent while at home. We got there before it opened, so we decided to follow a road and explore. After driving through the next town and watched 4 lanes drop to 2, we saw a sign for the Iao Valley. Being the adventurers we are, we continued on the road until we found a state park at the end of the line. It was beautiful with cliffs climbing up both sides and a stream going down the middle. I am sure we will see much better places before we leave, but we both felt a sense of accomplishment by stumbling on the Iao Valley while killing time.

After leaving the valley, we headed back to Costco to load up on Hawaiian Sun fruit drinks, Diet Coke, fruit, and other food. We also bought new beach towels and car seat covers for my car. They were a great deal...only $17 for a pair. A lot of the food items were too bulkish for us and Karen and I thought a grocery store might be better. Fortunately, a Safeway is just down the street and we were able to fill the cupboards after a stop there. Food isn't too much more here, although fresh food is pretty spendy. A gallon of milk is over $5 and lettuce and other non-local veggies ran in the same high range.

Our afternoon was pretty chill. We ate lunch on the lanai and headed to the beach. It has been pretty windy here and sitting on the beach is no fun...at least all of my dead skin was sand-blasted off. The tour book said there is good snorkeling just down the beach from our hotel at Black Rock, so Kare and I headed down there to check it out. We weren't disappointed when a sea turtle came withing 3 feet of my nose. On the way in, we saw another turtle and followed it for about 10 minutes...they really are pretty amazing.

It's dinner time now and we are thinking of heading to one of our favorite island/tropical eateries...Pizza Hut. We hope all is well on the mainland and we look forward to sharing more of our trip tomorrow.

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane

We left for our great Maui adventure yesterday morning. To get to Maui, we had to connect in Los Angeles, but the flight to LA proved to be a beautiful addition. Not only were we treated to views of all of the cascade volcanoes, but we cut inland a little bit and we were able to see the deep blue of Lake Tahoe and the empty ski areas. Karen and I were a bit disappointed with Terminal 6 at LAX, because there weren't many food choices or shops to kill our time in. There was however an El Chollo, which brought back memories of half price Mexican food while in college. I would have been fun to eat there, but we were told that we got a sandwich meal on the flight, so we opted for the CPK Chinese Chicken Salad to split on the flight. Our flight to Maui was great. It was so nice to be on a big plane again, especially after the small one we were on flying to LA. We each had our tv screen and I was able to watch two movies. Karen of course took advantage of this amenity by reading 1 1/2 books...she definitely is the reader in the family.

When we arrived in Maui, the weather was perfect and the sun was setting. Nothing is better than 78 and a little humid. We rented our car (a Chevy Impala) and began our 30 mile drive to the westside. Upon arriving at our condo resort, we were surprised that the desk clerk wanted to barter with us to upgrade to an oceanview room. I used my masterful negotiation skills learned in my "Negotiation and Bargaining" class and was able to get us a room on the 10th floor for about $15 more per night. I think Karen and I were a little hesitant to upgrade, because we have both always been able to find beauty wherever we are, but I think we made a great choice. We moved from a 3rd floor "garden view" to a 10th floor "ocean view." We weren't sure what it was like, since it was dark, but we did get to hear some great music coming from the Whalers Village next door. When we woke up, we had an amazing view of neighboring island and the water.

It is now time for us to get some bakery for breakfast and begin exploring our home for the week.

Thanks for the Memories

The last group of people staying at our house for the wedding left this morning. It has been an incredible week having friends and family in town to share in our several moments. While the wedding and reception was definitely the cherry on the sundae, Karen and I had a wonderful time with everyone for the entire week (or more). We are now busy cleaning and organizing the house and preparing for our departure tomorrow afternoon. At this time tomorrow, we will be preparing to say Aloha to the islands.

Welcome to "The Kavi Files"

So, Karen likes to make fun of me, because I spend time reading message boards and blogs focused on airplanes and football. Oh well, call me a dork. I thought the best way to show her that blogs can be cool would be to start our own. I never did really understand blogs that focus on people's lives, but I suppose it is a great way to keep in touch with their lives without actually having to talk to them on a regular basis. I love our society.

We will be using our blog to update you on our fun times in Maui. We hope to post pictures and messages to amuse you with. Hopefully our trip to Hawaii does not turn into a J. Marten Troost adventure (see "Sex Lives of Cannibals").