Aloha Kako

(Aloha Kako=Hello Everyone) A bit on Hawaii:

We had such a nice time, I was sad to leave. It was one of the few vacations I've had where I thought about absolutely nothing. I actually forgot the days of the week. The day we went surfing, I had to write the date on a piece of paper, and I honestly could not resurrect it in my brain. I knew our anniversary was a few days earlier, and I know what that date is, but I couldn't remember how many days had passed since. That is a good vacation. Nothing was stressful, everything was low key and dreamlike.

Some people put Hawaii down as a tacky, Vegas-like tourist destination, with no redeeming features. I see those Bubba Gump's elements, but I also see a beautiful, wild and rugged place that is clinging to its unique and increasingly endangered cultural heritage. The ocean is such a wonderful world there, so different from the cold, murky and great-white-shark friendly seas closest to us here in Northern California. I love to snorkel. I can spend hours in the water, just swimming around seeing who lives where and what we they are all doing down there.

To start with, we rented a biodiesel car from Bio-Beetle. All of the biodiesel on Maui is recycled restaurant oil. With a little effort, they could (and should) improve their office, which happens to be conveniently situated near the recycling center and which is home to more than a few rescued, neutered feral cats, but the car itself was clean and new, and they were very nice and mellow people. It sure felt good to drive around the island knowing that we were not only getting 40+ mpg, but also recycling and greatly reducing our contribution to global warming. Temporarily. It gave us a chance to test-drive the Jetta and see if we liked it. We may sell the Subaru eventually in favor of a recycled-fuel-burning car like this one.

I don't know if you can tell how miniscule the surf is in this picture (1-2 feet) but this is what it looked like when Mike and I surfed (me for the first time) a few days earlier. Our instructor was really, really nice. If you go to Maui, and you want to try this, go here and ask for Nate. We thought Mike was nice, too, but Nate was our guy, and he took good care of us. It was a fun time. We took a "private" lesson, so there were just the two of us with our instructor, and we caught a lot of waves. He even showed us how to paddle in ourselves, and I caught two or three under my own power. Beforehand, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it, or worse, that I wouldn't like it. Unfortunately for our bank accounts, I loved it and can't wait to do it again. I have a lot to learn. I may just have to gear up and get on my carveboard again this weekend. Don't worry, I'll wear my kneepads this time.

A torch ginger flower at the Keanae Arboretum. We had a great time poking around among the flowers and tropical plants. We got caught in a rainstorm and hid under some closely-spaced palms until it let up. Leaf, also at the arboretum after the rainstorm.

The view from our condo.


Sunset on Napili beach. On our last night there, we walked out to the beach. There was no moon, and a million bright stars were gleaming and twinkling. Just as I felt the cool sand under my feet, I looked up and saw a big shooting star, which rocketed, white, like a comet, for a long time, and then burst into actual flames and had an orange tail before it disappeared.

I was so amazed that all I could do was draw in my breath and point at it with my rolled up beach mat. I didn't even make a noise loud enough for Mike to turn around. I just kept going *gasp* point, *gasp* point. In my head I was saying, "oh my gosh! a shooting star! oh! it is still going! oh! it actually burst into flames! oh! I've never seen that!" but I had to explain it all out loud to Mike after it happened. Sort of like I just did. It was cool, and it made me feel less bummed about leaving the next morning.

Most of the people on this beach are naked.