Life of Wry

Darlene and I opted for a coastline exploration day. We decided to turn left out of our driveway instead of right this time. And, cutting to the chase, went about 12 miles up the coast, is all. But, wow, there was plenty to discover and enjoy on this part of West Maui.

Lower Honoapi’ilani Road is the alternative route to the main highway 30 (also known as the Honoapi’ilani Highway), and from our place you can follow this road another four miles, or so, before it rejoins 30. This stretch offers numerous great pullover spots and nice beaches/coves.

We meandered through condos and seemingly modest residential neighborhoods for about three miles, saw a sign to Napili and turned left.  We got very lucky with an immediate parking spot next to a sign that said beach access. We followed it cluelessly toward the water, not really knowing we’d end up on a seriously popular beach.  Turns out, there are about ten resorts that share this sandy cove (and all have Napili in their names… Napili Village, Hale Napili, Napili Sunset, Napili Point, Napili Shores…), so it’s crowded. It provided for some entertaining people watching, though, which amused us for about an hour.

This is about the full the arc of the Napili shoreline, bordered on both ends by tidepools:

It had a short and steep shore break, but it seemed like a nice place to swim if you didn’t mind all the folks.

We went about another mile or so (Napili is the unnamed cove south of Kapalua Bay on this map) and came to Oneloa Beach. Parked at that P spot.

This was a pretty expansive bay with a boardwalk protecting vegetation in need of restoration.

But we found a beach access and did spend some time swimming here, though we had to be careful to avoid rocks. Windy, but warm and fun, and very few people.

Darlene…

And moi…

Then, THEN, we found the most marvelous spot. We were looking for a formation called Dragon Teeth, but instead found a burger shack. With an alluring beach. And breathtaking views. And insanely appealing cocktails.

Our table and view, and the relatively secluded beach (DT Fleming)…

The menu:

The cocktail I ended up with:

Which looked like this (and went down nicely with the slow-roasted pork sandwich and sweet potato fries):

After swimming for about half an hour, we continued on up the coast another six miles or so to the Nakalele Blowhole, the environs of which look like this (and if you look carefully down by the water’s edge, you can see the tower of water coming out of the blow hole):

Close up, looks more like this:

We didn’t go down there–oh, my nagging hip–but it looked spectacular and worthwhile.

Some additional views along the coast, all filtered up…

Highway 30 is a windy road…

At this stop, we came across drying hides (which stunk):

The drive home from Nakalele was about fifteen minutes, as we avoided altogether the Lower Road. This seemed so funny after spending most of the day to get as far as we did (about eleven miles).

We hung out on our lanai for a while with our own homemade Mai Tais and took in the rainbow show…

Then went the 1.7 miles south to the Westin to join the others for another group barbecue dinner, this one hosted by Denise and John.  It was a rainbow kind of evening… here’s one shot from their place, looking east toward the West Maui mountains:

Here’s John grilling a variety of fresh fish, obtained at the same market where we’d found ours–right on the lower road, between our two places:

Here are Yali, Carolyn, Kelsey and Aaron:

We ate up in the boys’ room, which was interesting (five guys in a condo). It was a bounty of fabulous fish and all kinds of freshly made supplemental salads, plus leftovers from earlier meals. Great group, so much fun.

This was also a so-long party for Jordon who was taking off for the airport at about 8:00, bound for a rock concert in Copenhagen.

These kids have a hard life.

Not to be a broken record, but I awoke early, had a nice walk on the beach and returned to have breakfast on the lanai with Darlene. The evening was more or less an exact replica, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

The sun rises behind us, so a lot of the beach was shaded by mountains, trees and condos, but there was some sun to be had and it was so nice to sit in it. Plus, I had the place to myself.  Whistlin’ a pretty happy tune right about now.

I dipped, but didn’t swim; amazing to me that the air and water can be warm enough to enjoy at that hour. Truly one of the killer things about vacations in the tropics.

Today was going to be a rare group event… a waterfall hike… a plan we’d hatched the night before when we had everyone captive in our place (alas, one of our secret objectives of the evening). So no time to waste.

We swung by the boys’ place to collect them; they were making lunches:

Then, our two SUVs caravanned down Maui’s west side, toward Upcountry, and over to the Hana Highway.

Our goal was Twin Falls. This was a choice based on accessibility and expedience. The boys seemed up for a half day outing, but not much more. I got no takers for a longer trip along the famed highway. Totally fine with me; gives me something to look forward to next time.  My guidebook suggested skipping the crowded Twin Falls in favor of bigger, more spectacular falls down the road. If this was the small edition, I’m definitely looking forward to future waterfall excursions.

Short walk–less than a mile–on a shaded, well-used trail, with some water crossings:

Dense no-name tropical vegetation:

I do recognize bamboo:

Our destination:

I will say, the setting made for some great lighting and pretty water shots. I brought the Lumix and got some sneaky pics of the boys. Despite the better camera, most are still fuzzy, but they give you a good idea of the place.

Jordan, Peter and Reed…

Love these of Peter and Reed:

Jordan and his sunburn:

I wasn’t as sneaky as I thought:

This is an outright pose:

Have Go-Pro will travel….

In the wild:

Jacob and Peter climbing walls and vines:

Jordan’s taking a picture of his older sister Helena, Carolyn checks it out:

Jordan’s mom Denise and her boyfriend John:

So enjoyed spending time with Carolyn:

Love the candidness of this..

After an hour or so, we headed back down. Had tropical pops on sugar cane as a post hike treat…

I was able to talk the boys into going into Kahalui with me to get a charging cable for my Mac so I could blog (which, in the end, I never actually did while in Hawaii… maybe that’s a good thing). In return, I treated them to shave ice at Leoda’s on the way home. Win win.

Mellow rest of evening. Darlene and I watched the sunset from our lanai…

(ho hum.)

….and ate our chicken and meat pot pies, purchased a couple days ago on our first trip to Leoda’s.

They were just amazing.

We sat and talked late into the night…fascinating conversation, and apparently lively and loud. Around midnight, we got a visit from Kuleana authorities letting us know that they’d received complaints from other residents about our volume and asking us to keep it down!

Imagine that…

Okay, if you don’t love golf (which I wouldn’t understand at all), just scroll down to the sunset and barbeque shots. No hard feelings.

Peter’s golf obsessed. This made gift-giving pretty easy this birthday and graduation season. Clubs, clothing, shoes, golf bag, paraphernalia, lessons… and a round or two at a chichi Hawaiian golf course.

In West Maui, that would be the Ka’anapali golf resort. I made reservations a few weeks ago and booked a 7:15 round at the Kai course, their slightly less-fancy option.

Nothing motivates Peter to get up early quite like a round of golf (apparently). I showed up at his snazzy resort at 6:00am sharp and he was all set. Here’s his lobby:

Snazzy lobbies and fancy-schmancy golf. We are not in Davis anymore.

The first thing we learned is that kids under 18 play free. So the first order of business was processing a big fat refund. They insisted. We rented clubs, bought balls and gloves, and of course had a cart, so probably came close spending right through what we’d saved on greens fees. But still.

Peter’s the driver:

Don’t read anything into that expression. His thrill level remained high throughout.

Swings and shots on the day:

Tee off….

Good out…

Concentration…

More concentration…

A very nice putt, but it missed!

THIS one did not… first birdie putt ever…

How great is that? Birthday round, Hawaiian course, putting for birdie, and actually making it–his first. Thank you golf gods, that was so generous of you.

And here’s his mama, looking all spiffy, don’t you think?

Only wished I’d not forgotten the giant black visor I’d gotten for the occasion.

I was so rusty. My best 10 shots were the ten I hit on the driving range–excellent each and every one. I was so hopeful. On the course, I had some good ones, but mostly I duffed, and hooked, and chunked, and sliced my way to an uncountable total.. too many mulligans to qualify as anything close to a legitimate round. After the first round of eighteen, I was stiffening up, so sat out most of the second eighteen (oh yeah, a story there.. see below)… but damn, it was fun. I am so, SO going to go out and play golf with Peter again.

Golf, it turns out, is a perfect activity if you’re the mom of a not very talkative teen. You can focus on the activity, and get quite a bit of chatting in between holes. Most of that chatting is golf related, but it still qualifies as quality time. He’s engaged, delighted to be with you. It’s the perfect grownup implementation of parallel play… everyone’s happy. I got to see Peter as I’ve never seen him. It’s not like I haven’t watched his every move in every baseball game he’s ever played (damn near, anyway), or watched his development with intense fascination from the time he was zero years old, but this is Peter playing golf. That’s new. And fascinating. He’s got moves. Like the hint of a swagger as he makes a put, or his strut to the tee. The way he uses the steering wheel of the golf cart to land him in the driver’s seat or the way he flips,  then catches, his ball out of the cup.  That kind of stuff. Even the way he interacted with the starter… there was a knowing, a little bit of a confident familiarity. It was all a bit of a glimpse at an adult Peter. And he is completely willing to let me into this new world of his.

I have great optimism for future rounds in lots of new places. Like Torrey Pines in La Jolla.

Anyway… ahem. Back to Hawaii..

Because I usta be a pretty good golfer, and because I’m so rusty right now, I’m a bit fascinated by this series. Again, skip ahead to the sunset and bbq shots if you’re really getting tired of golf talk.   These are screen shots of video Peter took and I love them!

The address:

The backswing:

(Wish that elbow were straighter.)

The downswing:

(Ackkk, again with the elbow!)

The stroke:

(Elbow, elbow, elbow!)

The follow through:

(Wish that left elbow was down a bit. And wow, but I lifted my head.)

The walk-off (probably disgusted):

But really… how fun is that!!

This is a blurry photo, but I like it… Peter in his new element:

Oh, and the double round thing: We learned upon signing in that if you paid for a full round of golf on the Kai course, and maybe because of the season (?), you were allowed to play a full second round on the Royal course–their flagship, signature course–for a greatly reduced fee ($39 each). A deal that, after some pleading on Peter’s part, but not much, we really couldn’t pass up.

So we did. Thirty six holes of Hawaiian golf, something like eight one-on-one hours tooling around a golf course by the ocean, with my kiddo. Heaven.

~~

Switching gears.

Darlene and I had decided to invite the whole bunch to our condo for a barbeque on Monday night. A gesture of thanks to the group, but mostly a birthday party for Peter, if four days early.

I of course was off flitting around a golf course while a lot of the set up needed to be done, but we’d purchased nearly everything the day before and had strategized our plans for the party already… so it was just a matter of pulling it all together and there was plenty of time for me to be a part of that before folks showed up. Darlene did a lot of prep work, though, so I was very grateful!

We assembled down by the grills, on the grassy area above the rocks.  A gorgeous spot. The boys showed up in their finest Hawaiian duds (pictured: Kelsey, Peter, Jordon, Reed and Daniel):

Fish was grilled, Mai Tais consumed (Yali and Denise):

I have not a single picture of all five boys looking good, but I have this one of each looking (unintentionally) goofy (Daniel, Peter, Jordon, Reed and Jacob):

A permanent resident of the complex takes it upon himself to carry on the tradition of sounding the conch at sunset. He said he felt like it was his responsibility (and, in fact, Kuleana–the name of our complex–means responsibility), and does it nightly. He hung around a little while and shared stories. Nice guy.

Who wouldn’t want to revere this?

After sunset, we headed back up to our place for cake…Peter does the honors…

A close up:

Mahalo local bakery!

The ladies wake up early and have breakfast on their lanai.

They marvel anew at their good fortune to have selected such a nice condo along the Ka’anapali coast:

Our place is actually nestled back in that greenery behind Darlene and, in case you forgot, looks like this:

After a walk on the beach to check out the environs and nearby condos (thinking ours the very best), eating seemed a high priority. So we headed a few miles past Lahaina to a place called Leoda’s, famous for its pies–both savory and sweet–and sandwiches. Yes, this will do.

We split a sandwich called “Pork, pork, Mmmm Pork” (grilled butter white bread, proscuitto, duroc ham, applewood bacon, salami, swiss, grain mustard, house balsamic) and another, the Seared Ahi (grilled rye bread, seared fresh sashimi grade tuna, avocado, caramelized kula onion, jarlsberg cheese, local basil pesto, garlic aioli and watercress).

And some islandy iced teas.

We also took home one each chicken pot pie and meat ‘n potato pie (which came with a side of horseradish)… for a later night when we didn’t feel like cooking (that was every night).

We chased those sandwiches right down with a shave ice that we got next door at the general store.. all crazy with various tropical flavors, a foundation of ice cream, and topped with cream, as though.

We drove back through Lahaina. While I’d been there before, I’d forgotten how lively and beachy (and touristy) it was. Very fun concentration of shops, restaurants, bars, galleries. I had not forgotten this banyan tree. A jaw-dropping tree of impressive diameter with roots that drop and take hold throughout its sizable canopy. It practically spans an entire square city block.

Walks are pretty along the Lahaina harbor…

Two son-less gals about town on an island far far away, we could be utterly spontaneous. We saw some guys on a forth story roof tuning guitars, looking like they were ramping up for a night of music. We found the stairs and headed up.

Turns out this is Mick Fleetwood’s restaurant (of the same name) and was crawling with boomers who had done their Lahaina homework. This was a great score. We settled into a place at the bar, ordered some fancy drinks, and were treated to the sundown ceremony at Fleetwood’s–a bagpipe concert, of sorts (because Mick is faithful to his Scottish roots).

First, here’s us at the bar:

Aren’t we goofy?

Here’s part of the drink menu (I got the Lime in the Coconut and D got the Mezcal Mule):

And here’s our bagpipe serenader as the sun set:

When he finished, the band took over and played all kinds of familiar rock tunes. Awesome.

And that was pretty much our Sunday. Hoping the boys are also having a fun time.

The next eight posts will be all travel log–pictures & commentary to document Peter’s post graduation trip to Maui. Now… that said, I don’t really have many photos that show Peter’s and his compadres’ adventures, as the boys largely imposed and enjoyed a parent-free vacation–most of the time, we parents were banished, sent off to enjoy our own adventures. Those, I have pictures of. Where our adventures intersected, which happened once or twice, I have some good kid shots… and will post, of course.

I am assembling the Hawaii vacations posts now, a few days following our return, but am composing each day’s summary in the present tense for that day. (Like I need to explain this…)

Here goes…

We picked Darlene and Jacob up at their house this morning at 4:30am, then hung out in the Hawaiian Air part of Terminal B. The Peet’s side (v. the Starbuck’s side, where the Southwest gates are). That was nice for a change! It’s always fun to watch the sun rise as you’re preparing to take off on a fabulous vacation:

Here are our travel companions:

Darlene…

Jacob (and Peter)….

I got to sit with Peter for both legs of the journey. Happy mom.

Verdant Maui! We arrived on the island, after a short layover in Honolulu, at 11:35am.

We hooked up with Reed-who’d flown in on another flight–in the Kahalui airport…

We made quick work of the car rental (not really), and headed to Mama’s Fish House, on the Hana Highway, just outside Pa’ia, to meet the others for lunch.

Parked the car, entered the grounds, and got our first on-the-ground beach sighting of the trip; ridiculously, tropically pretty :

Satisfied beach boys:

We all (our entire 14-person group) ended up in different dining rooms. Here’s our table (and yeah, the first of many umbrella drinks):

Also the first of many fish dishes. This was a swordfish-like fish, can’t remember the name, but excellent. The menu gives credit to the fishing boat and fisherman/woman who caught the fish, which was cool. That fresh.

Very pricy, but very worthwhile.

After lunch we walked around a little more…

… then headed back into Kahalui to provision up at Costco.

Here’s a shot along the way of these wonderful trees (not sure what they are, but they’re all over). I just love their canopy:

Hawaiian Costcos have lots of tropical fruit…

We first dropped off the boys (and a few bags of food) at their condo (Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort, North). The Bairs have a time share here. Five boys in one part of the condo (Peter, Jacob, Reed, Daniel and Jordon), and two 20-something women (Daniel’s sister Kelsey and her friend Carolyn) in the adjoining unit. Yali and Aaron were in another part of the North complex, and Denise, her daughter Helena, and boyfriend John were in the South complex.

Here’s Peter on their 6th floor balcony overlooking the ocean and pools. It did not suck.

Darlene and I drove north a couple miles to our place, an Airbnb unit I found–the much smaller, quieter Kuleana. The grounds at Kuleana are very well tended–clean, tidy and beautiful. We also later learned that the management is very fussy about every little thing… which is good, and helps to ensure that everybody’s visit is as perfect as it can be.

Our unit, completely adequate and thoughtfully featured, is about 50 yards from the water’s edge, a short meander away:

Here’s unit 309: second floor, on the left…

And the view from our lanai (I took the next few photos the following day, but wanted to post here to illustrate fabulousness):

Our beach is wonderful… semi-secluded, sandy, with a great view of Molokai and Lanai.

This is me all happy and pleasantly surprised… because you just never really know what you’re going to get with these things:

And back to today… here is Darlene as we sat on our beach (or in Darlene’s case, stood in the water) and watched the sunset:

Day one: exceeded all expectations.

A week after the fact… Jim, Peter and I finally got to celebrate Peter’s graduation from high school!  Between all the activities of last weekend, and then getting ready to take off for La Jolla and the UCSD orientation (which didn’t happen because Peter got sick), and then four days of Peter’s being sicker ‘n a dog… we just weren’t able to celebrate. But tonight… we did.

Peter’s choice: Buckhorn Steakhouse. Of course.

I always enjoy the drive to Winters, but it was especially dramatic this evening because of the heavy cloud cover:

And a couple other farmland shots…

Here’s the Buckhorn…

And Peter and Jim, while we waited for our table to be ready.. (do you think they look alike?):

Good dinner, great conversation, and a few clinking of glasses.

I’d spent a couple of hours this afternoon collecting my thoughts–finally–about how his graduation from high school touches me. It was a bit tearful, but mostly a gratifying exercise. He opened our cards when we got home, but hasn’t read my comments yet. They’re long, and he still has a lot to do to get ready for a 4:30am airport departure. I expect he’ll read them at some point, and take in some of what I said, but I also suspect the writing was more for me than for him.

Love that boy.

The high in Davis today was something like 77 degrees. And there’d been talk of rain, which didn’t materialize, but still. Seventy seven. In Davis. In June.

Riding along A Street, past the sociology building on way to lunch this afternoon. This view caught my eye.

Big doings on A Street. A water line going in, on its way to campus.  Hopefully, this means A Street gets a resurface soon.

(Yes, slow news day.)

~~

More notably, Peter and I are in Davis. We were supposed to have boarded a plane today for San Diego, where Peter was to attend orientation at UCSD tomorrow and Friday (and I, parent orientation). But Peter came down with a horrible sore throat, fever and headache yesterday. Jim took him in for a strep test this morning and Dr. Honeychurch recommended against the trip. Hard to share a dorm room with a stranger when you’re sick, not to mention it’s kind of uncool to expose said stranger to whatever germs you’re carrying. So we canceled. Incredibly bummed. Rescheduled orientation for September, just prior to moving into the dorms and starting school. Not ideal, but that’s what it is.

We got credit on our flight for a future flight–thank you Southwest–but the hotel was not so agreeable. Not even when I said we had a UCSD freshman and we’d love to simply move our reservation to September, and then would likely be returning guests for the next four years. Wouldn’t budge. I consider that horrible customer service, so will never go back. And you shouldn’t either: Inn by the Sea, La Jolla. Scratch them right off your list.

I’m still deep in the zone of wondering how this happened, how Peter and all his friends grew up so fast. It never seemed fast. Until now. Now it seems very fast. They used to be tiny and cute. Now they’re huge and manly.

Here are a few little men…

Jacob, Eli and Peter, Peter’s 10th birthday:

Reed and Peter, 6th grade graduation:

Peter and Walter, learning to blow bubbles, Southwest road trip, June 2007:

Peter and Daniel, first year of Crush, Fall 2008:

Peter and Jack, San Francisco birthday, age 12:

Tuolumne Meadows with Eli, summer 2009:

For just a sampling.

On to more mundane topics.

As if arthritis and the utter (unfamiliar and oddly embarrassing) loss of muscle tone were not enough, along come floaters.

I learned about floaters when, after a couple weeks of staring at this little hair-like line out of my left eye, I emailed my primary and ended up in the office of an ophthalmologist, who, after dilating my eyes and giving them a thorough exam, concluded the line wasn’t a symptom of detached retina (the bad thing they need to rule out) and was, predictably, a floater (a benign sign of aging that concerns nobody but me).

So, yeah, this is annoying, but good, in that it won’t lead to blindness kind of way.

Says the interwebs:

Floaters occur when the vitreous, a gel-like substance that fills about 80 percent of the eye and helps it maintain a round shape, slowly shrinks. As the vitreous shrinks, it becomes somewhat stringy, and the strands can cast tiny shadows on the retina. These are floaters.

Age-related changes to the eye are the most common cause of eye floaters. As light passes from the front of the eye to the back, it passes through the vitreous humor, that jelly-like substance inside your eyeball.

Changes to the vitreous humor can lead to the eye floaters. This is a common part of aging and is known as vitreous syneresis.

The thick vitreous begins to liquefy with age and the inside of the eyeball becomes crowded with debris and deposits. The microscopic fibers inside the vitreous begin to clump together. As they do, the debris can be caught in the path of the light as it passes through your eye. This will cast shadows on your retina, causing eye floaters.

I like having my eyeballs dilated. It makes everything really bright and is weird and fantastic. But even better, it’s like having brown eyes (well, black eyes, really), which I think, as an ongoing thing, would be really cool (said the person with the disappearing light blue eyes).

A selfie:

See? Dark eyes. They show up. They pop!

Until the pupils shrank back down.. back to blue. (Hey, didn’t Amy Winehouse write a song called Back to Black?)