Happy Busy Times

The last couple weeks were really great. Mattie was out here for 10 days and we worked from 5:30 - 1ish pretty much every day. After that we were free to explore the island. We had a great many adventures, from surfing with my dad to lounging in luxury with Daniel and Alissa to hiking with my mom to getting stuck in a closed off cave with Nick. All through we spent time with Lily and Meghan.

It all started off a few days before Mattie got here. For Mothers’ Day I went to go see one of my mom’s favorite bands (Kanekoa) on the South Shore. Before going to the concert she and I visited her sister Paige and hung out at the beach to catch sunset.

Daniel and Alissa flew in and the gang went disk golfing in the mountains.

For Mothers’ Day itself we went to another concert, this time bringing my sister, Nick, and Lily since this concert was early enough for Lily. It was one of Lily’s first concert experiences. In spite of her ear protection is was a little bit overwhelming for her and we spent a lot of the concert in the grass on the beautiful grounds of the hotel in Ka’anapali (the name of the town which I couldn’t remember while writing this post–Nick asked me to inform you all that he helped me remember just now).

After the concert we went out for some burgers. I think the highlight of the day for Lily were some absolutely transfixing lights wrapped around the palm trees. She’s learned to say “dat” and point at things and politely asked me to show her each one.

The Mattie arrived from Seattle. After a full day of work we went to Baldwin beach with the fam (Riv, Mei, Tamara, and Lily) and enjoyed the sun and the waves. Mattie got her first taste of how exciting Maui can be when there was a turtle chilling on the beach and no-one seemed particularly excited about it.

Of course I had to show the cool lava cliffs at La Perouse bay on the south shore. I particularly like this spot because it is the place that a European (La Perouse) landed twice on Maui, a few years apart. The first time was beautiful white sandy beaches and the second time lava cliffs. I love this because he must have looked so silly talking about these amazing beaches and then being confronted cliffs, but also because it shows that Haleakala is still active. It’s the most recent lava flow on the island.

Another day we went surfing in Lahaina. We had a huge crew. Mattie, Mei, Lily, Nick, Chip, Annie, Daniel, and Alissa. Judi (Daniel’s mom) even showed up and caught a few waves. Mattie caught several and all-around was pretty impressive for a first-timer. I think that everyone had a lot of fun.

After surfing, Mattie, Chip, Annie, and I went to Fleetwoods in Lahaina for Apps and drinks. The sunset was amazing.

Possibly my favorite place on the island isn’t actually very tropical. The island is home to most of the worlds climates. The high desert of Haleakala is just stunning. I love the history and looking out of the Kaupo and Ko’olau gaps 10,000 feet down to the ocean. That day was pretty cloudy so we–above the cloud line–were in an island in a sea of sky, also a spectacular way to experience the crater. At the top we caught some unusually good views of the Big Island.

After such a jam-packed few days we took a rest day and visited the Amsels at their hotel in Ka’anapali (remembering the name Ka’anapali actually came up at this point in the post, because I captioned the photos before writing the post.)

We hung out by the pool, I jumped off black rock, and we (Daniel) cooked an amazing dinner of sushi bowls.

One afternoon we decided to do the Commando hike with Nick. It started out as it normally does. (Although so many new streams were flowing I made a wrong turn before Nick corrected me.) You climb through some trees over a pool.

And up a waterfall.

The next step is into a tunnel with a stream flowing out of it. My pictures are pretty potato-quality at this point. Heading through the tunnel was fun and pretty normal until we reached the waterfall room where a large part of the roof had caved in and created an island. Still in the dark we climbed the waterfall and headed for the exit only to discover that it wasn’t there. It had been all sealed up with concrete. Still near the end there was light and we decided to climb out through a little door.

The door put us on a ledge, just a little way down from the top of the waterfall at the exit to commando. Nick quickly climbed up to the top only to decide it was pretty risky to climb up. After much consideration and looking at the alternatives we all headed up the cliff with Nick’s help. It would have been really easy with a rope to protect you, but it was definitely a bit sketchy.

At the top we climbed into the pool and jumped off the waterfall a few time. I messed up jumping one of the times on the slippery rocks and belly flopped straight into the pool.

Of course we had to check out the Rainbow Eucalyptus trees.

With my mom, Mattie and I hiked one of the most beautiful hikes on Maui. Waihe’e ridge. Even socked in with clouds at the top the views were stunning.

After Mattie left, Meghan knew about a secret hike to a waterfall near my mom’s house. We checked it out with my Aunt River.

Some my mom’s best friends, Mike and Ali, flew out to celebrate their anniversary and to see my mom. We had a nice picnic with the whole gang and played Bocce at the beach.

Until next time,

Sheyne