all you have to do......is listen

We are officially in Hawaii! And let me tell you, it’s beautiful here. Every place in the world seems so different. India is dirty, but so colorful, so cultural, it has its own beauty if you look to see it. Singapore is the most beautiful place in the world, I think, but it’s a blending of everywhere else, and its beauty is in its cleanness, its high-techness. But Hawaii is different too. Palm trees line roads and beaches, and you can look out to the ocean and it’s always different. Hawaii is cultural too, but it’s still American in some aspects. It’s honestly like that spot where vacation never ends. It’s always the same, but not in an annoying way. I guess I really wouldn’t like it if I lived here – no seasons, everywhere looks the same – but when you’re on vacation it’s nice not to have to think much.

Monday night we drove up to my grandparents’ house, where we spent the night before flying out at about ten Tuesday morning. Or rather I drove there, and got stuck in rush hour mixed with a really bad accident that turned a one-hour drive into a two-hour one. blah. but we made it fine and got to bed after dinner. Check-in at the airport and security was fairly uneventful, though mom and I both got out carry-ons opened because they thought our books looked suspicious ha-ha. And mine were paperbacks! August Rush was showing on the plane so my dad and I shared a pair of headphones, which was very cool because he’d never seen it before. He liked it a ton too. I’m getting rather proficient at quoting it. :P I finished Tuesdays with Morrie, wondering to the end why everyone raves about it, and I’m hunting around for something to swap it with here. The tennis court shack has a big selection, which I went to look at, but it’s pretty much all junk. oh well. ALL of our bags arrived, though mine came last which was slightly nerve-racking considering my history with loosing bags…..

We got our rental car, a white minivan which is needed because of everything we end up hauling around! decided that with all the luggage there was no room for going to Costco, so we headed straight for the condo and arrived just three minutes after check-in. Our condo is very nice, and for once I actually don’t have to sleep on a couch because mine pulls out into a heidabed. and I just discovered I have no idea whatsoever how to spell that word (open to suggestions…). {insert suggestion from Dad…Hideabed} The really nice part is that they have all the cooking equipment kind of stuff you would need, even a blender and rice cooker, etc. There’s two pools and barbeque areas, a tennis court, and we’re about two minutes from the beach with a sweet view of the ocean.

We got settled in at the condo, and after a bit decided it was dinner time. As we didn’t have any food yet, going out was about the only option (oh darn!). looked in this book, Maui Revealed, which has everything, the REAL TRUTH behind dining, lodging, and entertainment in Maui. After a little discussion we agreed on Peggy Sue’s, a little fifties-style diner which turned out to be a great choice and very cute. They have a big jukebox, and then they have little mini ones connected to the wall at every table! You can select the song from your table and then it sends the request to the big machine. my dad broke out a bunch of quarters and let us all choose a song. After dinner we went to a wine and cheese shop (my grandparents live off of wine lol – not really but they needed to stock up), and I started feeling pretty jet-lagged so I went back out to the van; decided that might be better than falling over and crashing into a bunch of fifty-dollar wine bottles. By the time we got to Costco I was feeling much better, though a little tired.

Pineapples are so cheap here! Actually, most fruit is really cheap, which is so nice, considering how much I love fruit. We stocked up on lots of foodstuff, probably more than we will be able to eat before we leave in my opinion. We went to WalMart too, and my grandpa bought me a flower lei made of orchids which is so pretty! Finally we got back to the condo and watched Remember the Titans. such a good movie!!!

Wednesday we drove up to Lahaina, which I guess used to be the capital of Hawaii for a very long time. It’s also home to the largest banyan tree in the U.S. The cool thing about banyan trees is that they grow up, and then when their branches decide they need more support they send roots down to the ground and start what looks like a new tree. This banyan tree is over 100 years old and looks like twenty different trees – it covers a whole city block! Lahaina is a cute little tourist town with shops lining the streets, so we spent most of the day there looking around; I bought a ukulele too which is so cute I laugh every time I play it! Near Lahaina they have a blowhole: a lava formation where the sea comes underneath the lava and then is forced up through a hole in the surface, sometimes as high as 70 feet. It was a pretty long and somewhat rough hike to get there, considering the hike, but very pretty once you got there and the spray and wind from the ocean took the heat away. My dad took like 100 pictures. :P We came back and watched the sunset, then messed around at the tennis courts for awhile which was very…interesting…especially since it was getting dark! We had steak and swordfish for dinner, with asparagus (that my dad insists is a breakfast food). Watched something I’m sure, though I can’t remember what it was now.

Thursday was somewhat relaxed; we slept in (at least I did) and hung out for awhile before heading to the pool to learn how to snorkel! yeah, that was funny. I can do the swimming around on the surface, and diving, but every time I try to get the water out of my snorkel I end up trying to choke instead. yeah….anyway we did that for about an hour and then went to the beach to try the real thing. which didn’t end up working after all because the surf was really choppy and there was sand everywhere and it wasn’t good for beginners. so we ended up grabbing the boogie boards instead and dad taught me how to “surf.” on a boogie board. which I have to say was a blast, though I’ve deduced that the ocean is more spit than anything else. If you’ve never gotten a mouthful of real true saltwater, you haven’t lived. I spent most of the time trying to get past the breakers and getting knocked over and beat up instead. then, once you finally get past, you have to go back again and kick like crazy until you catch the right wave, and then manage to hang onto your board and not breath all the way to shore, and not scream or open your mouth because you’ll get it full of salt water.

believe me, it’s a blast.

Yesterday was Friday, which also happened to be my dad’s birthday (I won’t tell you how old he is hahaha). We got up really early and drove the Road to Hana. you also haven’t lived if you haven’t done the Road to Hana. It’s this 34-mile long road with 600 curves in it. and I don’t mean cutesy little curves in the road, I mean major twists on a 1 ½ lane road where you can’t see the person on the other side, who is most likely bombing around the corner half-way in your lane. oh yes, and one side is a drop off. It was so much fun! Actually, the thing with the Road to Hana is that you’re not really trying to get to Hana. believe me, there’s nothing much there. it’s one of those trips where it’s all about the getting there. Hana is on the east side of the island, the rainy side, so everything is lush and green, and there are waterfalls around every bend. In our guide book it said you see every shade of green (including a rather unpleasant shade if you happen to try and read while going around the corners). The flowers there are gorgeous too. It’s certainly the more tropical side, and surprisingly not too terribly humid. or perhaps I’ve just gotten used to it by now. Anyway, we did a couple of hikes off the road to see pretty waterfalls, and even got to go through a little lava tube to the jungle on the other side, using my grandma’s little tiny flashlight. really now, who carries a miniature flashlight around with them everywhere? but I’m glad she had it so we got to go through the tube. It actually took us a full 6 hours to get to Hana, believe it or not. Then another half-hour or so took us to the Seven Sacred Pools (which there actually never were seven by the way, and they never were sacred. this guy made it up for publicity a long time ago, and it worked). Anyway, we got to go swimming in fresh water (yay!). It’s crazy how warm everything here is. In the ocean we weren’t cold at all, and even in this fresh water in the mountains it was only a little chilly at the beginning, and then felt really good. We took a million pictures there too.

on the way home we decided to go out for dinner, and let my dad choose dessert since it was his birthday. After getting back and freshening up, we went out to a hole-in-the-wall Italian place with very good food, and for dessert split a slice of chocolate mousse cake and tiramisu. I’ve decided that I LOOOOOVE tiramisu. never had it before last night, and I think I accidently ate most of it (ooops…). Then we all ran to Safeway to restock the food supply that isn’t anywhere near low. We did get ice cream though, so I’m certainly not complaining.

I think tomorrow we’re going up to Haleakala, the big mountain here, to watch the sunset. I’m gonna try and put some of our pictures up here pretty soon, so you can really “see” what we’re doing. I miss all of you though, but remember my e-mail and my cell phone still work….

What’s going on with all of you?