A couple of days .... relaxing

Day 3 Jan 30, 2011

The day started out very early as the singing birds started at 5:30 am. There is one guy who lives outside our window and he is very vocal. The sky was mostly clear and the promise of a sunny day was in the air.

I got up early and did my morning ritual and spent far too much time sorting out a blog issue when in the end it was simply an error on my part where I used a / instead of a period in the address. What a pain but it got worked out and life went on from there. We enjoyed a nice Sunday breakfast complete with bacon and eggs and some of the Guava jam I have always enjoyed. My homemade Chai tea is not yet perfected in this environment as making do with other people’s equipment doesn’t bode well. However enjoyed it and sat and read on the lanai for a while. I have started an exercise routine that is showing how out of shape I am as my muscles are hurting but I will endure that to get back into some sort of shape.

Around 11 we ventured out and drove to Big Beach. It is a beach that is past Mekena and it had been a secluded beach when we found it many years ago. There is a smaller one next to it called Little beach (creative eh!) and it has always been the local nudist beach. Big beach today is now identified as part of a State Park and there is a huge lifeguard stand there equipped with a large beach buggy and all the necessary equipment to stage Pamela Anderson life guard scene. Along with this new equipment and identity comes a much larger contingent of sun worshippers as the once empty beach was lined with towels, chairs and umbrellas from one end to the other. It stretches for about 2 miles along the shore and has a pretty vicious breaker at the shoreline. That stopped many people once upon a time but not today. We found a spot and sank into our new chairs to feel the warmth and read/sleep and rest for a while. It was nice and we managed to stay for a couple of hours. That was probably too long for a first day but it felt so good. I managed to walk up to the newly parked JAWZ truck to get some drinks but other than that no energy was expended.

At around 2 PM we walked back to the car and went for a drive to the Wailea Centre to do some window shopping. After a couple of hours we left there with some small bags of things we probably didn’t realize we needed when we arrived there. It was fun chatting with the staff of the shops and getting a fix on their interest in the local tourists. We drove to Foodland and picked up some dinner makings and returned to the condo. The balance of the afternoon (not much time) was spent watching the seniors play golf at (Kapalui at the other end of the island). These are the big guys and they were playing a skins game and we could see the weather turn in that part of the island. It got windy and it started to rain heavily just as they were finishing. In our area the same weather followed very shortly after that and we watch the heavy rain calm the very rough seas. While we were watching we could see whales out frolicking in the ocean from our lanai. While I was using the binoculars one whale did a full breach and landed with a huge splash right in front of us. Granted they were quite a ways away but it is fun to watch none-the-less.

Just before dinner we skyped (now that is a new verb) with Bree and Gray and ended up being at the end of the dinner table as they were having dinner with Tara-Lee, Jamie and Tanya. It was fun to see and talk to them and hear about their activities. Bree showed us the ultrasound pictures of Thordier and we saw her tummy in its growing state. Tanya showed us hers too as she is due a couple of months after Bree. It will be fun for them to bring up their kids as they will be so close in age. We even saw Scout but he was not interested in our presence. Good chat and it was fun o see them happy and together.

I used the nearby BBQ and cooked up some nice steaks for Sunday dinner and discussed what we might do with the rest of the week here. I am not sure what we concluded but we shall see as the week unfolds.

Day 4 – Jan 31, 2011 (Monday)

The day started slowly with the sun shining and it was a tad windy. After morning exercises, routines and a light breakfast we set off to the beach. A return visit to Big Beach was the choice to see if the crowds we experienced the day before were just weekend traffic. It turns out that the beach has much more favour with the tourists this year and we found many people there. We stayed for a couple of uneventful hours even though we watched the whales parade by in numbers. The wind was high enough that the sand was blowing in our faces and that tends to detract from the whole experience.

Somewhere around 1 pm we decided to go to Fred’s for some Mexican food and a Margarita. We shared a quesadilla with large chunks of chicken inside and enjoyed the food and beverages. We then decided to take a drive on one of the interior roads (there are not many) that would take us to the Southern most point of the island. We found good roads along the way and passed through Pukalani, Pulehu, Waiakoa and then Kula. The road through these towns afforded a view of the lower island area as we were continuously climbing the side of the Haleakala Volcano but noy going to the crater. When we got to Ulupalakua we passed the Tedeschi Vineyards Maui Winery. We noted that for a stop on our return.
Shortly there after the road narrowed considerably and most of the traffic coming toward us was small tourist buses form either ships or hotels. This route actually connects with Hana but along the S coast. There are two sections on the island where rental cars are without agreements with their providers. This is one of them and there seemed to be quite a few rentals out there. We continued until we got to the shore of the South side of the island. The land varied form farm land to desert to large treed forest to ground covered lava fields right down to the lava shore line. The different areas are so starkly varied that they make one feel that they are fast forwarding through many agricultural regions. It was interesting and somewhat scary as we pushed along the narrow winding road heading for the next curve and dip. Once at the shore we walked about and shot some pictures of the rugged coastline with the lava rock everywhere.

Our return trip was quite quick as I was now familiar with the curves and dips and had some fun driving this narrow road. We stopped at the winery and tasted four wines and a champagne. The first one was a pineapple wine (sweet) but very tasty. We purchased one of those for summertime consumption at Lake Bernard. The other wines were fruit and grape wines from their 23 acres down the highway. They were tasty but noy well finished in my view. The only red was similar to a light Pinot Noir but it was very acidic. Nice little spot with some frisky ladies who worked the tourists. They were fun to listen to. Approx 30 small buses stop there every day.

We returned to the lowlands and picked up some pasta dinner and we cooked at home. I BBQ’d some sausages along with a group of 49 partiers form Cornwall Ont as they gathered for dinner around the BBQ as a meet and greet for two families involved in a wedding on Maui. Our next door neighbours here are John and Lynn with their son and they live in Kingston ON. It is just too small a world. That was the end of an easy day but enjoyable

none-the-less.