Goodbye Paradise

We are just about out of here...sorry to say. But, we are a little homesick, we miss family. We have spent days at various beaches, did a little snorkeling, a little boogie boarding, some bike riding, wandering and day dreaming, and a lot of relaxing. What a gift, a blessing to be here.

Judy, Jill and Mom Good

Mom Good and Jill (Judy's sister) came to visit for a few days, it was fun showing them around. They left on Tuesday with the beginnings of a Maui tan, and a few beach bruises–sorry about that–it happens. We went to Haleakala Crater during their visit, an amazing place above the clouds...and cold. My photos don't do it justice.

Mom Good, Jill, and Judy–top of Haleakala Crater

Clouds rolling in over Haleakala Crater

View of the ocean and west Maui from under the clouds

Dave and Judy at Hailiimaili General Store

On the way to Haleakala we stopped for lunch at Hailiimaili General Store.
A very famous chef Bev Gannon owns the place, I recommend it highly–great food.

Kite boarding, west Maui

D.T.Flemming Beach, big waves.
On the cliff, far left, is one of the holes on Kapalua's Bay Course.

Dave at Flemming Beach (not a beached whale)

Dinner at Cool Cat Cafe, live music most nights,
best hamburgers in town.

Judy lounging. These chairs were evidently borrowed from one of the resorts close by,
left under the trees for anyone to use (if you knew where to look)–
we were lucky enough to get them occasionally.

Judy snorkeling

Sandcastles

Waxing Moon


That's all for now. See you next time.

Lessons from Maui

Pessimism vs. Optimism

I’m sorry to admit it, but, I’m a pessimist. For some reason, I always feel that things won’t go as planned. Why? I don’t know. On the other hand, in case you didn’t know it, Judy is an optimist. Let me give you an example. We had to get a new rental car today, Judy found a coupon for a free upgrade. Me being a pessimist, and reading the fine print—based on availability—I thought, no way. But, after waiting in line at the rental place, and showing up at the counter with a smile (mainly Judy), we got the upgrade. Actually, a double upgrade…imagine that!

Ray of Light

There’s more. We are driving back towards Lahaina, and we both see these wonderful rays of light spilling down between almost vertical mountains to the right. I say “think we should stop to take a picture?” <—pessimist) Judy says, “yes, let’s drive down that road.” <—optimist) So, we do. I take that photo (above) and we continue down the road, not knowing where it will lead, but enjoying the journey. We come across a pasture with horses below the mountain—an unbelievable sight (below). Judy says, let’s keep going, so we do. Further down that road we find another way back to Lahaina, and stumble across two golf courses that I had read about (Kahili and King Kamehameha), gorgeous places. Serendipity? Or providence for turning off the road?

A little piece of heaven

Kahili Golf Course

King Kamehameha Golf Club (private), Frank Lloyd Wright designed club house.

It’s saying yes rather than no, leaving yourself open to the possibilities. It’s turning off the road you know, to find another way home, and in doing so, discovering something better out there. I know that having time on our side allows us to do that. But, I wonder what the future would be like if we all turned down that road more often.

I’m so grateful we turned down that road today.

Rush hour on Maui

See you next time.

Aloha from Maui

View from highway north of Kapalua

Hello all,

We are now in beautiful Maui. Weather has been a mix of sunshine and clouds, no real rain yet, just warm sprinkles...we can live with that. And of course, wind. Lots of wind. We are settled in to our apartment, Paki Maui, just above the Ka'anapali Resort area, and south of Napili. There is a farmers market less than a block away, and a mexican food wagon sets up across the street most nights...great tacos! Everything we need is within walking distance (except books), or we ride bikes. We bought a couple of junkers--Mountain bikes--they work, thats all we need. I have found a spot on the beach under a tree not far from here, Judy and I snorkeled there yesterday. It's great to get on the bike, ride over to my spot, and read a book. Perfect. We read a lot, especially Judy. She finishes a book in 2 days or less, there is a stack on the coffee table. We can trade the books in at the used bookstore in Lahaina, they give us one book for two trade-in books, not bad.
We just do what we want most days, which normally includes going to the beach. Judy ran across a Italian saying in one of her books, it's "bel far niente." Loosely translated means "the art of doing nothing." We are trying to master this art.

View looking north from our hotel

View south from our hotel

Garden view from our room, a tropical forest in the middle of our complex.
Palm trees, exotic flowering plants, and a koi pond.

This is my internet bench, I can pick up on the wifi signal from the office here.

Koi, and pond.

I have managed to squeeze in a couple of rounds of golf, this course is the Dunes at Maui Lani.

A photo for the Northland folks (in my favorite spot).

Judy, near Makenna (south of Wailea).

People fishing near Makenna.

Thats all for now, will post again soon.

Australia

Belated greetings from Australia. Our NZ friend Mouse arranged for us to stay in an apartment in Australia, the Chevron Renaissance near Surfers Paradise. Beautiful place on the 23rd floor, great views as you can see below. Full Kitchen, 2 bedroom, 2 bath...amazing place for $100 per night. There was a market (and liquor store) on the ground floor, a bakery, donut shop, hair salon, and a raft of clothing stores, everything you could need really.

Kitchen area.

Living area and private balcony.

We went on a boat tour of the back bays and chanels near Surfers Paradise. It was an upscale tour, not what we are used to. The captain drove the boat and gave commentary on all the interesting sights...but, he didn't have to tend bar as well.

White house, white boat, talk about monochromatic.

Chateau (with solar panels) on the bay. Beautiful, but odd?

Floating church.

The Versace Hotel...6 star hotel folks.

Surfers Paradise.

Surfers Paradise.

Surfers Paradise.

Kirra beach, south of Surfers Paradise.

Beach near Coolangata, 30 minutes south of Surfers Paradise (you can see it in the distance). We loved Coolangata, it is more laid back, easy going little town. We found mexican food there, which we were craving.

Sail surfer.

Sail surfing, he is way out there.

This was our first trip to Australia, we enjoyed it very much. We celebrated Judy's 5 year cancer-free anniversary while we were there, no words can properly explain what that means to me, to us. Another blessing.

Lucky enough, we had an Australian junior cheerleading team (13 to 16yrs old) with us on the flight from Sidney to Honolulu. It was the red eye flight, 9 hours. The girls were about 3 rows behind us, of course their coaches were 15 rows in front of us–smart! Chatter boxes, I figure they stopped talking for about an hour, between 3 and 4 in the morning. Very memorable.

We are enjoying Maui now, will post again soon.