East Side of the Island
This morning, my husband woke up early enough to walk around outside and watch the sun rise. I was still sleepy. One thing I noticed is that there are a lot of roosters on this island and they start to crow well before sunrise. It’s easy for me to get used to the sound and just sleep through it, but it is unique to hear the crowing in the background for hours each morning.
I napped a lot today, actually, but it was just so peaceful to feel like there was nothing else I needed to be doing and to be able to enjoy the open air and be in bed at the same time. We still managed to be in town before the shops opened. Because we have a kitchenette in our room and because restaurants are expensive and a little scarce, we planned to stock up on things at the local grocery store and handle at least the majority of our food that way. It seems to be working out nicely.
The thing about Molokai is it isn’t very developed, which is why we chose to come here. There are no franchised restaurants or shops. Every business seems to be small and privately owned. The people are friendly and accommodating. The man who was next to us in line at the grocery store said “Thank you for visiting but please don’t stay.” He went on to explain that they don’t have much development on the island and his implication is “We’d like to keep it that way”
Everywhere we drive we see signs and graffiti about La’au Point. It seems most people want to “Save La’au” and the rest are saying “No La’au” and from what I can tell, there are people who want to develop the spot and people who want to keep it the way it is. It is on a point of the island reachable by dirt road, but there doesn’t seem to be any draw there. It’s kind of intriguing.
The views are spectacular whenever we can see the ocean. There are areas on the island that are just run-down looking. I mean, there is not much industry on the island since the Dole plantations closed. There are coffee, coconut, macadamia nut and sugar plantations. There is the tourist industry, but there are lots of people who are living in shacks or fishing for a living, and that seems like an ok thing to do. I can appreciate the culture more considering it is in this perfect climate with breathtaking landscapes. Everything is laid-back because that’s ok in this place. People are just satisfied and enjoy life. You can just tell.
The views on the drive to the East of the Island were absolutely gorgeous. The combination of fauna, volcanic rock, mountains, and water were different each moment along the drive. The roads are well-kept and smooth. The trip was up a twisty-turny road that becomes narrower and narrower as you go until it is only one lane and then eventually it ends and you just have to turn around. It was amazing to drive along and just stop wherever the view was striking and you could find room for people to drive around your car if you happened to park it there. I fell into a trance more than once just staring at the beauty around me. Having the windows open and just sitting in the car was lovely. There was a heavy breeze and everything was just so overwhelming. I napped a few times in a couple of the spots where we stopped. At times I felt like it was a little too much twisting and turning on the roads and I felt really dizzy from it and from the wind blowing through the car. It is definitely not a drive I would recommend to my mother. The views were worth it for me and my husband, but I don’t think she’d be able to enjoy any views if she had to ride on that road to get them.
At the end of the day we had dinner at the hotel restaurant and it was a peaceful way to end the day. It is open air and right on the beach, so you can look out over the ocean while you eat and there was live music (Hawaiian, of course) playing. It was cool and windy, and even though it was sunny and clear, whenever I heard a chair scraping across the cement, it took me a moment to process that it was not thunder. My body kept telling me it was pre-storm weather and interpreting that sound as thunder every time and I had to manually go back into my brain and say, “No, it was someone moving a chair.” Eventually, I gave up and decided that if I felt like it was going to storm, why not give in to my instinctive response which is to crawl into the blankets in bed and sleep soundly and comfortably through the storm.
I napped a lot today, actually, but it was just so peaceful to feel like there was nothing else I needed to be doing and to be able to enjoy the open air and be in bed at the same time. We still managed to be in town before the shops opened. Because we have a kitchenette in our room and because restaurants are expensive and a little scarce, we planned to stock up on things at the local grocery store and handle at least the majority of our food that way. It seems to be working out nicely.
The thing about Molokai is it isn’t very developed, which is why we chose to come here. There are no franchised restaurants or shops. Every business seems to be small and privately owned. The people are friendly and accommodating. The man who was next to us in line at the grocery store said “Thank you for visiting but please don’t stay.” He went on to explain that they don’t have much development on the island and his implication is “We’d like to keep it that way”
Everywhere we drive we see signs and graffiti about La’au Point. It seems most people want to “Save La’au” and the rest are saying “No La’au” and from what I can tell, there are people who want to develop the spot and people who want to keep it the way it is. It is on a point of the island reachable by dirt road, but there doesn’t seem to be any draw there. It’s kind of intriguing.
The views are spectacular whenever we can see the ocean. There are areas on the island that are just run-down looking. I mean, there is not much industry on the island since the Dole plantations closed. There are coffee, coconut, macadamia nut and sugar plantations. There is the tourist industry, but there are lots of people who are living in shacks or fishing for a living, and that seems like an ok thing to do. I can appreciate the culture more considering it is in this perfect climate with breathtaking landscapes. Everything is laid-back because that’s ok in this place. People are just satisfied and enjoy life. You can just tell.
The views on the drive to the East of the Island were absolutely gorgeous. The combination of fauna, volcanic rock, mountains, and water were different each moment along the drive. The roads are well-kept and smooth. The trip was up a twisty-turny road that becomes narrower and narrower as you go until it is only one lane and then eventually it ends and you just have to turn around. It was amazing to drive along and just stop wherever the view was striking and you could find room for people to drive around your car if you happened to park it there. I fell into a trance more than once just staring at the beauty around me. Having the windows open and just sitting in the car was lovely. There was a heavy breeze and everything was just so overwhelming. I napped a few times in a couple of the spots where we stopped. At times I felt like it was a little too much twisting and turning on the roads and I felt really dizzy from it and from the wind blowing through the car. It is definitely not a drive I would recommend to my mother. The views were worth it for me and my husband, but I don’t think she’d be able to enjoy any views if she had to ride on that road to get them.
At the end of the day we had dinner at the hotel restaurant and it was a peaceful way to end the day. It is open air and right on the beach, so you can look out over the ocean while you eat and there was live music (Hawaiian, of course) playing. It was cool and windy, and even though it was sunny and clear, whenever I heard a chair scraping across the cement, it took me a moment to process that it was not thunder. My body kept telling me it was pre-storm weather and interpreting that sound as thunder every time and I had to manually go back into my brain and say, “No, it was someone moving a chair.” Eventually, I gave up and decided that if I felt like it was going to storm, why not give in to my instinctive response which is to crawl into the blankets in bed and sleep soundly and comfortably through the storm.