The Aloha State
Two close friends got Mauied last Saturday, and I can think of few better reasons for a trip to Hawaii to celebrate with them.
We stayed at the Aston Maui Kanaapali Villas, which was perfect for a couple of reasons. First, their beach.
Secondly, most of the resort is rentable condo units, so we didn't just have hotel rooms-we had full kitchens. So we used them. The second night on Maui, my sister and I popped An Affair to Remember (the lone film in my condo) into the DVD player and cooked dinner for the group. We ate on the patio, a luxury that hasn't been possible in Phoenix for months.
And of course, the entire reason we were there: Tim and Ed, getting Mauied on a patch of grass overlooking the beach, in a traditional Hawaiian ceremony.
Personalized menus for the occasion.
The food.
And the cake.
The clouds over Molokai dispersed as the sun set-a sight rarely seen, according to the locals.
It was a perfect, beautiful night-even if a purse did catch on fire.
A couple of days after the wedding, we went on a bike tour of Haleakala. This involved a 1:15am pickup from our hotel, hour-long van ride to the bike shop for registration/orientation, then a 90-minute, twisting, turning, bizarrely-narrated bus ride to the top of the volcano, where we huddled, freezing and wind-whipped, for another hour as we waited for the sun to rise.
Admittedly, it was beautiful when it finally happened.
But I don't think any of us is eager to do that again.
Then, it was time for a 24-mile bike ride down the side of the volcano. In between barreling downhill at speeds approaching 40mph, with no regard for life or limb, we stopped for pictures.
The next day, we drove the Road to Hana, which began with a small dust storm.
Once we really got underway, though, it was gorgeous. View of the ocean from the Seven Sacred Pools.
Black sand beach.
It was really, really hard to leave. I'd never been to Hawaii before, and it was wonderful, a place where you truly do feel happily disconnected from your real life and the real world.