Back from Maui
Where have I been lately? In Kihei, Maui, Hawai‘i. Jason and I went down there for his brother’s wedding. 
We stayed in a condo complex called Hale Kai O Kihei, which was right on the beach and was really nice. The picture on the right is the view from our patio. You can see the water just on the other side of the palm trees, and the island Kaho‘olawe off in the distance.
Other than the wedding and related activities, we mostly just took it easy. I had to take it easy — on the second day of the trip, I got a sore throat, which the day after that, turned into a nasty chest cold. I’m still fighting that one off after a few days back in Seattle.
Before the cold hit hard we did some sightseeing, including a visit to the I‘ao Valley where we saw the I‘ao Needle (see the picture to the left) and marveled at how quickly the environment changed from dry and flat near Kahului to lush, green, and cool in the steep hills just 4 miles to the west.
It is interesting how small distances are on Maui. Even the famous road to Hana is only 52 miles. That is just about the longest drive you will ever take on that island, I imagine.
I had planned to use this Ask MetaFilter post as a resource to find things to do, but since I was ill, we had to put off a lot of activities until a later visit. It was more enjoyable to be ill on Maui, sitting by the beach, than to be ill in Seattle, at least!
I did get to accomplish a lifelong goal during this trip — I finally got to see the Southern Cross constellation, as well as Alpha and Beta Centauri. Having seen Canopus and Achernar on my last Hawai‘i visit, I can now check off the last few stars on the list of the 26 Brightest Stars. I’ve seen them all!
Wendi-
Hello! Was this your first trip to Maui? Did you do the Hana drive? Did you come back the same way you went, or did you take the verboten (according to the rental car company) drive back? Did you drive up to the volcano to watch the sun rise? We’re hoping to get back to the island sometime this year…BTW, long time no talk…Hope you are doing well!
I thought this quite fun:
I see Jason online and complain about something or other on my linux box… Jason logs in to my box and fixes it (Thanks), and then he’s like, “Do you want anything from HI?”
I ask, “Oh, when you heading there?”
He says, “I’m there now. On the beach.”
Now THAT is geeking out. In HI on the beach IMing friends back home.
Aaron! Where have you been? This was our second trip to Maui and we *still* haven’t gone to Hana! (I know, I know. Maybe we would have this time if I hadn’t gotten sick.) On the first trip we didn’t see sunrise at Haleakala, but we saw sunset. 🙂
Jack, that is funny. But oh, so typical.
Wendi-I’ve been around…Living in Edmonds, working for a music scheduling software company for the last few years, dabbling in radio in Seattle for the last 10+ years or so as well…
Really? Still doing radio? I want to hear about it. 🙂 I haven’t done any radio stuff since 1988, except for my online station. I kind of wish I had stayed in it, but in some ways I am glad I didn’t.