Hawaii 2014

Hawaii 2014
Can you hear the rain? Peter and I are sitting on the porch, watching sheets of rain fall. The hibiscus and other tropical plants sway with the showers. We arrived in mauii on Friday to a sunny 80F day. The weekend was beautiful. Our house, that we are sharing with friends, Cindy and Rick, and Andy and Ken, is called the plantation. There are palm trees growing in the front yard in neat symmetric rows. I think that these trees are for sale.

Prelude to Hawaii ....on our way here, we attended John and Nicole's engagement party in Toronto on January 19th. Helmut walked his daughter down the aisle, at the Musket. Both Joanne and I gave greetings to the beaming couple. Both John and Nicole exchanged vows, and discussed how they tend to hurl together! Richard, Nicole's brother and the Musket chef,served an amazing meal of different meats, potatoes, vegetables and salads. No one left hungry!  Both Peter and I are very excited about the upcoming wedding in 2015 in Newfoundland .

Calgary was our next stop. Rick and Cindy served us a delicious meal, which we ate with Alex, Amanda and Paul. 4:30 am next morning, we left for the airport for the 6 hour flight to Mauii.
The flight was wonderful, smooth and uneventful . We flew in over the mountains of the Mauii crater, that are 10,000feet above sea level. The airport was an open air concept, with birds flying around, and just heavenly Hawaiian breeze. After renting our vehicles,  Rick a white ford edge, and Peter a grey Nissan Exterra, we set out to find Andy and Ken. Turns out, Ken had a little surfing booboo and will be playing tourist for the week. we all then head up to our plantation house in Haiku.

The house was built recently and has a wraparound porch . The interior really flows to the outside dining area and pool. There are 2outdoor showers to use and 3 bathrooms inside. The kitchen is large
And well equipped. We have all been cooking to different degrees. Rick has been creating wonderful sauces, and barbecued chicken,mystery meat dish(day1),and finger lick in' ribs. We have all supported the wine and spirits industries here. Andy even has enough wine corks to significantly add to her cork wall back home.

Saturday, Peter and I walked and ran the 8mile Kahakapao trail on the north of the island. The trees were very tall and reminded me of some BC vegetation. The trail was well demarcated and we met many friendly hikers and dog walkers. After returning to the plantation for lunch, we headed to the beach with Rick and Cindy . The beach was breathtaking , with the emerald green color of the Pacific Ocean, the pounding surf, and the velvet sand.

Peter and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary on January 26th. We ate lunch at Mama's fish house. Peter had a crispy maui ahi roll asan appetizer and I had crispy fried omaga cheek. Then, for the main cours, we both had uku, Hawaiian red snapper caught while free diving. Yummmmmmm!!!!! With full bellies, we decided to walk through downtown Paia. Peter found some Hawaiian shorts and I bought some locally designed dresses. There were surfers in the ocean,
Stacked , waiting for the biggest waves, and then balancing on their boards. Amazing!
Sunday night,we all played a mean game of Scrabble. Andy's phrase, " it's not the length, but the placement of the word?, that matters". Needless to say, Andy and Ken whooped the rest of us.

Monday, it rained. Our local black cat, who may be having kittens, was trying to get in the house.
We all headed to Kahalui and a beautiful shopping mall, that housed Macy's and Ben and Jerry's.
All of us had ice cream; Tina Fey's lemon blueberry swirl, banana peanut butter swirl, chocolate coffee bean ice cream, jimmy Fallon banana chocolate ice, and coconut cream pie.
We then headed to Zippy's for a wonderful noodle lunch. Rick cooked ribs on the barbecue last night,and they were amazing.
 


Tuesday, it was pi@@@ing rain again, and loyal followers, I mean torrential. Peter and I went for a little jog and a yoga DVD. Everything looks so lush. The hibiscus pink is so beautiful.

1. I am now sitting in a corner of our plantation house, watching our 3 men dice a cucumber. Ahhhh, vacation .