BLOG

One of our last days in Maui consisted of hiking down in to the Haleakala Crater. It is basically the thing to see when visiting Maui because it dominates the entire eastern side of the island, being the top of the volcano that erupted to form 2/3 of Maui. No matter where you drive in eastern Maui, you are always driving around the base of it.       The drive up is just the slightest bit insane. Not because the road is treacherous, but more because you ascend so rapidly, going from zero feet sea level to 10,000 in a bit less than an hour, covering 38 miles of switchbacks. Once on the top, it is massively colder than down on the sea. We found it to be 30 degrees colder, seeing as how the beach was a nice 80 and the summit was about 50 with a wind chill. This may make it seem like you need to bundle up and cover yourself pretty well, but you only need to do that if you're just watching the sun rise up there, which has gotten to be a major attraction for this park. Seeing as how it would have meant our getting up at about 5AM, it didn't happen, but we did get up there in the early morning to get some good morning light for photos.       Hiking down in the crater is a bit formidable. The trail is good, but it is a steep decline and the "shifting sands trail" live up to its name. While I write this, my ankles are still hurting from all the minor twists that I had. Dressing warming once you walk down in to the crater really isn't needed. This place holds the sun and is considerably warmer than on the summit, thus the reason the name of it means, in Hawaiian, "the house of the sun".       We walked in too far. There are a number of trails that will test anyone due to how steep the walk it, as well as the sharp depletion of oxygen in the air due to the height. We followed in a trail about four miles, which may not seem like a lot, but it descends 2,500 feet and there is only one way back out of that, which is, a climb up of 2,500 feet. Slogging one mile vertically makes for a tough hike. I don't regret it though. I just needed a day of sitting on my ass in a whale watching boat to make up for it.       In the end, I would tell people to go to Haleakala park, but go early. One reason to get up there early is that you'll have the entire trail to yourself, which is quite amazing. The other reason is that the clouds start rolling in around noon, forcefully killing the view from all points, including inside the crater. Don't bother with all that REI and Northface crap. Just wear something comfortable, put on some trusty running shoes, and bring maybe a liter of water apiece at most. Also, unless you're a glutton for hiking punishment, only hike in about a half hour or maybe an hour at most. The hike back out is a killer and you don't feel it until you've turned you're third bend in the switchback going up and keep thinking, "Christ, we aren't there yet?!!" while your head pounds with a massive headache for lack of succulent, life-giving oxygen.

Hana Road in Maui has great praise heaped upon it by guidebooks. The main book of two that we've been using, a Fodor's edition calls it, "One of the most beautiful drives in the world." Obviously, it is often the case that most guidebook will overstate with all the flowery prose within reach to convince you to travel somewhere (which is why I prefer the slightly cynical tone of Rough Guides.) And it is the situation with the Hana Road, as it skirts the northeastern chunk of Maui that while it is an interesting trip at various points, it is not something that I would ever say you needed to see before you died. If you're in Maui, sure, make the effort and drive the road. Otherwise, just enjoy pictures others took.       Our drive out was tough. We had gotten up early, flown five hours, picked up a rental car, got groceries, and then were heading down the road in the later part of the day pretty exhausted. We we're exactly in the mood for a slow, twisting road, but we made the best we could of it, stopping along the way to check out waterfalls and other interesting points that our guidebook mentioned. But, the road is twisty, double backs on itself at various points, and has these one lane bridges and other chunks of the road that make the 55 mile trip take more than two hours.       It can be an enjoyable trip if you take it easy and want to do all the stops, but as far as its overall "beauty", it's just a lush road the gets more and more tropical as you get closer to Hana. There are a number of drives that I find to be more beautiful than this such as the Napa Valley 29, the A-1 from Split to Dubrovnik in Croatia, and nearly any chunk of the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) from San Francisco to San Diego. While there are less attractions on these roads overall for their length, they are by far more scenic.       So, I guess it really comes down to what you're in to. If it's a bit of jungle-like scenery, with a few fruit stands, and some waterfalls, then Hana is for you. If it is more about just enjoying the drive, then it's probably not your thing. One tip I should add is that the hills and turns really burn up the gas, so having at least a half tank for the trip out is required. There is a gas station at the bottom end of Hana where you can fill up if you're a bit low.

I don't normally eat too much red meat. I don't know why I got on this kick, but it probably had to do with the fact that it's one of the least healthy meats you can eat in the US. Of course, every so often, I get a steak or a burger, if I know the meat is incredibly high quality, so I'm not adverse to it; I just don't make it a lifestyle.       For the current trip here in Hawaii, this has all changed. Why? Because the beef here is simply some of the best tasting meat that I've ever had. It's just succulent and full of flavor. It's like that that ad where they say, "Happy cheese comes from happy cows and happy cows are in California." Well, just think how happy a cow is for being in Hawaii. You can taste that happiness with each tasty bite.       So far, we've only had the beef offer in Maui and that may be the best. Whether it's a steak or a burger or a plate lunch in Lahaina, it's all damned good stuff. But, the fact that this is so good has even made me branch out a bit and I've been eating some fish as well because it has turned out to be really good as well. It is true that nothing is super cheap. For instance, lunch in a basic place is going to be a minimum of $8 a person without drinks, but for now, it's all worth it.       Oh, and happy 31st birthday to me!

I present you a riddle. The top picture in the montage below is:       - A local fisherman taking a midnight cruise throw eel infested waters       - A duck       - A couple of goofballs in their rented Mustang convertible.       Obviously, the correct choice is number two.       It says right at the start of the car rental section in the tour guide that we got that, "While that convertible Mustang may seem really tempting at the rental office, they are a sure sign of a tourist and will undoubtedly be broken in to while parked."       I see why they too the time to mention that. For some reason, I am seeing one after another of these damned things and yes, if I wanted to steal stuff from tourists, I would head straight for these vehicles. "Oooh, the top is up, can't steal nuthin' there. Oh wait, here's my knife."       The most popular color by far and away is red. It's like they've tagged and released you as a tourist in to the wild if you rent one of these things. I mean really, people are free to rent whatever they want, but I just found it really funny. Be free my little tourist, be free!       For our wheels, we picked up some kind of Chevy thing that's pretty weak and feels like someone tried to go offroading with it at some point, but it gets us around, has no pop-top for easy access to our belongings, and most importantly, is pretty cheap, although the gas mileage is typical of any tin box made by GM. By this, I mean that what I'm saving in the cost of the rental is being eaten up a the pump with the nearly $4 a gallon cost for gas here.