Maui Days 1-3: Haleakala and Beaches

I had a healthy fear of flying with a two and a half year old, especially since our last relatively short flight wasn't super smooth. But, Grace did great and apparently flying to Maui = party jet. There were free Mai Tais (I promptly dumped Steve's in his lap; it was awesome), they played Hawaiian music, and everyone cheered and clapped when the plane landed. We then entered a curious sub-culture of vacationers - we kept bumping into people from our flight at the grocery stores and Costco where I guess all the condo-renters stock up for the week.

Anyhow, we made our way to Kapalua via a gorgeous drive up the northwest coast of Maui. The water was sparkling, whales were spouting and Lana'i was in the distance. We headed over to the pool to try to get our wiggles out, and although it was windy and raining, Grace was game for some swimming. There was a great children's pool with fountains and waterfalls and an amazing view of the beach and Moloka'i. We vegged and prepared for our very early morning rise on Monday.

We had decided to split up the week and alternate site seeing/activity (lots of car) days with beach/pool days. So, first up was the drive to Haleakala, the volcano that formed east Maui, for sunrise while we were still on California time. Everything we read said we had to leave early - the summit was about two and a half hours from where we were staying, and we had heard that the parking lot at the top fills up early. Plus, the road is serious with tons of switchbacks and a climb to 10,000 feet, all in the dark. So we were on the road about 3:15. There were two or three parking spots left when we got there around 6:00. And it was FREEZING. We knew it would be much colder than the sea level areas and we'd brought some warmer clothes, but we saw that the forecast was for the fifties and packed for San Francisco. Whoops - we forgot about the wind chill. It was really windy and people were all bundled up and we weren't. Steve was brave and stood at the edge of the crater with the camera. Grace pretty much refused to be outside so fortunately there was an indoor area where we could still see the sunrise. I won't lie - I was glad Grace insisted on being with me.

It really was gorgeous. I don't often watch the sunrise (though i'm usually awake...) so I didn't realize how light it would be so long before the sun came up. We could see mostly clouds, the crater, and the island of Hawaii in the distance. Grace and I ventured out a few times to give Steve moral support.

We had planned to hike into the crater and spend the morning at Haleakala. Grace, however, was not interested and asked to get in the car to sleep. So we gave up and took a leisurely drive back down and enjoyed actually seeing all the switchbacks and views along the way. We took backroads over to a beach in Kahalui to break up the trip and then headed "home."

Post naps, we went down to Kapalua Bay Beach for the afternoon. It was pretty much exactly as you imagine Hawaii should be - clear, turquoise water, fine sand, palm trees all around and islands in the distance. It was also a perfect beach for us because the waves break sideways so the beach is protected and quite calm. Grace could go to the water's edge without getting too nervous (However, despite her recent enthusiasm for swimming, she suddenly decided all water was too cold during our trip. A kid who last summer wanted to get in the ocean in San Francisco, found the tropical water around Maui too cold... she wasn't even that into the pools. But she was more than happy to play in the sand endlessly). I was also surprised at most of the beaches we visited - they are much smaller and cove-like than I'm used to in most of California as well as up and down the East Coast, so they were not very crowded and felt more secluded.

Steve and I swam. The water was fabulous. We all napped and read and played in the sand. Eventually we packed up and walked along the coastal trail that runs throughout Kapalua.

That's me - swimming with Moloka'i in the background.

Along the coastal trail.

Tuesday morning we headed over to the pool, planning to spend the day. We staked out a sweet spot under the umbrellas, with a beach view. It was quite excellent... we had our books and newspapers, the playground was right there for when we got bored with the pools, hammocks, a gorgeous view, friendly families and mid-morning fruit brought around by the attendants. We stayed until Grace curled up on her lounge chair and tried to sleep. I think I would have been content to stay there the rest of the week, but we mobilized to go down to the Beach House for lunch. It was in an amazing setting just above DT Fleming Beach. We had a yummy Valentine's Day lunch of "PuPus".

We headed back to the condo so Grace could sleep while we sat on the lanai and napped and read. That lanai might have been my favorite place. Eventually we headed down to "our" pool and finally convinced Grace to really swim. She had quite a good time "convincing" her dad to swim too...

Back to our lanai for dinner and sunset and gearing up for our next day of adventuring. Sneak preview of the rest of the trip here.

A girl and her dad

Steve is out of town this weekend attending a conference. Grace had a bit of a whiny day with intermittent crying for no clear reason. Finally, instead of asking her to use a nice voice, I asked her why she was having such a rough day. Answer: "I love Daddy."

Umm, melt.

So we watched a movie and ate pizza and cuddled lots and read extra books before bed.

I miss him, too.

Aloha

We are just back from our week on Maui. It was, in a word, fabulous. But, it will take me some time to get caught up with all the pictures for a full update, so here are a few teasers...

Point Reyes

We had been wanting to visit Point Reyes since we moved here, but given schedules and the fact that like many coastal areas here, it is chilly in the summer, we had been waiting for a winter weekend. It seems Steve was on call for about half of January (maybe more?) so we blocked out the first weekend in February. We were supposed go meet Nat et al. there but they couldn't join us at the last minute (silly budget season!). We were sad not to see them, but still had a fabulous day.

There's something about early February in California - we always seem to have amazing weather for at least one weekend before the rain starts. We started out as soon as Steve returned home from a rather brutal night on call (nothing a little coffee and donuts couldn't solve). We headed toward Marin via Donut World, then west through the hills and woods just north of Mt. Tam. Point Reyes is only 30 miles northwest of the city, but takes about two hours to get there with traffic and rural roads. There are tons of dairy farms along the way and Grace spent approximately an hour asking where the cows were, where they had gone, why they were there again, why the boats were at the docks, where they came from, why they came from wherever they came from, etc. I know that "I don't know" isn't really a good answer, but sometimes I just don't know!

Anyhow, we made it to Drake's Beach in the late morning. Although it was high season (whale watching time), the beach was still relatively uncrowded. We had a picnic and Grace played in the sand (it turns out one of Grace's classmates and our neighbor was at the same beach, but we didn't see each other, too bad since she would have been so excited to see her friend). We walked for a bit and then looked up to see a giant elephant seal had beached itself. Those dudes are huge but more on that later. Eventually we boarded the shuttles that run the loop of the peninsula during the high season.

First, we went to the lighthouse. For some reason (perhaps her New England roots?), Grace is wild about lighthouses. The lighthouse is at the end of a point, down 308 stairs from the hill you've just climbed. She promised her dad she would walk the whole way there and back. Guess who ended up carrying her the entire way back. It was nap time and since we wouldn't let her sleep on the floor of the lighthouse, she opted to go boneless. 308 stairs is the equivalent of a 30 story building (according to the signs) and 28 pounds is a lot of two-year-old. But anyway, the lighthouse was really neat - the light is 140 years old. And the view from the point was gorgeous. We did not, however, see any whales. Apparently, February is the low point after January's southern migration and before the return north with their babies in March and April. Oh well.

After the lighthouse, we headed over to Chimney Rock. Grace was way too tired for us to attempt any hiking, but we walked out to the viewing area over the beach where the elephant seals congregate during breeding and pupping season. There were tons of them - the males have the elephant-like snouts - and they are HUGE. The largest males are about 5000 pounds and the females close to 2000. We had seen them at San Simeon once and it's scary when the males fight, so I was glad that we could keep our distance with Grace. It was pretty cool, and the view back toward the cliffs and beaches was amazing.

We caught the bus back to the car and headed home with a quick stop to see the San Andreas fault line on the eastern edge of the park. I guess Point Reyes is on a different plate from the rest of California and lurched 20 feet in the 1906 earthquake (yes, I'm full of trivia in this post - I read my guidebook. Aren't you lucky!). Grace conked out and we enjoyed a quiet drive home through more incredible scenery. We will definitely go back. There are more beaches I want to check out and the wooded eastern part of the park looked really lovely.

Another one off the bucket list, but since we have to return I'm not sure it counts? I spent the rest of the weekend telling Steve that I really don't want to ever move out of California (well, when I wasn't telling him that I want to move to Seattle right now).

Two and a half going on thirteen

Yikes, the mouth on my sweet girl. I wish I had written down all the things she has said to me in the past few weeks that have made my jaw drop, but of course I didn't. So just a few I do remember. . .

Me: After you finish your dinner, you can have a cookie.

Grace: What you having?

Me: I'm having a cookie because I finished my dinner.

Grace (total deadpan): Whoopee.

Me: Grace, here's your hat.

Grace (cocking her head to the side): Actually, I'm not going to wear my hat. It's not very cold.

Me: Time to go potty.

Grace: Never! NEVER!

Getting off the escalator at Nordstrom as Grace heads off in the opposite direction of the way we were going.

Me: We need to go this way.

Grace: I want to look at the cute shoes!

At a Super Bowl party, when Grace's friend's mother told the friend to say good-bye.

Grace: No, maybe you can stay just a tiny bit longer (holding up her fingers to indicate a "tiny bit".)

We also now, when riding in the car, have to take turns selecting songs on the radio. Grace gets to pick, then I get to pick, then it's her turn, and so on. She is quite opinionated and adamant when she doesn't like a song.

I love her verve and spunk. And I fear her teen years.

Hibernation

I suppose January was a pretty low key month... or at least I wasn't toting my camera around so I don't have much to show for it. After the holidays, I usually feel like hibernating and making my way through the pile of books I received for Christmas and just not really doing anything. So, I tried to keep January pretty unplanned to allow time for a lot of play dates and visits with friends. I spent a Saturday morning drinking tea and holding a friend's new baby. Grace and I stocked up on books and movies at the library while Steve was out of town. We worked hard at potty training (going pretty well!). We hit Taco Tuesday at Beach Chalet with the other fellows and families. We had a game night with some friends while the kids ran circles non-stop. We caught up with friends that live close but we never see. Steve and I saw a couple of good movies and I read several good books. Unfortunately, I also spent a lot of evenings working - it's going to be like that till we hit our huge milestones in April and May. All in all, though, it was a good month.

The last four places we've lived (Bethesda, San Diego, Boston and now San Francisco) have all been likely temporary and one or both of us was a student so we feel like we need to really maximize our free time with site-seeing and exploring or just getting out of the routine of working or studying. But, I'm realizing that when we're always doing and going, we don't have time to be spontaneous. This last month we've had time for last minute visits to the playground with the neighbors, blowing bubbles, riding bikes, drawing with sidewalk chalk or just spending a few hours doing nothing but being together. When we take time to just be, we feel rooted in our community. We have made it to the year/year-and-a-half mark in San Francisco, which we have found is the point where we start to really feel like we have a community.

Our future in San Francisco is uncertain. We might be here for the long haul (the original plan) or we might be moving next year or. . . who knows anymore. Either way, we have a bucket list of SF and California things to do and see. But, I'm realizing that I need to make sure there is plenty of doing nothing on that list as well.

Know Thyself

Early Sunday afternoon Steve and I had the following exchange:

Steve: Are you excited to watch the Super Bowl?
Me: Well, I'd rather hole up and have a Downton Abbey marathon.

About ten minutes later I was listening to the Wait Wait Don't Tell Me podcast while doing food prep for the week. They were discussing the Super Bowl when Peter Sagal explained that they were talking about the game that would be on while their audience was watching Downton Abbey.

Ahem.