Aloha!

It's Friday afternoon here in Maui - but early Saturday morning back in the UK - and the Lesinas are doing their final packing before heading for the airport - they're on an overnight flight back to Oregon, via San Francisco, whereas Jo and I are not leaving until tomorrow (Saturday) morning for our flight back to Portland.

I haven't done a blog posting for over a week, but I've tried to keep the photo album up to date on Facebook, although there are a few unpublished ones I can use here.

First things first, however. Before we left Oregon, I paid my final visit to the dentist to get my crown fitted - and pay the bill - $2.5K in case you wondered. I'll start the fight with the insurance company when I get back. On Friday morning, Jo and I drove up to Portland and checked in to our overnight hotel, then called a Lyft (Uber "rival") to take us downtown to the Oregon Brewers' Festival. Nice location on the banks of the Columbia River and we had fun trying a few of the beers out - and some food too:

The following day's flight to Maui was OK - almost 6 hours long, but 3 hours of time difference "gained". We picked up our rental car - after the usual hassle - and drove over from the east side of the island to the west, where most of the big resorts are based. It's much drier on this side - the south east of the island in particular is much wetter - almost rain forest like - and yet the two coasts are less than an hour's drive apart at the narrow point of the island. I remember a similar experience when Jo, Kelly and I went to Kauai many years ago.

Day 1 (Sunday) in Hawaii we spent walking north along the beach to Black Rock, where rock jumping is the big thing. In the afternoon, we drove in to the nearest main town - Lahaina - and completed their various walking trails round this charming old town, including the Banyan Tree which takes over the whole of the village square:

You can only see a small part of the Banyan Tree - and already Jo's an expert on this strange growth and its air roots as she goes in to full teacher mode.

Day 2 (Monday) - Jo and I drove back over towards the east side of the island, stopping off at Iao Valley State Park, where we knew there were some scenic walks - and very nice they were too, despite the initial rather modest appearance:

Jo thought I only took this picture of her so I could get in the rather voluptuous young girl behind who was throwing poses as her partner kept photographing her.

The trail upstream became rather jungle-like.

No doubting this was the end of the trail.

After lunch at Marco's Italian restaurant, we took a short drive along to Kanaha Beach Park, where the wind was really blowing and the gaggle of windsurfers and kite surfers were having a ball:

Next stop was Maui Tropical Plantation, where we were initially slightly disappointed that the next two trolley tours were fully booked, but, in the end, we were quite happy just to take a walk around:

Lucy had booked a snorkel trip on Tuesday for all bar me - I'm not a good swimmer and have a bit of a fear of the ocean - so I was on my own for most of the day. What to do then? Initially, I thought of hiring a bike, so I headed down to the bike shop in Lahaina and spoke to the guy in charge there. It turns out I would need to hire the bike for a full day rather than a few hours - added to which there were no real trails nearby - I would have to cycle along the main coastal highway. No thanks.

I went back to our resort and dumped the car so I could walk to nearby Whaler's Village to pick up the bus service that would take me further north to Maui Brewing Co for a spot of lunch. By the time I got back, everyone had returned from their snorkelling trip and they seemed to have had a great time - especially judging by Lucy's photos.

I had a plan for Wednesday - a couple more trails for Jo and I to do. A few miles north is the Kapalua resort, another former plantation (ours is Kaanapali). Both have 2 high quality golf courses and umpteen hotel resorts. The first walk was short, but we should have taken note of its name - Cardio Loop. Yes, it was pretty hilly. Most of it was on former golf course buggy paths, but it wasn't too well signposted and there were lots of options on to other trails, so we got a bit lost and cut short our plans and headed for the next adventure along the Coastal Trail, which turned out to be really nice - especially at the rocky outcrop, where the wind nearly blew us in to the sea:

Walks over, we drove a couple of miles further to Honolua Bay, which was where everyone was snorkelling the day before:

The Lesinas had been at the luau at the Sheraton on Monday and had booked Jo and I in tonight. It was good fun - there was a ritual performed on distant Black Rock at sunset, and dancers and singers galore:

Thursday was time for Jo and I to head to the south east of the island to see the "other side". First stop was Twin Falls, which was mobbed, even at 10:30 am, so we didn't hang around long - a quick walk to the first falls, a few photos, then move on:

The next target - just 8 miles away - was the Garden of Eden, but little did we realise it would take us almost 40 minutes to get there along the narrow twisty road with lots of single track bridges. It was worth the effort, however. Lots of trails and viewpoints there:

We couldn't figure out what these strange blue fruits were.

So, the Lesinas are now on their way to the airport and Jo and I have been tasked with eating the remains of the various fridges etc in this 3 room villa - a tall order, I'll tell you!

We went out for a mid-morning breakfast today, after which Lucy took the boys to the store to stock up with foods for the journey, whilst Scott and I wandered over to the golf course and hit some balls on the range. Jo and I sat in the shade for a while and I jumped in the beautifully warm ocean for the last time this holiday.

That's the end of this massive missive.