Ahead of schedule, my 737 took flight took off, westward bound. Now, I live about as west as one can get, so my trip above the clouds was mostly over the Pacific, a direction I've never gone before. The flight was smooth, relaxing. A wave of inspiration took over me; I wrote, I drew, and I edited one of my stories. It was a lovely flight. The seat next to me was vacant, but the gentleman sitting at the window shared a delightful conversation with me, telling me all about the AMAZING sights, sounds, flavors and experiences I was about to enjoy. My excitement built by the second.
The airline attendants brought us all a refreshingly strong local beverage on the house to set us in the right frame of mind for our destination. As we neared the shores, the gentleman in the aisle beside me pointed out the window and said, "Look! Whales!"
Indeed, right before the shores there were whales dancing and playing in the sunlight, right before the beaches of Maui.
"On behalf of Alaskan Air, we'd like to say 'Aloha' and welcome you to Hawaii."
Ah-ha!
Maui.
This was my first visit and I was thrilled as could be. My good friend from college lives in the islands and I have been promising her for years that I would come out and visit, but it wasn't until a colleague from work came up to me to initially ask if I would sit her house while she awayed on vacation. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to, but then a week later, she asked, "Sarah, if you have a good friend already there, why don't you just come with me?"
So I did.
Almost as soon as you step out of the ramp for the plane, you're outside. A warm, refreshing breeze kisses your cheek and welcomes you to paradise.
Of course, paradise is much warmer than home in winter, so I had to quickly change out from long pants and into island garb. One of the pieces of advice that I received from the gentleman on the plane, was to always wear my bathing suit, because you never know when you're going to swim and trust me, it's way more comfortable anyway. Alas, I didn't take that advice until day three, but learn from my mistakes, dear readers...learn.
Anyway, I strolled through the airport with my eyes wide open, hoping to absorb all that was around me. My friend from work, Carolyn, picked me up from the airport in a fun and quirky VW Rabbit, then off we went! We drove to the nearby bird sanctuary and took in a quiet, beautiful refuge for our feathered friends.
From there we went to a little diner where we enjoyed fish burgers with yummy papaya seed dressing salad. I was already a happy camper.
We had plans to drive over to Lahaina to meet my friend Julia who I had not seen in four or five years. (Since before I started blogging!)
We drove through the heart of Maui and over to the west coast where we pulled over (like everyone else) to watch the whales fly. Oh...my...God. In the twenty minutes we stood up on that cliff, I saw more whale activity than I have in my many years of whale watching on boats at home combined. They were spy hopping, playing, and spouting everywhere you looked. January through March is whale watching season in Hawaii. Every year the whales have their babies and make babies in the channel between Maui and Linai. I told my friend Carolyn as we stood up there, "Well, all I need to see now are some turtles and my friend Julia and I can go home."
We loaded ourselves back in Rabbit and off we went.
The road was so beautiful. It felt like home.
We parked in old Lahaina and walked to Front Street where we found my friend, Julia!!!! We greeted with a great big hug, before she took Carolyn and me on a brief tour around the old city. We walked to the Banyan Tree, which was HUGE!!!
It was all ONE tree! Have you ever seen such a spectacle? It was wonderful. The really interesting thing was when a gentleman climbed up in to the tree and plucked a chameleon out from the branches like it was his kitten.
We walked around the marina and the parks, we saw something called the Birthing Rock, which was the sacred spot where women would go to give birth at the hands of the sea. From there we walked around a bit more and settled for happy hour at a historic destination, Pioneer Inn.
Of course, when in Rome...The Mai Tais were delicious! So was the beer, which we'll get to in later posts.
As you can probably see from the photo, it was a bit bright. We had a rather chatty parrot sitting beside us, so we moved on to another Happy Hour where we enjoyed ourselves for some time. The second place was called Down the Hatch and it was a fun little spot.
We walked to the seaside once more to watch my first sunset in Maui.
It was a breath of fresh air and a nice signing-out to the first day of my vacation.
Can't wait to tell you all about it next time on, The Weekly Read.
See you then!
Your humble author,
S. Faxon
