California to Maui

Garry's quote for the day is "Mmm...Banana Bre--W.T.H.?!"

It's a fun quote, but we have to work up to it.

First things first, however, no pictures again as I discovered that I left my card reader in Baltimore. I'll be making a trip to Long's Drugs tomorrow to get one.

Meanwhile...

The alarm went off at 5am. We were up, showered, and out the door. Drove back to San Jose, circled the airport 2 times looking for the rental car return. Finally I dropped the boys off at Hawaiian Airlines so they could check the bags while I continuted the search. Finally I found it and arrived at the curbside check in ... just as the girl was slamming the desk shut. "We're closed now; you'll have to go inside to get your boarding pass." Of course, Russ and Garry got theirs already so it was just me. I went in....and found a line. Seems that Hawaiian's spiffy new "terminal-only" checkin system...with 4 terminals...was broken and they only had 2 tellers at the desk. Joy.

So I waiting and finally got in and through with about 30 min to spare.

While waiting for boarding, I decided to start recreating one of my older computer game favorites, and got quite a lot done before we had to get on the plane.

The ride to Oahu was uneventful. I kept working on the game and the time was over before I knew it.

We changed planes and hopped over to Maui.

Glorious.

We got the car and then immediately drove off to our destiny with...

Costco.

Every trip starts with Russ going to Costco ("Welcome to CostCo. I love you.") where he buys groceries for our stay. He bought food, wine, vegetables, fruit. We packed it in the car and drove off to our destiny with...

Kmart.

Another stop where we get the non-bulk supplies that we still need. Leis, shampoo, Garry's special deoderant, etc.

Then we were able to drive to the resort in Kihei. Checked in to a nice (if disappointing) room, unpacked the food and some of the clothes, then with the clock at 4pm headed to Little Beach!

Ah Little Beach. We'll get some pictures processed soon. It was beautiful, the waves were big and great for trying to body surf. Lots of people were there as it was Sunday, and Sunday is drum-circle sunset day. So there was a crowd of variously-skilled and variously-clothed and -unclothed beatniks pounding drums, playing flutes, etc. A small group of completely stoned folk were attempting to dance. Most were swimming, tossing footballs, etc...all the normal beach things.

And now we come to Garry's quote. So...there's a handful of people selling all sorts of questionable items. Some "handmade" necklaces, and more than just a couple variations on "herbs" and "brownies." Easy enough to smile and say no.

So we're laying on our beach towels, getting the last rays of the sun, wearing--of course--standard Little Beach beachwear, when a voice says, "Excuse me, would you like to buy some banana bread?" Garry moves his arm from across his eyes, sits up to say "No, thanks," and comes (ahem) "face to face" with a cute, little, blonde, 8-year-old girl!

That made for an odd moment. How exactly do you deal with that situation?

Still, he said "No" and she moved on.

Then sunset arrived and--as you'll see when we get the pictures--it was amazing.

We waiting until dark because that's typically when they bring out the flaming batons and hula-hoops, but this Sunday night seemed subdued and none appeared. So we packed up and headed back to the car.

In the room Garry and I put on swim suits and sat in the pool. Russ whipped up a great dinner.

We then fell into bed to sleep.

It was a good day.