We’ve now been here in Kihei, Maui, for three full days and are exhausted. This is a beautiful place and far different than I had imagined. We’ve shopped, driven to the top of a volcano for sunrise, and survived the Hana Road. But, other than to stand and look, we’ve not been to a beach. I’m certain that’s on the agenda for tomorrow!

The flight here was very long. We left Houston on time at about 11 a.m. and flew for over eight hours westward to Maui, landing in Kahului. We were dang glad to get off the airplane even though our seats were actually pretty good. We were able to make some changes so that we had the two aisle seats on the last row in the airplane with an empty middle seat between us. There appeared to be two open seats on the airplane and we had one of them next to us! We then waited a couple of hours for my brother Perry and his wife Chris to arrive from Los Angeles. Our daughter Jaelene and her husband Scott are also vacationing here at the same time in a different place, so they met us at the airport as well. We planned the week and headed for bed!

Tuesday was a shopping day. We spent the entire day in Lahaina. We met Jaelene and Scott, bought tickets to a Luau and snorkeling, and then walked Front street. Lots of T-Shirt places, lots of trinket shops. Not nearly as commercialized as St. Thomas or Ocho Rios, but very much for tourists. We had dinner on Tuesday evening with some friends that my folks made while they were here on a mission about twenty years ago, Virgil and Bonnie. He’s also a cousin. They were a lot of fun and we had a great dinner.

Wednesday was volcano day. We got up at 4 a.m., left at 4:50 a.m., and drove to the summit of Haleakala some 10,000 feet above sea level. We arrived about 45 minutes before sunrise and were quite cold by the time the sun peaked over the clouds below us. We were there with about 200 other hardy souls and drove back down shortly after sunrise. We stopped at Paia on the drive back and watched the surfers. The waves were pretty big and there were a lot of foolhardy surfers out in the ocean catching waves. It was quite a sight! We then drove the coast along western Maui past Lahaina, Kaanapali, up to Hanolua Bay. We were at the Hyatt Regency at 4:30 p.m. for a Luau where we met up with Jaelene and Scott. The seats were directly in front of the stage. The food was reasonably good and plentiful. The show was excellent. We’ve now done that and don’t need to go again.

Today was the drive to Hana — clockwise around the Haleakala volcano. The total trip is about 110 miles but it took us a good eleven hours. We stopped at several waterfalls, some of which were lovely, many of which were very sparse. They haven’t had much rain this winter and consequently, the area is very much in a drought. Hana itself is a very quaint, lovely town and it’d be fun to spend a few days there (if we didn’t have to do the very long drive again). Just before Hana we stopped at Nahiku where George Harrison once had a house. Spectacular drive, stunning coastline, great place to have lunch. Past Hana we stopped at the Seven Sacred Pools — which were down to a couple of almost dry pools due to the drought and then stopped at the Charles Lindbergh grave. The drive from there back to Kahului was over some pretty rough road which was also quite spectacular in places. We ordered delivery Chinese food and I spent a few minutes in the hot tub. Sure did feel good on the feet!

So, is Maui almost paradise? It sure is a wonderful place. It’s expensive. Everything is expensive. The lady at the rental car counter said that everyone has to work two jobs to make ends meet. I asked her what here second job was and she said, “A boyfriend.” The traffic is lousy. Life runs at a little slower pace along with pretty poor service. Parts of the island are stunningly beautiful. The Humpback Whales are here…. So, Maui definitely isn’t a parking lot nor dashboard lights — and could be considered to be almost paradise.