Biking Maui 2014

Alright guys, this is a long one (69 pictures!  Yikes!) but hang in there with me.

You may need a little background on my history with bikes.  I learned to ride at 6, promptly wrecked and never wanted to ride again.  Learned again at 8 years old, fell off and landed on a prickly plant.  Had to have my mom pick almost invisible stickers out of my butt.  Never learned to ride properly after that.  If I needed to turn I usually freaked out and bailed off the bike.  Rode a bike once or twice in junior high but still couldn't really turn because I refuse to lean into it at all and my paranoia of falling.  

So here we are in Maui, our last day on that island and we had a mild dilemma.  Katie is a wimp.  I get motion sick which takes out almost all water activities (boating, paddle boarding, surfing, etc) and many car activities, zip lines were stupid expensive, and we had gone to all of the insider beaches that Richard knew about, and I can't ride a bike.  Not wanting to be the ruiner of things I said, maybe I could ride a bike if it was in an easier area (NOT down the mountain).  Tyler grabbed this morsel and ran with it.  Richard suggested we rent the electric bikes we had seen at the dive shop and Tyler said he had seen a tandem one we could ride together.  

We headed down to the shop but we had to wait for the bike guy to show up.  Apparently these bikes are new to the shop and no one else knew how to rent them or use them;  they looked brand new.  As we waited, Tyler looked at the tandem bike in disgust.  "Ugh!  I don't want to ride that.  Let's just get separate bikes."  Again, not wanting to be the stick and really hoping I was better at it than I remember, I agreed.  The man came and I told him that it had been a long time since I had ridden a bike and I never was very good at it.  I tried to make myself sound iffy but not too bad while Tyler took a probably more reasonable and realistic route and proceeded to try to scare the guy.  "So....if she wrecks, do we have to pay for all the damages?  Is there some sort of insurance we can buy?" etc.  The guy still doesn't seem to fully grasp the situation and he seems completely sure of the bike's electric motor and it's ability to allow even the most deficient human beings to ride a bike.  He asked if a little lesson in the parking lot would make me feel better and I agreed.

I wish we had video of this part, looking back it was totally hilarious.  He explains using the throttle.  I ask where the breaks are.  "The breaks?  They are on the handles."  "Both of those are breaks?  The only bikes I have ridden you pedal backwards to stop."  "So I guess you don't know about gears then?" "Nope".  He explains them in such detail I am completely lost.  Tyler chimes in, "It is just like changing gears in a car.  "You can drive a manual?" the dude asks incredulously.  "Yes I can" I try to reply without too much snootiness especially since in my head I was thinking, "But I listen to the motor and that is how I know when to shift, how do I know when to shift this thing?"  The guy seems to think that everything will fall into place once I ride the thing so I get on.  I am wobbling so bad that my straight line is more like a fast zig-zag at a very slow pace if that makes any sense.  Working the throttle and pedaling at the same time makes me anxious and I am shaking like I am having a seizure.  The boys jump the curb into the parking lot.  "I can't do that!"  the guy has realized the situation and he is walking at a quick pace to stay in front of me, close enough to maybe catch me but far enough away that I may not hit him (that is a big maybe) and he has a slight panic to his voice, "There is a ramp ahead!  Go to the ramp!"  while guiding me there, arms out to catch me, and a look on his face that says, this girl has never ridden a bike has she?  As I make my way around the parking lot the guy pulls Tyler aside, "Stay CLOSE to her okay?!"  I go around the parking lot once, so terrified that I have sweat completely through my shorts in that short amount of time.  I am trying to put on a brave face but I am pretty sure that I am going to die.  I think the guy is pretty sure of it too because he looks shaken and asks to take our picture with our bikes.  He tried to make it sound like it was because he was excited for us but I am quite sure it was to document either the state of me or the bike pre-ride.  

Here I am looking WAY more confident than I feel.  

As we left the parking lot, there were little old Asian ladies on the sidewalk.  I rang my bell but they didn't move.  The boys hopped the curb but I had to stop and awkwardly walk it down.  At this point I was certain of my demise and wondered how Tyler and Josh would fair without me.  After seeing me cross one street my husband was also certain of it and made us stop and practice in a parking lot.  I didn't get much better but enough that they thought we could move into mostly stranded streets.  I was a nervous wreck.  Passing cars, sharing the sidewalk with a pedestrian, crossing the street, everything had me in a tunnel-vision type of panic that I could barely breathe but slowly I got better and with every instant I didn't die I felt mildly better.  The boys were very patient and we took many small breaks and went very slowly at first.  

Here we stopped under the Front Street Banyan tree to have a lemonade (the best one I have ever had).  I love the Banyan trees, they are trees that send down vine-like branches which burrow into the ground making other trees connected to the original tree.  This park was full of trees all from the one original Banyan.  If the homeless looking guy who passed his joint to his buddy to tell us the history of the tree is correct, this is the third biggest Banyan in the world.  I always forgot to take off my helmet.  We all signed a contract saying we would wear our helmets "at all times" which ended up being about 5 minutes for the guys and literally at all times for me.  Each time we stopped they would have to remind me to take it off.  

 The original Banyan

 Some of the baby Banyans!

Richard is trying to figure out how to get to the coffee farm without killing me.  

The ride was beautiful!  I was feeling quite a bit more confident here where there weren't many other people to share the sidewalk and the ocean breeze felt amazing.  The view was so perfect it was hard to feel worried.  

 Selfie while riding?  I would have died but Tyler took quite a few.

Even though he did a great job getting us to the coffee farm in as isolated a route as possible, we did have to drive on the highway for a bit.  The picture looks like it was pretty dead but I assure you there were many many cars.  The rental guy assured me that there was a large shoulder but that was before he saw me ride.  It felt pretty small when cars flew by over 60 mph but I did it!

When we got to the coffee farm I really began to feel good about riding.  I had made it past all kinds of obstacles and this road was large and deserted.  The road was just off of the main road but we took one turn and suddenly it was quiet and smelled like a mixture of fresh mountain and Hawaii.  It smelled so amazing I wish I could describe it or bottle it to share; it was freedom and adventure mixed with victory.  

I have not retouched these pictures at all.  As we rode everything got greener and the road was red from dirt and the effect was incredible. 

Acres and acres of coffee plants

We stopped in the prettiest, shady place that we could find which turned out to be a person's driveway.  Wouldn't you love such a driveway?  There we ate a packed lunch including some smashed sandwiches that tasted perfectly amazing probably due to the freedom-adventure-victory air.  

I love my brother.  We actually look like we are related in this photo.  It's the smile.  I miss him; he and I are cut from the same cloth.  

This is before I realized that the lookout had a handful of wasp nests and the largest spider I have seen in a long time.  

The back of this house is just one huge window, you can see right through it!  But they have such a beautiful view.  Between the view and 3 garages,Tyler wants this house one day.

Back in Lahina riding through the resorts

My bike has a coffee branch and Tyler's has a bunch of green bananas that we found on the side of the road.  Kinda cute huh?

We stopped to look at the ocean and we happened upon a bunch of sea turtles.  I lost count at 8.  They were grazing on the rocks that made the shore.

When they graze their cute bums come out of the water

One of the better shed shells that we found.  This one is a black rock crab's shell.  They are actually very black but the shells turn red after they bake in the sun.  

 Guy paddle boarding with his dog

Tyler calls this my "Asian pose".  Stereotype you say?  I saw some pretty incredible poses done by Asians on our trip.  Many of them actually choreograph a little dance thing before they do a picture and then hold the last pose or they squat with their legs spread really far out almost like they are ninjas.  It was odd to us but hilarious.  We certainly have different cultures but the way I see it, they are going to have some pretty awesome pictures, maybe we should have channeled more Asian-ness when we took pictures.

We fell in love with Shave Ice the moment we tried it.  You can buy it every where on the islands.  It is not Hawaiian ice or snow cones.  The ice is shaved really finely and they really smother it in flavoring.  It is amazing and we ate it each and every day at least once since we tried it on the third day (we stayed 2 weeks so that is a lot of shave ice).  And it is shave ice, NOT shaved.  Only mainlanders add the "d".  They also will add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the bottom or li hing or condensed milk to the top.  (Li hing:  salty plum powder, see also delicious crack you add to almost anything to make it yummier)  Tyler and I had already scarfed ours down so if you notice that ours looks very similar to Richard's it is because it is Richard's.  

Richard and I watching the ghost crabs come out of their holes to throw sand and collect sticks

This is one of Tyler's favorite pictures of us.  I think it is because it captures us so nicely; it shows who we are and our relationship.  

We were all sad to give the bikes back but we had been riding for 8 hours and it was time to go back for dinner.  This ended up being one of our favorite days.

The Ahi fiasco

My brother mentioned that his awesome wife bought him a spear to go fishing.  My husband got super excited and they began making plans for becoming the best spear fishermen who ever speared.  My mother overheard and got all excited about eating fresh fish.  The boys looked guilty and explained that the spear was on Oahu (we are currently on Maui) and since my mother wasn't going to be hopping islands with us she would not be able to partake.  To soften the blow we suggested that we find a fish market somewhere.  On our way to take Abby to the airport we passed a hand made sign next to the beach "Fresh Fish".  It only took a few moments to agree we had time, a U-turn was made, and Tyler jumped out to buy a fish from the back of a local's truck next to the dock.  We waited in anticipation, no idea what kind of fish, how big, or how much it would cost.  Tyler tells us later that the fisherman said our Ahi had been swimming in the ocean an hour or two before so this is as close to fresh as we were going to get.  Soon we saw him, looking quite pleased with himself for a man that didn't do anything to obtain a fish other than pay.  Who am I kidding?  We were all quite pleased with ourselves and began referring to it as "Tyler's fish".  Perhaps that was our way of bowing out of the butchering process.

7lb Ahi for $15.  At the Costco in Maui they were selling it for $14 a lb.  What a deal!  We ran it back to the condo and covered it with ice so we could take Abby to the airport.

This is before the realization that.....

We only have dull condo knives to clean and butcher this thing.  

Tyler was a good sport.  He spent a long time trying to butcher this thing because the plan was to grill the fillets.  He realized that the cannot sever the head with the tools at hand and he will have to change strategies.  I have to admire his ability to stay calm as he, splattered with blood, blood covering/spattered across the sink, counters, and floor, informs me he would like us, preferably all of us, to run to the store to get the needed items for fish tacos.  I learn later this is so none of us will see him panic and the blood bath that then ensued.  When we returned, the fish was butchered the kitchen was spotless, the garbage had been taken out, and there was Tyler, smiling and calm as if he had not just been a crazed butchering cleaning machine.  Inside he is freaking out.  He has never cooked Ahi and doesn't really know how.  Grilling it is easy.  This way is much harder to get right.  In the end, the fish was delicious, no one knew how panicked Tyler had been, and my parents and Richard had their first ever fish tacos.  We ate every last bit of it.  

The Maui Aquarium

Abby had to go to the airport that evening so we were trying to decide if we would have time to come back and get her bags.  Tyler seemed confused.  "But we will have almost 5 hours from the time we get there until she needs to go to the airport.  There is no way we will stay there 5 hours."  Richard and I smiled and Abby looked at Tyler with what may have been pity.  "Oh no, Richard can spend 5 hours in an aquarium easily."  (me) "Me too, especially since we are going without kids."  We spent 4 1/2 hours there and could have easily spent another hour or two.  I am going to try to keep the fish pictures to a minimum.  

This is a Surgeon fish.  See the orange area at the base of his tail?  Those are two sharp scalpel-like spines, thus the name.  We saw these all over snorkeling, they are beautiful!.

And this is a Lagoon Trigger fish.  It has the same Hawaiian name as the state fish but looks a little different.

This is the state fish: Huma huma nuka nuka apua'a, or Wedgetail Triggerfish.

And this one is my favorite, the Huma huma nuka nuka apua'a, or Lagoon Triggerfish.  

The Moray Eel.  I saw two of these guys while snorkeling.  I think the boys saw more than that.  

Just look at that grumpy face!  That is the Scorpion fish and they have poisonous spines on their back, which I think it pretty unfair since they look just like a grumpy rock and could easily get stepped on.  I thought these ones were pretty big (I dunno...8 inches long?) but the boys found one while snorkeling that was over a foot long.  They said they were chasing one fish into a cave when suddenly, a big white mouth appeared in a rock!  

This little guy is only 1 year old.

This Stingray was enormous!

It was feeding time and this girl was swimming with silver jacks, white tip sharks, black tip sharks, grey reef sharks, and one tiger shark (yikes!).  Just look at how big the silver jack fish are!  When they are feeding they turn black because of some hormonal change.  

The tiger shark.  I can't remember her Hawaiian name but they have an official Hawaiian namer guy who comes in for every Tiger shark and watches them for hours to come up with a suitable Hawaiian name.  Her name means, "The one who does the right thing".  

Two year old turtle

I some times get so excited seeing animals that I don't usually see that I take a million pictures of them and forget about the people I am with.  But I have found that later, when I think back on the experience, I don't actually care as much about the animals, I care about the reactions of the people.  We had such a good time doing the aquarium in my favorite fashion:  reading every placard, listening to the audio guide, and excitedly telling each other about the interesting fact we had just learned.  Richard was the official question answerer and would turn to Abby for facts he couldn't quite remember.  Both of them told us even more information they had acquired about certain animals. We all pointed out hard to spot creatures and laughed over the odd ones.  Nothing brings out the best in us like learning and animals.  I love these pictures because you can almost hear the comments we are making and feel the awe we feel.  

This is one of my favorite pictures, I only wish that Richard was in focus, I would print this and hang it somewhere.  Maybe I still will.

Silly Tyler.  5 hours enough time?  Don't you know me and Richard by now?

The First Day in Maui 2014

*Warning* The vacation blogging will not be in order.  It also may not all be posted within the week depending on if Tyler can go through all the pictures on his camera, edit, then send them to me in a reasonable amount of time.  Oh and then there are underwater pictures from Richard I need to get too...So it may not be terribly organized.  I will try to keep the double, triple, etc shots to a minimum but sometimes it is hard to choose favorites.  Also, you may get very jealous.

We (Tyler and I) flew/were in airports all day long (9am Utah time to 2:30am Utah time/10:30 pm Maui time) so it was a small miracle that we still got up early the next day (By the way, I don't recommend doing it that way).  We crossed the street and took a little beach walk with Mom.  Mom was so wonderful to talk to, she is such an upbeat, excited person.  Not that there is much to complain about in Hawaii when you live across the street from the beach but it is more than that.  Every new thing that we saw was exciting-a new discovery that needed to be shared and cherished, not even being knocked down by the waves could dampen her spirit; her laughter filled the beach.  We walked along picking up coral and shells.  I tried to pick up a shell on a rock but it spit on me!  Abby told me that the creature in the shell is called an "opihi" and it clings to the rocks which is why Hawaiians call children who cling to their mothers ophihis.

The big event for this day was snorkeling off of a large catamaran, the Alii Nui.  We tried to take as many pictures of the beginning of the trip as possible because Mom and I know we tend to get motion sick and didn't know how the ride would end up.

This is our view in the harbor

Isn't my dad super handsome?  He looks right at home on a boat.  My husband looks right at home as well, too bad they married us motion sick pansies eh?  Actually, everyone was happy and feeling well as we drove down to the snorkeling spot.  Because ginger is supposed to calm a motion sick tummy I asked the bar if they had ginger ale.  They made the yummiest ginger ale with real crushed ginger.  So yummy.  So I was sucking them down with gusto hoping that they worked their magic.  

;

My parents are so darn cute.  Don'cha just love 'em?

Abby and Richard, like always, are so cute I could die.  

When we dropped anchor things began to get a little yucky.  We all had to listen to the rules and instructions and then most of us had to stay because it was our first time/long time since last time snorkeling.  The whole time I was holding back vomit and desperate to get off the ship.  Once in the water, the cold water brought me back for a bit.  The water was deep.  I am terrible with guessing measurements but I would say at least 30 feet deep, which means unless you can dive down, you can't see much up close.  The reef was beautiful and clean, the water was amazingly clear, and there were schools of fish swimming.  The crew saw that Richard was a good swimmer so when he had to go back to switch snorkel gear they asked if he wanted to take the short cut and let him dive off the boat which was pretty cool.  Richard and Tyler were diving down and really getting a good look at the sea life.  However, mom and I were sick again from the waves.  Really sick.  We both went back on the boat and sat in the back puking our guts out.  Here we are nauseous and repeatedly projectile vomiting, but as we chummed the water with ginger ale goodness, we created a feeding frenzy.  We probably got the best view of the fish out of every one there.  It was an odd sensation to feel so sick and see such an amazing sight simultaneously.  On our way back, Abby got to drive the boat which was pretty cool.  And Mom and I began to feel better with the boat moving and empty tummies.   It was a good experience but now that I have had many snorkeling adventures I think I maybe wouldn't do this one again only because of how sick I got.  If you have a stronger stomach, there is free food and drinks and it is a good time.  The crew was amazing and fun and they really do try to give you the best experience.