Saturday, November 27, 2010
Dream again
Is it just me, or has this year's trip been way busier than last year's?Since UK's loss on Wednesday nite (acknowledgment is the first step to acceptance), we've been snorkeling, sailing, and had Thanksgiving dinner. Lizzie Gray and I took a hula lesson, and 6 of the 9 of us climbed to the summit of Haleakala. All of that is in addition to watching the Iron Bowl on my iPhone (thank you, CBS Sports app!) and taking another stroll around lovely Lahaina after a gut-busting dinner at Bubba Gump's. Aren't vacations supposed to be relaxing?!
Actually, this one has been. One of my favorite excursions happened back before UK's loss - earlier that same day, to be exact. The boys and I did a little kayaking in the ocean. So did David and the girls (Sissy took her turn at the spa), but we weren't in the same boat, so along with Cap'n Cam and First Mate Payt, the boys and I paddled to nearby Black Rock meeting up for some swimming with their sisters and dad before boomeranging back where we started.
The next morning, we were on the water once again - we went snorkeling. We saw lots of coral and a couple of fish, and the boys went "snuba" diving. The best part to me, however, was swimming in the Pacific, while holding hands with Lizzie Gray to be sure neither one of us drifted away and ended up on the Big Island. We "chased" a ginormous sea turtle and swam over the coral-covered ruins of a pier demolished by a hurricane in the 1990s.After snorkeling, our Trilogy crew (seriously. If you come to Maui and want to snorkel, use these guys ... and not just because they're all adorable) took us sailing. We hit the wide open, choppy waters of a breathtaking Thanksgiving Day in the South Pacific. That far out, the sea is sapphire, topped with diamond-colored white caps. Had they asked if I just wanted to sail back to the mainland, I'd have definitely said yes. Then again, had we sailed back, Lizzie Gray and I would've missed our hula lesson.
We also would've missed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner - AND our Friday drive to Haleakala. This is a place that I've wanted to see for a long time. The reason why requires a little back story.So when we were in high school, my friend Stephen introduced me to the music of David Wilcox. Over the next four years, Stevie and I saw David play - I don't know - 50-some-odd times, and at each of those shows, he sang a song called "Make it Look Easy," and the first four lines of "Make it Look Easy" go like this:
"A bright kite he's hangin' from.Jon rides a glider above the clouds
He stepped off Haleakala,
ten thousand feet above the ground"
So, though I didn't, technically, "step off" Haleakala - that's the plan for my 40th birthday, since another Wilcox tune dictated the plans for my 30th - I did step ON Haleakala, which is just as good. Almost.
No, it's not. I'll be back.
But seriously. This place, a dormant volcano, is breathtaking. David Wilcox was right (not that I ever doubted him!) - it's 10,000 feet up, towering above the clouds. The terrain here on Maui is so diverse. Of course, there's the ocean, and that gives way to some really, almost rainforest-like areas and then there's Haleakala, which looks like it was ripped straight off the set of a George Lucas film - it was either ripped off of it or, more likely, inspired it. 
My favorite of these terrains is the ocean. That, of course, reminds me of another Wilcox song. There's this lyric in "Johnny's Camaro" that I sing every time I'm on a flight. No matter where I've been, when I'm heading back, this is floating through my mind: "She was dreaming over the ocean,
dreaming of being home again ..."
And that's what I'm dreaming of. After a beautiful, breathtaking, magnificent trip, I am dreaming of being home again.
But first, a few more dips in the Pacific.
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I agree this trip has been busy. I had to listen to the Kentucky-Tennessee football game today because Internet service was too slow. So I watched the Ohio State-Michigan game.Then it was off to the beach followed by a two hour nap and waking punt watch the South Carolina-Clemson game before heading out for dinner. I love this time zone. If I just didn't have too much vacation left at the end of my money, life would be perfect.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the adjunct position at Furman too!
Thanks for not posting the snorkeling dose up photo!
Sigh. As much as I love the mainland, I think I could live in Hawaii for a few months without complaint. Beautiful sights (including the family - though Momma Stultz looks a little lobster red on her shoulders)!!
ReplyDeleteSo glad ya'll had a Happy Thanksgiving on the island. If you want to bring me a souvenir upon your return home, you may.