mag, 
  i am sorry, i should have thought to warn you about
the road to hana. it had just been more than 5 years
and i honestly took one ride that was even worse so
that was the monster that i remembered. the "road" was
not even on the map we had. if you could call it a
road. 

--- Magenta Raine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Five shades of blue
> By
> Tamar Mag Raine
> 
> Never in my life have I seen such jewels of color;
> five shades of blue—navy
> blue, with silver shining on top, like jewels on the
> sea. Then an almost
> electric blue, then several shades of turquoise,
> gleaming in the sun,
> always with an enormous expanse of fluffy, thick,
> white clouds seeming to
> hang in reams. The perfect blue sky lightens my mood
> no end.  Yes, surely,
> this is heaven.   
> 
> Azure blue -- Maui blue -- one and the same. Last
> night there was a
> heavenly purple and pink sunset -- tonight there
> were too many clouds to
> get that much color. Tomorrow I will try again to
> take some sunset photos.
> I was curious how we were getting gentle sprinkles
> on our heads when there
> were no clouds above us. We asked the guy at the
> Westin timeshare kiosk; it
> turns out that the trade winds blow the magical mist
> everywhere. 
> 
> Our first activity was a luau, in Lahaina called the
> Feast of Lele. And
> boy, they are not kidding when they call it a feast.
> The elevator at this
> place was broken, so they recruited some of the
> stronger male performers
> and waiters to lift me up several sets of stairs.
> Hmm, looking back, this
> was to be a recurring theme. The food was served in
> small shell bowls, and
> we tasted almost everything. I tried the muddy
> looking stuff, and it was
> awful. Later we learned it was called Poi, and it is
> an acquired taste.
> Ugh, never again! Boy, we were sure stuffed by
> desert! The dancers were
> fabulous and there was a fire-eater. I have always
> wondered at the sanity
> of fire eaters. So, we got the same people together
> to carry me in my
> wheelchair out of there, and we were on our way. For
> some reason our
> waiter, adorable in a long sarong, thought Angella
> was my nurse, and said
> he used to be a nurse too. It would not be the last
> time somebody in Hawaii
> pegged us as nurse and patient, even white people
> there, thought we were
> mother and daughter. Finally, Angella gave up trying
> to explain our
> relationship! Whatever they wanted us to be… So, we
> were rolling our eyes a
> lot. 
> 
> Speaking of clouds, yesterday we went by bus to
> Haleakala which is an
> ancient volcano. Breathtakingly beautiful, we were
> actually standing above
> the white clouds at 10,000 feet. There was volcanic
> rock everywhere, many
> shades of brown. Blue skies were the perfect
> backdrop for this scene. On
> our way, the bus driver/tour leader said the bus
> wasn't acting right, and
> worried us when he said there was only one bus with
> a chair lift. But they
> have coach buses that do have chair lifts. So, all
> was well, and another
> bus came and took us up the mountain. 
> 
> Several days ago, we went on a boat trip to the
> crescent-shaped piece of
> volcanic crater called Molokini, and while others
> went scuba diving, I
> popped on a yellow ring, and jumped into deep water
> with a very good
> looking crew member since Angella can't swim. The
> water was warm for the
> ocean, and I enjoyed the stimulating feel of it,
> but, after twenty minutes,
> my right arm began to tire of holding onto the
> noodles, so we swam back to
> the boat, and three strong young men got me back on
> the boat. Molokini is
> uninhabited and we couldn't go on the island, so
> lunch was served onboard
> ship. There were two women who looked like they
> might be sisters, who had
> some kind of spine problems, and they were using two
> tiny, tiny scooters to
> get around the boat. They geared up too, and were
> assisted to snorkel. 
> 
> Today was a free day, so we went to town to pick up
> the cash we needed in
> order to tip people properly, and eat at places that
> only take cash,
> etcetera. After that, we came back to Ka’anapali
> beach and strolled along
> the path and had an afternoon of shopping as women
> the world over love to
> do. One of the hotels has a mini mall and that is
> where I bought a
> wonderful, unique, silk patchwork cloth blanket. It
> is symbolic of my image
> of Hawaii; many colors of flowers and fish.  Each
> side has 30 different
> patches. At $80.00 it will be my biggest single
> purchase. The real big
> comforter of the same style was way, way over my
> budget at $335.00. At the
> same store, Angella found a peach beach dress on the
> bargain rack. She
> looks adorable in it.  On the way out of the mini
> mall, I bought a piece of
> bling bling – a pink ankle bracelet. 
> 
> When we got back to the lovely Westin, we decided to
> check out their
> Tropica Bar and restaurant, and had shish-kabobs and
> I had a margarita that
> was the relaxing note for the day. After that we
> came to our room and
> opened, and ate, half the box of chocolate caramel
> candy the concierge gave
> us. Then I decided we should try out the big beach
> wheelchair I rented, and
> boy, the thing is noisy! We did go to the sand, and
> we sat and admired the
> sky at sunset, with saffron being the color of the
> sunset tonight. I took
> many photos of the sky, the distant hills, and the
> boats that were cruising
> back and forth. After we got back, I wanted dinner,
> so, we went to the
> Westin’s Ono restaurant and I ordered calamari
> sticks, and Angella ordered
> a banana daiquiri.  
> 
> Today we had a free schedule until late afternoon,
> so after breakfast, we
> headed out to locate the artist that Angella wanted
> to see again so she
> could buy her fiancée a gift. We did not find her in
> her stall, so we
> headed to Whaler’s village where I pretty much had a
> fine shopping time. I
> found a beautiful silver necklace that was hearts
> with the curly shell
> symbol we have seen all over Maui. Then went to the
> environmental shop,
> where I bought a beautiful copper colored sea
> turtle, and a wooden carving
> of a dolphin.  I have been fixated on finding shells
> to take home and
> photograph or scan in different designs – no
> kidding, my notebook is full
> of pages of my designs. I think what influenced me
> are the waves, the hula
> girls we have seen, various shell designs, the
> slower pace of life here,
> the clouds… the circle of life, the embryo in the
> womb… Until tonight, I
> had been frustrated because I couldn't find very
> many shells… But tonight,
> after seeing Ulalena, which I will get to in a
> moment, I found baskets of
> many different kinds of shells, three baskets for
> $5.00! 
> 
> Now about Ulalena, absolutely spectacular, amazing,
> wonderful… It is dance,
> acrobatics, music, tells the story of how Hawaii was
> born, the innocence of
> the islanders, the awful things that happened when
> European settlers came
> to the islands. This show is definitely
> indescribable, and if you are here
> in Maui, you simply must see it! I was absolutely
> transported back in time,
> totally caught up in it. Five stars!
> 
> Impression of the Westin; the bathroom sink in my
> ADA bathroom could use a
> cut out, and the whole thing should be lowered to
> accommodate people who
> use wheelchairs. The roll-in shower is wonderful,
> and they have a nice
> sturdy shower chair, and there are two grab bars in
> the shower. There are
> also great grab bars by the toilet, though for
> complete independence, I
> 
=== message truncated ===


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