Maui March 12
There are vacations where I'm very stressed due to the tight schedule that we
have to follow. There are also vacations where I have to exert myself, such as
doing the Mt Kilimanjaro climb. This vacation is neither of these :-)
We slept in until the sun shined on the par 3 fairway in front of our lani.
The highlight of the day was not the shopping, the drive,
nor the snorkeling,
but the Sunday Morning service at the Sacred Hearts church right by the resort. The pastor told
a few jokes.
- Reverend Joseph Bukoski III, pastor of the Maria Lanakila Catholic Church
said this at the Sacred Heart Mission Church at Maui on the first Sunday of Lent
Mass.
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- Four devout Catholic women were having coffee after the Mass.
- The first lady said: "I'm so proud of my son. He is a priest. When he
comes into a room, everyone say 'Father'".
- The second lady said: "I'm also proud of my son. He is a bishop. When he
comes into a room, everyone say 'Your Revenerence'".
- The third lady said: "I'm extremely proud of my son. He is a cardinal.
When he comes into a room, everyone say 'Your Emminence'".
- The fourth lady remained silent for a few moments. She drank another sip of
her coffee and then said "My son is 6 foot 2; he is tall, blonde, and
handsome. He is a male stripper, so when he comes into a room, everyone say
"Oh my god!'"
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- Reverend Bukoski closed the service with this:
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- The Gore and Bush entourage landed at this airport.
- Gore and his assistants walked toward the terminal. They saw this old man with
a long white beard and two stone tablets. Gore ask "Hey, aren't you
Moses?" The man remained silent and indifferent.
- Then comes Bush and his party. Bush said "Hey, aren't you Moses?"
The man remained silent and indifferent. Bush pleaded, "Please answer me.
Aren't you Moses?" Finally the man said, "I don't really want to talk
to you. The last time I talk to a Bush, I wondered in the desert for 40
years!"
Theresa knew this is a different Mass from home when she noticed
that at the Pastor's reserved parking place was a new 4-wheel drive Ford F10
truck. He lived up to the expectations.
However, he was also very sincere and serious. He made a point about Ash Wed. The ashes represent the old,
the mistakes, and sin. We use this Lenten period of fasting, prayer, and
alms-giving to renew and reborn on Easter, which is spring for Church.
The highlight of the sermon was he telling us Anuenue is rainbow in Hawaii.
It's God's covenant with the people that never again there will be a flood. As
it turned out that rainbow in deed was very special for us on this vacation.
We then had a sumptuous breakfast buffet at the Terrace Restaurant in our
hotel. We had POG juice, which stands for Passion, Orange, and Guava juice. I
had scrambled, eggs, sausage, waffle with macadamia nuts and whipped cream, croissant, eggs
benedict, and a small sweet roll. Yummy. I was impressed by how
much chocolate sauce Theresa poured on her waffle.
After breakfast we drove and explored. Theresa saw an interesting cafe that
she wanted to visit later (but as it turned out that we never did). We rented our snorkel gear at Maui Dive Shop
( http://mauidiveshop.com/ ) and
booked our snorkel trip to Molikini.
We then went to Kaanapali and spent a few hours browsing and shopping at the
Whaler's Village. Some people complained about Maui because it's highly
developed for tourists. Well, Theresa and I never minded tourist places because we
are tourists! However, we try to avoid places that sell cheap souvenirs and
t-shirts.
An interesting whale sand sculpture. Next week would have been a whale festival
at Laihana.
We did enjoy going into the ABC store. You know that I am a nutty guy
because I love all kind of nuts. Of course, ABC store is heaven for me because
they had all kinds of macadamia nuts. At a clothing store I bought a few aloha shirts; one even
matching Theresa's dress. At Geogio she was also able to purchase this very nice
green dress and a red top. She looked very nice in them. You will see the photo
later.
We had a great lunch at the Hula Grill, which is right in front of the beach at
the Whaler's Village.
We were sitting on sand.
We had three
appetizers: spring rolls, fried wontons, and fried calamari. The three different
kinds of sauces were delicious. The hot mustard sauce for the wonton definitely
had an "attitude."
We then went to the Black Rock beach in front of the newly renovated
Sheraton. The water was a little chilly and a little choppy. I used my Canon
Elph Sport for the first time underwater. Let's hope the pictures actually turn
out.
Because the water was too choppy for Theresa, she walked and ran along the
beach past the Maui Hyatt Regency. It was a four miles round trip.
At the Sheraton, Theresa had a Mai Tai, and I had a Chi Chi (vodka in coconut
and pineapple juice). Delicious. We were not drunk, but we giggled a bit as we
scaled this gate in order to get back to our car. It was pretty memorable. In
22 years of being with Theresa, I think this was the first time that we scaled a
gate--it was a good thing that we did not kill ourselves!
The best part of after being on the beach was the hot shower. It's so nice to
feel squeaky clean after being in the ocean and with sand everywhere.
Dinner at Roy's Nicolina Restaurant ( www.royrestaurant.com
) was delicious.
I had Teri-glazed (whatever it is) sliced duck breast, and Theresa had grilled
tiger shrimps. She was especially impressed by her Roy's special reserved Chardonnay from
Santa Barbara.
What a day. And it was only our second day at this Island paradise.
