Entries from July 21st, 2009

Guri-Guri

July 23rd, 2009 · No Comments

Donna had a freelance photography gig in afternoon so Dustin, Dallas and I hung out. We went to Queen Ka’ahumanu Shopping Center to look for a store but it had closed, so we just had lunch there. I had Maui Taco again, but Dustin and Dallas went for Blazin’ Steaks. We ran a few errands and then Dustin took us to get Guri-guri.

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Guri-guri is a cross between sherbert and ice cream. The only place you can get it is in Maui at Tasaka.

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When you walk into Tasaka, which is located in the Maui Mall in Kahului, there are just a couple people behind the counter. The older man behind the counter is Henry Tasaka and is the grandson of the founder. You can choose from two guri-guri flavors: strawberry or pineapple. I got one scoop of each. We paid a whopping $1.10 for two scoops, which are served in a little Dixie cup.
The recipe for guri-guri has been in the Tasaka family for 4 generations and is a closely guarded secret.

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It’s said that guri-guri originated during Hawaii’s plantaton days in the 1890′s. Supposedly the Japanese plantation workers pronounced “goodie-goodie” as “guri-guri” and the name stuck.

Dallas doesn’t really care for guri-guri so he got Maui made Kitch’n Cook’d potato chips. He did try just a taste of my guri-guri, but didn’t get any of his own.

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After our guri-guri adventure, Dustin took me to Billie J. Boutique (444 Hana Hwy, Kahului), a store that Donna loves. I got a dress, blouse, necklace and bracelet for less than $90, which I thought was a pretty good deal. I needed a dress for Cory & Chris’s wedding, so I was happy to find one at a great price!

Later on Dustin made kalbi ribs for us for dinner. Yum!

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Haleakala National Park

July 23rd, 2009 · No Comments

After seeing the sun rise on Haleakala we drove a bit further – to 10,000 feet – to see the silversword. Here you can see the parking lot down lower where we were standing when we saw the sun rise. 10,000 feet. It’s pretty high up there! I could definitely tell the difference when walking around.

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I had no idea what Donna was even saying when she said silversword. Silver? Sword? Turns out, silversword is a plant that has been threatened since 1922 and only grows on Maui at Haleakala at an elevations of about 6,500 to 10,000 feet. The silversword is called ahinahina in Hawaiian, which means “very gray.”

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The silversword almost went extinct because of excessive grazing by cattle and goats and by vandalism in the 1920s. There used to be so many silversword that people would just pull them up and roll them down the mountain.

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Since the 1920s the plant has been closely monitored and is considered to be conserved. It’s official status is still threatened, though. These plants eventually do flower, but none that we saw were in that stage.

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Haleakala National Park has more endangered species than any other park in the National Park Service.

As we walked out of a visitor center telling about Haleakala, we could see Science City, a gathering of space surveillance buildings and equipment. Haleakala is the ideal place for this sort of thing because the air is clear, dry and still, because of the elevation, and because there are no light pollution from cities. In fact, Haleakala is one of the most sought after locations in the world for ground-based telescopes. Science City is operated by the Department of Defense, University of Hawaii, the Smithsonian, Air Force, and the FAA.

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Down the road more we seemed to be at the edge of the world.

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You could barely make out the Kaheawa Wind Farm from the crater.

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Saw this on a bathroom break. I don’t know who has been going around drinking the toilet water, that they feel the need to post this sign, but we have all been officially warned!

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Oh, and requisite tourist shot of Dallas and I by the Haleakala National Park sign on the way out of the park.

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After exploring the park Donna and Dustin took us to breakfast and then we all went home with our full bellies and passed out. So tired from getting up so early!

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Haleakala

July 22nd, 2009 · 4 Comments

On our first full day on Maui we got up at 3 am to drive up to the summit of Haleakala volcano. Up and up and up a winding road we drove for about an hour. Haleakala means “house of the sun” in Hawaiian and this is where we came to see the sun rise.

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At the top it was COLD. About 40 degrees and windy. Our elevation was 9,740 feet. Almost 10,000 feet up. Did I also mention that it was about 4:30 a.m.?

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A lot of people were gathered, waiting for the sun to come up.

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Donna and Dustin and Dallas and I were among them.

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But, it was still a while before the sun would come up.

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The crater was filled with clouds.

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Haleakala is officially considered an active volcano. There have been many eruptions in the past 30,000 years, but the last one was in the 1600s.

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From the summit you look down into the crater which is 7 miles across, 2 miles wide, and 2,600 feet deep. The walls of the crater are steep and there’s not much to see inside.

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The sun was coming up in front of us.

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But the moon was still out behind us.

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Everyone was so excited and anxious to see the sun.

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Here comes the sun.. do do do doo do.

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Hawaiian folklore says that the depression at the summit of Haleakala was the home to the grandmother of Maui, a Hawaiian god. Legend says that Maui’s grandmother helped him capture the sun and force it to slow its journey across the sky to lengthen the day.

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It goes without saying that this is the highest point on Maui, right? Well, I said it anyway.

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Around this time it occurs to me that maybe I shouldn’t be looking directly into the sun through my camera. Everything started looking red. Like everything like Donna and Dustin and Dallas.

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Back to the sun.

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It was so gorgeous, I just kept taking photos!

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Beautiful. At almost 10,000 feet up.

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And, again, the sun is up now, but the moon is still out too.

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….on to Maui…

July 22nd, 2009 · 1 Comment

pog

So, all the photos I’ve posted so far of our trip to Hawaii were on Oahu. After 8 nights there we flew to Maui. And, of course, we were served POG on our inter-island flight. The best!

I’m going to try to finally start posting photos from the second half of our Hawaii trip, when we went to Maui and Kauai. There may be a few interruptions, but here goes!

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RIP Frank McCourt

July 21st, 2009 · No Comments

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I got into work this morning, turned on iTunes, fired up yesterday’s Fresh Air podcast and heard that Frank McCourt died. Sad. I loved his books so, so much. When I read Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis I lived on Bedford and Downing in New York. In part of those memoirs, McCourt mentions he lived at 46 Downing Street, just around the corner from my apartment. It made his stories all that more real for me.. walking past his old apartment every day while I was reading about his adventures there.

About 4 years ago McCourt did a reading in Chicago and I went to listen. I loved it. At the end I couldn’t help but ask if we could get our photo taken together. I was so excited. Some people get giddy about bands or movie stars. I was giddy over Frank McCourt.

McCourt was 78 and died of metastatic melanoma – skin cancer. Wear your sunscreen, people. And RIP, Frank McCourt.

PS. Here is the interview with McCourt that reran on Fresh Air yesterday.

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