Cait the Bait's Blog: A New Trip Highlight!

Hello all! I've had a busy couple of days! Two evenings ago Bunny saw that I was watching TV at 5:30 so she decided I was too young to be in the house so early at night. She took me east along the coast line to show me some great places to see the sunset from a few cliff vantage points. We ended up being very close to where her son lives, so we stopped by his campsite to chat for a minute. She showed me a few places on the way back, but most of them were closed down by that time. Although I haven't seen it, I'm sure Maui has a very fantastic nightlife. I think, however, that the other half of the population does what I do; go to sleep when it gets dark and wake up when it gets light (hence the closed shops). It's a wonderful way to live, if you ask me. I did realize that night, however, that I have been missing out on some amazing nightscapes. The way the moon reflects off the water and clouds... It is not to be missed.

Yesterday morning I caught up on some phone calls, internet research, grocery shopping and such. Then Bunny and I set out for some adventure. There is a tropical plantation that I think Grandma would love. You can take a little bus trip to see how the fruit fields look, but there's also a lot of tropical flowers and gardens right around the main entrance. I realize why there are so many artists here now. Maui has such unique and strange plant life that it almost defies your preconceptions of what nature can do. Your imagination is free to run wild in a place where every flower your eyes can find is out of this world.

She then took me to the I'ao Valley, which is on the eastern part of the island. The angles of the mountains up there are SO steep! And such a beautiful lush green everywhere!

Next was an open-air mall covered in beautiful white canvases. It was a big mall, it out-sized Spokane's mall quite a bit. But the natural light coming in from up above sure made a huge difference. It was named after a Hawaiian queen who ruled for 16 years, but who made a huge impact on Hawaiian history, and she was the first female to ever rule in Hawaii.

Then (THE HIGHLIGHT!) we went to a beach on the north shore and saw kite surfers! I cannot explain how amazing this experience was. It is beyond words. SO MANY of them! Such speed, such power. Some were able to jump 30 feet into the air. Snowboarding looks boring compared to this. There were windsurfers as well, but I liked the kite surfing the most. Bunny and I just talked and watched them for about 45 minutes. There was a young girl, she couldn't have been more than 12, who was just ripping it up! She is my idol. I want to be like her when I grow up.

Lastly, we went to the county fair to watch Laura do the hula. We had a few hours to kill so we walked around some of the tents. They didn't have the agriculture/livestock aspect of the fair that we are used to, but they had an arts and crafts tent, as well as a better living tent. Plus all of the rides and games you could imagine. A world-known Hawaiian singer was playing that night (who I hadn't heard of before, nor can I remember his name, but he was good!) and he had hula dancers from Laura's school dance. This was also an amazing experience. FYI, hula dancers are not just the skinny, coconut clad women moving their hips. It is so much more than that. In a series of about 7 or 8 songs, different classes were featured, each performance wearing a new kind of dress. It was like watching a princess welcome royalty into her court with a dance of greeting. Their movements were so slow and graceful and precise. Their movements usually represented the story of the song being played, and even though I didn't know the language, you could understand what was happening to a point. Every dancer was smiling like it was the happiest moment in the world, but you could also tell the dance was for the audience. They would constantly readdresses the audience with their their hand motions, pulling us all into the story. It really redefines the concept of a beautiful woman. The fashion lines of New York and Paris might have one perspective, but this is most definitely another perspective on beauty altogether. A far surpassing one, if you ask me.