Happy New Year! (January 1, 2026)

 On our way to the Road to Hana. My belief is that how I spend New Year's Eve and New Year's Day is a portent of the year to come. 2026 promises to be a year of family and adventure.

On our way, we stopped at Ho'okipa Beach to look for sea turtles. The beach is recognized as perhaps the best place in the world for windsurfing. Brandy's looking over her shoulder.

Not surprisingly, strong current and high surf warning flags were up. River in the foreground, Mya and Piper at the water's edge.

Sure enough, sea turtles had dragged themselves on to the sand among the rocks. Good camo!

Chickens like the beach too!

Down the road, we took a dirt trail through the woods to arrive at Waioka Pond (Venus Pool). The ocean pounded just outside the freshwater pool. Are you crazy, Ryder? 

After the plunge

Opposite the Venus Pool is the Pacific Ocean. Coconuts litter the beach.

Mya worked very had to crack a coconut on the rocks. 

Delicious success!

Maui--more New Year's Eve (December 31, 2025)

We stopped at a Farmer's Market. Limes! Lemons! Coconuts! (No, we didn't go to a concert. Papa's wearing the resort wristband.)

Bees must love all the flora and fauna in Maui.

Coconuts guard their milk and meat with a very hard shell. Machetes are the best tool for cutting them open, I think. The pineapples must have been sold out.

How did we spend New Year's Eve? We watched the final episode of Season 5 of Stranger Things. And cried. If you know the ending, you know.

Maui--more New Year's Eve (December 31, 2025)

 

Papa and I visited the Kepaniwai Park & Heritage Gardens near the 'Iao Valley to learn more about the Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Puerto Rican, New England, and African-American immigrants who worked shaped Maui's culture. Above is a Hawaiian thatched-roof hut, called a hale (HAH-lay).

'Iao Stream runs next the park with a sign that advises swimming at your own risk.

The park features Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Portuguese structures, as well as a New England saltbox house.

The Chinese exhibit features a "cooling gazebo" like those that used to dot China's rural countryside so that farmers could rest in the shade and catch up with neighbors. The statues are of Sun Yat-Sen, who lived in Honolulu from 1879-1883, age 12-16. He returned to China and is credited with overthrowing the imperial dynasty in 1911. He is honored in Taiwan as the "Father of the Nation" and in China as "The Forerunner of the Revolution."

Papa and a Banyan tree in the park. The tree's branches drop roots that become additional trunks.

Maui--'Iao Valley (New Year's Eve 2025)

The 'Iao Valley is a sacred burying place for chiefs and the site of Maui's last great battle for supremacy. Invaders from the Big Island defeated Maui's warriors in 1790 thanks to a cannon they'd seized from a captured British vessel. The carnage was so massive that bodies clogged the stream. Strange to stand here today in the peaceful valley, where the stream once ran red with blood. 

 Papa, Mya, River, Piper, Brandy, Ryder stand before the 'Iao Needle, the 2250-foot high peak that is known as he phallic stone of Kanaloa, the Hawaiian god of the ocean.

River, Ryder, Brandy on the trail to the lookout point.

Papa with a banana from the trees flourishing along the stream.

Ryder, River, Papa and somebody's legs in front of Ryder. Piper's?

Maui, Day 6 (December 30, 2025)

We hung out at the pool and the beach for a quiet day. Mya and Piper made leis.

Piper shows us her lei made of plumeria, prized for its intoxicating scent and vibrant colors. The flower is native to the tropical regions of the Americas (Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, parts of South America). Plumeria was introduced to Hawaii in 1860 and thrives there.

Mya

A beautiful end to a beautiful day.

Maui (December 25, 2025-January 2, 2026)

Dinner at Duke's Beach House, an open-air restaurant at the Outrigger Kaanapali Resort, where we stayed. Piper, Brandy, me, Tom, River, Ryder. Mya took the photo.

Duke's Beach House's version of hula pie, a Maui dessert. Hula Pie is made with vanilla ice cream piled high on a chocolate cookie crust and topped with chocolate fudge, whipped cream, and macadamia nuts. The original version at Kimo's was made with macadamia nut ice cream.

Maui, Day 4 again (December 29, 2025)

The Haleakala Observatory at the summit is above one-third of the Earth's atmosphere and excellent for star gazing. We were sad that it isn't open to the public except by appointment.

Sunset above the clouds from the summit

Ryder, Brandy, and River at the top. Mya and Piper waited in the car because it was so cold and windy. Brandy mimicked several girls who were videoing themselves, probably for TikTok posts.

Overlooking the crater from the upper visitor center. The last eruption was in 1790.

Ryder at the summit visitor center. 

• Total Height: Measured from the ocean floor to its 10,023-foot summit, the volcano is about 28,000 to 30,000 feet tall.
• Underwater Depth: Roughly 19,680 to 20,000+ feet of the mountain is concealed beneath the Pacific Ocean.
• Ranking: It is the third-highest mountain on Earth when measured from its seamount base.

Tom and me, maybe overlooking the crater from the top? Not sure.

Brandy and me, freezing at the top in mid-40 degree temps, awaiting sunset.

 

Maui, more Day 4 (December 29, 2025)

Tom and his water bottle at the Leleiwi Overlook, offering a birds eye view of the volcanic crater in Haleakala National Park. The world's largest dormant volcano's crater floor is 7.5 miles wide, 2.5 miles wide, and 3,000 feet deep. 

Piper, Brandy, and Ryder at the lookout, above the clouds! Brings to mind Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." ("I've looked at clouds from both sides now, From up and down and still somehow, It's cloud illusions I recall, I really don't know clouds at all.")

River and Ryder across from the shelter. For an even better view of the crater?

Mamane (sophora chrysophylla), endemic to Hawaii, is crucial to the ecosystem, especially to the endangered palila bird. The flowers bloom in winter and spring at the overlook.

River at the top.

I have no idea what these are. Couldn't find them on Google. But they added beautiful color to the Leleiwi Overlook.

Brandy, Piper, and Ryder at the Leleiwi Overlook shelter.

 

Maui, Day 4 (December 29, 2025)

 On our way to Haleakala National Park, we walked on the nature trail in Hosmer Grove. We looked for 'amakihi, a common, vibrant yellow-green honeycreeper. We saw one of the little yellow birds on our way into the forest but not through the telescope. The experimental grove of non-native trees such as pine, spruce, cedar, and eucalyptus was developed in 1909 by Ralph Hosmer. His plan for timber farming in Hawaii didn't work out. Only 20 of the 86 species introduced there survived.

We saw a nene, the Hawaii state bird. The medium-sized goose, endemic to Hawaii, is endangered. 

Maui, end of Day 3 (December 28, 2025)

What better way to end a perfect day than with an open-bar plus dinner and possible whale spotting sunset cruise from Ka'anapali Beach? Thanks, Ryder! We waded about 20 feet from the shore to climb a ladder onto the Trilogy III.
 

Sisters taking in Maui

Papa and Brandy let the tequila sunrises and margaritas begin! 

The sister boat like ours

Headed back. We saw whales in the distance, but not up close. 

Time for a swim! I love the way this photo depicts the changing moment in parenthood when the child still needs Mama (to hold his shoes) but is moving away on his own, and his footprints are disappearing.

Sunset over the Pacific near Black Rock on Ka'anapali Beach, looking toward the islands of Lana'i and Moloka'i west of the beach.