Nine days on the blessed soil of Maui. Not full days, but nine days nonetheless. It wasn’t enough. Liz is editing footage right now from the whole experience, and I must say, it’s making me miss the place.
I will say this, I *do* feel ready to go home and have a few days to relax and get myself ready to attack the rest of the year. But…I really do miss Maui already. It was a rather incredible experience. I was talking about it with the Ho on the flight this afternoon back to the Bay, which is were we are currently — there was something about being on an island out in the middle of the ocean that was something pretty freaking incredible. I can’t really describe what that means, really…it was just…amazing to be out in the middle of the ocean, on this beautiful piece of land, feeling a breeze that can only come right off the middle of the ocean, seeing the sun set every night, a little rain storm here and there…I mean, it was just incredible. A piece of land that you could drive around in a DAY, give or take. I really really loved that. I really really loved being in that part of the world. And, it definitely makes me want to travel the world more. There’s just so much to see out there; different parts of this planet. Of all those parts, Maui is destined to be one of the most magical for me because of these past nine days.
We woke up pretty early, I took the Coopy for a walk, and then we loaded up the car and cleaned, made sure there wasn’t anything be left behind, and we were out the door. We did breakfast at Jamba Juice, returned some booze to Costco, fueled up the Captiva (which was seriously one of the nicest driving cars, or SUV to be precise, that I’ve ever driven. It legitimately made Liz and I want to look into getting one, preferably with hybrid technology), and then we dropped it off at the rental car place outside the airport.
My mom and Susan were right in front of us in line at the check-in counter, they were taking the same flight as us, which was magical. Check-in/Security was sweaty, but otherwise painless. I tried to get WiFi to watch the newest Captain America on the flight, which I’d rented from iTunes the night before, but there was no WiFi at Kuhului Airport (get your shit together, guys), and the movie hadn’t downloaded the night before because of our spotty internet at the inn.
Our flight boarded early, and then we were off. I read a decent chunk of Old Man’s War, which is a lot of fun, and chatted with the Ho about how nice the whole trip had been. Coops was great on the flight, and then before we knew it, we were landing in the Bay. We picked up her parents’ dog Rosie from the boarding place they’d put her up in, The Pawington (so fancy), and then we drove home. We were starving, so we ordered some Domino’s ahead. I took the Coops out for a walk as soon as we got here, and the food had arrived by the time I got back.
Both her mom and dad stopped by the bedroom just as we were settling in to talk about how amazing the trip had been. And, I know they really meant it. You can tell. My mom on the flight had done the same thing, stopped by to talk about how happy she was and how amazing the whole trip had been. It really was something very, very special…it’s sad that it’s now almost done, but I will never, ever forget it. Maui, the wedding, the adventures, the food, the people…any of it.
And, now, my eyes are closing. It’s been a long day…though my iPad is somehow still stuck on Maui time and the clock at the top of this window is absolutely positive that it’s only 9:35 at night.
Oh, Maui, I do miss you.