Nate and I happily cashed in almost 3 years of miles to get tickets to Maui. Nate (and his poor shins) needed a break from teaching skiing and we really wanted a getaway together before the travel madness of 2011 begins. It's been a perfect week. I head out early to ride, Nate sleeps in, walks a short 200 feet to the shore from our condo and paddle surfs, we meet back for lunch and head to the beach for the afternoon. It's 80 every day. It's always windy so you never get too hot. The views are amazing. My recovery from my 4-5 hr rides has typically included insanely tasty island fruit and views like this:
It's been the best "vacation" ever. I quote vacation because I did come to train and always have homework to do. But even though this vacation has included 31 hrs of riding over 9 days on the best road riding I have ever done, it still has felt like the greatest vacation ever. The pavement is smooth, the views are astounding and diverse, the cars very courteous, and the climbing....oh my lord, the climbing! There is SO much climbing here, all on 4-10% grades, I don't think there was a ride I did that had less than 4,000 feet on the day. My "climbing" days had more like 7,000 feet. There is so much on this island to look at, to experience, to enjoy. I wish I could stay another month.
On the way to Haleakala
3.5 years ago we honeymooned on Kauai and the Big Island and swore we'd come back. This trip has been completely different than our first trip (yeah, we did guide-book recommended "excursions", went to a luau, stayed in hotels, etc. the first time around and it was great) This time we've had what feels like a more genuine experience-staying in a crappy little condo in a neighborhood full of total wingnuts (like the entire population of Paia :), cooking at home a lot, and making no plans until we wake up in the morning. I also feel like I have seen every little corner of the island, having ridden hundreds and hundreds of miles. This week has been exactly what we wanted: time together, riding and good surfing/paddleboarding. Mission more than accomplished.
It's not often that I have enough photos to do the talking for a blog entry . But, 8 days of training and playing in Maui was motivation enough to get the camera out for once:
Waimoku Falls.
Hiking through the bamboo to Waimoku Falls.
Water break in Keanae on the way to Hana.
1 comment:
SOOOOO BEautiful Manda! Glad you got some vaca time to reconnect with Nate, and it looks like, part of your soul. Such pretty pictures. I agree, that tree you loved probably would have been my favorite too!
xoxo
C
Post a Comment