Rain on Maui

 I think just like with Lahaina burning down the Hawaiian Islands have been dealing with a relative drought otherwise Lahaina likely wouldn't have burned down. When you arrive on Maui if you are going or visiting Lahaina side they make it difficult (but not impossible) to see the devastation still there with burned out homes and businesses. For example, when you come into the south part of Lahaina the main road there is blocked off to all but locals either visiting their burned out properties or local business people entering their properties for one reason or another. If you know where the Safeway Supermarket is in Northern Lahaina, that is still there along with the Old Lahaina Luau on the ocean behind that shopping mall. However, there are still burned homes and businesses further north almost all the way towards Ka'anapali too before the devastation ends. I don't know how many people had home insurance either or if it covered something like this because I didn't see any rebuilding outside of hiding the fact that this fire ever occurred from tourists in various ways. 

The rain seemed welcome to the island here when we arrived yesterday at the main airport. I quickly changed into Bermuda shorts as soon as I arrived in an Airport Bathroom because of the extreme change in climate and humidity coming from the mainland. So, within a few minutes I was comfortable in the 79 degrees everywhere with 94% humidity.

The Island definitely feels different than any time I have visited before or lived here. The feeling of paradise is still here, however, you can feel that the people on the island have endured something overwhelming and awful and people have had to move to the mainland or other islands or live with relatives here somewhere in Hawaii a lot. So, you feel this unsettled quality in the air because it hasn't even been a year since this happened yet I believe which was August 8th to August 11th 2023.

However, now that we are here it's lovely to be here like this with a view of the ocean and children playing on the beach. So, even without Lahaina it is wonderful to be here on Maui again. Though I likely would get island fever if I tried to move here again I will never forget living here in 1989 and 1990 with my kids when they were still teenagers and one was still a baby (who threw away her diapers at 7 months because she was walking that early because of the humidity here). 

So, there are many family memories of her start in life here before she started traveling the world and visiting new places and getting married and having a family.

By God's Grace

Note: If you are not familiar with the term "Island Fever" it means that you are from some place like California like me where you are used to driving 400 miles in a weekend since you were 16. So, you feel living on the islands that they are too small for you and you want the wide open spaces of some place like California or Arizona, New Mexico or Texas once again so you feel free and normal again. But, even for a Californian who always had a car since he was 16 I still love all the Hawaiian Islands just as much as before but I also know that sort of claustrophobic feeling that one gets when they are here more than a few months at a time.

But, for me, about 2 weeks I can totally enjoy paradise and to visit my old friends "The Hawaiian Islands" once again.

By God's Grace

Later the next day I'm writing this:

However, the most trying moment for me (after only 4 hours sleep the previous night in San Jose) was after driving everyone in our rental car to north of Lahaina somewhere first we got sort of lost as to where we were supposed to be staying. So, a Valet one of the places was an ideal Hawaiian local and was very helpful to us.

However, when we actually got there I was completely exhausted and I needed to find a rest room. So, unloading the car was an issue for me. My wife like's valets but I'm more blue collar and old fashioned but I'm also now 76 and don't want to throw my back out moving a lot of luggage. Also, we had stocked up on food at the CostCo in Kahului next to the airport which was a zoo of people buying stuff there because it is the cheapest most reliable food store on the whole Island. So, basically people drive for miles and miles to all shop there.

So, I'm exhausted and not doing well at all plus I need a rest room. I finally find a rest room but it's being serviced by a lady so I can't go in their. I at this point am ready almost to curl up and cry if I wasn't a man so I toughed it out. Luckily it was raining outside so I stood in the rain and cooled down a little (Something you might only do in a place like Hawaii when you are used to a much colder climate than there.) The low temperatures don't go an lower than about 69 degrees Fahrenheit right now by the way. So, I was up in my summer robe outside on the veranda at 6 am in 71 degrees this morning already.

So, I took picture of Beautiful Lotuses growing there and I took a photo of an immature night heron and even though I still needed to find a bathroom somehow all the beauty here healed my soul and I was able to move into our room after the long trip loading and flying and loading and driving everyone here in our rental car.