Maui

Stiners and I have sadly just returned from the most beautiful place I have ever been, Maui. We had a truly fabulous time doing nothing in paradise. Our daily ritual was:

Get up at 6:30, eat breakfast/get assembled, go to an empty beach and snorkel, chill till 9 (when the first people starting arriving), go back to our awesome condo, relax, eat some food, nap -> sudoku, relax, watch the sunset, eat some dinner, relax, and go to bed. Repeat.

Relaxing sometimes meant going to a bar for tasty tropical beverages -> food -> more beverages. Sometimes we skipped food. Lava flow's are tasty.

The only deviations involved getting on a boat to snorkel (and see tons of whales and dolphins) and hanging out with Gail and Dan (which we did a fair amount).

Gail and Dan are amazing people. We knew this already, but its worth re-instating. Their commitment to education reform and their charter school is inspiring. Gail's commitment to food is fantastic, especially when proximity allows you to enjoy her creations. She is a vegan, and believes that life should be delicious. She cooked several meals for us that were seriously outstanding. She crushed my beliefs that vegan = not so tasty. Every handcrafted meal (multiple dishes) always included dessert. It was ridiculous how good her vegan meals were. RIDICULOUS.

A new development since our last visit is that Gail has now officially become a crazy cat lady. During our visit I saw Gail put no less then two different costumes on Cash and Bella, their two feline companions. Cash was seriously not amused when Gail popped the collar on his new faux polo shirt.



Let me bullet point the highlights of the trip:

• Snorkeling with Dan. He picks creatures up and shows us how cool they are. He can answer most questions about sea life. He pointed out a sea urchin that you don't want to touch since its spines have nasty toxins, and then proceeded to free dive and collected it for us to see. Dan likes a challenge. I declined to hold it.
• I challenged Gail to make a tropical vegan pie, and she rose to the challenge. Delicious.
  


• Stina + Beaches = one really happy tan Stina. I enjoy the really happy Stina.
  
  
• Not having cable at home makes cable tv the most awe inspiring mind numbing activity. There's always a crappy movie (read: Legally Blond) that I'm ready to watch on at any given moment.
  
  
• Stina found the under water lair of giant turtles which we visited multiple times
  
  
• Sensei sushi is the best sushi I've ever had in my life. I went twice.
  


• Maui brewing company's two outstanding beers: pipeline porter and their IPA (which comes in a can!)


• Playing Bocce Ball on a huge grassy knoll right next to the ocean during sunset. Dan, representing the state of Maui, crushed me with his deft rolling skill.
  
  
• Geko's everywhere. Occasionally a bird will feast on one which is like a live mini Nova special.
• Completing a level 5 sudoku makes you feel like a genius. I found that I like to strut when I'm feeling particularly smart.
• Spectacular sunsets + ipods = bliss
  
• Eating grilled fish that Dan speared that morning.

So, yeay Maui.