Saturday, July 25, 2009

Friday, July 25th - Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

We're roughly through two thirds of the experiment in family togetherness known as the Duxbury clans en masse descent on Maui, courtesy of my father who picked up the condos, the rental cars and the airfare. As Tommy and I are not really in the position to vacation much at the moment, we jumped at the chance to spend a gratis week in the islands.

The last time the whole family vacationed together was in 1979 and I was 17 and it was a trip to Hawaii. After that, I went off to college and work and ended up moving thousands of miles away and there was never a full family vacation with all of us after. Holidays, of course, and the occasional family wedding or something but nothing with the goal of just relaxing and being together. It's been relatively successful. No one has gotten on each others nerves too much and we have a decent balance of together and separate stuff. The cast of characters include my parents, me and Tommy, my sister, (her current boyfriend in a supporting role - he popped up for a couple of days and then went away again), my brother, his wife and their two daughters.

Tommy and I turned up in Seattle a couple of days before we left. We must have dragged the Alabama heat with us as it was over 90 both days and no one in Seattle has central air so we spent a bunch of time at the mall and the movies. (Catching the latest Harry Potter). Uneventful flight direct to Maui on Sunday. Have been there ever since. Much time at the beach, doing a certain amount of shopping, running around the rainforest, snorkeling, taking a dive in a submarine and all the other things one does in the tropics. Everything has worked out pretty well other than Tommy's skin - he likes the sun but it does not like him and he's been nursing some bad suburn on his legs that has put a damper on some things.

We've got two and a half more days before we return for a few more days in Seattle. I hope to get up to the top of Haleakala but it's been pretty socked in the last few days and I'm smart enough not to go up there if you can't see the summit from the valley. If that doesn't work out, a bit more beach time I think.

It's been nice spending some time with the nieces and seeing it all through their eyes. I've been to Maui a number of times before and it's nice to catch a sense of wonder through them. I'm also having some fond reminisces of my old life and Steve as we spent a lot of time here together in the 90s.

posted by Andy @ 12:02 AM