It takes a lot out of you to do this little..

Well, I made it.  Safe and sound, I suppose.  No worse for wear.  I sat in the middle aisle from Seattle to Maui so I was unable to stare at the Pacific on the way over or the other islands as we were landing.  Shucks.  All in all things have been good.  Spent the day on the beach.  It kicked my ass.  My white ass hadn't seen sun in four months, but on the whole I didn't get too beat up by the sun today.  K, my face is a bit red.  It happens.  Nothing a little lotion and some more sunscreen can't fix tomorrow.

Swimming in the ocean is much nicer than swimming in a swimming pool.  The salt water keeps my ass from sinking so I actually managed quite well in my swims today.  Jumped off a rock.  Some volleyball.  Couple buds, couple buds, etc.  Someone had to do it, so I'm fine with it being done by me.

Wednesday after I landed in Kahului and had nothing to do for awhile.  The airport information desk was happy to point me in the direction of town so I footed it to the nearest bar where I sucked down a couple of beers and made small talk until I could catch a ride out to Lahaina, about 20 miles away.  The places had $2 PBR pints.  I felt like I was back home at the Goose, and all was well.  Met the Kahului town drunk, who was quite a bit more friendly than Roland.  Drank Budweiser.  He is a good man, as far as I could tell.

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Some snapshots to begin:

View from airport in Kahului:

Views from the beach circa de noontime (complete with obligatory foot shot):

It's funny because all the beaches are public beaches and most of the major hotels are built right along the beaches, so you just sort of mingle in and around the hotels and their amenities pretty easily.  This place was about 2-3 miles south of where I've been laying my head to rest.  Jon's place is about 60 or 70 yards from a park on the shoreline.  It proved a fine place for breakfast but I didn't bother to bring my camera.  Maybe tomorrow (or the next day.  or the next day..)

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The only predicament I'm in is that I kind of feel like I'm contradicting some of my Maine-love.  It always pisses me off to see Mass-holes and the like come into Maine for a weekend or a week, yet now I'm in one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world.  I think it could be seen as kind of the same thing.  I should probably be eating crow; instead I'll just look the other way.  Yeah, that sounds better.  Cheers.