Merry Christmas

Aloha from the islands. It took 20 hours door to door to get here but we quickly transformed into island moods and behaviors. I tried recording the morning sounds of the birds that awoke us each day, but that didn't work too well. Christmas in the tropics is not too different from Christmas in the snow. Without a lot of people, its basically a present opening morning followed by whatever each of wants to do which means body surfing, riding, and of course special meals. Here is a photo of the view from our condo in the morning. Again if I was really smart, I would add sounds and smells. The sound would be a cacophony of tropical birds, and the smell would be coffee brewing in the kitchen. Here is a picture of sunset, sorry I didn't experience the "blue" flash some people have witnessed of the sun setting on the pacific.

I was able to ride every day. Each ride started out with 40 minute out and back route that took me along resort row in Wailea. The road slowly turned into an ocean side route with various small hills and lots of views of the ocean. The only trafic to speak of were scuba and snorkling folks getting in and out of their car. The road ended with a very narrow road that went through lava fields. Its looks a bit like another planet save the ocean and distant Mt. Haleakala. More on riding later.