Aloha!

It may not look like the Hawaii you think of, but Hawaii it is - Kapalua Bay on the northwest side of Maui. We took a luxury vacation on the cheap, an absolutely beautiful condo at the new Ritz Carleton Golf club which Dan received for playing in a golf tournament earlier this year and free tickets using points on United. What could be better?

Dan played golf four days in a row and was happy as the proverbial clam. I joined him once for a drive around a beautiful course that is part of the Ritz. Yes, the wind is blowing so hard that the pin is bending. There were times when it was difficult to stand up straight! We were told that it was very early in the year for such hard winds. I spent my free time doing my favorite thing - reading by the pool.

A real treat was a trip to the center of the island, up in the mountains to visit the Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm. I stood on the slopes there and decided that this is one of the places I could move to in a flash, as long as I could live, literally, on the farm.

Believe it or not, this is an avocado tree that has been pruned to grow like this. I love the old guy who runs the farm. He didn't know a thing about growing lavender or avocados for that matter, but just started experimenting. He grows about 50 different varieties of lavender and has great success. Not so much with the avocados. The severe pruning, which was does in an effort to facilitate harvesting, threw the trees into shock and they haven't produced any fruit. Gotta love an "experimenter" though.

The last day we took the Road to Hana drive which is truly one of the great drives on the planet.

With something like 54 one lane bridges and over 200 switchback curves it is a driving challenge, which we not only completed in the daylight but in the dead of night as well. Actually Dan did all the driving so he gets all the credit.

We went to Hana to see the new place that Dan's nephew, Rob Reynolds, bought there.

Yep, the view off the balcony. They are redoing the house but the grounds are spectacular. I think it's 7.5 acres and includes a 9-hole golf course. The Killers are doing pretty well! (Oh, Rob is the rock band's manager/lawyer.)

All in all, a wonderful six days. Dan has decided though that based on the luau we went to with the food and the dancing that next time he is going to Tahiti. He really liked those costumes!