Maui: Lahaina

So we landed at Kahalui, picked up our rental car, a Chevy HHR, and drove the 20-odd miles to Lahaina. Vicki had found a perfectly wonderful studio apartment in a nice residential neighborhood 5 minutes' walk from the beach. We spent our first evening and the next morning simply walking the beach and looking at older Lahaina, the 19th century capital. Lahaina is totally touristy--nearly everything in Hawaii is--but there are degrees of touristy, I think, and, somehow, Lahaina is on the good side of the spectrum. Some history; some historical buildings; some natural interest; some interesting galleries; and also all the usual crap.

We walked past the Feast at Lele, one of the many exorbitant

"luaus" around

Alpenglow on a rampart of Mauna Kahalawai; interestingly,

to me, Maui is built on two shield volcanos, the much older

and now severely eroded Kahalawai (5000 feet), and the

younger, less eroded Haleakala (10000 feet), more about

which later

Mauna Kahalawai the next morning; it was cloud-covered

every day of our visit

The great banyan tree at Lahaina's center; it covers nearly a

city block, aerial roots capturing new ground, extending and

supporting the great lateral limbs; said to be the largest in

the Islands

Thus

And thus; it also supports and shelters a fine crafts market; one

of two in the world we have found in which there is NO CRAP,

only neat and fine stuff (the other is at The Rocks, in Sydney)

One of the joys of grandparenthood is the

whole new dimension of humor and cuteness...

Looking across the channel to Lanai

I would bet real money that the "wreck" just off-shore here

has been planted and cemented into place by the chamber of

commerce...scenic, nonetheless