We have nothing planned for today, except an excursion into Kahalui later in the afternoon, so our morning is pretty laid back. We do decide, though, to go ahead and mail our Christmas package to Gaby and Sigis today, figuring the sooner the better, especially from way over here. I had remembered to bring bubble wrap, a padded envelope and the customs forms, but unfortunately, I had totally forgotten to bring tape (or wrapping paper for that matter). Wrapping paper I managed at Longs, but didn’t even think about the tape, since our post office in Asheville has tape we can use. So about mid-morning we trek off to the post office in Kihei to get the job done.
Holy moly, the place is a zoo! The line is crazy long and people are everywhere, wrapping things, labeling, taping – it’s crazy. We get in line, and a triage postal worker tells us they have no tape, we have to buy it. Huh? Oh jeez, ok, this is irritating me, but whatever, we’ll donate to the postal service- they need it. We dutifully take the tape, tape up the package and put an address label on it from the supply on the counter and wait our turn in line. Meanwhile, half the people at the counter are being turned away and told to come back when they have everything they need completed. This is so not going well. We advance to the counter and the postal worker takes the package and I give her both customs forms, explaining I have both because I never know which one they will want (the guys at our post office normally want the small one, but at other offices, it is the big one). She looks at them and says, neither one is correct. Here is the right one. Ok, but it looks EXACTLY like the big one I have in my hand. So really? I have to fill it out all over again? Ok, I’m getting more irritated, but I’m still game. She plugs in all the info while I’m rewriting, and gives us the price for priority mail – which we don’t want. I ask for first class, which is our preference, and she tells us the price, but says we can’t use the label we have. Ugh. It is a priority label. I say, OK, where are the regular labels? Over on the stand, we have a pack of them you can buy. What? Wait. Now I’m full on ticked off – and she’s not even being nice about any of this whereas we were being quite polite and cheerful. She says, just bring all this back when you’re ready and hands everything back to us. We look at each other and shrug, then put the tape back on the rack and walk out. What a joke! So now, we have an added mission for today: Find a nice post office where we can mail our package!
So, after our lunch of Poke (for me), eggs (for Ed) and a new label for the package (yeah, we just cut off the Priority markings – how hard was that?) we strike off early into Kahului in search of another post office. We’ve got about 1/2 an hour before they close, and that will give us plenty of time to hit the park and get to the craft fair on time. The best laid plans! We drive up to the post office, and we don’t even bother. There is a line stretched around the corner of cars waiting to get in the pathetically small lot. Oh bother! (That’s the Pooh in me now that I’ve watched Christopher Robbins.) Abort – we’ll find another office, maybe tomorrow in upcountry. Sheesh. What a crazy mess.
Now we are super early, but what else can we do besides head over to the park. It’s a nice day, with some clouds floating in (as they always are on this side of the island), but otherwise, we can dawdle our way around the park. The drive up there is nice, wending through another lovely little neighborhood with ramshackle houses nestled next to nicer old traditional Hawaiian style cottages (some with a million dollar view over the valley and down to the water). Arriving at the park, we are really surprised to find it packed at 4pm. We weren’t not expecting every space to be filled and 2 huge busses. Busses? Oh drat! We saw the Carnival Splendor was in port, but we never even thought about the fact they might have a tour up here. Bummer. But in for a penny (or 5 bucks), in for a pound – we’ve got nothing else to do for an hour and a half now, so we manage to avoid the crowd crossing the parking lot and maneuver into the second to last spot in the lot, literally.
Making our way through the lanyard-clad sight seers, we take our time meandering about the paths above the gardens, stopping to take pictures, and congratulating ourselves on being here without rain. This area is the 2nd wettest place in Hawaii, which is apparent every day as we watch the clouds congregate over this part of the island while the rest of the coast line is sunny and breezy. It is also quite apparent from the luscious green foliage hugging the cliffs and the little botanical garden down below by the stream. There are beautiful views down the valley to the water and up into the hills surrounding the valley
The main attraction, though, is the Io Needle, which in Hawaiian culture is known as the phallic stone of Kanaloa, the God of the ocean. It is actually a rock that has been shaped by erosion, but in less modern times, the area was thought to be sacred, only accessible to royals and was used as a burial ground for royalty. During warfare, the peak was used as a lookout, and Maui warriors hid here during Kamehameha I’s battle of Kepaniwai. For a little park, it packs in a lot of island history!
You can get a great view from the observation deck of just how luscious the foliage is around here – from the needle to the rushing Io stream – everything is awash (sometimes quite literally) with rich, damp flora.
A couple of minutes of staring out into the mountains, watching the clouds cling to the peaks and swirl around convinced us we should probably move along and not get caught in a downpour. So, we headed back down toward the parking lot, taking a detour down by the stream, which was beautiful and rushing – and a great place for a picnic had it been earlier in the day.
We are back in the car far to quickly, and still have way more time to waste before heading to the craft fair. Trying to drive as slowly as possible (without totally ticking off the cars behind us), we still make it back to town and to the University (where the craft fair is being held) with over 1/2 hour to spare. Well, darn. Fortunately the mall is right across the street from the University, so we dive in there figuring we can waste time walking around, or hopefully find a bar for a drink before shopping. We luck out with Kohos Grill, accessible from the outside of the mall (right where we parked) with 2 seats left at the bar and the football game on tv. What more could we ask for? A nice bartender who chatted with us, and then gave us the scoop on walking over to University, which totally made sense as there is a light and crosswalk right there by the parking lot. Perfect.
One drink and we are on our way over to the show, which is really nice, and local with lots of great crafts and food trucks. We browse a bit, pick up a couple of great little lava rock bracelets for the girls (oh and one for me too!), decide we don’t want food truck food tonight, and head back out of town to our little cottage in Kihei for dinner and a relaxing evening out on the patio.
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