12 Days of Kalikimaka

We're all familiar with that long, drawn-out carol called "The 12 Days of Christmas." We've heard it a thousand times and probably have heard at least a half-dozen (mostly comical) variations. Have you heard of the Hawaiian version?

It doesn't exist. In fact, I don't know if the kalikimaka part of "mele kalikimaka" can stand on its own to replace the word Christmas. But are going to pretend it does. And hopefully I can figure out 12 gifts of Christmas from my modern-day Don Ho.

Here goes...

12 Drummers Drumming

The big lu'au we attended was actually called the Drums of the Pacific Lu'au. While there weren't 12 drummers drumming, there were anywhere from one to four at any given time. The focus of the Lu'au was to share through dance and song the many cultures of Polynesia. It was outstanding. There will be a few more related photos... or closely related to the 12 Days.

Eleven Pipers Piping

How about 11 Pipers Paddling instead? There were some really colorful numbers illustrating the journey to the Hawaiian islands.

Ten Lords a Leaping

Maui is host to some of the largest surfing competitions in the world. It was no surprise that even with "small" waves, we saw some lords a leaping over the waves.

Nine Ladies Dancing

Before you get excited about the "real" hula girls, I will have you know that at our resort's Polynesian show, I did get up in front of 100 people and learn the hula. If figured you only live once – plus no one knew me!

Sure, I might have been the oldest one up there (red Badger shirt), but I was young at heart!

 And look how much I improved by the end of the week!

No comparison to the dancing lu'au ladies, though!

Eight Maids a Milking

While we didn't have milk maids or meter maids on Maui, we did have Ubers.

The ukelele-playing Melanie was our first Uber driver we'd ever "hired." I wasn't even sure if I knew what Uber was until then. But the concierge recommended we download the app and use that for a personalized taxi service versus the more expensive commercial taxi services. In the end, it was pretty convenient for us.

Seven Swans a Swimming

This should be more like seven seconds swimming! The waves and undercurrent were pretty strong so it wasn't like we could just float around in the ocean!

If I lived there, I would need to either shave my head or invests into some serious hairspray!

Six Geese a Laying

Despite the breezes, there were at least six geese/girls/gals laying... in the sun, that is!

Five Golden Rings

Welcome, Johnny Cash and his five burning rings of fire!

 Definitely the coolest part of the Lu'au!

Hey, why not throw fire while we're at it? Crazy!

Four Calling Birds

While we kept in touch with Carter via text regularly, we were the calling parent birds on a few occasions, including one where we video-chatted.

Poor Carter. We showed him some beach footage but the waves and wind were so loud, we couldn't hear him, even on speaker. So we sort of had to cut him off. Not something this mom would ever do under normal circumstances! We wanted him to feel a little included, though, even if it probably made it worse, based on the frigid, snowy weather back home! 

Three French Hens

I don't think it was French hens who laid the eggs for our breakfast and lunch experiments we had, but the eggs played a part. While we had coconut in a dozen ways and fish, including shrimp, swordfish and mahi-mahi, one of the interest "local" meals we had was called Loco-Moco.

This was served as a lunch and included white rice topped with two hamburger patties topped with gravy and two eggs. I gotta say, it seems like a weird combo, but it was pretty darn good!

Two Turtle Doves

C'mon, it's Hawaii. You think we're going to see two turtle doves? Saw these two parrots hanging out and thought that was pretty cool. For a pretty penny, you could get your picture taken with them, too.

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

No pear tree, but how about a Banyan Tree? Hard to describe, but oh so interesting. One tree covering nearly an acre and it somehow has 11 or so trunks. The largest one of its kind in the U.S.

A view from the edge of the park. I just couldn't get it all in the frame!

Trunks under the tree canopy.

Isn't it the strangest thing?

At night, the Christmas trees light up the trunk area so tourists like me can walk about taking pictures.

And, of course, wondering what their true loves will bring the next 12 days of Christmas, or Kalikimaka!

Just Along For The Ride

If you've been to Maui or know someone who has, you've no doubt heard about the Road to Hana. Despite how the name Road to Hana sounds, the objective of this road is not just to get to the small town of Hana. It is all about the journey and enjoying the beauty along the way.

When you learn that a nonstop commute would be 3 hours or less and a "tour" can take 12 hours, you realize it is probably the best way to get a taste of all that Hawaii has to offer. And we did. The Road to Hana is a curvy coastal road with views of cliffs, beaches, waterfalls and miles and miles of rain forest. It’s mostly a well-paved road, but you do need to keep your wits about you when you drive it because of the many sharp curves and one-lane bridges. That's one of the reasons we decided to go through a tour bus instead of renting a car and driving it ourselves.

The other reason is that it's also known as "The Divorce Highway." Why? Because although it's fabulous, it is also 52 miles of driving madness – with 617 hair-pin turns and 56 narrow, one-lane bridges (some over 100 years old).

Wouldn't YOU rather be just along for the ride?

The comfort cruiser (tour van seating 12) picked us up at 6:30 a.m. since it was going to take nearly an hour to get to the official "road" – plus they provided breakfast for us! Once we got on the road, we were hitting the hair-pin turns right away. See above how the van behind us looks like it's going in the other direction? I couldn't have handled driving and Jim couldn't have handled me sucking in my breath and making stress noises! I felt comfortable with Walter, our tour guide with a much longer Hawaiian name, at the wheel.

He gave us a ton of information and history, including that this bridge we were going over was more built more than a century ago. Concentrate on the beauty, Robyn.

Since there are dozens of places tourists could stop, a person may not get far before dark if they tried. Walter had some key points to stop and I took a lot of photos out the window. He stopped here to show us the Rainbow Eucalyptus trees because they are so unique.

These trees may look like they’ve been painted on, but these colors are all natural. The multi-colored streaks on its trunk comes from patches of outer bark that are shed annually at different times, showing the bright-green inner bark. This then darkens and matures to give blue, purple, orange and then maroon tones. Cool, huh?

We were probably an hour or two into the tour when we had a traffic delay. Apparently with the rain and rain and rain the weeks leading up to our arrival, there were some mud slides. So they needed to clear debris and be sure everything else is secure. (As secure as it could be.)

If you click on the picture and look closely, there are three guys up on the top of this "cliff." Uff da. Now do you appreciate your day job?

The delay did afford us (and the people in the 43 vehicles behind us) a chance to walk around a little and see a few views from a different angle. Got this coastline photo and just love how blue the water is, how white the waves are, both contrasting with the lush green trees.

Since our road trip circled the base of a volcano crater, a lot of the beaches had black, lava rock. Very different.

I don't recall the names and locations of all the waterfalls, but they were all pretty.

 Waterfall pretty .... and pretty high up. So glad we didn't drive and have to "look down" occasionally.

All the waterfalls were robust, for lack of a better word, due to all the recent rains. Just added to the beauty.

Bamboo... you can't stop it. You can only hope to contain it.

A poinsettia tree. I wish I could contain THAT.

Just outside of the town of Hana is Wai’ānapanapa State Park. It is ruggedly beautiful with a lava outcropping just offshore to a small, black sand beach. Have never seen anything like it!

You just expected your hands to be black if you touched the rocks or sand. But they weren't.

Walter did advise us we could look and touch the rocks -- but not take them. That would be bad luck. If you recall The Brady Bunch Hawaii episodes, it would be like taking the taboo tiki idol around! That's according to island legend. And we weren't going to press our luck.

A view of Black Sand Beach from up the hill.

We had a picnic lunch stop at a little garden and gift shop. The owner gave each of us ladies a sprig (or stock??) of ginger. It has no scent to it until you squeeze it, then your hand and the flower have this beautiful fragrance.

Just learning new things around every corner (or curve)!

Unfortunately during our lunch stop, it started to rain. Hard. I guess it rains every day around Hana. Glad we got some photos taken in the morning!

We had brought our swimsuits with because we were scheduled to stop and take a dip in the Pools of Oheo in Haleakalā National Park. These are most commonly known as the Seven Sacred Pools (even though there are 21) so we looked forwarded to getting a healing swim on. But it was raining and due to the recent rain and rain and rain, the pools were closed to swimming that day.

Not to be deterred, since we had a 30-minute stop, Jim and I hiked the very muddy and slippery path to try to catch a sacred view. Didn't get much since it was raining and some of the outlooks were fenced off, too. Maybe the rain was sacred??

Even if it wasn't raining, we were going to get wet at Wailua Falls, touted as Maui's most photographed waterfall. While we may have been at the point in the drive where another waterfall is about as novel as a tree branch, this one is impossible to pass up.

When we were there, is was crazy cascading – like super rushing cascading – the 80 feet down the side of a jungle wall. It was so loud and big, we could feel the water droplets from the road. You can tell by my hair, the wind was blowing precipitation our way, too. Pretty awesome, though.

I had no idea how many famous people are associated with Maui. Did you know Charles Lindbergh is buried there? Had no idea.

He had lived in Hana until his death and had told his wife he wanted to be buried there at the Kipahulu Point Light Station. Did not see a lighthouse in the rain, but the grave site was in a cemetery for Palapala church, a little old church founded in 1864.

As the light rain continued, Walter kept us moving along. He wasn't sure if we'd reach a point where there would be too much water over the road and we'd have to turn around. Not something you want to hear 8 hours into your trip!

I was trying not to look at the muddy road. This was paved actually but was considered the "full body massage" portion of the trip that chiropractors everywhere love, I am sure. Still, we made it through safely and got home to our hotel in about 11 hours.

But not before the cows came home. Yes, even in Hawaii, they occasionally have the Wisconsin version of a traffic jam. Maybe it's not so different after all.

Right.

Thanks for going along for the ride with us!