amdilick

Maui Travelog #20
Back home · Sun, 13 Sep 2026, 6:30am.

This morning we arrived home from Hawaii. There was a certain symmetry to leaving before dawn at the start of the trip and arriving before dawn at the end of it. At 6:20 when we walked through our front door the sky was only beginning to brighten with pre-dawn light.

Yes, we flew a red-eye home starting Saturday evening. As I've written before, red-eyes are not my top choice for flying, all things being equal— but it's rarely the case that all things are equal. We chose it because it gave us more time to spend in Hawaii on Saturday.... And because it meant we could fly Southwest Airlines.

Why was flying Southwest a preference? Especially when it required us making a connection in Honolulu, versus flying nonstop on some other airline? Two reasons. One, I have Companion Pass on Southwest, which means flying with Hawk is basically a two-for-one deal on cost. Two, by taking this flight on Southwest I have now earned enough points to renew Companion Pass status— and A-List Preferred elite status— for 2027.

A quick refresher: A-List Preferred, or "A+" as many frequent fliers call it, is Southwest's top tier (of two) elite status. As with high elite status on other airlines it grants benefits such as immediate access to extra-legroom economy seating, a couple free checked bags, and double points earning. Companion Pass is a unique other elite status with Southwest that lets me designate a companion who can fly nearly free with me. anytime I travel. That's the two-for-one deal I mentioned above.

Renewing these statuses is important enough that I track my progress on a spreadsheet. Now I'm done with my elite status chase for the year.

Hawaii Travelog #18
Leaving the Grand Wailea · Sat, 12 Sep 2026. 3pm.

Today was our last hurrah at the Waldorf Astoria Grand Wailea hotel in Maui. We paid for a late checkout so we could have the comfort of returning to our room in the afternoon to shower, change, and pack before heading back to the airport.

So, what did we do today? Mostly the same as yesterday and the day before and the day before that, and.... 🤣

Hawk went down to the pool area early to stake out a good pair of lounge chairs then went trolling the beach for shells and rocks. I came down a bit later and started using the lazy river. Though at that hour it was the Some Effort Required River as the pumps weren't running. Then Hawk came back from the beach and joined me.



The pumps came on at 10:30, when the water slides opened. We went to ride the slides together, but during my first walk up to the top my foot slipped on the wet stone walkway and I re-twisted my sprained ankle. Ow. I sat down for a bit and mostly shook it off. But only mostly as after climbing out of the water via the pool ladder a few times my ankle was like, "That's enough of that, bud." So I went back to floating around in the now-Lazy River. Hawk joined me every second lap, interspersing more rides down the water slide.

At 11:15 it was time for lunch.



Lunch today was similar to the past 4 days. We ate at the poolside cafe. I started with a mai tai that did not come with frou-frou whipped cream then ate a burger and chips. Hawk skipped a cocktail at lunch, planning instead to get a shave ice later in the afternoon.

After lunch we rode the water slides and lazy river again. I did the slides a few more times, and again after a few climbs out of the water my ankle said, "Enough of that, pal."

At 2 we started heading back up to our room. Once in the room we set our our wet swimsuits to dry on the balcony while relaxing a bit with the cool AC before showering and changing. Now we've packed our bags and we're ready to roll out.

Hawaii Travelog #16
Wailea village · Fri, 11 Sep 2026. 7pm.

This evening we went offsite from the resort for dinner. We picked a sushi and steak restaurant nearby with great reviews. Why wait until the last night of your trip? you might wonder. It's because the past several nights we were either not hungry enough, or too tired to go out to a nice place, or both. Tonight we had both stamina and appetites, so... off we went to kill some fish.



But first... cocktails! Mine, the one on the left with the whipped cream, is a mai tai. I picked it because a) I like mai tais and b) the menu touted it as a house special. I did not expect it to come with whipped cream. That made it seem more "special" in the sense of it rode the short bus to cocktail school. 😅

For dinner we split an appetizer of ribeye steak bites, then I ordered a small selection of nigiri while Hawk had two veggie maki rolls. It was all... okay. I had expected better because of the prices and the strong reviews. ...The reviews, well those raves were probably from people visiting Hawaii from the Midwest.

And the prices... I guess adjusting for "Everything's expensive in Hawaii" it was in line. It was a tad more expensive than the resort's breakfast buffet.... Though if we'd ordered two cocktails with breakfast the bills would've been nearly identical. And here we enjoyed steak and fish instead of cold waffles, stale bagels, and bacon cooked until it has the texture of tree bark.

We decided to walk home after dinner. That was a big choice because I'm still on a weak ankle, dating back now over 2 weeks to when I sprained it while hiking and exacerbated by a couple of slips in the rain here on Tuesday. And it's 1 mile home. 😰 But at least it's all downhill.



On our walk we saw this beautiful sight. What is it? I believe, in the distance, it's 10,000'+ Haleakala. But you can't see it because of the cloud cover. 🤣 But seriously, we both liked the way the clouds around the mountain caught the light at sunset.

Part of our "Let's walk home from dinner" plan was stopping for dessert. We've been to Island Gourmet so many times this week we tried two other places first, but both were busts. So we ended up shopping at Island Gourmet again. Hawk got a dish of gelato and I grabbed a chocolate parfait (plus some tuna sashimi for breakfast tomorrow). We sat at a picnic table outside the store enjoying our desserts before walking the final leg back to our hotel.

Hawaii Travelog #14
Grand Wailea hotel · Thu, 10 Sep 2026. 7:30pm.

After getting back from a (mostly) full day at the lazy river and water slide I was tired. I traded dinner suggestions with Hawk in the hope that making plans for the evening would help me find my second wind. Alas it did not. But that just meant I would be a cheap date. 🤣 I didn't have the desire to go out anywhere at all fancy because I was too tired to appreciate it. And also really just too tired to go out.

Hawk was fine with not-fancy, too. We agreed on getting take-away from the cafe in the hotel's shops area. In addition to grab-n-go items they bake fresh pizza!



We got a pair of kid's ("keiki") pizzas. I was worried that them being on the kids menu would mean they're slop, or really small, but these were (a) freshly made with quality ingredients and (b) apparently designed for very large kids. 🤣 We carried them back to our room and ate on our balcony watching the sun set over the ocean.

This being a hotel restaurant, the was a price markup to it. These pizzas are literally twice the price of fresh-baked pizza at the Island Gourmet deli/grocery a few blocks away. Tonight we accepted the price markup as the premium for not walking so far. My sprained ankle still really hurts.

Oh, and speaking of sprained ankle and choosing to stay close to the hotel, this morning I canceled the rental car for tomorrow. Our plan previously had been to rent a car the last two days of our trip, to drive around to a few sites like the Road to Hana and the summit of Haleakalā. We did both on a Maui trip years ago, so it's not like we're missing once-in-a-lifetime experiences, though it would've been nice to go again. But my sore ankle limits how much I'd enjoy doing other than just driving. And with the dodgy weather we've been having this week, it's not clear we'd do anything more than drive under rain and overcast skies.

Hawaii Travelog #12
Back at the hotel · Wed, 9 Sep 2026. 8pm.

It's been raining on and off since mid-afternoon today. And not just sprinkling but "When it rains, it pours." The rain abated when we went out to Fred's Taco Shack this evening but then started again partway through our meal. At first it just sprinkled but soon it was an all-out downpour, the kind that exposed where Fred's roof leaks (hint: multiple places) and flooded the parking lot as we waited for our Lyft ride home.

The Lyft driver agreed with my opening line, "I'd never heard of hurricanes in Hawaii before this year, and now there've been, like, three in the past month."

"It's six in the past two months," she corrected. 😅

And then her next two words were the same as what my sister, with a degree in environmental sciences, said when I asked her. Global Warming.

Yes, hurricanes in Hawaii were rarely ever a thing before, but the warming ocean and warming air mean there is more energy in the atmosphere and more water content carried aloft. Wailea is known as one of the dry spots on Maui. That's the conventional wisdom I had in mind when I mentally bookmarked this is a spot to visit... 20 years ago.

And Hawaii's not the only place having unusual weather right now. Back home in Silicon Valley it's a heat wave. The weather app says it hit 97° in Sunnyvale today, with a forecast high of 94° tomorrow. This is our first real summer-like weather of the summer!

And yes, people, it's still summer. I understand you might think otherwise with how Halloween candy and decor went on sale 8 weeks ago and stores have been peddling Thanksgiving decor for 4 weeks. It's still summer for 12 more days!

Hawaii Travelog #10
Grand Wailea hotel · Wed, 9 Sep 2026. 3pm.

After what seemed like a really long morning in the room, mostly because we woke up at 5/5:30am, we packed our canvas bags and headed down to the pool area at 9. Our thinking was to secure good lounge chairs well before the water slides start up at 10:30. Plus, we could use the lazy river while it was uncrowded... though it'd also have little or no current at that hour, as the current comes largely from the flow of the slides.



Indeed there were plenty of lounge chairs available, including some with good shade from large umbrellas. We staked out a location, stripped down to our swimsuits, rubbed on suntan lotion, and dropped into the water with our floats.

Navigating the lazy river without current was... work. Hawk found it too anti-lazy and got out to go check out the beach. I stayed and paddled around for several laps. Hawk came back after 10 and told me that the beach is "back". Yesterday the sand was completely submerged by a high tide driven by the hurricane to to the west of us! Today the water level is normal-ish... though the beach is damaged and there is a lot of debris.

We took a break after 11 for lunch.



Today we ate again at the pool cafe. We ordered basically the same as yesterday. Kahlua pork nachos for me, a grilled cheese sandwich for Hawk— this time with a side of avocado— and a pair of cocktails.

Speaking of cocktails, most of them are priced at $21 here. On the one hand that's eye wateringly expensive. On the other hand, I joked with a neighbor before leaving, "Yeah, cocktails at the pool are probably going to be $25," so this feels kind of like a bargain. 🤣

After lunch I was feeling stuffed and so didn't return the pool right away. I laid out on one of our lounge chairs for a while. Then it was time for the lazy river again!

This time I talked Hawk into trying one of the water slides. She tried one yesterday and didn't like the way you "drop" at the bottom of the slide. It's typical for how water slides are designed. It jarred her back. But the last slide in the sequence has a different design. There's no sudden drop at the end. Instead the slide's floor just ramps down until it's 4 feet deep in the lazy river. She gave it one try and found out it's fun.

After several turns at the water slide we decided to go to the hot tub on the top level. Why that one? It's the one with multiple jets that work. Hot tub mechanical maintenance seems to be a low priority here. Probably they need to charge $25 for those cocktails so they can afford it. 🤣 But before we could get in the hot tub Hawk spotted that the shave ice stand nearby was open.



We each got a shave ice, hers kids' size and with 3 flavors, mine adult size with ice cream underneath. I think if we do this again I'll get the kids' size, too.

I soaked in the hot tub for a while while Hawk stayed on her lounger with her iPad. At some point we were both feeling kind of "done" so we agreed to collect our belongings— now spread out between two sets of lounge chairs in different areas— and head back to the room.

It was good we decided to pack it in for the day when we did. Rain started falling while Hawk was gathering our stuff from our other lounge chairs. It didn't bother me soaking in the hot tub... at least not at first. But once it was clear this wasn't just a "Wait 5 minutes and it'll stop raining" rain shower, I was ready to head inside, too.

We gathered all our stuff, which at that point was two armloads each, and went back up to our room. Now we're watching the rain from the cover of our balcony.

Hawaii Travelog #8
Grand Wailea hotel · Tue, 8 Sep 2026. 5pm.

I spent a while this afternoon laying down in bed recentering myself. Today's edition of "Being sick sucks" is a combination of two slips on my already injured ankle and gastro problems. Hawk was still outside at the lazy river pool, where we enjoyed doing lazy laps together earlier in the day.

Come 4 o'clock I decided, "Fuck this, I am not going to let being sick and injured stop me from having fun!" I changed back into my swim trunks and headed down to the pool area to use the water slides before the activity pools close at 5.

I managed two passes through a series of small water slides that connect several pools together. Here's a highlight reel:



It's amusing how age-inappropriate my enjoyment seems to be. Nobody else on the slides is in their 50s like me. The closest were a few maybe-late 30s guys holding their toddler kids as they went down the slides together. The people my age? They were all clustered around that swim-up bar. Seriously, it was SRO there.



After those two laps through the water slides I was ready for a rest. My ankle was not happy with all the up-down from using the slides and walking back up the steps to the top. I grabbed a seat in a hot tub with jets that actually work. Hawk joined me after a few minutes. We soaked in the hot tub for waaay longer than the warning signs recommend. Ooh, we're 50-something rebels!

Now, you might wonder, "Why aren't you at the beach? You're at a beach-front resort in Hawaii!" Well, Hawk checked. The beach is currently all underwater. 😨 We figure it's an effect of the hurricane that's still churning somewhere west of Maui. The ocean has been crashing hard against the beach all day. It's just fortunate that the skies directly overhead have been clear since 11 today.

Hawaii Travelog #6
Grand Wailea hotel · Tue, 8 Sep 2026. 8:15am.

We were up before dawn today. I'd say that's annoying when it happens on a relaxing vacation but I expected it today because it's our first morning after flying 3 time zones west. 5:30am was 8:30 back home, well past our normal wakeup time.

We relaxed on our large-enough balcony and watched the sun come up— or as much it coming up as we could see given that (a) it's pretty cloudy as part of the hurricane west of us and (b) we're facing west. Then we showered up and went downstairs for breakfast right at the restaurant's 7am opening.



Apparently we weren't the only ones up early. People were streaming down the walkway toward the restaurant at 7am sharp. And look at the name of the place! Here, let me spell it out for you:

Humu humu
Nuku nuku
A(h) pua'a

It means "Triggerfish [with] snout like [a] pig".



Here's a picture I found. Also, this fish grunts like a pig when it's in danger.

Okay, so now that we've got the name of the breakfast restaurant out of the way, how about the food? Enh. The name's a better story.

As for the food? It ranged from left-it-on-the-plate-mostly-uneaten poor to merely decent.

But at least it was cheap, right? I mean, you get what you pay for?

Ahahahahaha
hahahaha
hahaha
haha
*Grunts like a pig*
No.



It cost $134 after tax for two buffets. And they prompt for a minimum 18% tip— for a buffet! I left $10 and felt like the Grinch.

At $144 all-in this mediocre meal was more than the $134 ridiculously overpriced lunch I keep referring back to from two years ago. That was also at a Waldorf Astoria hotel. And while I do "get" paying up for fine dining, in neither case was this actually fine dining. It was mediocre food at fine dining prices.

As a businessperson (now retired) I'd argue it does damage to their brand. If they're going to charge like a resort, make food like a resort, not like the generic business traveler hotel 5 miles down the highway from the airport. I mean, which thing do you want your customers remembering after their trip: "It was spendy but worth every penny for amazing food," or, "They threw us over the barrel on food because they could."

Well, anyway.



It started raining as we were finishing up breakfast. Like, really pouring. Fortunately our seats were in an area where we stayed dry— even though we were seated in an outside corner with great views 270° around. Also, Hawk had grabbed a complimentary umbrella as we walked in. I imagined they'd disappear quickly once the downpour started.

We waited a bit at our table until the rain slowed down. We began our walk back— and of course it poured harder again before we were halfway there. I walked as quickly as I could on a bum ankle and across flagstones that were not just soaked but in places totally submerged by the runoff from the shower.

My bad foot skidded at one point. I did not fall, but the skid re-twisted my sprained ankle. *Grunts like a pig*. It was a long moment before I could start walking again due to the pain. Then I walked more slowly and with a pronounced limp. Hawk lent me her cane.

Now we're back up in the room, enjoying the view from our balcony. Though it's still pouring outside, there's enough of an overhang above us (we're in the top floor on this wing of the building) to keep everything here dry, even at the railing. It's nice. I've got my leg up on a stool, elevating my ankle to reduce swelling. Being sick sucks. Especially in paradise. *Grunts like a pig*.

North Carolina Travelog #23
Pisgah National Forest · Tue, 25 Aug 2026. 11:30am.

After a pleasant but not too long jaunt along the Blue Ridge Parkway this morning we dropped down another of the roads that cross it to reach the trailhead for Wildcat Falls. Actually it's not just Wildcat Falls we drove down this road for. There are several waterfalls in this area... at least according to AllTrails and its maps. In reality, this is a fairly remote area and these trails are... notional. Like, not only are there no official signs, there are no parking areas, and even when we've slowed down to 5mph monitoring our location on a live contour map, we can barely even see where a trail might be.

The trailhead for Wildcat Falls was at least a bit better than that. There's a parking area! But it's still unmarked and it's down a light 4x4 trail. There were a few other vehicles there, but no signs of people. We cocked our ears to hear if there were banjos playing. And kept our eyes peeled for axe murderers lurking behind trees.

We shrugged on our packs and started down the trail. After we crossed a stream the forest closed in around us.



Further adding to the sense of remoteness, a sign near the start of the trail warns visitors to "Have a plan" as this is wilderness, with wilderness dangers, and there's no cell service to phone for help. That, plus the remoteness, plus the narrowing path through the forest on a misty day all added to the vague foreboding of, "Oh, great, perfect axe murderer territory." 😅



After not long we crossed side creek at a spot marked Split Falls. Here you can see that the side creek splits above this rock ledge and falls in two small chutes.



We lingered for a while at Split Falls, appreciating the falls themselves and watching all the water striders in the pool at our feet, before continuing the trail to Wildcat Falls.



Wildcat Falls is actually pretty tall, I'd estimate at least 50', but not super amazing as it's at low flow right now and it slides down a tilted rock face. It was more sublime than "wow".

And it was here that we had another axe-murderer concern. When we arrived Hawk thought she saw a hiker's day-pack on the side of the falls, like someone had shucked it off to try clambering up the slick rocks without the extra weight. When she looked back a minute later the pack was gone... and neither of had heard or seen another person.

"Probably the 'pack' was just a reflection off the wet rocks," I suggested. But Hawk had a picture showing the pack on the side of the creek, and I had to agree— it looked more like an actual pack than an optical illusion.

We looked and listened again to determine if we were truly alone or not. As we paused it seemed more and more like the "pack" had just been an illusion. We're observant hikers, and it's unlikely someone could've snuck past us. Especially someone moving through or out of a creek bed, where we'd hear splashing or slipping on wet banks if nothing else.

We walked back to the trailhead, still keeping our eyes peeled. I did spot one hiker coming toward us... and before I stopped to talk to him I made sure his pack was not blue! 🤣 I gently warned him and his companions that there could be a lurker— I was careful to say lurker, not axe murderer— by the falls. We all enjoyed a good laugh about seeing things in the woods before continuing our separate ways.

In beauty I walk. Even if sometimes a bit uneasily.

Hawaii Travelog #3
Grand Wailea Hotel · Mon, 7 Sep 2026. 2:30pm.

Our flight from California to Hawaii was uneventful. Long, but uneventful. It's the same distance as flying from San Francisco to New York City. But that's not what I aim to write about in this blog.

We landed a bit early and got off the plane fast. We were sitting near the front and had only carry-on bags. Then our Uber driver arrived swiftly, so we were on the road by 1:30. By 2 we arrived at the Grand Wailea Hotel.



I didn't catch a photo of the front-front of the hotel because the driver took us under the huge canopy of the porte cochère. But once we walked through a few colonnades, past several garden fountains with burbling statuary, we arrived at this central fountain.

"All these fountains and statues look like a Las Vegas casino," I snarked. Of course that resemblence is because half the casinos in Vegas copy Hawaiian/Polynesian decor.

We checked in and headed to our room.



I grabbed an "ussie" here because it shows part of the hotel. And, it turned out, you can see our room from here. I didn't know that until after we got to it.



With a bit of negotiation at the front desk, the agent there switched us to a room closer to the ocean. We already had an ocean-view room, but it was in a wing of the building further back. This one is closer. We gave up having a king bed and took two queens instead. The king would've been nice, but also nice is having two beds so— as the gal at the front desk put it— "You can eat pizza in one and keep the other clean for sleeping." 🤣



We're closer to the pools and the beach here than our originally selected room. I feel it's a slight minus that we're down at the level of the tree tops... though the original room would've been just a bit higher but also farther back. The rooms with commanding views are much spendier. (We asked.)



Here's a more detailed view from our balcony. Yes, we can see the ocean from here. It's a bit hard to tell where it is in this photo because it's pretty cloudy out. At least the hurricane isn't hitting Maui.