Pa’ia, `Īao, and Up-Country to Haleakalā

January 18, 2024January 18, 2024Leave a comment

It wasn’t all beach time in Maui. I mean it mostly was, plus pool time, plus playing the ukulele looking at the ocean time, plus expensive cocktail time. There was a lot of looking out at the sunset like Luke Skywalker as well. On one of the days though we hired a car and went off on an adventure. Four years ago, we had done the Road to Hana, or at least as much of it as we could fit in in the short December daylight. This time we were going Up Country, but we did stop off in one familiar place, the surfing town of Pa’ia. We were going for lunch at the Pa’ia Fish Market, an evidently popular place with a long line out of the door. While my wife and son lined up, I went a bit further down the street to start a sketch of Tobi’s Shave Ice, where we had been back in 2019. Page 1 of a new sketchbook. I loved their shave ice when we went before, and this time did not disappoint either, when we popped in after lunch and after shopping in the little stores. Pa’ia is an interesting little town, a lot of traffic rolls through though, so it doesn’t feel peaceful. We didn’t go to the beach this time. For the best; while we were getting lunch, a fire truck zoomed through town, and it turns out that a local surfer was killed by a shark out in the waves at about the time we came into town, we heard later on. It was sad news, and the beach was closed off. From Pa’ia we drove uphill and up country. Before we went to Pa’ia though we visited the ʻĪao Valley State Monument in West Maui, a really interesting tropical park with deep green valleys and a dramatic promontory called the ʻĪao Needle (Kūkaʻemoku), which I did a very quick sketch of above in pencil and paint. The needle is said to be a huge phallic representation, whatever that means. The valley has been the burial ground for many big nobs, that is local nobolity and even one of the Hawaiian kings. There was a particularly bloody battle here in 1790 called the Battle of Kepaniwai, between Kamehameha the Great and the Maui army of Kalanikūpule, but Kamehemeha won and the islands were united. It was a really interesting and beautiful place to spend a morning, and covered in a blanket of tropical cloud.

Anyway after we left Pa’ia we were uphill all the way to Haleakalā. We stopped off on the way in a small village called Makawao, where we looked around and found the Maui Cookie Lady. This was a tiny little store, so small only a few people at a time could go in, while everyone else had to wait outside. (That reminded me of the newsagents near my school, which only let two school kids in at a time.) That waiting time gave me a chance to get the sketchbook and brown fountain pen out, and I drew as quickly as I could. Eventually my wife emerged with these two massive, well I say cookies, I thought they were cakes. I was less fussed about eating these massive cookies, but when I finally did eat some the next day, I was blown away. The one I had was some kind of chocolate one, and it was like a mix between a cookie and a brownie, but way better than either. It was one of the most amazing things I’d ever eaten. So if you are in Makawao, look out for the Maui Cookie Lady because she makes seriously amazing (and huge) cookies.

We drove further up, up, up country, getting some dramatic views across Maui, our ears and eyes all popping. Then we hit the clouds, and the sunlight dimmed, and the roads twisted and turned in huge zigzags up the mountain. Eventually, the clouds melted off and we entered Haleakalā National Park. We bought a National Parks Annual Pass, because we definitely intend to visit some more this year. I’ve become quite interested in National Parks, and have collected pins and postcards from each one we’ve been to. Ok in the past few years, so far we’ve visited Arches (Utah), Canyonlands (Utah), Yosemite (California), Petrified Forest (Arizona) Grand Canyon (Arizona), and now Haleakalā (Hawaii). There are many more on the list. We are planning to visit Bryce Canyon and Zion (both Utah) later this year. The day was pushing along fast, but we were only in Haleakalā for one reason – to watch the sunset. A lot of people come to watch the sunrise, but I didn’t much fancy getting up at 3am to drive several hours up a mountain in the dark, and then not get a parking space. Sunset it was, and I have to say, we all agreed it was well worth it, a real once in a lifetime experience. We drove above the sea of fluffy white clouds for a while longer, like this was some floating island in the sky. We reached the crater and went and had a look, but we wanted to make sure we got a seat at the top table so we got back in the car and headed for the summit. Haleakalā – which means ‘House of the Sun’ in Hawaiian – is a giant dormant volcano, and the crater is an impressive sight as the shadows slowly drift across it. Legends say that the grandmother of the Hawaiian heroic demigod Māui was born here. I had to sketch it. There were otherworldly plants called ‘silverswords’ dotted around, a super rare plant that grows nowhere else on the planet except here. It was cold up at the summit, 10,000 feet above sea level, and we had to wrap up warm. There were a lot of people gathered up there, but it wasn’t too bad, there was sunset enough for everyone. I played my ukulele up there above the clouds. This is a sacred place for local people from Maui, and you can see why. There was a local man singing as the sun set, with his own ukulele, singing a local version of ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’. Across the mountaintop are the space surveillance systems of the Observatory, which you can see in my quick pre-sunset sketch below. It was beautiful.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime sunset. I know the sun goes down every single night and pretty much always has done, but where you watch it from really makes a difference.

Yeah Maui was pretty amazing. Big thumbs up from me.

A Wave from Wailea

January 11, 2024January 11, 2024Leave a comment

Maui No Ka Oi. That mean’s ‘Maui is the Best’, and it is a beautiful place. Looking out at the Pacific Ocean from where we were staying in Wailea, towards the island of Lanai, the barren land of Kaho’olawe, the small volcanic shell of Molokini, over to West Maui which looks like it might be another island but is joined to Maui by a large fertile valley, and beyond to Moloka’i, none of it seems real. We sat and watched one sunset on New Year’s Day, and the range of colours in the domed sky around us made it feel like we were in a giant IMAX dome. Paradise on Earth. Though looking out at West Maui, which I drew above in afternoon light for my final sketch of 2024, it was hard not to think of all those who suffered in those terrible fires back in the summer, especially in the devastated historic capital of Lahaina, just on the other side of that mountain. Even though we’ve seen so much fire in California in recent years, it is hard to imagine when looking at a view like this, but hard not to think about. IT was a poignant New Years Even for Maui, though still celebrated with the fireworks out at see, as it was the last time we were here. We sat on the bluff this time overlooking the beach, watching the fireworks and worrying if it would scare the sea turtles, and I played my ukulele as 2023 sodded off and 2024 waltzed in. We were one of the last in the world to leave 2023 behind, better late than never.

I did most of my sketching in the morning before everyone was up, and in the afternoon when it was nap time, and mostly just went out to sketch the view of the Ocean. I drew in my Moleskine, and also in my little Fabriano Venezia which is lovely for little watercolour sketches, and nice drawing in portrait format for a change. The sketch above was shortly after sunrise. On the morning before, we had gone out in the outrigger canoe to explore the ocean, getting an interesting little tour by our local guides (who were actually from South Africa and Argentina), pointing out all sorts of history and story that we didn’t know about. We didn’t see any whales while we were out there, but there were plenty around, being whale season in Maui. We saw some from a long way off while we were on the beach. We didn’t (thankfully) see any sharks. We did encounter a sea turtle right up close though, swimming alongside our canoe. It was a pretty great experience, and I loved being out on the water.

I drew the sketch above after sunrise on the following day also. I wanted to focus a bit more using the paints and less of the pen. That little boat with the red triangular sail was out there every morning. This was New Year’s Eve, and later that morning I went snorkeling for the first time. I’d never done it before and was a little hesitant; I can float about well enough but am not the strongest swimmer, but my wife got me a good floaty vest so I could do my best with it. About a minute after getting under the water, a big sea turtle swam right up to me, and then passed by slowly, swimming alongside me for a little bit. It was a great experience, though I was nervous to see it at first. I grew up with tortoises, so this was special, but I kept my distance. The honu as they are called in Hawaiian is a protected marine animal. I didn’t see another, but I swam around a lot of very colourful fish in the rocks and corals. Oh dammit, I forgot to make a joke about singing ‘Christmas Corals’, I’ll do that next time.

Above is a quick sketch of Molokini, the little crescent-shaped volcanic crater – sorry, it’s a ‘caldera’ – which is super popular with snorkelers. It’s supposed to be spectacular, though it was used for target practice in World War II (Kaho’olawe itself was bombed to bits during the war and long afterwards as the US military used the island to test its weaponry, and remains unpopulated). It was quite hard to see Molokini, but I brought my binoculars with me.

The next couple of sketches from New Year’s Day were done close together as the sun was getting ready to set. I really wanted to catch the colours of the sunset going into the ocean, with the shining volcanic rocks in the foreground. I drew the one below before the one above, and you can see the change in the colour of the sky in the short space of time. It wasn’t as windy that day, but on one of the afternoons I sat out there by that tree with my ukulele playing hard into the wild Wailea winds as the ocean splashed nearby. It’s a good place to play the ukulele, so relaxing.

And below, my last sketch in Maui by the ocean, another morning looking out at West Maui, a palm tree, well-trimmed vacation resort grass, and a big rock that has a sign on it telling us it had been deposited there on the bluff from the ocean by a huge wave a few decades ago. Call my bluff indeed. I have a bunch of other Maui sketches I couldn’t help drawing from our trip ‘upcountry’, I will post those soon. It was a lovely trip to Maui. The cocktails were a bit expensive, but we got to enjoy them from an infinity pool looking out at the sea. The food was good, although I tried a local ‘Molokai potato and banana curry’ which I thought might be good but was actually gross, here’s your expensive check. The seafood was delicious though, and our dinner and Mai Tais at Monkeypod were incredible. It’s these views though, this is what you come here for. Maui No Ka Oi.

sacramento to kahului (and back)

January 9, 2024January 9, 2024Leave a comment

We flew over the Pacific to the Hawaiian island of Maui just after Christmas, for our festive tropical new year break. That was amazing. We did have to get up super early in the morning to get to the airport and catch our 7am plane, which we did (though Sacramento airport was very busy), and had dramatic skies as the sun was coming up. We flew on a Boeing 737-Max-8, blissfully unaware of the problems that the Max-9 would have a week later when part of one came off shortly after take-off. Yeah let’s not think about that scary situation. As Superman says, flying is still the safest way to travel. Easy for him to say. Still the view was beautiful. I always have to do a bit of drawing when I fly, it helps me relax. Looking out of the window I tried to capture the colours and textures of the sky in my little Fabriano Venezia book.

It’s nearly six hours from Sacramento to Kahului, the main airport on Maui. Maui is a beautiful place, though it has suffered a lot in 2023 with devastating fires, namely the terrifying disaster than befell the historic capital Lahaina. I sketched there in 2019, when we visited on New Year’s Eve. While the buildings were destroyed, the historic Banyan Tree has survived, albeit terribly damaged. We were going to stay in Wailea, where we stayed on that previous trip, on the south-western part of Maui. We flew out with Southwest, and on the way we were able to watch the Tottenham game against Brighton & Hove Albion. Should win that right? We lost 4-2, and we were 4-0 down when we landed, so there was a little bit more Norf London Language than usual on this flight. (We made up for it by beating Bournemouth a few days later, but seriously, we were ravaged by injuries and suspensions).

I have a few Maui sketches to post, I wasn’t going to do a lot of sketching what with being in the ocean and the pool and playing my ukulele by the sea, but you know I can’t help myself. I’ll post those later. Below is the sketch from the flight home, this was the flight on the 737-Max-8 (I can’t remember what the plane was going out there, it wasn’t a Max-8 or 9), and they have a handy little tray that pops down where you can clamp in your phone or iPad to watch things on there, a very handy feature. It would still get sucked out if the window fell off though. I don’t think I watched much, a couple of episodes of ‘Marvel’s What If’, mostly just listened to podcasts and sketched, this time in that brown fountain pen. Buy the time we got home it was raining hard in the Sacramento valley, and a lot colder than the mid-80s of Maui. Happy New Year!

skipper bob

January 7, 2024Leave a comment

This is the ‘Skipper Bob’ tiki mug that I got for my wife for Christmas; it definitely needed sketching. It’s the ‘De Nile’ themed one from Tikiland Trading Co, and in the theme of the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. We went to a big tiki exhibition at Napa Museum back in September, which was a fascinating history of the classic tiki bars of northern California, especially during the boom of that theme in the 1950s. One of the historic old places in San Francisco was ‘Tiki Bob’s’, which no longer exists although the original pillar with this Tiki Bob face still stands outside the original location near Union Square. The ‘Tiki Bob’ style of mug which originated there has been popular since, so it was good to find one to add to her tiki themed shelf. I don’t think we’ll make the drink that goes with this (too many ingredients, we aren’t really home bar people with all the stuff) but it’s fun to have, and reminiscent of a bit of San Francisco history.

christmas eve in front of the telly

January 4, 2024Leave a comment

We all have our holiday routines. For us, Christmas Eve has become our family day. Since on Christmas Day we will typically get up and go over to Santa Rosa for the day with my wife’s family, where we will eat crab for dinner, it’s Christmas Eve where it’s just us and we will have the traditional turkey and roast potatoes dinner, with ‘picky bits’ during the day. We will spend the day watching all our favourite Christmas shows and movies, though we always spend the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas watching all the old faves. Home Alone is the classic, though we always save Muppets Christmas Carol (my personal favourite Christmas movie and Michael Caine’s best role). A Christmas Story is great (and the new sequel that came out last year was surprisingly very good fun). Love Actually is the cheese but we love it; it always reminds us of the London that existed when we left it, and we saw that at the cinema in Muswell Hill when we lived on Hornsey Lane. We even watched Die Hard this year, which I’d not actually seen since the early 90s, because it used to be on tv a lot as a generic action film before people realized it was set at Christmas so we have to argue if it’s a Christmas movie (I think you can say it definitely is, I don’t buy people saying it’s their favourite one, but each to their own); it was fun and I realized the big blond hulking terrorist who wanted to avenge his brother’s death reminded us a lot of Erling Haaland at the end of that Spurs-Man City game. We love Iron Man 3, a total Christmas action movie. We also watched the Creature Comforts Christmas this year, which I’d not seen before, and we always watch the Christmas episodes of the Simpsons, and the festive Father Ted Christmas special, the one with the Golden Cleric Award (“and now we move on to liars…”). This Christmas Eve, we started by putting on a bunch of Christmas episodes of Friends, followed by the other favourite, Charlie Brown’s Christmas. It always reminds me of when we took our son to see a kids stage production of it in Folsom when he was about three or four, in some tiny little venue, very simply produced yet amazing and memorable. Then it was time for the Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, which we know word for word and absolutely love, especially the bit where Beadle’s portly lads sing “piggy-wiggy-wiggy-wiggy-woo” which I used to sing to my son when he was a baby. Then it’s time for The Snowman, a proper gentle piece of festive animation; this was one from my own childhood, I was about six or so when it came out and remember watching it on TV, and being excited that the kid had red hair like me. Then it’s time for The Muppets Christmas Carol. I have it on an old DVD so it’s the full version, and I love how straight Caine plays it. It’s pretty close to my other favourite version, Scrooge (with Albert Finney), which I haven’t watched in a while. There are so many versions; I never really liked Scrooged, and don’t get me started on that TV version that Ross Kemp did, but nothing beats the Muppets. This year we followed that with a film that will always feel like Christmas to us, The Force Awakens. It does have snow in it, but it’s because it came out right before Christmas that it feels right, and we loved that one. Actually that year was the last one where we spent Christmas in London; hard to believe we’ve not spent Christmas with my London family in so long, I do really miss them at Christmas. By this time we’re already getting ready for dinner, and so there might be a bit of music or maybe a nap, but after dinner is done and the last bit of wrapping gets underway, it’s always time for It’s A Wonderful Life, which is a Christmas classic without really being that much of a Christmas movie itself, just that bit at the end. I love it though. There are other films that come on Christmas Day when we visit family (Gremlins played this year, and Elf usually comes on) but this is pretty much our usual tradition, just spending the whole day at home, and it’s a fun one. I hope you all had a lovely time this year. It’s already 2024 now and slowly back to work, but we did get a lovely tropical holiday in for New Years; sketches coming soon. Happy New Year!