Well - I never thought I'd be typing this again - but I just saw Lush live in concert.
I've spent a lot of time with this band throughout the years. The band members are roughly my age, and I remember buying their early EPs and thinking "These guys are amazing" and also "I think I can play some of these songs". Early band lineups of mine did include covers of "For Love" from their sophomore album "Spooky".
Also - they were huge fans of Wire. They covered "Outdoor Miner" on one of their EPs, which I thought was a great version. And we both covered versions of Wire's "Mannequin" - although their cover was much more famous than mine.
I remember seeing one of their early Seattle shows at a small nightclub called "...the weathered wall". According to Miki's notes, this was roughly June 1994.
Flash forward to this year when the remaining members got together and decided to try something. The results were a new EP - Blind Spot - and a tour.
They were supposed to play a number of gigs prior to Seattle, but visa issues kept them out of the country. We ended up being the first U.S. show - Miki even mentioned that they had basically just got off the plane.
They were amazing:
I even managed to capture a couple of songs on video: "For Love" and "Monochrome". Here's "For Love":
Monochrome was a complete surprise. The band had done the three song "obligatory encore" and left the stage. The house lights had come up, and they started playing exit music. However - we were having none of that. We cheered and clapped so long that Lush came back on stage and played a true encore. You'll hear Miki mention at the start of the clip that "this really is the last one" - they weren't kidding. Sadly, the Showbox had a hard 11:00 PM curfew, so that was literally the last song they could play. Here's "Monochrome":
As Miki said at the end, "must go - slightly tearing up". Indeed. All in all, an amazing night.
The day after the trip to Hana, we decided to give my nerves a rest and visit some botanical gardens instead. We started off by heading to a small town called Makawao, which had a real Hawaiian feel - as opposed to a touristy feel. Sure - there were shops and galleries, but this was fairly off the beaten path and the crowds were not as large as in Lahaina or Paia.
For instance - chickens were just strolling down the sidewalk. Here's a chicken walking on the sidewalk next to our car:
(Sorry - you'll have to wait to see my other photos of Makawao - they're on the main camera. All of these photos - in this post and the previous Maui post - are from my phone's camera.)
Interestingly, Makawao has a large cowboy feel. Much of the surrounding countryside was ranch land, and there's a very cool museum that details the life of the paniolo - or Hawaiian cowboy.
After grabbing a little lunch, we headed up to Kula and the Kula Botanical Gardens. Since Kula is on the side of the big Haleakala volcano, it has a great view of Kihei and the beach:
Once inside the gardens, we saw waterfalls, koi ponds, and in a bird sanctuary, two rare Nene birds. Can you see the Nene in the photo below?
Relaxing by the waterfall:
Rose feeds the koi:
It turns out the Botanical Garden grows its own coffee. I bought some (see P.S. below) - but I haven't cracked it open yet. Should be amazing.
Driving back from the garden, we stopped by an amazing landmark - the Holy Ghost Catholic Church. The viewpoint was striking:
The interior was equally as impressive:
A historical marker outside:
Finally heading back to Kihei, we finished the night at the Paia Fish Market, which is actually a restaurant. Based on a recommendation from the staff, I got the Mahi served Cajun style:
That's also a local beer - the Wailua Wheat from the Kona Brewing Co., if my memory serves me correctly. It definitely was local and it was a passion fruit brew. Perfect with the fish.
The next to last day we went to the Maui Ocean Center aquarium. Rose had a playdate with the child of a co-worker of mine from Seattle who had independently planned an almost identical Maui trip. We found out we were both going just before we left Seattle. I didn't get many pics on my phone's camera - but you can see the sea turtle feeding below:
Based on my co-worker's recommendation, we ended up in Kimo's in Lahaina, where we all got foo-foo beverages. (And - yes - Rose's is a non-alcoholic strawberry smoothie.)
The view was tremendous. That's the island of Lanai behind the patio, over the ocean.
And - what would a trip be without trying the Hula Pie? Oddly enough - no one but me liked it. Bummer. (^_-)
Lahaina was sort of touristy. We saw Mick Fleetwood's restaurant there. There was a Hard Rock and a Bubba Gump Shrimp as well. We took a photo on the Forrest Gump bench. Rose remained unconvinced:
Driving back to Kihei from Lahaina, we found a viewpoint, and took a couple of final photos. Here we're looking back at Lanai:
And here - we're looking at uninhabited Kahoolawe at the far right, and the small atoll of Molokini in the center. Kihei is on the coastline to the left:
And that's our trip. The next morning, we said goodbye to the view from the patio of where we were staying:
and headed back home with 2 pounds of Hawaiian coffee (see P.S. below) and a week's worth of amazing memories.
Cheers,
Paul
P.S. About the coffee. Since the coffee is grown on the islands in volcanic soil, it tends to be low acidity, which gives it a very earthy taste. I ended up buying four bags. Since coffee is expensive in the islands, you end up buying half pound bags. All of them are excellent. I got:
A Kona from Starbucks. This is unavailable anywhere outside of the islands - you have to buy it there. Quick pic of it - if anyone knows how to find this stateside, let me know:
A Maui from Maui Coffee Company. It was the 100% Maui roast. Interestingly, it comes with a spring-loaded metal clip, instead of the standard fold-tabs you see stateside.
A Kauai estate grown from Kauai Coffee. It was the Koloa Estate. This was sharper in flavor than any of the others - almost like a Latin American in brightness, as opposed to the earthy tones of the Maui or Kona. It turns out that our local Safeway sometimes carries this. I bought a spare bag. They appear to be identical, except the local Kauai had the spring-loaded clip, and the export had the folding tabs.
A Maui from the Kula Botanical Gardens. This is the Kula 3600 Estate Coffee - I got the light/dark blend. This is the only one I haven't opened yet - but it should be amazing. Super small batch.
(from the It's much better in the islands department)
Hi everyone,
To celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, and our first trip to Hawaii together, Dana and I decided to go back to the islands. However, rather than go back to Oahu - which I've visited repeatedly - we decided to go to Maui, which I've only been to once, and Dana has never seen at all.
After scrambling for airline tickets, arranging lodging, and frantically e-mailing everyone for advice, we found ourselves waking up early Thursday morning and heading to the airport to start our vacation.
and picked up our rental car. Yeah - we rented a red convertible Mustang. Hey - if you're going to drive around the islands, you might as well do it right:
I took that photo on one of our first long driving excursions - up the 'Iao Valley to the state park. This is what we saw:
This was quite a contrast to the desert-like conditions we experienced where we were staying in Kihei. Basically - Maui has a desert side and a rainforest side. What you're seeing above is the rainforest side.
Our next big excursion was driving the Hana Highway. This is not an exercise for the faint of heart. Although it's only a 52 mile stretch, it takes 2 1/2 hours to drive without stopping - there are 59 bridges, 620 curves and many stretches where the road is only one lane wide.
Still - the scenery was amazing:
Finally - we got to the outskirts of the Hana area, and went to the Wai'anapanapa State Park with their famous black sand beaches:
While we were there - we found a cave lava tube (as Rose corrected me):
Then - back to the beach:
Finally - we reached the Hasegawa General Store in Hana, which is considered a landmark and a sign that you'd "completed" the Hana Highway. I bought a celebratory t-shirt and mug, and took a couple of pictures:
We'd done it! We'd made it to Hana! Unfortunately - the remaining highway doesn't connect around the island. So, to get back to Kihei, I had to drive the entire Hana Highway again - in the reverse direction. Oh - and did I mention that the sun had set before we started back? And - there are no streetlights on the Hana Highway, and it's pitch black?
Yeah - that was kind of nerve racking - 620 hairpin turns and 59 narrow bridges on an occasional single lane road in the darkest dark.
But - we made it with out any damage - except to my nervous system - and we were ready for the next phase of our Maui adventure.
