Rob&Nicole , Com

Oct 25th, 2009

Almost down.

I watched tentatively through the window at the bouncing wing-tip.

Fwooosh!

The wing dipped and my heart flipped in my chest, as I watched the ground zoom closer -all too quickly. The downdraft pushed us hard then let up, just before the wheels hit.

We felt a shudder, and the entire cabin jerked to the left, then back to the right. I immediately thought of times I'd lost control of my car, how it would try to skid back and forth.

This is when I put my hands on the seat in front of me and mouthed the words, "oh sh*t".

I glared out the window, expecting to see the ground eat the wing, the cabin to spin, break apart, and a wall of orange flame wash over us.

But somehow the jerking stopped, and the roar of the engines yanked our speed down to a safe crawl.

We all exchanged anxious looks for a moment, then everyone was jibber-jabbering happily about the worst landing we'd ever had.

Ding!

Then it hit me: not only had we all lived (which felt awesome), we were in Maui! (Which felt doubly-awesome!)

With so many other places to see in the world, places with more adventure, longer recorded history, and worldly significance, why do we keep coming back?

Maui is like a great album we keep listening to when we need something good. It's dependable, always delivers, and never disappoints. We don't have to figure out the money, the language, the roads, banks, or adjust to inverted time-zones.

And most of all: it's extremely kid-friendly! Do we miss the trips to places like New Zealand? Absolutely. But when we need to spend two weeks unwinding hard, with no stress involved, Maui is perfect.

This time around we all agreed to do as little as possible. No scuba dives, whale watching, lavender field tours, volcanoes, door-less helicopters, or wave runners.

The goal was to decompress so completely that we'd reach new levels of relaxation previously unimagined. Oops, we have kids -never mind.

But we at least tried to relax, and it was lots of fun trying!

For example, here's a set of shots where Chris tries to relax with Elliot on the beach. (Click to enlarge).

Despite all our attempts to do nothing, we did find ourselves at the aquarium one day. We also hit the blowhole, and made several trips into Lahaina. But mostly it was the beach, pool, or couch. (BPC)

And the kids seemed to enjoy themselves quite a bit, too...

-Rob and Nicole

(click to enlarge)

Go ahead, judge. Just know that as pretentious as this looks, it's only 5 dollars more than a van taxi, and it even comes with a child seat! Take that, Haters...