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Thursday, October 4, 2007

Michael Dreyer and Family Visit

Em's aunt, uncle and cousins arrived late on Mon. Oct. 22. We spent the remaining part of the evening talking over a couple drinks. Of course, they were exhausted because it was 4 AM EST even though Emily and I still had plenty of energy. They definitely earned their room and board at our house by bringing gifts of beer. Three Floyds Pride and Joy, Arrogant Bastard and Stone Ruination IPA - even better than gold, frankincence and myrrh.

The following day, Emily and I worked while the Dreyer family enjoyed a day of snorkeling, hiking and sunbathing on the north shore. We had a few drinks and then headed to Roy's for an outstanding delicious dinner. If you've never been to Roy's and you enjoy Pacific Rim cuisine, you've got to give it a try. Uncle Mike generously picked up the tab which we truly appreciate. All the visitors were pretty cashed out by the time we got home so we went to bed for an early start in the morning.

We headed to Waimea Canyon for the morning and the Dreyers family was unlucky enough to get a misty cool day in the canyon with limited views. Unfortunately, the weather is like that about half of the time, especially in winter further up the road toward Koke'e. At the Kalalau lookout, the clouds cleared for a few minutes so a few people got some views.

Most of the family headed to Brick Oven Pizza for lunch, but Matt Elliot and I had a hankerin' for something a little more exotic. We went to Ishihara Market and picked up some poke - raw seafood salad. We got wasabi ahi, scallop salad and idako, which is basically raw, whole, baby octupi in a sweet and sour sesame sauce. As Matt so eloquently put it "it's the veal of the sea", but without the guilt because nobody cares about baby octupi. Hopefully, they keep the octupi in a tiny box and force-feed it just like delicious, tender veal. We enjoyed our lunch intensely.

After lunch we headed to the Maha'ulepu beaches (which I think, is best set of beaches on the island - beautiful water, sea cliffs, no crowds and nearby hiking) and everybody did their own thing after arriving. Anyone who rode in the minivan rental waited half an hour until their guts settled and thanked God for their safe arrival after riding the dirt roads. Em and Taryn talked on the beach, Mike, Kevin and Jen walked the beach awhile, Monica took some photos. Matt and I hiked to several of the other beaches and onto some of the sea cliffs, cooler in tow.

We had an enjoyable dinner with VIP treatment at Kalaheo Cafe and then said our goodbyes since Emily and I had to work the next day. Em said goodbye for a week since she was heading to Cincy in a few days, I said goodbye for two days since I was flying to Maui for the weekend to go mountain biking with Matt. That sounds awesome so I'll type it again...I was flying to Maui for the weekend to go mountain biking!

Check back for the Haleakala biking pictures and story.

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