I am back in paradise, away from the maddening crowd! Molokai. On the 13th of December, Marty and I boarded Alaska Airlines and flew to Honolulu. We walked to the area where the inter-island planes take off. While we were sitting there we saw two different rainbows. Always a great sign.

There we met a wonderful gal, who was the check-in person for the inter-island airlines. Her name was Aloha. What a great name to have. And she was the essence of what her name meant; friendly, caring, smiling, welcoming. When it was time to board the small plane, she walked us out, bringing along our carry-ons. We were the first people on the plane! Only thirty boarded, and we were off to Maui.

In Maui, Rachel picked us up and drove us to Lahaina and the Best Western Pioneer Inn. We had our bags taken up to our room, and after seeing it, we met Rachel in the attached restaurant/bar and had dinner. Saying goodbye to Rachel, we climbed the stairs to our room and collapsed.

Rachel works on the island, and was with Kat on the first Habitat build in Molokai. She has become a great friend to both of us. After being on Molokai and Maui afterwards, she gave up a wonderful job in New York City, drove Kat's car across the country, got on a plane to Maui, found a place to live, a part-time job, which is now full time. She loves "paradise" and her job. Sometimes if we can just stop trying to lead with our brains, and go with our hearts, good things happen. I believe there are no coincidences.

We spent one full day in Lahaina, just relaxing and walking around. This is a view of the courtyard of the Inn from our lanai.

The Pioneer Inn is a very historic place, and is a National Historic Site, I believe. The restaurant is open on two sides so you get the wonderful sea breezes. The Inn is directly across from the Lahaina Wharf where the ferries for both Lanai and Molokai come in, as well as fishing boats, tour boats, and cruise ships, one of which was out in the harbor.

The Inn has all sorts of seafaring artifacts, with a jaw bone of a whale (I think) on the inside of the main door. In the patio is a replica of the canoes which the Polynesians and the Hawaiians used to travel in. An old carved and painted one legged sea captain welcomes you to the Inn and the Restaurant...

In a corner of the bar is an African Gray parrot names Alex. He talks, whistles, and with his women behind him, entertains the customers. There is, however, at least one bartender who gets really tired of his chatter, and he is often covered up by 5PM, which in my estimation, is too early!!!

The town plaza is right next to the inn, and has the largest banyan tree in the USA and perhaps the world. At night thousands upon thousands of birds, mostly mynah birds come to roost there, and it seems like the tree is talking, there is so much noise...

Here is the sign about this banyan tree complete with poo from the birds...

Remember, this is all one tree with the main trunk and then running branches which put down roots elsewhere and grow another trunk. I believe there are 16-18 trunks in all, and each one has come from the main trunk!!!

Below is the main trunk...

This picture shows how the branches reach out and then go down and make another trunk...

At night, there are Christmas lights strung around the lower branches of the tree. My picture is taken from the Pioneer Inn Restaurant, and isn't as clear as I wanted it, but you can see the effect. Needless to say, very few people walk under the banyan after the birds come to roost...I wonder why??????

Lahaina is full of shops and restaurants, some fun, some very touristy. While I was walking through the plaza under the banyan, I could hear tapping sounds, and following the sound, crossed the street, and along a walkway, where a man was finishing carving a huge mask...

A man with a Scottish brogue came up to me and told me about him and the store. The young man was Hawaiian. He and his father were wood carvers, using five different types of wood on Maui. This mask had been commissioned by someone. In the store were many of their beautiful carvings, along with wonderful jewelry made by his sisters and mother. They use local seeds and shells.

I met up with Marty, and after a dish of quality Maui made ice cream, I walked back to the harbor side of the plaza. Marty was going in the opposite direction. This photo is the Old Lahaina Courthouse, now open to the public, with a museum I believe, as well as public loos.

Across from the courthouse, facing the harbor were four old cannons, two on either side of the flag pole...

Coming back to the Inn, I walked through the patio. There is a big pot, and inside it were two Hawaiian pigeons. As I walked by, one of them flew up and sat on the lip of the pot while the other stayed hidden...

The next morning, we were up at 5:30AM, ready to take the ferry to Molokai. A very wonderful woman at the desk came up and brought down our luggage. She was born and raised on Maui, but her parents are Tongan. She was raised to know the Tongan culture and language, which is wonderful. Everyone at the Inn was very friendly, with the Aloha spirit.

The Inn has no elevator, and all the rooms are on the second floor. Because it is an historic building, it has been difficult to find an area to put a small elevator which would not alter the appearance of the Inn. While we were waiting inside the inn for the ferry to arrive, I spoke with one of the owners. She told me that they had been searching for an area for an elevator. So far, they have not been able to come up with one that would not impact the building, but they haven't given up. Best Western was coming that day to evaluate the Inn. I told her I couldn't believe that it wasn't a Plus hotel, as I had been in Plus B/W's which weren't half as nice as this one. When we got to Molokai, I wrote my evaluation of the Pioneer Inn and sent it off to Best Western.

The ferry arrived on time, and we boarded and left right around 7:30AM. On time. We got to the Kanakakai Wharf just after 9 AM. The ferry ride was good although there were great swells in the ocean, and the rocking motion got to some stomachs!

Our car rental people were waiting for us and we picked up our Dodge Charger and drove to WaveCrest and our condo by the sea...this is our lanai which faces the ocean, with Maui in front of us, and Lanai to the right...

We unpacked and then went back downtown (Kanakakai is about 13 miles from WaveCrest.) We went into Kalele Bookstore and said hello to Terry, and from there went to the Friendly Market and picked up a few groceries. Then we came back to our place.

There was a nice sunset saying "Aloha and welcome to Molokai..."

I woke up the next day about 6:30AM. Clouds were scudding across the sky and over Maui, I could see the beginning of the sunrise - the rim of the dark clouds getting brighter and brighter...

To my right Lanai was also getting the effects of the sunrise...

After we had breakfast, we headed west into Kanakakai, and then out towards Coffees of Hawaii. But instead of turning there, we went straight and drove up to a State Park, which is where the Kalapapa Lookout is. We walked down to the lookout where you can see the Kalapapa Peninsula. From the 1850's on, anyone in Hawaii diagnosed with leprosy, was banished to Kalapapa. The only way in or out was by boat, or climbing down and up steep mountains. There men, women and children were left to die, taken away from their families and loved ones. It is the place where Father Damien came to minister to the people. He was there for 16 years or so, and he too developed leprosy and died when he was 49 years old...

Up along the rock wall where we could see the peninsula were a series of pictures and data on Kalapapa...I liked this plaque...

Mar looking out at this beautiful peninsula and the ocean...

As we walked back up the walk to the parking lot, we both saw a beautiful mushroom, which looked like a starfish in some ways. Looking it up, we found that it is called a sea anemone fungus and is in the stinkhorn family...

There were lots and lots of mushrooms growing, from tiny little clumps of brown ones, to various sized white ones, but I have never seen anything like that beautiful red "starfish" in my life.

The iron wood tree is very common here, and here is a baby one growing right off its mother...

I needed to use the loo and as I went into the stall, this sign greeted me on the wall...

Okay, I don't see corn cobs or the Sear's catalog....hummmm!!!!

Marty walked down to see the Phallic Rock. I started down, but the way was too uneven, with tree roots and rocks to navigate. I don't have a picture of it, but I am sure if you looked it up on Google, you would not only have a picture of it, but an explanation. It is a natural formation and is still a very sacred place. Marty said there were signs around asking that no one hang anything off of it, or write on it, etc. It was, and still is, used by young couples to ask for fertility. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about that any more.

We drove to Artie and John's house, but they weren't home. On our way to Kumu Farms, I took Marty over to Tasha's house. It is the one that Kat's team, and another team after her, were working on. It is still not finished on the inside. However, Tasha has painted the outside herself, and it is beautiful...

The reason her house isn't finished is because there is no electricity or plumbing installed yet. That is the responsibility of the local Habitat, who for some strange reason, has no money...but that is another story all together, and not for me to tell. Suffice to say, that Emillia told me that the plumbing and electricity will be taken care of soon.

At Kumu Farms we bought organic vegetables, all grown there or on island. Lettuce, avocado, red and white radishes, and purple sweet potatoes. Kumu Farms' papayas are shipped to many place on the mainland.

We had dinner at Matt and Emillia's, and everything we had came from Molokai except for the rice. Beef, fish caught by Matt and Alex (Emillia's son), and salad makings. It was a great meal with wonderful conversation and humor. A friend of theirs, John, was also there. A very neat guy.

Emillia and Matt have several new pets since I was there last year. They have rescued a beautiful old black lab who they named Couch. They have also rescued two kittens. One is orange named Rooster, for Rooster Cogburn, because he has lost one eye. The other kitten is white with gray stripes. His name starts with an R also, but neither Marty nor I can remember it right now. You know us oldies, we can have short memories, sometimes deliberately!

The next day we hung out. Went into Kanakakai to mail some postcards, and looked for Martinelli's sparkling juices, which we found. Then Mar went to see what the flea market along the street had to offer. I noticed from the car that someone was selling pomolos. Now, if you have never seen or eaten a pomolo, you are missing a really wonderful fruit. They are the size of melons and look like grapefruit. After the outer skin is peeled off, I sliced a quarter of one, and took the inner skin off each section, which is very easy. Then I broke the sections up into our salad. Artie and John had one last year, my first introduction to them. We bought two - one was $2.00 and the other one, and the biggest, was $1.00!!!!

That night, we feasted on fresh salad and baked sweet potatoes, all of it local. The inside of the sweet potato is deep purple and it is wonderful with a sprinkling of Molokai salt, which Emillia gifted me. She had gathered it up last summer.

We watched the movie MOLOKAI, about Father Damien. If you have never seen it, you might want to do so. It is a wonderful moving movie.

Today, we went to Coffees of Hawaii to listen to the Ohana group play and sing. They do so most Sundays, from 3 to 5PM, and it is so much fun. They get everyone singing and smiling and laughing and clapping. Ohana means family, and that is what we were, one big happy family, even singing some Christmas carols about snow!!!! They called up a group of ukulele students (all adults) to play with them...

Off and on we would look out from the lanai and see light rain falling with the sun shining. We knew there had to be rainbows somewhere. After the singing was over, with smiles and alohas and mahalos, Marty and I got into our car to go home. When we got on the main road going into Kanakakai, I looked over at the mountains, and saw the beginnings of a rainbow. I stopped and we both got out and took pictures. The rainbow was magnificent, the right end coming down into a field in sunshine. Then, a second rainbow began to show itself...

Our first rainbow of many, I am sure, that we will see on Molokai. We thought we would grab a bite to eat at the Cookhouse, which was closed, as was everything in Kanakakai except for the pizza place. So we drove to Hotel Molokai, and got a salad and a quesadilla each, and watched the sun set...

It was the end of another delicious day in paradise.

And, oh yes, for those of you who know that I see things in clouds, water, or in any number of objects around me, here is one for you...what do you see???

Life is good!
A hui hou,
I love you all,
Sally