Colossal Waste: Four Season Resort Maui, Hawai'i 2010, Day 3

Assuming you read days one and two of this trip, I think you have a good idea what is in store for day three. Not entirely, but mostly. Yes, today is going to involve many of the same elements from previous days; however, there is going to be a twist. And the twist we are going to call, "The Luckiest Boy In The World."

Enough said. Let us move forward.

I know it is strange to praise flaws, but there is something about the distortion in the panoramas created by the "Pano" iPhone app that appeals to me. This is not how that view looked, yet somehow the way that the angles are forced together works to capture this shot better than if I had shot this view and then cropped out the top and bottom to make it look like a panorama. If I was still in Hawai'i, and not typing this six weeks later, I would take a panorama and then do a crop of the same view to compare. Oh well. Next time?

Discipline thrown to the side, yours truly gets his own "Vegi" Burger for lunch. And look at those onion rings. Those onion rings are not to be taken lightly. They are serious.

I have done my best to not take pictures of our friends' food, because that doubles the amount of time that I have to waste on the Waste. But this Reuben, a sandwich which Monique had been thinking about for longer than 24 hours, earned its rightful place on the Waste by being so dearly desired. I suppose that I should give this Reuben the same treatment that our previous meals at Ferraro's received. The menu reads, "Reuben Panini; shaved pastrami, provolone, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing, white rye bread."

Barbie got the Seafood Cobb Salad; Romaine lettuce, ranch dressing, egg, maui onion, avocado, tomato, bacon, crab meat, garlic prawns, lobster.

Considering that Monique's lunch gets the Waste treatment, it would be wrong to ignore Rick's Classic Caesar Salad; toasted focaccia croutons, grana padano Caesar dressing, herb roasted chicken breast.

Okay. That was lunch. Clearly I had become slightly desensitized to the view. How else would I explain not taking another picture of the lunch view?

Now... we are not alone this trip. So far nearly every waking minute has been spent with the Barry's, who happen to be three people at this time. (They used to be two, but through the miracle of reproduction they now are three.) (Does the nanny make them four?) I do not mention them too often, partially because I am aware that the Waste, though I want to think of it as a travel journal, is really a blog and not everyone wants to be mentioned on a blog.

But I mention them now. Not only because their lunches made the Waste today, but because today we are going on a special excursion to the other side of the island to see Monique's brother, Justin. You see, Justin bought property on Maui's East side long ago, and has built a bed and breakfast that we are going to check out today.

Allow me to flog a dead horse for moment. I have said it a hundred times since I first visited Maui with Dave Keller in November 1993; there are two types of people in the world, those who live on Maui and stupid people. Horse flogged.

The road across the island. Between you and me, sometimes it is better to have clouds than it is to have a blue sky.

This sign marks the spot. The "Sugar Ranch Maui" in Paia, Hawai'i, will one day be official.

Self Portrait at the Sugar Ranch Maui gate, September 2010.

Inside the Sugar Ranch Maui. Wait until you see the back yard.

The Sugar Ranch Maui back yard. Look closely, or open this pic full-size in a new window, and you will see that in the very center one can see the blue ocean. This bed and breakfast is ideal for surfers, windsurfers, and parasurfers, because at the end of that back yard it is a short walk to one of the best spots in the world for those activities.

The view from the observation deck on top of the Sugar Ranch Maui.

The view of the Sugar Ranch Maui from the back yard. Yes, it is great that my brother lives in Germany and we can visit him there, but I would really, really like another brother who lives here as well.

Now it is time to return to what I mentioned in the beginning. The Luckiest Boy In The World. Barbie and I were hanging out in the back yard with Taj, Justin's three year old son. We wanted to go to the beach, and Taj said he would join us, and soon we had permission from Taj's mother and we were on our way.

Barbie and her new best friend walking to the ocean.

Parasurfers. I believe the word in your mind is idyllic. Or at least it should be.

And here we have him. The Luckiest Boy In The World. Sure, Bill Gates' kids are doing all right. But to Taj, that beach is his back yard. This is his normal.

I repeat. To him, this beach is here every day, and he loves it.

I rest my case. He is The Luckiest Boy In The World.

Trying to prepare a family portrait is not easy, but there are few better locations for it.

Again, you want to be him.

And, soon enough, we were headed back to our side of the island. Wait. Now I remember. First we picked up a friend at the airport and then headed back to Wailea. In fact, we picked up the birthday girl whose birthday happens to be the reason we came to Maui, as well as her friend Damian. Damian is also going to be the chef when we get to Moloka'i, but let us not get ahead of ourselves.

All you need to know is that we returned to the Four Seasons Maui Resort in time for another sunset.

Eventually I am going to show you a sunset and not type anything.

There.

Soon enough it was time for dinner again. Spago again. And, yes, Rick & Monique and Barbie & I would be willing to eat there every night without question.