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HANA HALEOUR
LAST FAMILY VACATION
by Carole Terwilliger Meyers
With my son scheduled to leave home for college at the
end of the summer, starting down the road to independence, I felt that it was
important to squeeze one last family vacation into our mutual memory banks. It
had to be someplace really special. Someplace both he and my preteen daughter could enjoy without their
peers. He rejected Europe in favor of Hawaii. I fine-tuned the trip to include
a stay in mysterious, remote Hana. I booked us in on a flight arriving around noon at
Kahului Airport on Maui. Anticipating that if ever a person should be driving a
convertible it is on the fabled road to Hana, I splurged and reserved the red
Mustang convertible requested specifically by both children. And I made
reservations in a private hale (cottage)
in Hana for two nights.
One night we shared the
discovery of rats climbing the coconut palm in our front yard. We formulated
theories about why they were doing this. (Later when we saw wide metal bands
around some of the coconut palms at a resort we visited, we asked if this was
to keep the rats from eating the coconuts. "No," we were told.
"It's to keep them from having the opportunity to fall out of the trees
and into the laps of guests.") My fantasies of family
togetherness were realized. The whole family was sitting in the living room
interacting--cuddling, laughing, talking. Even the teen! Completely away from
our usual distractions, we were enjoying that proverbial, elusive "quality
time." On the day we left, the
kids composed their own entry for the
hale guest book. They wrote, "This was the most funky, fresh, chillin'
place." Mission accomplished. More Information
Dollar Rent-A-Car
(800/367-7006). Sometimes runs a special on convertibles. Hana Alii Holidays (Box
536, Hana, Maui 96713; 800/548-0478 or 808/248-7742). Rentals in detached homes
and condos. Our Hale Hana Bay rents for approximately $125/night. Images by Carole Terwilliger Meyers: (1) red convertible. Copyright 1999 Carole Terwilliger Meyers. Ms. Meyers is the author of
Weekend Adventures in Northern California
and The Family Travel Guide: An Inspiring
Collection of Family-Friendly Vacations (both Carousel Press: http://www.carousel-press.com
). The author has granted one-time rights
only. Reproduction of this work in
whole or in part, including reproduction in electronic media, without
documented permission from the author is prohibited. |
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Since there is nothing
much to do in Hana, we found ourselves settling in with books and games in the
tranquil evenings. Our spacious hale did
have a TV, but the kids voluntarily kept it off most of the time. They
preferred to just sit and enjoy our unobstructed view of the ocean and listen
to the pounding surf.