We have some serious beer lovers in our group, so it was just one day before they found the Kohola brewery in a small industrial area. It’s sparse but the beers and service are good. Upon recommendation from Julie, I had a delicious Guava Lava cider. (Kohola = whale in Hawaiian.)

Just hours after Amy Klobuchar announced her candidacy for president, we saw this obviously homemade bumper sticker. On Maui! For a relatively unknown Minnesota senator!

High wind and wave advisories plus rain had us agree to an adventure somewhere else on the island. And the cold weather had Karen hungry for pizza, the best of which is at Flatbread in Paia. So there we headed. It’s a busy place but Wally and Mariann were close by in Makawao so they had a table all ready for us! The pizzas are baked in traditional clay wood-fired ovens; we order four different kinds and, strangely, my favorite was the veggie pizza! The second we paid our bill the power went out (great timing for us); we later found out it was not only the whole town but a huge section on that side of the island (I’m guessing wind damage.)

Then we had to go check out the enormous waves at Hookipa Beach, one of the best windsurfing sites in the world. The mayor of Maui closed most of the beaches for the day but nonetheless, there were two windsurfers out. Winds were a steady 40 mph with 60 mph gusts and the area had just received a lot of rain so hiking to get a good viewing spot took careful effort. We finally found a metal fence to hold on to and Karen M. took a group photo.

When we got back from the day’s adventures we found strong winds and big waves, which, curiously, are bringin back the beach!