Leaving Maui

Day Eight.
It was still windy and cloudy on our last day in Maui. There wasn't much to do in the morning with the weather being what it was. But it was still pleasant to sit on the balcony, drink coffee, read the paper, and stare out at the white caps piling up in the channel between Maui and Molokai. I could still see a few whales now and then spouting off in the distance and colorful birds chirped all morning. A rainbow appeared and shifted in the changing morning light with clouds zooming by. We packed and headed off to the airport. We stopped at a lookout spot of the highway from Lahaina and looked for more whales. Nearing the airport, the weather was windier with less clouds and more white caps jumping on top of a tempestuous and brilliantly deep blue sea. The turnoff was full off people whale spotting and genuinely amazed when a humpback breached the surface with a large white splash. I didn't know if they were just seeing for the first time, or if they were as amazed as I was that the whales continued to do this by the hundreds day after day this time of the year. We stopped at another natural food store and picked up some sandwiches to eat while waiting at the airport. Michael also wanted more coffee to go. It was still windy when it was time to take off from the airport in Kahului, but the climb was swift and quiet compared to the swaying palm trees and sugar cane fields below.
Before we knew it, the sun was going down and the smooth flight to Portland was quickly coming to an end. It was just about four hours with a strong tailwind pushing us into the Pacific Northwest and an amazingly smooth landing that greeted us on a mild winter night in Portland. Since we were staying with a friend who doesn't drink coffee, Michael was sure to have the coffee he bought ground for us and we lounged about in the morning before having lunch with his mother. Later in the day, our friends Tiffany and Giovanna were flying up from San Francisco to meet us for the weekend. We checked into the Ace Hotel in downtown Portland, met up with the girls and split a bottle of red wine that evening. They hadn't been to Portland so it we picked a great restaurant for dinner: Clyde Common. It also happened to be directly below the hotel and we didn't have to step out into the damp night. The drinks we great, the meal was wonderful. We all split just about everything. Appetizers, starters, main courses, and three delicious desserts filled up the four of us and left our stomachs full.
Day Nine.
This is really the last day of the vacation as it was now time to head back to reality and see what the rest of our real lives looked like. The four of us eventually spilled down to the hotel lobby and had a cup of coffee, lounging about and generally relaxing for awhile before heading out to get a late breakfast. And then we were headed to Washington Park to the Chocolate Festival, which was really the whole reason the girls had flown up to Portland. Its also a big reason we stayed in Portland a couple nights, too. We had been a few years ago and had a really good time. This festival was also going to showcase a truffle and wine pairing demonstration so we were sure to get a good seat for it. There were also plenty of other booths where you could sample so many different tastes and flavors that it didn't take long before I hit the ceiling and didn't want to try any more chocolate. But they had lots of great samplings, like dark chocolate martinis, homemade chocolates, spicy chocolates, and many other items that escape my memory. What I did remember was Choffey. Its somewhat similar to grinding coffee beans rather coarsely so that you could use them in a french press. The chocolate is roasted and ground and then I am guessing its somewhat freeze-dried so that it doesn't break down anymore. You add it to hot water and press the screen down just like making coffee with a press, but its now something of a hot chocolate or sipping chocolate. People were adding creams and sugar to the drink, just as you would with a regular cup of coffee. While I didn't really care for the flavor, it was an innovative idea that could create a market if the taste was refined and more palatable.
After all that we weren't much in the mood for lunch or afternoon coffee, but we knew we needed to keep walking and burn off some of the calories we had just packed on. We went to show the girls more of the city and browsed more stores and rode the light rail to another part of the city to see what was going on. In the later afternoon, we said our good-byes and went to have a quick and tasty dinner with Michael's mother and sister before heading to the airport. Our flight was loaded with the USC basketball team after they had just lost to Oregon. They looked tired and filed onto the plane past us as we sat in first class and waited to head home. The last flight was also quick and smooth and we made it back home around 11 that night.
It was a long trip, I think the longest one I had taken in awhile and definitely the longest one for Michael in a few years. I was already thinking about Hawaii the next day and missing just about everything about it. I missed the clean air, the beautiful surroundings, the chirping birds and the playful whales. We had been there six nights but I still felt that there was so much more to see and so much more to do. Maybe next time, we will get to visit another island and see what else the 50th state has to offer.