haleakala national park

 

Before yesterday morning, I could not have predicted that there could exist a sunrise so extraordinary that it would make my 15-year-old spontaneously hug me. But friends, that's exactly what happened. And honestly, even if nothing else on this trip goes our way, that one perfect moment will have been enough for me.

We took advantage of our jet lag and left the condo at about 3:00 yesterday morning for the long and winding drive up the switchbacks of the volcano in the dark. We went from just above sea level to over 10,000 feet in elevation. We also went from 80 degrees to around 55 degrees with a cutting wind. And we got to the summit with a couple hundred of our newest friends, and we thought, oh crap, there are a lot of clouds up here, it might be a bust. (Not to worry, in a move that is 100% on brand for me, I made reservations for two days in a row so we would have a backup day in case it sucked the first day.)

But once first light came through, all those clouds turned ethereal. We were surrounded by pinks and reds and oranges. Sunrises are maybe the closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience, and this one was exquisite. Pictures definitely don't do it justice.

Pretty soon, though, even though we were wearing our Indiana fall clothes, it got to be too cold for Henry and especially for Max (who even allowed me to hug him to help him warm up), so they went back to the car. Mike lasted a little bit longer, but eventually he said he couldn't feel his fingertips anymore, so he joined them. Liam seemed unaffected by the cold, though, and did a FaceTime with his friends back at school (they were on lunch break) to show the sunrise to them. I did the same, FaceTiming my parents and Jack so they could share the moment with us. What an age we live in!

It seemed like after the sunrise, everyone headed back down and left the park right away, so it kind of felt like we had the place to ourselves, which is just the way we like it. We explored a scenic area with incredible views of cinder cones, and Henry and Liam had fun climbing the rocks. Max was still too cold, so he only came out for a little bit before he headed back to the car.

We also tried to do that thing where it looks like you're jumping up in the clouds, but it didn't quite work out as planned.

Our last stop was the Hosmer Grove Trail, which the park service said was half a mile but definitely was longer than that. (Damn you, park service, you tricked us AGAIN!) By this time, Max really wasn't feeling well (a combination of a cold and I think maybe altitude sickness) and he opted to stay in the car, so Mike and I headed off with Liam and Henry. We walked through groves of eucalyptus trees (which are not native) and some pines and other trees that Mike can tell you more about because that's more his arena than mine. BUT eventually we got to an overlook, and we found the birds. Hawaiian birds! We saw three different species of honeycreepers, and there were a bunch of each, and they were happy and jumping around but we managed to get a few good pictures. We were pretty worried about Max, though, so we didn't stay too long before we made our way back to the car. He's okay, but they all three slept the whole way back to Kihei, and then took a siesta on top of that once we got back to the condo.

iiwi (scarlet honeycreeper)

apapane

Hawaii amakihi

Liam's review of the morning: "10 out of 10, would definitely Haleakala again!"

aloha!

Friends, it's real early in the morning. 1:37 Hawaii Standard Time, to be precise. I'm wide awake long before I need to be, but I guess that's how jet lag works. But let me back up...

We got up way too early yesterday to get to Midway and get checked in and get settled. It was so early that we didn't bother buying any breakfast, which turned out not to be such a great idea. The first leg of our flight got us to Oakland around 9 local time (I have no idea what time zone that was) and we had about 90 minutes before our next flight departed. When the Oakland flight landed, I got a very bad headache, so we went in search of coffee, food, and water thinking they would help. Half a breakfast burrito and two sips of coffee later, and I learned that those things, in fact, did NOT help. Not gonna lie; by the time we boarded our second flight, I was a mess. I was sweating and shaking and 90% sure I was going to throw up ... or worse. I had taken some ibuprofen and some sinus medicine during the layover, so once we boarded the second flight, I made myself go to sleep for a few hours, then I woke up and drank a coke and ate some wheat thins and felt much better. Liam was my seatmate for all of this, and he was a total champ at keeping Mike updated (Mike, Henry, and Max were seated together, but far away from where Liam and I were) and making sure I was ok.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that I started feeling better just in time for us to catch our first glimpse of MAUI! That's right, we made it to Hawaii! I always thought of this as a dream destination but so far out of reach that I would never get here, but we saved our points, got creative, and here we are. And the best part isn't even that I'm here. The best part (so far) was seeing how excited Liam got when we were finally approaching and he got his first glimpses of the islands. I had been a little unsure about the boys' level of enthusiasm for me dragging them on yet another trip, so it made my heart happy to see him so excited. He had the window seat, so all these pictures are his work.

Once we landed and found the rental car place and waited for half an eternity to collect our minivan, we still had three hours before we could check in to our condo. Three. Hours. Keep in mind that by this time we had been up for ... oh, I don't know ... ever, I think. We went and got groceries, found a place to get some food, and ate in a random parking lot with a view of a volcano. Like you do. But at last it was finally 4:00 here (which our bodies interpreted as 10:00), so we checked in, got all our stuff in, took some showers, and then I went to bed, so I couldn't tell you if anything of note happened after about 7:00.

But it's fine! In 15 minutes or so (it's 2:00 a.m. now, I've been writing for a while), it will be time to wake the family so we can drive up to the summit of Haleakala for the sunrise. I love a good sunrise, and this one's supposed to be fantastic, so stay tuned. At any rate, it's a really good way to put our jet lag to use.

P.S. I've downloaded the Hawaii package for my Merlin bird ID app, and I have a laminated fold-out brochure of common birds and good birding locations. So far, we've seen a ton of common mynas, one cattle egret, and about a dozen ... chickens. Everywhere. Crossing the road even. Needless to say, they don't obey commonly accepted traffic rules.

engraved danger

You know what livens up a Tuesday morning? Having to take your kid to the fire department to get a ring cut off his finger before his circulation gets compromised.

Let me back up a little. We recently ordered Liam's class ring, and as a bonus with the order, he got a companion band with his graduation year (2022!!!) engraved on it. Now, Liam's never worn any jewelry on a regular basis. This is an important fact for the purposes of our story. He left his ring on during practice Monday after school. It was hot (87 degrees) and VERY humid.

You'll never guess what happened next.

Wait, what's that you say? You've worn a ring while exercising before? Great! Then you already know what Liam found out the (very) hard way: Your fingers can swell up when you exercise, leaving you stuck in the unforgiving clasp of a very tight ring.

After practice, we tried running his hand under cool water and using dish soap to lubricate his finger to get the ring off. No dice. We tried having him elevate it for a while. Nope. We tried wrapping dental floss around his finger and then unwinding it with the end hooked into the ring, which is apparently the internet's favorite and most successful method of ring removal. Sorry, internet, you struck out too. His finger seemed to be a normal color, so we decided to just wait and let the swelling go down overnight.

Yeah ... that didn't work out either.

This morning, we tried all the things again with the dental floss and the cool water and the soap. We even tried coating the floss in the soap. But no. His stubborn finger stayed swollen, and the ring stayed on. So then I tried to cut it off with some wire clippers. That worked out as well as you would expect, which is to say not at all. Then we got the bright idea to try cutting through the ring with a Dremel, which would have worked except that we forgot about how much friction that creates, and how metal conducts heat, and I burned his finger. That's right, Mom of the Year over here.

At this point, I decided we needed outside help. It seemed to me that the two groups that would have the most experience in ring removal would be jewelers and emergency responders. Since it was 7:30 in the morning, none of the jewelry stores in town were open, so I went with plan B. I called the non-emergency number for the fire department and asked if they could help. They said we should come downtown and ring the doorbell, and they would see what they could do. So off we went. The firefighters couldn't have been nicer, and they had a pair of bolt cutters all set up on their table in anticipation of our arrival. A couple quick snips, and Liam's finger was free, his circulation fully restored in time for his tennis match after school. Of course, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't make the boy pose for a picture to mark this momentous occasion.

Funny postscript: Liam was ONE MINUTE late to school, and I had to call in so his tardy would be marked as excused. I called, introduced myself, and told the person, "He was at the fire department getting a ring cut off." She laughed and laughed. "That's what he said, but I needed to hear it from you." Ah well. Like the old proverb says: He who keeps his fingers fully functional gets the last laugh.

family retreat

During the Easter celebration at my mom's house this year, my cousins Maria, Kelsey, and Emma approached me with a couple of requests. They wanted to know if I could help them make two things happen: 1. a family weekend away at a state park inn, and 2. a family beach vacation. Over the weekend, we made their first request happen. (The second is in the works for next summer, with Matt and Katie taking over the planning, with my gratitude.)

Gah, these girls! My heart can't take it.

Believe it or not, Easter was actually kind of late to be planning a summer weekend at one of the state park inns, and most of them were already booked up, so we ended up pushing it to this late September weekend and picking Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park based on availability alone. We have stayed here before, though, with the Kruyers and Holidays, so we knew we would have plenty of fun and a variety of things to do. Mike and Henry opted to stay with the doggos and work on projects around the house, so the Fort contingent was me, Max, and Liam.

sandhill crane

Lake Lonidaw

The way the timing worked out, most of us arrived on Friday, September 20, my sixteenth anniversary, and also the first anniversary of Gramps dying. That made it a little bittersweet, but I have to say it was heavy on the sweet and light on the bitter. Gramps was very clear in his last days that his biggest worry was that our family would drift apart after he was gone, so I can think of no better way to honor him than a collection of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren making the effort to spend a weekend away together for no particular occasion or holiday, but just because we like and enjoy each other.

Anyway, the participants this time around were my mom and dad; Kent and Maria; Mike; Laura, Kelsey, Emma, Jimmy, Gracie, and Elly; and me, Liam, and Max. A good crowd. Not so big as to be overwhelming, but big enough to keep it interesting. I opted to get up early both mornings to watch the sun rise, and Laura, Emma, Gracie, and Elly joined me both days, with Maria coming along on Saturday morning. We all had breakfast together at the inn dining room Saturday morning (and a smaller group of us did Sunday morning, while others opted to go into town for doughnuts instead). The kids went swimming in the lake and in the indoor pool, played ping-pong in the game room, and spent a LOT of time in the library playing board games. A bunch of us went to the craft room Saturday afternoon to paint some wooden items (mine is a birdhouse, of course). Saturday night we took over one of the lounges to watch the Notre Dame game. Sunday morning turned out to be the annual Seaplane Splash-In, so we got to see a bunch of seaplanes taking off and landing. You get the idea.

All in all, it was a lovely, relaxing weekend. This is my favorite kind of family gathering: no holiday pressure, no specific traditions to observe, just plenty of time to spend with people I love, talking and laughing and doing as we please. I would do this all the time if I could.

sixteen

Somehow I doubt that Mike believed me when I told him that 16 is the bird anniversary (modern, of course; traditional is wax, believe it or not), but he humored me anyway and bought me the Lego bird set I've been hankering for. And that, friends, sort of encapsulates the past 16 years. We are weirdos, but we're each weird in a way that's perfect for the other. We are imperfect, but we're each imperfect in a way that is charming to the other. We are funny and sarcastic and earnest and nerdy and sometimes overwhelmed and willing to engage on any topic with each other. We aren't perfect, but we fit perfectly together. Happy anniversary, Mike. I'm so glad we're on this trip together.

P.S. The modern gift for 16 years is silver hollowware, whatever the heck that is. Give me something nerdy over that any day!

smash cancer night

Last night was the annual Smash Cancer Night for tennis. The players spent the past few weeks calling companies to ask for donations/sponsorships, and they managed to raise $1,500 this year for cancer research. Each of the players got to pick the color of his shirt to represent a certain type of cancer and/or to honor someone, and Liam picked gold for bladder cancer to honor Gramps. Oh my heart.

one last glimpse

After he sold Indiana Motor Bus Company, my great-grandpa started a car dealership, Jeffirs Motor Company. Once Gramps got old enough, he went to work for his dad. Here's how he describes it in his obituary, which he wrote himself:

In 1950, Mike began working part time at Jeffirs Motor Company, his father's car agency. After high school graduation, he continued working there while attending the South Bend College of Commerce. In late 1953, Mike volunteered for the draft at the age 19. He served active duty from January 1954 to January 1956. Back home in 1956, he returned to work at Jeffirs Motor Company, working at every position from car washer to president for a total of 23 years.

Grandpa Jeff died in 1976 (when I was two years old), and the following year, Gramps decided it was time to part ways with the car dealership. Again, his own words:

In early 1977, Mike decided he had seen all the cars he ever needed to see and sold the agency.

I'm not sure exactly what happened to the car dealership business after 1977, but the building itself remained, on Jefferson Street near Dairy Queen in Plymouth. Until today, that is. Today they started demolition on the building, and in the process we discovered something wonderful: The new owners, back in 1977, decided to cover the building with an aluminum facade instead of repainting the exterior. So when they took down the facade today and started the demolition, we got to see the original signage one last time.

I drove the boys over there after school to show them, and Henry was sad at the half-torn-down building until I reminded him how special it is to have this unexpected and firsthand glimpse into our history. It touched me deeply to see it, and I know it brought back all kinds of memories for my mom and her brothers and sisters. What a gift.