Thursday, September 20th, 2007
Thursday morning Julie and I started out the day with another golf lesson at Kapalua. This time after reinforcing the basics of our stance, grip, and swing, we were videotaped and compared against some pros. Our instructor Ian is great at spotting issues and knowing the exact way to correct the problem. For instance I kept bending my right elbow during my swing so he stuck a sponge between my two arms and had me swing a few while trying to hold the sponge in place. After a few hits like this the problem was corrected. The first part of practice took place in what, from the inside looks somewhat like a garage – however, this garage, when the door is open overlooks the course, the ocean, and Molokai. Ian’s desk was inside and I commented this might just be the nicest office on the planet.
After a little video analysis of our swings, we headed outside to practice a bit more before switching over to a little short-game practice. We spent about 1/2 hour getting tips on putting and using various devices to enforce the right style of swing (low-tech yardsticks mostly). We wrapped up with about 15 minutes of chip-shots to ensure we got a well-rounded instruction. I think both Julie and I had a good time. Now we just have to stick with it for a while, sneak time to go practice, and probably start looking for a half-set of clubs as Ian recommended to start with (he says buy the good clubs but start with half-a-set and then add to them later).
Before leaving the golf course we stopped at the Kapalua logo shop to see if I could find a nice polo shirt to remember the visit. I did – and find two other Tommy Bahama items, a shirt with the Kapalua logo and the wallet I had originally been looking for. Julie also found a nice sweatshirt and cap. Final tommy count this trip – (Scott: 6, Julie: 1). I think I’ll be the only guy in Seattle walking around with hawaiian shirts all through winter 
.
On the way back we stopped at an Outback Steakhouse for lunch that we spotted on the way up to Kapalua. Unfortunately they turned out to serve dinner only so we opted instead for our highest quality cuisine so far – Mc’Donalds. After lunch we headed back to take care of a few pre-trip errands. We checked in for our flight using a kiosk at the hotel. We looked into shipping some of the extra stuff we bought only to realize it would be cheaper just to pay the overweight bag fee at the airport. We also visited our friends at Westin Vacation Services to say "no" to the timeshare sales. Not surprisingly they now suggested the offer might be available later. To be honest we both liked what we saw but agreed even if we wanted to do this we wouldn’t do it now (since we just bought a boat this year).
We had booked a luau for our last night so decided to spend the last couple of hours before that started at the pool lounging around and reading. Julie’s stuck mainly to her celeb mags. I’ve been reading a book called "The Tipping Point" – jury’s still out since I’m not done yet. We had a nice time by the water but it did get a little windy towards the end (enough to blow my towel off the chair and into the pool).
At 5:30 we lined up for the Wailele luau at the Westin. We did another luau up the road the last time we were here and although it was entertaining, the food was nothing to write home about and the squished folding chairs at picnic tables didn’t work for me. This sounded better since we were told it was smaller and featured table service. Before the luau Julie picked up a nice handmade flower necklace and I bought a hand-carved tiki statue (the one with the mean face and eyes tilted downwards) which I’m told is for protection from evil spirits – this will go well in my office at work.
As promised the Westin’s luau was much better with maybe only 100 guests and table service of food served family style. There was an open bar, appetizers of salmon, dried mango, and taro chips, salad, entrees of fish, pork, and teriyaki beef, and mini desserts of pineapple and chocolate cake, macadamia tarts, and a dessert we’ve seen several times here that I’ve grown to like here that’s sort of like a Jello Jiggler made with coconut. During the evening we were much closer to the entertainment with the usual mix of hula, hawaiian music, drums, and fire dancing.
After the luau was over we capped off the evening with a walk along Ka’anapali Beach and then it was time to retire to the room to pack. Tomorrow morning we have a 10am flight from Kahluhi which means leaving the hotel around 7am. We’ll take a 30 minute flight to Oahu followed by the six hour flight back to Seattle arriving around 9pm Pacific Time.
Assuming tommorow goes uneventfully this will be my last blog on this trip. Let’s see if it takes me until my next trip to Maui to blog again.
