When it is snowing at sea level in the Puget Sound basin, there is good incentive to get on an airplane and go somewhere warm. This month, we decided that meant Maui.
After deplaning, grabbing luggage, and picking up a rental car, the first thing every savvy traveler to Maui knows to do is stop at the Costco across the street from the airport. I am a lone‐wolf search‐and‐destroy style shopper, and the first test of whether I was in a vacation state of mind was the five minutes it took at Costco to confer on the subject of what kind of bagels to buy — five minutes being four minutes, fifty‐eight seconds longer than I might typically spend making such a decision when on my own in the grocery store. I confess that at best, I managed only to reaffirm why I avoid going to the mall to shop for purses.
Walking through Lahaina, we passed a storefront that was renting Harley Davidson motorcycles. It had not occurred to me at all while planning the trip that I might have an opportunity to ride a motorcycle while on the island, but once confronted with the possibility, it took more or less no time to set aside a day to do so. Despite violating essentially every safety rule I have for riding — as I was sans gloves, boots, leathers, and a full‐face helmet — I was certainly glad I did. With only a brain bucket and sunglasses, I covered quite a bit of Maui on a 2012 Sportster 1200 Custom. I managed to scrape the bottom more than once playing at sport bike while cornering and kept trying to shift it into a sixth gear it did not have, but the entire day I was grinning like a fool and having a great time.
A number of folks had encouraged us to try ziplining while we were on the island, and the GEICO commercial 
provides an
opportunity for some vicarious preparation, so without too much ado,
once there, we arranged for an excursion to experience the Piiholo Ranch Zipline.
Any activity that requires the wearing of a helmet is likely to be of interest to me. Combine the helmet with a harness and block and tackle, and it is hard to imagine my not wanting to at least peer over whatever edge is involved and give trying it some serious thought. That is my partner in crime in the photo with me, so not only did I try it, but we both tried it. I place riding a zipline in the category Glad I Did But Once Was Enough; that is, it was a lot of fun, but next time I am in the neighborhood, I am sure I will find other things to do instead.
We were accompanied on the plane home by a screaming infant and its idiot parents. It was exhausting just listening to the bawling little loinspawn, who carried on the entire flight, and mustering the restraint not to choke its parents wrung most of the lingering mood of vacation from me. The thing was still wailing as we left the baggage claim at the airport. The silver lining was that the caterwauling made me mindful of work, and so showing up in my office on Monday was nowhere near as much of a shock to the system as it might otherwise have been.
We did have one day of rest at home before the work week started. In the afternoon, it snowed.