When I was still completely lost, as opposed to now, when I am mainly confused, I spent several years living in Nahiku...a small rainforest community on the outskirts of Hana. My wife Shelley and I decided to take a day trip to Hana on Monday to see some of our old haunts that were our stomping grounds back in the mid 70's. It was a 3 day weekend and she loves to take short day trips in the car more than Paris Hilton loves attention, so we loaded up a small cooler and pointed the Hyundai toward the sunrise.

We started the day early by having breakfast at one of our favorite spots...Pauwela Cafe in the Haiku Cannery on West Kuiaha. Chef Brandon made some killer poached eggs, herb toast, home fries and huge bacon strips, and we both splurged on one of their home made pastries...I did the apple turnover and she had a blueberry scone. We actually picked Pauwela over Charley's in Paia for breakfast because my wife, who may be the biggest coffee lover in the islands wanted two things...a freshly ground half caf Americano ( I guess nobody but these guys do freshly ground espresso drinks...who knew) and a bag of Shim's Kula Coffee. Brandon is the nephew of Mr. Shim, who made Maui proud when he won the award for best coffee in the state, voted on by the Kona Coffee Growers...so that's no small feat. And even though Shim's is super expensive we bought a 4 oz. bag for those special coffee moments. I may even get a cup, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

We took our time, pulled the car over every time someone got behind us on the skinny highway, marveled at all of the changes in our friends’ properties, most of which had succumbed to the rain and moss, and got into Hana town in about an hour and a half. In the old days I would drive the road several times a week and each time was a time trial spent on two wheels. I would make it in 75 minutes, but these days trading that fifteen minutes for peace of mind made for a soft, mellow morning.

Hana Bay was full of local Hana Hawaiian families gathering for a holiday beach picnic. Kids were jumping off the pier. Tutu’s, the local plate lunch restaurant in the Hana Bay Building, was lined up for early lunch. The famous Hana Bay pavilion, where I had spent many a bad night in alcohol abuse, was decorated with several huge containers full of beautiful sexy pink heliconias and torch gingers from somebody's back yard, and even though there were a hundred people at the bay there were only a few happy children playing in the calm waters. I got a little chicken skin when I stopped by the old black and white Hana Canoe Club 6 man canoes where both Shelley and I paddled for a couple of seasons back when we weren’t makule (seniors).

We made a short stop at Kokee Beach. Kokee was where we would go every single night 30 years ago for an evening of body surfing with Alau in the background. In those days we lived in a jungle cabin with no running water and we would cruise into town at 5:30 to get tomorrow's ice to keep the groceries cold and then surf and end with a cold shower at the bay. Those were some advertursome days...that's cover-up for Man, was I ever out to lunch making my family live like that. As Shelley and I stood alone on this magnificent Kokee beach we looked above the ironwoods trees and saw an amazing flock of over a hundred 'Iwa seabirds playing in the winds above the cliffs then catching a wind wave and dropping to within a dozen feet of our head. These large grey birds with a wing span of 6 feet hung effortlessly without flapping once silently watching the tourists from their private spot, and while I got it on video I forgot to shoot any stills.

Around the corner Hamoa Beach had a single surfer and a small group of sunbathers who had ventured down the hill, and we stopped and I picked a guava the size of a baseball and a lilikoi and had a sweet snack.

We had a nice time at the Hotel Hana Maui buying Shelley a couple of pareaus and revisiting our favorite art gallery. We had a fresh mahi salad on the hotel’s lanai and saw a couple of young adults I had taught at Hana high school when they were a lot younger. We got home about 4p and I went straight to bed for a little SportsCenter and a nap. It was a nice day on Maui. It was also nice to see how far we had come as a couple...it was only a 100 mile round trip, but in the thirty years since we had lived there we had become sober, sane, loving parents and grandparents. There are several kinds of journeys. This one made us feel we had the right map and the future is good.