If there's no wind, row!

The Big Day

While Mary Anne was taking photos from a cliff that towers above the coastal town known as Kaenae, I stood behind her, anxiously grabbing a trinket from my pocket. I got down on one knee.

"Mary Anne..." I said, and she turned around.

... Will you marry me?"

She burst into tears on the spot, and I rose up to meet her in a solid embrace. She continued to cry, and I thought about how the day has come to this point.

[flashback mode: on]

Today we woke up again at 5am and we were out the door by 6. Today we were conquering the road to Hana.

Hana is a remote village on the far side of Maui. Until around the 1930's, it was basically isolated. They built a road to Hana, and it was again repaved in the 80s. The road is absolutely filled with twists and turns, waterfalls, bridges, hikes, jungles and on rainy days, mud. (Today was very rainy.)

As I mentioned, we left at 6, filled up our tank and began our journey. The night before, I wrote down a couple spots for us to check out along the way. One in particular, was the spot where I would make my move.

As we approached the 11 mile marker, I knew of a 'secret' trail that leads to a waterfall. This had to be a four or five hundred foot waterfall. it was immense! You can't see this from the road at any angle. But for those who have done thier research, this could be a special treat!



I should have read closer because the book I read apparently says "DON'T TRY TO HIKE DOWN TO THE BASE".

We got out of the car, and behind took a poorly kept trail off in to the jungle. Since it had been raining steadily, our shoes quickly became caked with mud, so we decided to head back and change in to our reef shoes which could get wet and we would care less.

As we got further, we noticed the terrain getting steeper and more difficult. We had to use our hands, grabbing on to roots or vines or grass all the while trying to not slip and take a life-ending slide off the side of a cliff.

At one point Mary Anne got bit by a gang of angry mosquitos. They didn't bother me, probably because she's much sweeter.

We had both fallen down several times, and eventually got to a point where it was steep enough for me to call it quits. We could most certainly get down there. Whether or not we would be able to get back up presented a problem that I would rather not face.

Defeated, we hiked back. Where was I gonna be able to ask Mary Anne something that I've been wanting to ask her for a long time?

By the time we got back to the car we noticed much more traffic passing by. They all gave us weird looks because we looked like we had been to a mud wrestling competition and came home with the 2nd place medal.

We headed out to the next few stops and we eventually got to a cliff that stood above the town of Kaenea. Well, this spot is as good as any...

[flashback mode: off]

"So.. uh.. is that a yes?"

Mary Anne nods her head and says yes. I slipped the ring on her finger and She continued to cry and hug me and cry some more for another few minutes. People actually came up and parked and took some pictures while she was still sobbing. I asked one lady to take a picture for us and explained to her that we had just gotten engaged. She gave us both a hug and took a good picture for us:



We met up with Milo, and got to Hana, but couldnt spend much time at Hana Bay because of a real nasty rain storm. We headed back, took our afternoon nap, and then spent the rest of the evening at the Wailea beach and sushi in Kihei.

What a day! =D

posted by phlipside @ 1:05 AM