We went straight from the reception to the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown for a one-night honeymoon stay. The hotel had just opened the year before and it was our first time at a Four Seasons. We had considered other places, particularly the Red Fox Inn in Middleburg (we’ve still never been to the Red Fox; maybe someday…), but the Four Seasons seemed cool for being new and in DC. We had a fine time, including our personalized welcome and a bottle of champagne. We enjoyed room service breakfast the next morning and stretched things out as long as we could before heading back home to Fairfax and work on Monday. The stay sparked a long-term affinity for Four Seasons hotels, aided and abetted by an inside connection in later years.
A week later, on May 14, we headed off on our proper honeymoon to the Hotel Hana-Maui in Hawaii. I chose the place because of glowing reviews from my sister Len (and I think Sue went there, too) who described it as heaven. Len honeymooned there with third husband, Mike Horne, and hobnobbed with the likes of actor George Peppard, a story which she loved to tell. The hotel started originally in 1946, carved out of a working cattle ranch, and has been sold several times since we were there. It’s now the Travaasa Hana and the layout looks to be similar with a low main building and a number of bungalows scattered over the former ranch property, but our “hideaway garden lanai” is no longer part of the hotel.
“Heavenly Hana” is a thing: “Hana is about as close as you can get to paradise on earth”, according to Frommers. It’s in the very quiet southeast corner of Maui, at the end of the famous Road to Hana, one of the twistiest and most scenic drives in the world.
We skipped the drive and instead flew directly, stopping briefly in Honolulu before boarding a Royal Hawaiian Cessna to the small landing strip in Hana. I had been to Hawaii a couple of times before in the 70’s with my family, and one of the most memorable things had been island hopping on the small Royal Hawaiian flights. On our first transit to Hong Kong in 1971 we stayed for about a week in Hawaii, starting in Honolulu and then at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Kona Coast of Hawaii. We flew Royal Hawaiian from Honolulu to Kailua and were the only ones on the plane. I got the co-pilot’s seat and we had a glorious personalized guided tour as the pilot buzzed along the cliffs of Molokai and into the crater of Haleakela on Maui before touching down on Hawaii. I don’t think planes are allowed to do any of those things anymore. The stay at Mauna Kea had been magical as well, and had been my other honeymoon choice until I heard about Hana. Alas, Royal Hawaiian is no more, succumbing to jet service in 1986.
Being the good old days of travel agents, we booked the whole trip through American Express. We still have details of our flights on United to Honolulu, Royal Hawaiian to Maui, and the week-long package at the Hotel. The hotel honeymoon rate was $1250 (about $175/night) for the bungalow, all meals included, $565 per person for United roundtrip Dulles-Honolulu plus $95 roundtrip on Royal Hawaiian Honolulu-Hana. Plus we had a car in Hana that we didn’t use much. Total package about $2,600. That was certainly a lot to us then, but seemed well worth it. Funny how the flights have not increased all that much, maybe 50%, but room rates have gone up at least 700%, probably more. The regular inflation rate for the period, for comparison, is about 150%. But I digress…
Our flight this time took us from Honolulu to Hana. Barb got the co-pilot seat. My more substantial ballast was relegated to the middle of the plane. We got some good views of Waikiki and Diamond Head as we took off, but this time the pilot took a more standard, less personalized route to Maui. No fly-by of the Molokai cliffs or into the Haleakela crater, but we made it to Hana safely.
From this point, it’s fun to shift into the words of our on-site observer. Barb kept a running journal of the trip, a forerunner to this post. Here are her words, and an occasional side comment.
Day 1, Saturday night, 5/14/83
We arrive 11 hours later into Hana. Great Cessna 402 ride. I was co-pilot, no luggage. None at all! Contingency plan shot to hell! Had dinner – tremendous! Steak w/ all the fixings! Went back to room – champagne and sleep.
I don’t remember the bit about losing our luggage. See why these journal things come in handy?
Day 2, Sunday, 5/15
Woke up – early, early! Had pineapple from our fruit basket. Went in for breakfast – great, unlimited choice. We gorged. Two pieces of luggage in – our overnight didn’t make it. Got a picnic lunch and went to see canoe races. Not much to see. Went to beach – Barb tanned, Bill burnt and left early. Came back later to see Barb burn. Off to Gil Moss (Hana General Manager) cocktail party. Typical cocktail party. Bill and I looked at his books and were told to be “serendipitous” towards Hana. Bill’s thinking of getting an Aloha shirt. Dinner buffet (I had shrimp, Bill had roast). Bed by 10:00 after writing postcards.
We had already established our vacation ritual of Barb tanning and then burning the first day, and Bill burning within the first hour. Not sure if the Aloha shirt comment was a crack at Bill’s level of serendipity (probably). I did end up getting a shirt, I think. It may still be in my closet, barely worn. More to the point, “Serendipity Day” was a staple at Hong Kong International School and was generally a chance to flake off and explore Hong Kong. We were well-acquainted with the concept, and were fans.
Day 3, Monday, 5/16
Busy morning! Steak and eggs at Lehoule Beach. Communed with the cows. Wandered around, off to 7 Pools tour. Saw Fagan site and Lindbergh grave. Both with great views, not much more. 7-Pools lives up to its name. It has 7 pools, created by a waterfall. People swimming – but we thought it was disgusting and didn’t (also not much time).
Off to Hamoa Beach picnic lunch. Neat – but no sun. Waa! Bill played in the surf and got red eyes. Off to dinner – Bill had dolphin – I, steak and shrimp. Delicious! Bill went and watched Motown’s 25th Anniversary and got nasty comments. I slept.
Several things to explicate. I’ve been looking for Lehoule Beach online and can’t find anything. I think it was a place where the hotel did a steak and egg breakfast for all hotel guests, as opposed to a special picnic which is more what we did for lunch. After breakfast we used our car to go to up the hill to the Fagan Cross Memorial which is dedicated to Paul Fagan, the founder of the Hana Ranch. Here’s a better version of the view that I tried to cobble together.
Then we went about 12 miles down the road to the gravesite of Charles Lindbergh at a church in Kipahulu. He had died only 9 years before and famously loved Hana as a beautiful, peaceful place. The site was already a bit overgrown and the view across the strait to the Big Island was a bit hard to find, but overall the location was quiet and serene. What more do you want from a gravesite?
The Lindbergh grave was (is?) effectively the end of the Road to Hana. From there we backtracked about a mile to the 7 Sacred Pools or Pools of ‘Oheo’o. As Barb indicated, the Pools were a bit better in imagination and lore than in actuality. We went back a number of years later with Allie and they were more developed and very clearly a major attraction. We have lots of pictures of her swimming (saving for a later post), though Barb and I still mostly stayed out. It seems lately that the pools suffered from overexposure to tourists and nature and had some serious landslides. They now appear to be mostly closed and returning to nature. I suspect that’s for the best.
After the pools, we scooted back to Hamoa Beach which is about a mile from the hotel. It’s the best beach in the area and we had it all to ourselves on a cloudy afternoon. The hotel delivered a nice picnic lunch for us and we had a quiet, somewhat blustery afternoon. The weather did not cooperate with Barb’s sunning plans but I had some time to beachcomb and take a few pictures.
For the dinner, I am compelled to point out that the Hawaiians were already calling the fish Mahi Mahi but we had always called it dolphin in Florida. But it is emphatically not the mammal dolphin. After dinner, I headed to the only TV in the resort, located in the lobby, to watch the Motown 25 special. The show had been pretty well hyped beforehand and I particularly wanted to see the likes of the Temptations, Four Tops, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson. They were all great, but I have to admit Michael Jackson was a sensation. I wasn’t a Jackson 5 fan, much, and their reunion seemed fun but hokey. But then Michael’s performance of Billie Jean with his moonwalk really was electrifying. I was glad to see it live, before the days of YouTube, and before the show became a staple of PBS pledge weeks.
Day 4, Tuesday, 5/17
Got up late! 9:00am! Had breakfast, then shopping at Hasegawa store. Got t-shirts for all. Then went to lunch and then pool. Played cribbage (Bill beat me)! Bill played tennis with an Aussie chap, Geoff MacAdam. I went to beach. Bill got beat (10-8) and I got a tan. Off to dinner at Lehoula Beach, cookout! Leis and rum punch, here we come! Terrible cookout – nice bonfire. Back to cottage.
There’s a song about the Hasegawa General Store that somehow Barb and I both knew from our earlier lives, so we were eager to check out this cultural landmark. It turned out to be a basic tourist shop with a few additional food items, but we didn’t really expect anything more than that. Barb was happy to find t-shirt gifts for lots of folks back home. Barb shopped for muu-muus but evidently Hawaiians are much taller.
Note that Bill played cribbage, and won occasionally until I learned that we usually had to keep playing until Barb won. Note also that Bill used to have the courage to play pick up games of tennis with anyone who came along. That stopped later, too. I have a vague recollection of being exhausted from the heat and humidity of that one set, but no recollection of Mr. MacAdam.
Day 5, Wednesday, 5/18
Rained morning. Got up, breakfast, horseback ride cancelled, back to room, slept. Lunch, to pool, sun, shore, tanned. Bill sick – 24-hour bug. Played croquet – I won a hula lesson. Cocktail party – great shrimp and crab. Poolside dinner – steak. Got a song/dance show featuring old people. Not too swift. Bill liked it but then he’s sick. Off to bed by 10:00.
I enjoy the concise shorthand of this entry. Just the facts, ma’am, please. I’d say we were getting into a groove. Implicitly you can see why we’ve come to the conclusion that 3-4 days is about the right length of any resort vacation for us. I don’t remember being sick…not sure if Barb really knew what a hangover was at that point.
Day 6, Thursday, 5/19
Got up. Breakfast, then to pool. Barb sunned, Bill played croquet. Rode horses for one hour. Beautiful – thro’ cattle, etc. Bill had Chief, I had this crazy Hawaiian horse. Then to beach, lunch. Sunned. Bill and I got a boogie board and boogied with the waves. Home, then dinner. Bill played tennis 5-6pm.
Here are a few more pictures of us on our horses and the little Hana Hotel bus that took us to the beach and to things like the luau.
Day 7, Friday, 5/20
Bill slightly sick – got new t-shirt. Spent whole day at beach. Barb sunned, Bill stayed under umbrella. Poor sick Bill. Barb had a hula lesson, then we both watched the luau pig get buried. Went to luau, ate, saw pig unburied (poi is terrible). Bill had rum punch, saw hula dances. Good show all around. Went home, played cribbage and Bill got sick.
OK, I’m pretty sure this is becoming a story about Bill’s overindulgence.
Day 8, Saturday, 5/21
Bill still sick. Rained all morning. Packed, played cribbage. Left 4:30. Forgot jacket and book – went back and got it. Plane late but made it. To Honolulu, then home. Vacation over!
And there we have it, our honeymoon story. In a much later trip to Maui with Allie we drove the Road to Hana and swooped by the hotel, but it had changed hands several times since then and didn’t feel the same. The time we had there, though, was quite magical. Having our own bungalow made it seem like our own little world. I’m not sure which days it was, but I remember waking up early with jet lag, watching the sun come up over the field of cows and feeling very calm and satisfied.
Barb’s notes…read along if you dare.
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