Cheeseburgers In Paradise

Years ago our family took a vacation to Maui with three other couples and almost all our kids…they’ve put up some great golf courses there and not too many parking lots...

We each had a condo overlooking the ocean with the Island of Lanai in the background…
18 people: 8 adults, 10 kids,
4 rental cars…lotsa luggage and golf clubs…
4 golfers, wives and kids (except Julie)...you may have to ask her why she didn't come with us...she was missed...

Golf every other day for 10 days, sometimes 36 holes a day…because we were younger then and the second round usually cost about $20…the first round was around $100…

We teed off around 6:30 so family could sleep in…some mornings they told us they did some research before 'shopping-for-real in the afternoon'…I never figured out what that meant…

Kids would eat breakfast in the condo or sometimes go to MacDonald’s to get away for a smoke or whatever…

While on the course we changed cart partners every time we played so every guy could ride with every other guy and laugh at the ‘other’ guys…we had a blast looking at photos and videos of our golf swings, bad tee shots, out of bounds shots, missed sand bunker shots and missed short putts on Bermuda grass greens, but mostly at the clothes and hats we wore… of course on every shot we commented how great the drives were...liars, but golfers do that...but no one lied about scores...we watched each other like Sea Eagles...we had small bets going all the time...What a life… It was so good!

We ate dinner out every night…

Di Lallo rule 15 B…cooking dinner on vacation is not allowed…

(except when we were camping and we’d given that up long ago)

But there was a problem with all this happiness happening…
Come dinner time, with so many people deciding where to eat, the most difficult task was coming up with a restaurant at costs suitable for everyone…

On the second or third night, needing to eliminate these nightly decisions when we were all starving to death, one of us selected a restaurant and if others wanted to go along they did…

Mama’s Fish House was our favorite place and we ate there a few times but not as often as we would have liked to...

On non-golf days and in the afternoons we’d drive around the island to Lahaina, Haleakala Crater, the Road to Hana, and pineapple plantations…

For lunch on these days (and many evenings) cheeseburger joints were the favorite…was waaaay cheaper than fancy restaurants and hotels...

We have maintained long lasting relationships with these friends…we get together once or twice a year...kids didn't want to go when they were younger and they wouldn’t come along now unless we bought…and the guys still play golf together…We still laugh with and at each other and always have great times…