I thought so, Gina - the jumping on the bridge must have been deliberate because if we could make it across the bridge, then the ziplining was a breeze. I hesitated a tiny bit on the first zip, but after that, it was easy. The harnesses we wore/carried weighed 15 pounds and the ones at the other ride we considered only weighed 10 pounds. I decided that heavier was better, and the double harnesses were extremely comfortable. There were other lines on Maui that were more similar to the link you posted for the big island. Annie, I also expected more tropical rainforest/jungle like I had seen in Central America and Chiapas, but there are very few native plants there, and they are trying to control the exotics - therefore there is less variety than in Central America or Mexico. We didn't do a jungle hike, and so I never saw a forest there with a high canopy, but then parts of Maui get very little rain, and our hotel was in that part of the island. The east side of the island was very lush and covered with flowers (mostly heliconia and ginger), but the south part is desert - we went there by accident, and the video of that part of our trip is pretty funny - in hindsight. I'll have to try to get some good clips together - possibly by this week-end, along with the beautiful waterfall videos. Lars

My back and arms would be killing me after a day of cooking with the front edge of a cooktop 8" away from me. The center of the pan where the food is actually located on said cooktop would be even farther away than that. I don't routinely serve a hoard the size of a restaurant in my own home though, but when I do I take the pan of the food to the empty plates. With all the restaurant kitchen's I've been in (granted these aren't Michelin-starred establishments), not one has had this set-up. I'd much rather have empty counter space adjacent to my cooktop for plating than in front of my cooking surface. And is 8" enough to room to plate a typically sized American homeowner's dinner plate? Most have much larger plates. Try a search of the forum also. This was discussed sometime back, probably when the mag issue was released.

Pip, you lost me..... I said many of my fruit ripen and yes, I do get sweet fruit.Just not as good as the southern states in the middle of winter and I don't think any of us can even come as close as to that climate at best without the perfect set up which a majority of us do not have. Many ripen on my porch at cool temps and many ripen as soon as I put them out in spring. Many ripen in my work place and in my sunny greenhouse..It varies... What I think is extremely counter production is, trying to ripen them in a room only limited with winter sun in doors...They fall off, stay small. get bugs, or dry out. So if wants wants fruit just as good as the southern states, they must invest in a place that provides lots of sun and warmth, but cool nights too. ) Hey Hobby, great to see a happy person back one that knows how to treat others...I hear you..Many are afraid to cut trees back, let alone roots, which everyone eventually should do growing in containers..It keeps them very healthy..

Both of us retired. We have a chuckle every time we decide to get a quick late lunch or early supper out as in "does that place fall within our five mile rule?" That would basically mean 1. is the choice within a five mile (+/-) radius as the crow flies from our driveway? 2. how many over crowded and pokey school zones are we going to have to traverse at that time of day? 3. if it's rush hour then we don't want to be anywhere near the freeway (there are three close by) 4. is the food 'there' just barely better than slowly starving to death or is it something we actually look forward to? We actually have a relatively large choice of restaurants but relatively small choice of types of food within a reasonable distance from our house... the typical chain restaurants with the same menu at any given location within that chain, at least three different bar-b-que spots or more if you count the small ones in locations you'd never find unless you were probably lost and wandering around aimlessly while trying to find your way back to the main road, three or four Mexican sit down type restaurants (two of which are owned by the same person), several sandwich type places all of which are chain owned, more fried chicken places than I care to count, a few pizza chains most of which are take out only, hamburger joints, and so on. Most if not all have pretty decent food even if not necessarily imaginative choices. My eating out problem mainly stems from the absence of more home style or "diner" type restaurants where the choices, both main dish and sides, aren't limited to mainly one type of fare be that Italian, Mexican, oriental buffet, fried catfish and so on. Although I've eaten at them off and on for years, I was never a huge cafeteria fan but at least you had multiple choices of what to choose from on any given visit and if you wanted to eat all meat, all vegetables, all desserts, or simply have a cup of coffee or glass of iced tea and a cookie, it was ok. Not the greatest cuisine but at least you had/have multiple choices. My other issue is that while I go out to eat a meal, my wife eats very little per meal and so is not usually interested in going somewhere that she can't get a kid's plate or something small. To that end, one price eat all you want type buffets are typically a last choice for us unless someone else has decided the location. She willingly goes with me just about anywhere but overall, a small bowl of salad or a cup of soup and a cracker would probably suffice. So... we go out to eat regularly but typically, it's not worth putting a sticky note on the frig door to say "we need to go "HERE" again!!!!!!".