Have you ever read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? There’s a part of the book where Hermione is trying to teach Viktor Krum how to pronounce her name. Apparently, J.K. Rowling did this for her non-British-speaking readers who had absolutely no idea how to pronounce “Hermione.”
Hermione was now teaching Krum to say her name properly; he kept calling her “Hermy-own.”
“Her-my-oh-nee,” she said slowly and clearly.
“Herm-own-ninny.”
“Close enough,” she said, catching Harry’s eye and grinning.
To be honest, I was super happy when Rowling did that…because I was one of those people who kept pronouncing the name wrong in my head whilst reading. But NO more! I’m weird, because I like to know how to pronounce words that I’m reading, especially when it’s a proper name. It just bugs me.
So on the off-chance that you’re like me, let me give you a brief pronunciation lesson:
I had the hardest time with this one…spending 5 years studying Spanish had me putting the emphasis on the 2nd to last syllable. Now you know, and hopefully we can all enjoy this story now without stressing about a name.
******Related: Exploring Molokai*****
My alarm went off at 1:30am. No matter where you are in the world, a 1:30am wake-up call is never fun. Fortunately, my friend Nikki and I had flown to Maui just a few hours prior and hadn’t adjusted to the time change (the local time was 1:30am, but our bodies were at 4:30am…which isn’t all that much better).
I’m a creature of habit and keep my alarm clock (um, phone) in a specific place, which makes jumping out of bed before my eyes are actually open a lot easier. Nothing in the world is as accurate as a sleepy arm reaching to turn off an alarm clock in the wee hours of the morning.
I was so confused when I woke up. I didn’t know where I was or how I got there…or even why I was waking up. As I looked around the bedroom in my grandma’s condo, my eyes fell upon my outfit: vans (closed-toed shoes), workout capris, and a few tops. Ah, yes. Today was the day we were going to bike ride down a crater!
I ran into the front room to wake up Nikki, only to hear that we weren’t the only people awake in the complex! Stunned, I brought it up to Nikki that I was amazed how people on the island were early birds as well.
That sounds ridiculous, even as I type. She just stared at me and informed me that they weren’t up with us…they just hadn’t gone to bed yet. Duh, that makes sense. I claimed sleepiness.
We quickly dressed and raced down to the car. We had directions to the Haleakala Bike Co., but were nervous about getting there on time. The bike shop was in a dark part of the island (in our sleepy minds) and street lights were nowhere to be found. Praying we found the right place, we suddenly turned a corner and happened upon a small shopping center that was completely asleep…except for a bike shop! Awesome. We ran inside, checked in, and got fitted for our gear: helmet, jacket and pants if we needed them. The morning was proving to be a little drizzly, so we opted for the jackets (and later so grateful that we grabbed them).
When the time came, our large group assembled inside the vans that would take us to the top of the crater. Nikki and I were about to settle in for a nap during the 90 minute ride to the top, but had to focus and pay attention to the route the van was taking to the crater. Apparently, this was going to be the route we needed to follow (in reverse) to get back to the bike store. Since we were heading to a wedding later that evening, we needed to make sure we didn’t get too lost (yeah, right).
By the time we reached the summit of the crater, we had entered Haleakala National Park and the first hues of red were starting to creep up along the horizon. We stumbled out of the vans and immediately put on as many layers of clothing as we could find. The summit of Haleakala breaks over 10,000 feet and we could see our breath, grateful for the first time that our rentals require close-toed shoes!
Since there was already a group gathered at the summit, we had to quickly claim our spot to watch the sunrise. As the group waited, the rangers gave a brief history of Haleakala, which means “House of the Sun.” Fitting. The summit is considered one of the most sacred places in Maui, and a visitor center was built in the 1930s.
I can’t remember if it’s a daily ritual, but we were privileged to hear a hauntingly beautiful song by a native Hawaiian, welcoming the sun and a blessing on the island and its people. Almost on cue, the sun rose. Nikki and I had our cameras out with our fingers on the shutter buttons, but away from our face. We wanted to just be able to take a few moments to fully appreciate and enjoy where we were and what we were privileged to witness.
Sometimes I think we forget to stop and enjoy the moment, mainly because we’re too concerned with grabbing that “one shot.”
One of the drivers took us to another location on the summit for pictures while we waited out the crowds leaving. Some of the pictures he told us to take were pretty silly, like the one below. His direction was: point into the air.
Once the sun had fully risen and we’d all gotten as many pictures as we could think of, we piled back into the van…we couldn’t start riding our bikes until we were out of the Haleakala National Park. Then the fun began.
I’m not going to recount the entire ride, curve by curve. I can’t remember every car that whizzed by, every vista we stopped for pictures at.
We stopped for breakfast, eyes watering from both the wind and pollen of the native plants that we weren’t accustomed to. Fortunately, Nikki is an avid mountain biker (and I don’t like being left behind)…so we were able to pull into the restaurant and get seated long before the rest of the motley crew showed up.
Even though we had to wear motorcycle-style helmets, the ride down the crater was simply exhilarating.
After a few wrong turns and unexpected detours through what seemed like farmland, we finally pulled into the shop and dismounted for the last time. It had been a glorious and epic ride down the crater, but we had a wedding to get to…after some showers and grooming, of course!
Have you ever biked down a crater? What was your experience?
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