Ben's Journal

[Composed 1/6/2026] The Road to Hāna is Maui's most famous drive — cliffs, one-lane bridges, a waterfall around every bend — and from our base out on West Maui, we set off to see what all the fuss was about.

[Composed 1/6/2026] Pulling into the parking lot at 12:20 for our 12:30 slot, I already felt like the day was a win — because a genuinely tricky part of visiting Waiʻānapanapa State Park isn't the hiking, it's the math.

[Composed 1/6/2026] A Garden With No Flowers The first surprise is how it feels.

[Composed 1/5/2026] After a fun day of beaching, snorkeling and hiking, powered by Moon Cheese and Ritz Crackers, we were ready for a proper meal in a proper restaurant.

[Composed 1/5/2026] I have a weakness for brown signs.

[Composed 1/5/2026] Our snorkeling experience at Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve unfolded in three acts.

[Composed 1/5/2026] Day 1, Maui got off to a slow start.

[Composed 1/4/2026] I'll be honest: I was not excited to visit the aquarium.

While planning the 50-for-50 walk, I built a custom routing tool that took in a plain-text route file and generated whatever I needed: a .gpx for my watch, a .kml for my phone's navigation, an HTML Street View preview to spot-check the route.

Planning the 50 mile walk to mark my 50th birthday proved to be an interesting challenge.

To mark my 50th birthday, we walked 50+ miles around Knoxville, Tennessee.

To mark my 50th birthday, Shira and I walked 50 miles in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Moadim L'Simcha!

With Passover fast approaching, I've been putting AI to use in my Seder prep.

In People of the Book author Geraldine Brooks provides a compelling historical novel around the very real Sarajevo Haggadah.

[Composed 1/4/2026] On our way from the Kapalua Tidepools to the aquarium we stopped by our hotel for a potty break.

[Composed 1/4/2026] I was psyched to learn over breakfast that we were a mere 15 minute drive to the Kapalua Tidepools.

[Composed 1/3/2026] We've had an amazing day today, from our 2 am start and epic sunrise, to the breathtaking experience of hiking the Haleakala crater and the opportunity to see endangered native birds in the wild.

[Composed 1/3/2026] I was skeptical about hiking Haleakala National Park's Hosmer Grove.

[Composed 1/3/2026] After a few minutes in the car with the heat blasting, we were finally warmed up enough after watching the sunrise to make our next move.

Last week the White House gleefully announced that, thanks to their efforts, 4000 "criminal illegals" had been removed from the streets of Minnesota.

[Composed 1/3/2026] Today's adventure was made possible by my wife's dogged persistence.

My first impression of hiking the Kahakapao Loop Trail in the Makawao Forest Reserve was just how ordinary the hike was.

[Composed 1/2/2026] We spent the day exploring 'Upcountry' Maui, and to be brutally honest, it was a bit of a roller coaster.

[Composed 1/1/2026] How It Started How It's Going We're in Maui, Hawai'i!