I was watching Unwrapped on the Food Network the other day and the host (Marc Summers from Double Dare!) was talking about McDonalds. He said the chain's popularity was based on the premise of consistency; every McDonalds location around the world uses the exact same ingredients and cooking methods to prepare the exact same product. So when the American tourist who is visiting Japan sees the familiar golden arches and orders a Quarter Pounder with cheese, he can expect the exact same product as if he were back in America. It's comforting to eat something familiar in an unfamiliar place. The reason why I write this is because we had McDonalds double cheeseburgers for lunch today. I know it sounds silly, but they were great. They also had taro pies but they were sold out. Now that's something I definitely would have liked to try.

Today we drove the famous Hana Coast. It's a beautiful scenic drive with spectacular waterfalls, freshwater pools, hiking trails, and colorful plants and flowers. It's also on a narrow, windy road with no guardrails and dozens of equally confused tourists driving about. Now if that's not a recipe for trouble, I don't know what is.
We started in Kahului, and drove through Pa'ia, Kailua, Wailua, and Hana, stopping along the way to take pictures and enjoy the view. It was a fun drive, although I can't imagine doing it in a large car or with a tour group: a large car makes it difficult to manuveur through tight turns and it would be easy to get motion sickness in a tour group van. But a PT Cruiser Convertible was just the right touch! Although there were many picture opportunities, after a while, it was pretty much the same scenery over and over. It's definitely worth doing once, but try not to get stuck driving: it sucks when you get stuck behind a slow car (this from the guy who bikes like a schoolgirl).

There's an interesting story behind the cow picture. As we were driving back, this particular cow somehow managed to break through a fence and wander from its pasture. It stood in the road and brought traffic to a standstill (all five of us cars). Just as we were wondering how one is supposed to "steer" a cow back to its place, the owner came in a pickup truck and slowly tried to guide it back towards the pasture. The cow didn't budge, so he gently bumped the cow... with the pickup truck! Now I suppose I'm a city slicker, but I've never seen a two-ton vehicle come into contact with a live animal before. Have you? Fortunately, it took only a few, harmless "bumps" to get the cow back into the pasture, but the damage had been done. The cow was involved in a traumatizing hit-and-run, and she'd never be the same again. Years from now, if you ever drink milk that just doesn't taste right or eat a ribeye that's just a little too stringy, you'll know where it came from: the poor cow that just couldn't stay out of trouble.

For dinner, we ate at Roy's, a famous chain of restaurants known for its Hawaiian fusion cuisine. There's one in San Francisco, but Lana heard that the one in Kihei was supposed to be really good. We started off with crab cake appetizers, Lana had the meatloaf and I had the honey mustard short ribs, and we ended the night with the chocolate souffle with ice cream. Good thing we ate after driving the Hana Coast, because the extra weight would have severely ruined our gas mileage.