On Tuesday I drove an SUV for the very first time in my life. Because our original traveling party had five people, we had gotten an SUV as a rental.
Trying to circumnavigate O‘ahu was just too much for one person, so I drove from Haleiwa back to Honolulu (after we stopped, of course, to get a shave ice at the world famous Matsumoto’s.
I can’t understand why anyone would want to own or drive such a massive, lumbering beast of a vehicle, especially when gas was $2.48 a gallon. At least the motorists on the island are much more easy-going and polite than New Jersey drivers, and traffic is much sparser.
(Hawai‘i would be a terrible state in which to play the license plate game, but I digress.)
My driving the rental vehicle may not seem all that significant, until one realizes that I smashed up our rental vehicle while driving at last year’s New Media Consortium conference in Vancouver. (No one was hurt then—just my pride, the rental car, and the vehicle of the three local Barbies, who were upset because I made them late for their party.)
I had sort of gotten over my fear of driving in large, unfamiliar cities when I took a road trip to the Montréal Jazz Festival a couple of weeks after my accident. Still though, this time my hands were shaking quite a bit when I first took the wheel, the memories of last June’s Vancouver crash still fresh in my mind.
Well…what flavor did ou get? Was it with the azuki beans?
You’d never make it here in CO - I think I read once that we have the most SUV’s in the world. Personally, while I don’t drive one, I can’t imagine living in a household without, they’ve very handy for driving lots of people, dogs, boats, going to the mountains, etc. I love my Honda, so I’ll let Scott be the one to drive one.
We had just eaten lunch up the road, and I was already quite full, so I wasn’t quite up to getting sweetened red beans in the bottom of my snowcone.
As for flavors, mine was pretty tame—lemon, lime, and raspberry. I didn’t quite know what flavor Li Hing Mui was, but after Googling it, I have a slightly better idea what it is and wish I would have tried it.
I suppose I could get used to driving an SUV if I had to; it would be useful for the occasional hauling of cargo and extra people.
I just would miss the nimbleness of my Neon.
I was born and raised on Oahu and my family has a joke about li hing. We call it Hawaiian crack because people find it so addicting. My fiancée loves the stuff, as do most Caucasians who try it. Personally, I can’t stand the stuff. If you’re ever back in Hawaii, try li hing and if you like it, visit a crack seed store. You’ll be in li hing heaven.
Last time I was home, we went to Matsumoto’s and I had a rainbow shave ice with ice cream and azuki beans. So good.
I can’t believe that trip was almost a year ago. I do hope that not too many years pass before I can get back there.
Trying the li hing will be high on my list of things I want to do when I visit again.