AlaskaAV
GONE WEST
Mission, TX
As I have posted before, for many years while single, I worked for an airline and assigned to our Deadhorse operation at Prudhoe Bay, AK. I worked a schedule, as did all other employees, two weeks on and one week off with free transportation world wide on our days off.
http://supercub.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album121
I had met the owner of a fantastic resort on Maui, the Maui Lu Resort, which will no longer be there after this year, and offered to work for no pay as their Alaska Sales Rep in conjunction with my sales work for my airline. In exchange, they gave me a free room any time I was there and a staff car anytime I need it and full run of the property as I saw fit, 24/7. This went on for well over 5 years. If all rooms were occupied, they always kept room number 13 just for me. The last lawn chair at the north end of the big swimming pool. As a joke, the reservation manager had a room tag made up for room 13 just for me and my chair, pool side. What a lady and somehow, she always found me a room even though it might be a different one every day.
When I heard the property was to be torn down, I sent a throw away camera to the manager and asked him to take photos of what the place was like this year. Needless to say, he did and mailed it back and I turned the film into a CD and built up a screen saver from the photos. Now, thanks to that manager and the original owner, I will never forget as well as those special people I met along the way. One of which was the special lady that danced a special Hula for me and mailed me an enlarged photo of her doing that dance after on my last trip there.
For one year, the owner let me play with his personal ship, the Maui Lu II. Check the photo album.
Now part of the fun time and only part of it.
One of my favorite things to do when I got to the Maui Lu every two weeks was to set up a free bar at pool side.
The owner of the resort agreed to furnish all the ice, glasses, garbage to top off drinks, etc., and I would buy the liquor. He gave me a car, usually his Mustang convertible, to get it though.
So, pool side, watch out, Ernie's Baaaaaack.
Anyone could come and have a free drink of their choice and all they had to do was tell a joke from the area they were from and that was world wide. Boy talk about fun for everyone.
I usually had a group of maybe 20 around the pool with people leaving and coming all the time. Durring the 5 years I did this, many of the same people came back each year when I was there and would join in with a whole bunch of new jokes. They always said they were looking forward to my parties and that was part of why they came back year after year. I always drove tours of the island for those people too. One extra special family from Nanimo, BC came back each year and I always looked forward to seeing them again. I even flew up to see them from Seattle while the bath tub race was on. Come on Canucks, back me up.
The owner of the resort never worried that I was taking money away from his bar since he didn't drink anyway but that I was giving his guests something different that his guests could take home and tell others about. He always told me to enjoy all the special wine he had on his ship when I had a special party onboard. This will be interesting to some, but most of the wine came from Australia as did some of the beer. Try that wine from Australia guys, you will like it.
For those from Alaska, you will get a kick out of this if you haven't read it before.
At one point pool side, I asked everyone if they had ever eaten King Crab from Alaska. None was the reply.
Needless to say, I went to find a phone and made a call to a friend in Anchorage from Western Airlines.
Next morning, a 20 pound box of frozen king crab flown in overnight from Anchorage. My friend Stan and I set up a BBQ at pool side. (eat your heart out Outback Steak House, we had real ladies in Maui bikinis for this meal) Up came the heat and on goes the crab. If it were not illegal, I could probably say my friend Stan went in the water and brought out some outstanding seafood but too small to keep so when he threw it away, it ended up on the BBQ. I never understood how they got on the grill with the Alaska King Crab. We fed the entire group of guests that day to something they had never had before. Although Western Airlines is no long flying, I must give them credit for the crab and flying it to Honolulu all free and for Hawaiian Airlines for flying it to Maui and for both airlines to get it from Anchorage to Maui in some 16 hours. Thanks guys.
It was always interesting to see people sitting around the pool watching us telling jokes and when we told a joke and everyone laughed, they would laugh also even though they could not hear all that was said. That was when I would set up a couple of beautiful ladies in our group in Maui style bikinis (the only way to fly) to go over and invite the couple over and join us. I often wondered what memories they took home from their one time vacation after joining my crazy parties. Those that never watched us, we left alone of course. I remember there was one
very, very attractive lady sitting by herself close by and could probably hear everything we said but none of us went over to talk to her because she appeared to want to be alone. She never smiled. Finally she got up, went (my goodness, what a walk) to the diving board and dove in the deep end of the pool. When she came up, everyone noticed the top of her bikini had slipped down (on purpose or by accident?) but she turned over and swam the entire length of the pool on her back toward us minus her top. When she reached our end of the pool, still no one was obviously watching as she looked around and as she adjusted herself and went back to her chair. After no one went to talk to her, she left the pool area and no one ever saw her again. Strange....See how bashful I am, and it was my party. Takes a smile I guess.
Another fun thing I used to do, especially for honeymoon couples (which the desk always informed me about), was to show them how to open up a coconut right off the tree. I would not climb the tree but would always show the guy how to toss up an available green nut to knock off nuts from the tree. Made her husband look good to his wife you know. I always roamed the pool area looking for these couples. This involved pulling the husks off after pounding the stem end on a pointed lava rock to break up the fibers and than, by holding the nut in my feet, pull the husks off one piece at a time until I was down to just the nut itself. And you guys call me a nut? Gee, what to do now? Has anyone ever tried to take a hammer to open a coconut? I did it hourly with one hand.
I had my special lava rock and made such a production for the newlyweds of holding the nut correctly in my right hand and than move it around several times and looking at everything very close as if to look for just the right position.
All of a sudden, I would strike the nut on the pointed lava rock and bingo, equal sizes with all the coconut milk in one half. Than I would immediately pour half the milk in the other half and hand them to the newlyweds and asked them to make a very special toast to each other and have a sip of the nectar of Paradise from the Maui Lu Resort and to never leave each other. To this day, I wonder if I had anything to do with keeping a couple together for life.
I really have to thank the owner and wife of the Maui Lu Resort that gave me that freedom to do as I wanted to just to make their home the pleasure place they wanted to share with their guests. By the way, at that time, an individual cottage on the beach went for about $28 per day and others went for $18. He was not there to make money, only to make people happy and they let me be part of it.
I suspect I may get thinking about the past again and you may have to suffer going through more stories like this. Just part of my life and the fun I have had.
Probably another story later about my extra special things I did to make our guests happy. I was known to be the "doctor" of the resort, when I was there, for sunburns and my special Aloe plant to take the pain go away overnight. Think about it guys
http://supercub.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album121
I had met the owner of a fantastic resort on Maui, the Maui Lu Resort, which will no longer be there after this year, and offered to work for no pay as their Alaska Sales Rep in conjunction with my sales work for my airline. In exchange, they gave me a free room any time I was there and a staff car anytime I need it and full run of the property as I saw fit, 24/7. This went on for well over 5 years. If all rooms were occupied, they always kept room number 13 just for me. The last lawn chair at the north end of the big swimming pool. As a joke, the reservation manager had a room tag made up for room 13 just for me and my chair, pool side. What a lady and somehow, she always found me a room even though it might be a different one every day.
When I heard the property was to be torn down, I sent a throw away camera to the manager and asked him to take photos of what the place was like this year. Needless to say, he did and mailed it back and I turned the film into a CD and built up a screen saver from the photos. Now, thanks to that manager and the original owner, I will never forget as well as those special people I met along the way. One of which was the special lady that danced a special Hula for me and mailed me an enlarged photo of her doing that dance after on my last trip there.
For one year, the owner let me play with his personal ship, the Maui Lu II. Check the photo album.
Now part of the fun time and only part of it.
One of my favorite things to do when I got to the Maui Lu every two weeks was to set up a free bar at pool side.
The owner of the resort agreed to furnish all the ice, glasses, garbage to top off drinks, etc., and I would buy the liquor. He gave me a car, usually his Mustang convertible, to get it though.
So, pool side, watch out, Ernie's Baaaaaack.
Anyone could come and have a free drink of their choice and all they had to do was tell a joke from the area they were from and that was world wide. Boy talk about fun for everyone.
I usually had a group of maybe 20 around the pool with people leaving and coming all the time. Durring the 5 years I did this, many of the same people came back each year when I was there and would join in with a whole bunch of new jokes. They always said they were looking forward to my parties and that was part of why they came back year after year. I always drove tours of the island for those people too. One extra special family from Nanimo, BC came back each year and I always looked forward to seeing them again. I even flew up to see them from Seattle while the bath tub race was on. Come on Canucks, back me up.
The owner of the resort never worried that I was taking money away from his bar since he didn't drink anyway but that I was giving his guests something different that his guests could take home and tell others about. He always told me to enjoy all the special wine he had on his ship when I had a special party onboard. This will be interesting to some, but most of the wine came from Australia as did some of the beer. Try that wine from Australia guys, you will like it.
For those from Alaska, you will get a kick out of this if you haven't read it before.
At one point pool side, I asked everyone if they had ever eaten King Crab from Alaska. None was the reply.
Needless to say, I went to find a phone and made a call to a friend in Anchorage from Western Airlines.
Next morning, a 20 pound box of frozen king crab flown in overnight from Anchorage. My friend Stan and I set up a BBQ at pool side. (eat your heart out Outback Steak House, we had real ladies in Maui bikinis for this meal) Up came the heat and on goes the crab. If it were not illegal, I could probably say my friend Stan went in the water and brought out some outstanding seafood but too small to keep so when he threw it away, it ended up on the BBQ. I never understood how they got on the grill with the Alaska King Crab. We fed the entire group of guests that day to something they had never had before. Although Western Airlines is no long flying, I must give them credit for the crab and flying it to Honolulu all free and for Hawaiian Airlines for flying it to Maui and for both airlines to get it from Anchorage to Maui in some 16 hours. Thanks guys.
It was always interesting to see people sitting around the pool watching us telling jokes and when we told a joke and everyone laughed, they would laugh also even though they could not hear all that was said. That was when I would set up a couple of beautiful ladies in our group in Maui style bikinis (the only way to fly) to go over and invite the couple over and join us. I often wondered what memories they took home from their one time vacation after joining my crazy parties. Those that never watched us, we left alone of course. I remember there was one
very, very attractive lady sitting by herself close by and could probably hear everything we said but none of us went over to talk to her because she appeared to want to be alone. She never smiled. Finally she got up, went (my goodness, what a walk) to the diving board and dove in the deep end of the pool. When she came up, everyone noticed the top of her bikini had slipped down (on purpose or by accident?) but she turned over and swam the entire length of the pool on her back toward us minus her top. When she reached our end of the pool, still no one was obviously watching as she looked around and as she adjusted herself and went back to her chair. After no one went to talk to her, she left the pool area and no one ever saw her again. Strange....See how bashful I am, and it was my party. Takes a smile I guess.
Another fun thing I used to do, especially for honeymoon couples (which the desk always informed me about), was to show them how to open up a coconut right off the tree. I would not climb the tree but would always show the guy how to toss up an available green nut to knock off nuts from the tree. Made her husband look good to his wife you know. I always roamed the pool area looking for these couples. This involved pulling the husks off after pounding the stem end on a pointed lava rock to break up the fibers and than, by holding the nut in my feet, pull the husks off one piece at a time until I was down to just the nut itself. And you guys call me a nut? Gee, what to do now? Has anyone ever tried to take a hammer to open a coconut? I did it hourly with one hand.
I had my special lava rock and made such a production for the newlyweds of holding the nut correctly in my right hand and than move it around several times and looking at everything very close as if to look for just the right position.
All of a sudden, I would strike the nut on the pointed lava rock and bingo, equal sizes with all the coconut milk in one half. Than I would immediately pour half the milk in the other half and hand them to the newlyweds and asked them to make a very special toast to each other and have a sip of the nectar of Paradise from the Maui Lu Resort and to never leave each other. To this day, I wonder if I had anything to do with keeping a couple together for life.
I really have to thank the owner and wife of the Maui Lu Resort that gave me that freedom to do as I wanted to just to make their home the pleasure place they wanted to share with their guests. By the way, at that time, an individual cottage on the beach went for about $28 per day and others went for $18. He was not there to make money, only to make people happy and they let me be part of it.
I suspect I may get thinking about the past again and you may have to suffer going through more stories like this. Just part of my life and the fun I have had.
Probably another story later about my extra special things I did to make our guests happy. I was known to be the "doctor" of the resort, when I was there, for sunburns and my special Aloe plant to take the pain go away overnight. Think about it guys
