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Veteran visitors who sorely miss Maui during the current lockdown are turning to some unusual alternatives while they wait for the entire island to reopen Oct. 8.
In Las Vegas, for instance, a group walking by a flooded construction hole decided it looked like a tide pool, went home for their swim suits, and spent an afternoon sipping adult beverages among the construction debris and safety cones.
“Man, we really miss Maui but out of respect for the fire victims we’ll await official word that it’s okay to return,” said Joe Peterson of Henderson, Nevada, while sitting in the muddy waters of a large construction hole dug into the earth. “We walked by and saw the shallow water, and the orange safety cones, and immediately we had flashbacks like we were on Maui. So we got our swimsuits and made it so.”
Joining him was his co-worker, Alex DiMaggio, also of Henderson. “Sure the water doesn’t ebb and flow like a real tide pool, but the water is cool and refreshing, and we feel safe with the orange cones nearby.”
Other mainland United States communities report similar situations playing out there.
In Portland, Oregon, for instance, a Mom’s Club group decided to test as many of the city’s roundabouts as possible in one day ~ because they miss the two in Kihei and one in the Maui Lani area of Kahului.
“Oh man, some of them here in Portland are quaint and small, just like the traffic circle near Safeway in Kihei,” said Joannie Smithson, who lives in the suburb of Tigard. “We haven’t found a big one with crosswalks and traffic signals like the new roundabout on the highway there, so I guess we’re going to have to wait until after Oct. 8 to get that experience again."
