A random collection of thoughts, comments and photos from Ben Simon.
[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. Let's drive! 6:06 am · Mile 0 · 📍 map Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines! Still in the hotel parking garage, and our roles are already set: Shira at the wheel, making forward progress,…
[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. This black-sand-beach park just shy of Hāna is popular enough that Hawaiʻi now gates it behind a timed reservation , and fitting that fixed window into the rest of the day is a…
[Composed 1/6/2026] A Garden With No Flowers The first surprise is how it feels. Spacious, manicured, serene — an oasis of calm on a Road to Hāna that is otherwise narrow, winding, and packed with everyone else's rental car. For most of our visit we had something close to the whole place to ourselves; I doubt we saw ten other people. The second surprise took me longer to put my finger on. I kept…
[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. As luck would have it, Huong Nam , a Vietnamese restaurant with solid veggie options, was a short detour from the route back to our hotel. Between the Yelp reviews and the menu on the website, it seemed like a perfect fit. Then…
[Composed 1/5/2026] I have a weakness for brown signs. You know the ones — those little brown highway markers that flag a historic site, a scenic overlook, some monument you've never heard of. Sure, most just hand you a plaque and a "huh, cool." But once in a while, one scores: something unforgettable. Either way, I've never seen one I didn't want to follow. This stretch of Maui's southern coast…
[Composed 1/5/2026] Our snorkeling experience at Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve unfolded in three acts. Act I: the understated, self-pay parking lot. No signs, vendors, or anything resembling excitement. Though we did get an important clue. As we started toward the beach, we overheard a kid — maybe ten years old — walking out with his family, turn to his dad, and ask: "Can we come back…
[Composed 1/5/2026] Day 1, Maui got off to a slow start. Even on our flight's approach, eyeballing the island from the window, we were underwhelmed — fine, but no fireworks. Twenty minutes in, we came around a curve on Highway 30 and I made Shira pull over at a coastal overlook. The final moments of sunset were on display, the storm clouds cracked, the ocean stretched out, there was even a…
[Composed 1/4/2026] I'll be honest: I was not excited to visit the aquarium. My vacation philosophy leans hard toward the serendipitous and the real. I'd rather crouch over a tidepool, squinting at whatever tiny creature the tide left behind, than stand in front of a tank engineered to impress me. The tidepool requires patience and luck. The aquarium is prepared, packaged, ready-made wonder. I…
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. In that spirit, I started wondering: could it also generate a printable reference card? Something I could fold up and keep in my pocket. Version one…
Planning the 50 mile walk to mark my 50th birthday proved to be an interesting challenge. The walk would span three days in an unfamiliar city and had a laundry list of needs: scenic and interesting stretches, resupply stops along the way so we could travel light and stay fueled, and as much sidewalk as possible to keep things safe. And of course, strategic bathroom stops. We also wanted a route…
To mark my 50th birthday, we walked 50+ miles around Knoxville, Tennessee . It was awesome! Here's 5 reasons why. Terrain The goal for 50-for-50 had always been simple: cover 50 miles, ending on my birthday. As we tried to figure out the logistics of how we might do this, I braced myself for a slog through uninspiring surroundings. Ultimately, we landed on Knoxville, TN to pull off this stunt. To…
To mark my 50th birthday, Shira and I walked 50 miles in Knoxville, Tennessee. A full blog post is on my TODO list, but here are the notes I captured at every mile marker. We had a blast and it was the perfect way to mark this milestone. It goes without say, but Shira's amazing for playing along with this craziness. Mile 0 — Departure Day 1 · 6:06 AM · 35.90394, -84.15015…
Moadim L'Simcha! Hopefully, your Passover seders went well, and you're enjoying these days of munching matzah and dreaming about Real Pizza. The seder we hosted this year was a delightful mix of chaos, insight and tons of good food. For the first time I can recall, we made a dairy seder. While the salmon and mashed potatoes Shira made were a hit, it was her macaroni and cheese (with gluten-free,…
With Passover fast approaching, I've been putting AI to use in my Seder prep. Specifically, I've been using it to discover and unpack different topics of conversation I could explore with my guests. In this post, I want to showcase what you get when you unleash Claude Code, a software development tool, on this sort of research task. The Setup To appreciate what Claude Code brings to the table, I…
In People of the Book author Geraldine Brooks provides a compelling historical novel around the very real Sarajevo Haggadah . While there are some aspects of her story I could quibble with, I found it largely to be a pleasure to read listen to. After nearly 14 hours of audio, my first thought when the playback ended was: wow, that was a lot. Spoilers Below First off, I give full credit to Brooks…
[Composed 1/4/2026] On our way from the Kapalua Tidepools to the aquarium we stopped by our hotel for a potty break. Leaving the hotel, we passed by a hula show in the lobby that was already in progress. The family friendly event pulled us in, and I found myself thoroughly engrossed in the show. Unlike the the 3 hour extravaganza the hotel hosts in the evening, this show featured adults and kids…
[Composed 1/4/2026] I was psyched to learn over breakfast that we were a mere 15 minute drive to the Kapalua Tidepools . While we had plans to hit up the aquarium and other sites today, I couldn't resist starting our day with a detour to the North. I have a special affinity for tidepools, as in the past, I've found them to be little wonderlands. The idea is that as the tide recedes, it leaves…
[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 . But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention some other, seemingly less exotic critters that we saw today. Let's start with this guy: He's a Red-crested Cardinal . He certainly looks like…
[Composed 1/3/2026] I was skeptical about hiking Haleakala National Park's Hosmer Grove . This short hiking trail winds through a failed 1909 forestry experiment by, you guessed it, Mr. Ralph Hosmer. Did I really need to see more non-native forests in Hawaii ? Thankfully I ignored this snarky sentiment, and as we descended from Haleakala's summit we turned off the main road, and headed to the the…
[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. The plan was to hike part of the Sliding Sands (Keonehe'ehe'e) trail. Once thawed out, I was eager to get started. Sliding Sands, we read, consisted of a 9 mile hike into the Haleakala crater, followed by 9 miles hiking back out. The trail…
Last week the White House gleefully announced that, thanks to their efforts, 4000 "criminal illegals" had been removed from the streets of Minnesota. My sense is that pronouncement could serve as a sort of immigration issues Rorschach test. Some will greet this news with a sense of relief: finally, progress is being made to keep Americans safe. Others will read the article with a sense of horror,…
[Composed 1/3/2026] Today's adventure was made possible by my wife's dogged persistence. As we were moments from landing in Phoenix airport, Shira logged into recreation.gov and tried to buy tickets for the Haleakala National Park Summit at sunrise. She had been unsuccessful the day before. Space at the summit is notoriously limited, so tickets go blazingly fast. As a rule, the National park makes…
My first impression of hiking the Kahakapao Loop Trail in the Makawao Forest Reserve was just how ordinary the hike was. Here we were, 5,000 miles from home on a tropical Hawaiian island, and we were slogging through a wet, deciduous forest in low 60 degree temps. Shira had her umbrella up, and my windbreaker was getting peppered with drizzle. This scene wasn't on any Maui postcards I'd ever seen.…
[Composed 1/2/2026] We spent the day exploring 'Upcountry' Maui, and to be brutally honest, it was a bit of a roller coaster. I awoke at 4:30am with my body and my Garmin watch announcing that I had had zero recovery from the night before. Yet, we had a delicous breakfast overlooking the nearby island Lanai getting bathed in the morning sun. Our first stop of the day, and one we were eagerly…
[Composed 1/1/2026] How It Started How It's Going We're in Maui, Hawai'i! It took us about 20 hours to get from our driveway to the hotel's lobby, but man, was it worth it. I appreciated that as we sat in the American Lounge waiting for our flight to board, a small snow squall passed by, giving a dramatic weather flourish to our leaving. The snow was insignificant, and didn't impact our flight.…