This is a photo I took with my mobile phone yesterday. It’s at the bottom of a path very few people know about but with a view that is world famous. Last time I was on this beach was 38 years ago when I was just a kid. I would run up and down the steep path like it was nothing. My 50 year old knees were certain the path was steeper now than then – but my 50 year old brain knows better.
By day the view is spectacular. By night there are more stars visible from here than from any other place I’ve ever had the privilege to stand. For me, this is a Dad Place. Even if it weren’t so beautiful I would love this place just for the way it made my otherwise tightly wound father relax, grow his beard and even pick up hitch-hikers. I miss him tonight.
My dad was great about taking me to some incredible places. He was also very intentional about including me in his business life. It all kind of came together on this trip. It was work that brought me to the islands this time – to speak at the AAO meeting – but it was also a chance to once again return to this place of my childhood. It is a place just steps from the well-worn path, but a place almost no one knows.