Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Link’s Hawaiian Vacation With His Dad | Ear Biscuits Ep. 342

Episode Date: July 25, 2022

What happens when The Neals go on Vacation? On this episode, Link gives you a breakdown of his recent family trip to Hawaii. He climbed a volcano, dove in the ocean, and got a massage! Plus, you won��t believe how many pineapples he saw! Get your tickets to Good Mythical Evening at GoodMythicalEvening.com for an uncensored night of fun! Presented by Moment House. More info here: https://mythic.al/EBGME To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is mythical. With Uber Reserve, you can book your Uber ride in advance. 90 days in advance. Perfect for all you forward thinkers and planning gurus. Reserve your Uber ride up to 90 days in advance. Uber Reserve. See Uber app for details. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time.

I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. This week at the round table of dim lighting, Link is wearing sunglasses. Well, I'm wearing my Hawaiian vacation glasses, which have a tint that is somewhere between normal glasses. I'm wearing my Hawaiian vacation glasses, which have a tint that is somewhere between normal glasses and sunglasses. I mean, they're sunglasses.

But they're not tinted to the point where I can't wear them in this dimly lit room and totally see everything I need to see of you. Well, yeah, but I'm just saying, but I mean, they're lightly tinted sunglasses. But I'm trying to make this a part of my life moving forward because this was my life in Hawaii on my Maui vacation, which I'm gonna tell you all about Rhett.

And you dear listener. So are you trying to capture the vacation spirit into more of, is that why you're wearing the glasses or is it like, no, I think I'm gonna become a guy who wears sunglasses inside. How could you tell? Like Elton John. Yeah.

Okay. I think I could. Oh, you can do anything you want to. Thank you. Because I really like these glasses. But people will draw conclusions. That's all I'm saying. I really like these glasses because they're big

and they have progressive lenses in them. I can read with them. And they're indoor, outdoor sunglasses. Well, you've made them that. You're definitely wearing them. No, they're not too dark so that you have to take them off when you come inside. But I'm just acknowledging the fact that it is a choice.

Did I break your concentration? It is a choice that, like, if me and you went to a meeting and there was a guy that we met with and he was wearing those glasses inside, it would be the first thing we talked about after we left the meeting. We'd be like, oh, he wears sunglasses inside. That's what we would do.

But if the other parts of that personality lined up in a certain way, then our follow-up would be, but you know what? I think he pulls it off. I am secretly hoping, I didn't wanna talk about it. If he's Roy Orbison. If he's Roy Orbison, yes. Why did Roy Orbison wear sunglasses at all times?

Well, I always thought that he was visually impaired and that was why he wore the sunglasses. Was he? I think he did have some visual impairment, but I just think that he was self-conscious about the way he looked without sunglasses. Are you self-conscious about the way you look without sunglasses?

No. Is that what it is? I mean, I'm conscious of what I look like without glasses and I was constantly reminded of that because I went on vacation with the older version of myself, AKA my father. Does he wear contacts? No, he has no problem.

He has no- Vision issues. Prescription. That's very unusual for a 70 year old man. I know. Wow. And he doesn't have nearly as much gray hair as I do. I got that from my mom. So you're gonna tell us all about your vacation.

Yeah, I am. Before you tell us about your vacation, we do want to remind you about the fact that we are doing Good Mythical Evening again, if you forgot, how could you? I don't remember all of it. Good Mythical Evening is when we take all of the constraints that we have to have on ourselves off

in order to have, you know, Good Mythical Morning, you guys gotta be like brand safe and friendly and you gotta be able to do something that like you can put on YouTube. But Good Mythical Evening is if you take all the right-headedness out of us. And you go buck wild. And you give us some alcohol.

Hey, you like to party? That's what Good Mythical Evening is. Party with us. September 1st, exclusively on Moment House. Get your tickets at goodmythicalevening.com. There's multiple packages for pre-show and Good Mythical More, et cetera. So I wanna tell you all about my vacation.

We did go to Maui. I had made the decision to do this trip pre-pandemic. And really, I think I trace it all the way back to your family trip to Scotland, where you took your parents and your brother and his entire family. That really got me thinking, you know, I can do a vacation

and bring some of my family along too. I think that would honor them. I think they'd like it. So we put into motion this plan. Did anybody break any bones? Nobody broke any bones. Well, I mean, there was one injury. Oh. I'll tell you about it.

We put the plan in motion to take my dad and Nancy. And so once we started filming Dispatches from Myrtle Beach and recording that podcast, which if you wanna listen to his perspective on our vacation and that episode of Dispatches is already out, but there's plenty of stuff that I didn't get to talk with my dad about that I wanna talk to you about. And I can give you some of the inside scoop

that I didn't get to in that episode. Okay. I got two podcasts I gotta juggle now, man. Yeah, this is gonna make your life difficult. This is making my life difficult. But I did, on dispatches, I kept saying, well, dad, if you do a good job,

I'm gonna take you to Hawaii. But really, we had wanted to go for years. It's just because of the pandemic, we weren't able to do that. Right. And then also for like Christy's sister and her husband and their kids, we were like planning another trip to go to Disney with them.

That got eradicated with the pandemic too. And we haven't put those plans back in motion, but we hope to at some point. But just let me tell you, I was telling Christy yesterday, I was like, you know what? I think this Hawaii trip was one of the best vacations I've ever been on.

Whoa, really? Yeah, it was like the perfect balance of doing stuff and not having stuff to do. You know, we booked a spot at a resort on Wailea, down there in the Southwestern part of Maui. a spot at a resort on Walea, down there in the Southwestern part of Maui. You ever been to Maui? I have not. I've been to the big island and to Kauai.

Right. Well, you and I went to Kauai with our families together many years ago. So I was comparing it a lot to Kauai when we were like driving around Maui. We stayed at a beach resort. We stayed at this spot where it was big enough for like dad and Nancy to have a room,

me and Chris to have a room, and then, you know, the kids to sort things out. So it was like, it was a nice spot. We had space where people could go and retreat into their own zone. When you have a 19 year old and a 17 year old, you wanna be able to give them their own zone. When you have a 19 year old and a 17 year old, you wanna be able to give them their own space. So I knew that was key.

And then I knew that making plans, but then making non-plans was important. And I think all of that really came to fruition in terms of making this the perfect balance of just a nice, well-needed vacation away. Are you like, are you looking at your thigh? What are you doing with your hand, Allie? I'm just twiddling my thumbs around this thing.

I thought you were looking at your phone, then I saw your phone there. No, I'm twiddling this. Okay, all right. Just making sure I'm still here. I just didn't know if you were into what I was saying. Oh, I'm so into it. You're playing the perfect vacation.

I was just like, I don't know if you're scratching your balls. Just the perfect balance of doing and not doing. I mean, the big question. I. You plan the perfect vacation. I don't know if you're scratching your balls. Just the perfect balance of doing and not doing. I mean, the big question, honestly, was, what is it gonna be like to take dad and Nancy on this thing? Granddaddy and nana are gonna be around. But you just said it was the best vacation, so do you think it had to do with the fact

that they were there? I didn't know that. Yeah, that was the big question mark. Because people, guests change your family dynamic and often they change the family dynamic for the best. I have found that when we travel- Because people are on a better behavior. And when there's a friend of a, one of the kids brings a friend.

Yes. Nobody shows their ass as much. You know what I'm saying? Nobody just does something stupid, embarrassing, just as a complete dipshit because there's somebody who's not family there. Yep. So do you think that happened?

I do think that was the key to it. Plus the fact that dad and Nancy are super laid back. Like they were super happy to be there. They don't add stress to the situation. They were along for the ride. Which is a lot to say for aging parents know, aging parents, I would think. There was no control of anything energy. It was like, hey, I'm gonna treat you guys

to coming on this voyage with us, you know, and you're gonna love it. And then, you know, by the end, the only thing dad said about the halfway point was, you think maybe I could play golf? And I was like, well, I didn't know if it was too late, Dad. I didn't set anything like that up because I don't play golf, honestly. I'm sorry if that's a little selfish.

I should go. But that did work out. And as he talked about on dispatches, that was a highlight for him is taking Lincoln golfing. But yeah, I mean, we really did have a good time. And it was a test of our relationship to have them there. Cause you are living under the same roof with these people that you never live with.

You don't know how it's gonna be. But they were cool. They were laid back. They were having a good time. And so I'm happy to report that it all worked out. He's still your dad. Also nine days was like a generous amount of time. So just in terms of like stipulations.

Really? I was gonna, I was planning on 14 days. Two weeks is what that is, right? So you were ready to come home at nine, day nine? I was, yeah. Hmm. Yeah. I mean, I would say that's pretty typical. When you're in the same place. Yeah. I mean, I would say that's pretty typical. When you're in the same place.

Yeah. No, were you eating the same breakfast every day? The breakfast got old. It was a good breakfast, like- Nine days of the same breakfast. It was a buffet. Yeah, I mean, obviously these are privileged problems, but I'm just saying.

Yeah, at a certain point, I wasn't really getting out of bed for the breakfast, you know what I'm saying? Right. The cool thing about going to Hawaii is that there's three hours behind. So when I decided to wake up, it was like early in the morning. There's something, I felt this like superiority

of like being up so early on vacation, like seeing this, I literally seeing the sunrise. Every day? The first- What time are we talking about? The first few days. Just because it was the time change. Yeah.

I mean, I get up at 5.30 and it feels like 8.30. And I went out there and did some paddle boarding. There was a beach right out there and you could go out there and just get some snorkel gear and go around this little reefish type area and you could go out there and just get some snorkel gear

and go around this little reefish type area. And there were sea turtles right there, dude. I've never freaking snorkeled with a sea turtle. Did you touch them? Cause that's a $10,000 fine. I did not touch them. I just looked at them. And they were, some of them were like

resting on the bottom, just sleeping. And some of them were like resting on the bottom, just sleeping. And some of them were just like floating. And you could just like swim around and they were just like used to it. They didn't care. They were happy. Happy as a pig in a blanket. Any waves for paddle boarding?

Not right there. Like driving around to other sections of the island, there was, I saw some people, a lot of people surfing and some people doing some standup paddleboard surfing, but early enough, it was calm enough to do some standup paddleboarding, but not really with surfing. It really wasn't the opportunity right there in front of us.

But I gotta, I hate the dog Maui. It was, the beaches were beautiful. And there's, but it's just not, it's not the same vibe as Kauai. Kauai was like, it's so jungly and like these like dramatic green mountains just like exploding out of the ocean everywhere.

And there's like sheer drop-offs. Maui is more of like, you got this one, there's like two islands that are kind of connected basically into one island. So you can easily imagine how they were each made by their own volcano. But there was a one inactive, I don't even think you'd call it dormant.

It's just over. This volcano, nothing else to see here. It's a dun volcano. Nowhere near active. Spent. Haleakala that formed the majority of Maui. And so it's just looming in the center. No matter where you drive around, you look

and it's like, there's just clouds. It's like this one mountain volcano that just goes up into the clouds. But it has to be more lush than the Big Island. And there's, well, I haven't been there, but there's- The Big Island is like just, there's like very large swaths of it that are just barren landscape.

A lot of it was, of Maui was farmed for pineapples, I believe. So there was a lot of it that was just like deforested. And so now there's, you know, there's like an old sugar plantation and there's like remnants of where they farmed pineapples, but it just kind of leaves it more of, and there's like remnants of where they farmed pineapples, but it just kind of leaves it more of, the focal point is the one volcano.

It's not like in Kauai where you're like driving through these undulating roads around these like huge mountains. It's just not that type of a hiking destination place. Now on the other side of the island from us, there's a town called Hana, and then there's this one two lane undulating road that you can drive and you basically takes you to-

The road to Hana? The road to Hana, it takes almost all day. And I was reading about that and like, basically marriages die on this road. Yeah, people get car sick. And people get car sick. Especially the Neals. Everybody in the Neal family gets car sick.

I mean, if I go around three curves, I'm like, Christy, don't you be on your phone. Like the amount of times on any type of road trip I've had to pull over and had Chrissy just open the door, run a few feet and just vomit. It's just like, I mean, I could sketch it in detail. I've seen it so many times. No, please don't.

So I was like, there ain't no way we're going on this road to Hana. So I mean, it would have a day of us doing something and then a day of us chilling out. Day one, take a look at dad. This is day one? Day one, baby. This is within a few hours of us getting to Maui.

He's just laying out on a lounger. You realize this is your future. Sleeping. This is my future. Actually, in many ways, this is your present. He makes the same exact face that you make when you fall asleep. His mouth is open.

And I assume- It's like the picture you take of me every time I sleep on a plane. He falls asleep as quickly as you, I assume. You see that necklace he's wearing? That's what they give you when you show up. Like that's literally how quick he just drank a drink. He went into vacation mode so fast.

I love it. And the one thing that- Had he been to Hawaii ever? He had been to Hawaii before, yeah. I was gonna ask, does he still call it Hawaii? It's the same place. Okay. But yeah, that's where he's been.

So many years ago they went before, but like, dude's got a lot more hair on his body than me too. Has he always? Always. So you don't have that to look forward to? He's had a lot more hair than this too. It's kind of died down. It's petered out a little bit. Oh, that's something to be thankful for.

See, here's me wearing my sunglasses. I'm awake. I see that. But my mouth is open. So there's a number of things that we did that I'll tell you about. But first, I mean- Let's talk more about-

Good Mythical Evening. Good Mythical Evening. Did we tell you about it? We already told you about it. We just want to tell you some more about it. What else can we tell you about it? We already told you about it. We just want to tell you some more about it. What else can we tell you about it? I know that we started to plan some of the segments. We've planned most of them.

And I think that- They're different. Maybe a notch up from last year. It's totally different than last year, but then kind of, it's totally the same, but then totally fresh. No repeats. No repeats. We're trying different things this year.

Things are gonna get out of hand. Things are gonna get memorable. It was a once in a lifetime experience that we decided to now do again. And potentially annually, if you guys keep wanting us to do it. If you keep showing up, buying tickets for it, we'll keep doing it.

Goodmythicaleating.com. Now this is available exclusively on Moment House when it streams live. And remember, if you're a member of the Mythical Society, mythicalsociety.com, you can see us get ready for the show, which will involve some, you know. Sometimes the party starts before the party started. Partaking in certain things. Yeah. Yeah.

And then there's a Good Mythical More. You can buy that as part of a ticket and you can get an exclusive t-shirt. Like check out all the ticket packages at goodmythicalevening.com. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. So one day we decided to go to the top of the volcano because I found out that you can drive all the way up there. Like from where we were, it's like an hour and a half drive.

And yeah, there's a couple of places where it gets kind of a lot of some switchbacks. And I was like, listen, we're not doing the road to Hana, but we got to go to the top of the Haleakalaka. Haleakala. Haleakalaka. Haleakala. Haleakalaka. It takes me a couple of times to get it. So we're driving up there and I'm like- How do you prepare the family for this? I was like, we can park.

Well, I'm just like- Do they all take ginger? Yeah, we got the ginger chews and we've got some Dramamine. Do they all get in the front seat? Because you know, Christy's got to stay in the front seat. Christy's in the front seat. She's the queen.

But what are the, because I mean, all the kids get car sick too. We rented a minivan and then- You put them on top? Because if you get the wind in the face, a lot of times that'll help. I mean, it's mainly just giving them a little bit of that anti nausea stuff and making sure

that they're not on their phones when it gets- So it worked. It did work. And the other thing I was concerned about is like, is it a long hike? But no, you drive up to the top and then there's a couple of places where you can just look out.

Now, the thing that people rave about and you have to get reservations to do this, is to go up at like- Sunset. Four o'clock, you know, sunrise. Sunrise. You know, you're at like 10,000 feet, and you're in the middle of this island,

and you can watch the sunrise, and you can see like all these other Hawaiian islands. Not every single one of them, but I mean, I was like, we're not getting up that early. So we didn't do that. You can also watch sunset when I was like, we just go, if we get up there, that'll be a victory. So we drive up there.

I mean, and we're like, man, there's so many clouds. We're not gonna see anything. But it was so high that we went above the clouds. Oh wow. And it was pretty amazing, even at the middle of the day. You got pictures of that above the clouds? So we're driving up there and you don't have to hike too much in order to,

you get out of the car and you're kind of just like at an overlook, you know? And there's an observatory up there and stuff you can see. And I was like, well, cause I don't want, I don't want to make dad and Nana have to do a bunch of walking and hiking. So like we get out and we're like, all right, you guys can go in the information center slash museum.

And then I'm gonna take this trail and just hike up a little bit further to this top point. So me and Lily, it was cold up there too. Like I had to put on a coat, you know, I'm cold natured. And then we walk all the way up there. And then as we're coming back down, here comes granddaddy and Nana walking up there. And they said, well, if we're gonna come all this way,

we're gonna do this. I was like, good Lord, don't fall. I don't wanna have a Rhett's mama breaking her ankle situation. Yeah, right, yeah. And you don't get that free Scottish healthcare when you're in Hawaii. But you, oh, you didn't have to pay for any of that?

No. I remember that. Yeah, you don't get that in Hawaii. We did have to like get more stuff done once you got back to the US, but I mean, the Scottish part was free. How's her ankle now, just as a side note? Is there any residual long-term effect? Like when a thundercloud comes up, her ankle hurts?

There is like residual pain at times. Not debilitating by any means, but definitely it was a setback. It's one of those things that's just like, oh, you know, my ankle hurts a little bit today kind of thing. So I don't recommend you breaking your mom's ankle on a vacation or your dad's or your stepmom.

Everything about my dad, you know, I was watching him closely to see my future. Yeah. You know, cause it's like, I'm proud of the fact that he could do that little hike and that he could enjoy himself on vacation and that he could take a nap with his mouth gaped open. It's like, these are things that I can look forward to.

Yeah, you can do that. You know? And then the next morning after we get back from Haleakala, we're like sitting at the breakfast buffet and I like caught Lily's eye. And then I asked, I was like, "'Granddaddy and Nana, have you guys ever been "'to the top of a volcano?'

And they were like, "'No, I sure would like to go.' And I was like, "'That's where we went yesterday.' I was like, that's where we went yesterday. I was like, what? I was like, I guess I didn't ask any follow-up questions. I just thought it was hilarious. You didn't say anything else?

I said, that's where we went yesterday. And they were like, oh, oh yeah, okay, you're right. I was just like, what? I was like, do you not remember? Did they think it was a ride? Maybe the way I asked it. Like soaring over California in Disney? I think when I asked,

would you like to go to the top of a volcano, they pictured an erupting volcano or something. Joe versus the volcano. So it was like, it didn't really connect to like totally dormant volcano, but I'm like, yeah, that's, are you with me? Are you here for this? They had a good time.

Whether they remembered it or not is another question. I've been to a non-dormant volcano. I remember, I remember you guys got in a huge argument because you were hiking to it. Any sort of hiking, yeah, I mean, boy, it'll, Jessie and I will find a way. That's why I didn't do any hiking. Even though I really wanted to, no hiking.

Yeah, I mean, you gotta plan better than we did. It was a little too last minute, but yeah. I mean, non-dormant volcanoes are even more fun. I know, I would really love to do that, which is like a big highlight of going to the big island. Yeah, if it's flowing. I don't know if it's flowing right now. It was flowing when you went though.

Oh yeah. Not like crazy, not like a river of lava going into the ocean, but just like, oh, there it is bubbling along, hot, eventually getting into the ocean, but just like, oh, there it is, bubbling along. Bloop, bloop, bloop. Hot. Eventually getting into the ocean and steaming up. I don't want to say that Maui wasn't beautiful.

It's just the beaches were really the highlight. And as it turns out, scuba diving is a big thing on Maui. There's lots of destinations where you can really enjoy scuba diving. And that's what you've been preparing yourself for. Well, that's not, yeah, that's not, I actually didn't know that, it kind of worked out,

but like, yeah, I was like, we're gonna go to Hawaii. And then I was like, yeah, let's really get going, get into gear on this, like getting certified for scuba, looking forward to the trip. But as it turns out, like that is a highlight of being on Maui, even more so than Kauai. Like Kauai, you can scuba dive probably in any Hawaiian island, but like Maui is actually,

according to the people we went with, because we went on two different days, Maui's the best. And of course, this is just me and Lincoln because we got certified leading up to the trip. And this is a big part of what I was looking forward to. And, you know- I mean, you were living basically the White Lotus life. You know, you were the dad in White Lotus.

Which, great show. And it really started to hit close to home when, yeah. It's one thing to like, yeah. And weren't you like relatively close to the resort where they actually, they filmed that at Four Seasons in Maui. Yeah, we were at the Andaz Resort, which is like next door to it.

So you were next door to the set. Yes. Doing the same thing with your teenage son. Yeah, and they had that outrigger canoe that you could reserve and go out on that too. When we did a trip, a day trip one day, I think, yeah, that was when some other members of the family did the outrigger canoe.

Did you have an existential crisis? No, I did not. Well, the existential crisis was during the luau. I mean, you know, they had booked one night, we go to the luau, so I'll get back to the scuba diving, but the white Lotus of it all to me was really that being at the luau and kind of feeling this like, okay, I'm paying this high ticket price as a tourist

to come here and eat your pork and like, entertain me with your history. You know, it felt- Imperialist. It felt a little, I just felt a little uncomfortable. I mean, especially thinking of the white lotus of it all. And like, it was the daughter who was like woke and like laying into him and the daughter's friend

who was like, you know, seeing the other side of it. I didn't know exactly how to feel about it. But it did make you think. It made you think twice about it. So you didn't just blindly enjoy it. The luau was, it was pretty educational about like the way that the Pacific Islanders, and the Hawaiian settlers, they would fish

and all the ingenuity of the things they would do. But yeah, it's like, yeah, it just felt, yeah, I don't know what to say. It felt very American. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You felt like a colonizer.

It's a good show though, because it puts it out there. Yeah, I mean, it's an excellent show for that. And the music is great too. It made you have a more difficult time enjoying your Hawaiian vacation. Right, mission accomplished. Yeah, right, yeah.

Yeah. That's all I'll say about that. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you. Heading for adventure? We'll help you breeze through security. Meeting friends a world away? You can use your travel credit. Squeezing every drop out of the last day? How about a 4 p.m. late checkout? Just need a nice place to settle in? Enjoy a room upgrade. Wherever you go,

we'll go together. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. But the scuba diving, you know, it's, I, we planned a trip in like day three or day four, And then, you know, we skipped a number of days and then went to a different place. So the first day we went out on a boat with a group of people who were all scuba diving to Molokini Crater. So you got this, you can see this like strip of land out in between our beach

and the next island over, Lanai. And so it's half of this crater. That's the one that like the Microsoft guy owns most of it, right? The Oracle guy. Oracle guy. Yep, he owns, basically owns all of it. It used to be, that island used to be a dull pineapple farm, like the whole thing.

And then he bought the whole thing. And then there's one resort on there. And then there's people who live at the top of the island and then they all work at the resort basically. We were actually gonna stay there, but Christy didn't wanna take a second plane ride because she hates flying on planes so much. And I was like, you know what, that's fine.

I don't think there's anything to do over there anyway. You can rent a Jeep and drive the Jeep around all over the island, which would have been fun. But yeah, we actually went close on our second scuba diving. But the first one was Molokini Crater. And it was the first time for everything except technically diving, like diving off of a boat,

diving with a group, like having an orientation. You know, it was all like them getting your tanks ready and everything, everything was new, but they made it really easy. And you kind of, a guy jumps in the water with you. And there was a group of like six of us. And then Lincoln and I were of course buddies. So even though you have a guide, it's really up to you.

Like you have to be responsible for your own safety. You can't depend on anybody else, some guide to make sure that you're safe and to check everything for you. You gotta be responsible for yourself. That's why there's so much training and certification. But then you learn to rely on a buddy to stay together and to like keep an eye on each other and communicate

and help each other. Like worst case, if you needed to get air, like if you run out of air or something goes wrong, like they can give you their spare air, that type of stuff and help you get back to the surface. So like Lincoln and I buddied up, but we were in a group that was like, you get in the water and then you descend to like 30,

40, 50 feet. And then on this first dive, he's taking us around on the outside of the crater. And it's, I mean, it's just, it's like flying beside a mountain, you know? You're just suspended in water and it's like, and it's just a sheer, I would say it's like a 60 degree slope

that just goes down. And it seems like it just goes down. And it seems like it just goes down forever. Like if you just kept, if you didn't watch yourself, you could just swim down to like a crazy depth. What's the maximum depth that you went to? That we went to? 55 feet. It's pretty deep.

Yeah, and so like on your left side, as we're like curving around, it's just this whole wall of just underwater mountainside. And there's like some creatures that he would point out and stuff like that. But then on the right, it just goes into like deep blue. It's just like straight out, straight down. It's just like, you just get this sense

of just being so small. And like a shark is gonna come out of the blue depths. And a shark swam out of the blue depths. And like, I would say it was 40 feet away, but yeah. It was like a- How big? A white tipped shark. There may be another word in there. I can't remember, but like a white tip shark.

I would say it was probably six feet long. It was just swimming out there. And at a separate point, I looked out there and there was a big ray, not a manta ray, but an eagle ray is what they're called. So it's like, hey, this is what I was, this is kind of what you hope for. You know, you're swimming out there

and seeing this freaking wildlife. You're seeing a shark, you're seeing an eagle ray, just like, ooh. How big was that? Probably five feet wingspan on this thing. I mean, it was, again, it might've been 40 feet away because we were staying close to the edge. And then if you, he said, at the end of this thing,

there's a shark cleaning station. Shark cleaning station? It's not where a bunch of scuba divers go around a shark and just start scrubbing it with brushes, but it's where like little fish would, a shark would go there and- Get the little, yeah. He knows that these little fishes

are gonna eat the stuff I have in them and just make them all clean. Did you see this in action? We ran out of air before we got to that. Everybody or just you and Lincoln? Just me and Lincoln. You know, this is our first dive. I've been breathing too hard. You know- Everybody or just you and Lincoln? Just me and Lincoln. You know, this is our first dive. I've been breathing too hard.

You know, you're breathing too hard. Well, actually I looked around and I couldn't find Lincoln. I'm like, oh crap. You lost your buddy? Where is Lincoln? And they train you, like if you lose your buddy- Panic. Yeah, just panic. Just panic. Just start sucking in water.

Crap your pants. It's over for both of you. Ink and just do the human version of an ink, which is like sharting. No, it's like, if you can't see him, you look up, you look down and then you start to ascend and you look around again and again. But I just looked up and I could see him up there 30 feet

and he was already going up. Cause he was like very low on air and he kind of got a little scared. And instead of swimming over and tapping me on the shoulder and telling me, let's go up, here's the signal. He violated the budget system. He got a little ahead of himself and he was like, oh crap, I gotta get out of here.

But you still have to ascend at a slow rate. So how long approximately if you're at 55 feet? I think our dive was like 36 minutes. And there were probably people who were like down there for 45 minutes. No, but once you realize you're at your low on air, like what's the maximum, what's the minimum amount of time that you need

in order to ascend 60 feet back to the surface? I should know that, shouldn't I? Isn't that part of like the math and stuff? Oh, I don't do math. I mean, but well, you don't let it get below 500 and then there's no issue. Like when you're down there at 50 or 60 feet, it's like, yeah, you're not gonna have any problem.

It's like once you get to that, but like if you forget about it, then you, I actually don't know the answer to that. Don't let that happen. Well, you might need to pay attention or read the book. Hey, listen, man. I bet Lincoln knows. But Lincoln is doing well with this.

Like he's not, he's enjoying it. He's not scared. A lot of it was me watching him swim around and just like getting enjoyment out of the fact that he was enjoying it, he's not scared. A lot of it was me watching him swim around and just like getting enjoyment out of the fact that he was enjoying it. You know, the fact that I had an idea to do something and I got him to put in the work and then he's loving it. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Basically just like White Lotus, except you succeeded. You succeeded in what that, that dad was like trying to get his son to do something to connect with him, but not really succeeding, but you actually pulled it off. It worked on our account. Yeah. Yeah. The second trip we did, we went with a different outfit.

We had to drive further and then get on a different boat that went to Lanai. So we're like, we get to go around that island and see that the one resort on the island and then how barren it is and how wild it is. And then- Is it like trees? Is it all trees?

There's not a lot of trees, no, because they clear cut everything for- Pineapples. Pineapples. So now it's more deserty, like the type of brush and everything on it. And our side of Maui was that way too. When you go to the other side, there's like a tremendous amount of rainfall

and it's a totally different ecosystem. Probably a lot more like the Kauai experience. I just didn't take the road to Hana, so I can't speak to that. That's basically what I've heard is that Maui has, it's the best combination of everything that you could get on the other islands. So, but you didn't go to that side, so you didn't get to see.

Yeah, I didn't go to that side. I think that is my one regret. But that second dive trip was even better than the first one to Molokini crater because we went to what are called the cathedrals. You've got these volcanic rock formations where there's all these crevasses, crevasse? And tunnels.

We jump out of the boat. You can't go in those. We get our group together. And the first thing we did was swim down to about 35 feet, maybe 30 feet, and then I saw that some people in our group, all of a sudden, they turn on flashlights. I'm like, well, damn, I don't have a flashlight. What the? This wasn't discussed?

They mentioned something about a flashlight on the boat. Like, if you have a flashlight, blah, blah, blah, and once they said, if you have a flashlight, blah, blah, blah. And once they said, if you have a flashlight, I don't have one. Okay. So we start going through a bonafide tunnel, a tunnel that ended up being probably from wall to wall, not much more than 10 feet.

How long is this tunnel? 10 feet in diameter, and then I would say, it might've been 25 feet in length. It opened up to more of a big ocean. Yeah, yeah. Not one of these endless caves that you die in. I could kind of, no, it wasn't going down. It was totally horizontal,

and it was the first thing we went through and I was like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. You know, the main thing you're learning to do when you're learning to scuba dive is like, is to regulate your buoyancy, regulate your depth in the water using your flotation, like adding air or removing air from it. So that, you know, you're not, in this case,

scraping against the top or the bottom of the tunnel. It was so much fun. And then after that, we're going down into these like other little, little archway tunnels, like swimming through all of those type of rock formations. Oh, it was such a payoff to the work that we put in to get certified.

I can't wait to go scuba diving again, man. I'm trying to plan a trip now for me and Lincoln. I asked Chase if he wanted to go. You know, he's the only other person at Mythical I know of who's scuba certified, to go out to the Channel Islands. Yeah. And do that. But there were dudes with beards, man. You're saying you don't wanna do it

because you got this mustache. No, no, I've been- You gotta figure it out, dude. I've heard many people say that you can figure it out. You would absolutely love it. But in a little bit of snorkeling that I've done, when I used the stuff that they said to use, like the silicone stuff, it was just like,

I have to get somebody who actually knows what to do to tell me what to do versus just going on the internet. It's totally, I mean, you gotta figure it out. Like Shepard's a strong swimmer, right? He would love it. You knowepard's a strong swimmer, right? Yeah. He would love it. I wouldn't, I, you know I'm not a strong swimmer. It's not about that, but like you're so comfortable in the water.

Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely intrigued by it. I mean, I was thinking about going spearfishing with a friend that does that because that's more just like put on the snorkel and hold your breath for a long time, which I can do. Yeah, you can do that. No, I'm definitely interested in it. And I think Shepard would be into it.

He would be like, sure, I'll do it. Yeah, it's, I mean, and I wasn't, I still am not comfortable enough to like completely enjoy myself because again, everything and taking out a boat and going with a guide and like people giving you orientation and all that, everything and taking out a boat and going with a guide and like people giving you orientation and all that, everything's still so new. And then you get in the water and you're like,

you're learning how to use the dive computer and how to follow people, but not too close. You know, everything's kind of, you're figuring it out. And I, yeah, so there was a lot on my mind, but my instructor told me, it's like, after you get a certain amount of dives under your belt, then it becomes this total Zen experience. Just stop thinking about it.

Where you can be, you know, being in the water is totally being in the moment. And he said, when you come back out on land, you look at the world differently. You start to look vertically. Like we tend to work in like a horizontal plane, you know, because we're not birds. But he said, you start to bring more of that back

into your experience on land. Have you been looking up more? You start looking up more. Took a walk from my house and I was like, oh, look at the trees up there. I wish I could fly up there to them. Just woo, just kind of float up. Don't get any ideas.

It's great, man. That's a whole nother thing is to get those, get those backpack fans. Maybe I get into that. What do you mean a back? Oh, you're talking about like a jet pack? A powered parachute. Oh.

Yeah, Jessie won't let me know. She's afraid I'm gonna die. This is better than that. There's a lot more freedom and there's not like a propeller. It's safer. It's gotta be safe. It's definitely safer. What was the last thing that filled you with wonder

that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic? Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime! Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show.

With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes galore. So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. We also did an ATV trip, which was not nearly as good as the ATV trip that like when we were in Kauai and we went with the boys and we were like, we were like in those quads and like going through, we went through this like bamboo forest and we went to this place that had a waterfall. Well, this was on an old pineapple farm. There's so many of them in Maui

and they were given permission to turn it, since they're not growing pineapples anymore, to rejuvenate. Who grows the pineapples now? They're not growing any, they are or in Lanai, I don't know. I think they're all grown in a lab, man. But you got this, so you got this ATV course and there's like all of this black plastic coming up. And so they stop and explain at a certain point,

there are layers upon layers of black plastic. You see like gardens where people plant stuff and like to keep the weed- Part of the farming. Keep the weeds out, they'll like poke a hole and plant something and then they'll water underneath the plastic so it conserves water. And it was a farming technique that actually destroyed

the land there where what they would do is after a season of pineapples, then they would like till it up and then put another layer of plastic and just do that again and again to the point where it's like, you go eight, 10, 12, 16 feet down and it's just layers of plastic where they would just decimate the land.

People do so much stupid stuff. I know, it was so depressing. But the cool thing about the ATV place we went was that like, they're rehabilitating the land. There's no way you can pull out all that plastic, but what you can do is that you can replant trees on top of it. And like there was a whole part

that they had never planted pineapples up on the hill. And so there were still a forest up there. And they said, look up there, you see all the rain clouds above the forest? It's like the reason why they planted pineapples here is because all of that rain was down here. And what I didn't realize was that once they, that the forest actually-

Making the rain. It makes the rain. And it draws in all the moisture. And so then when you cut it down thinking, oh, we're gonna take use of all this moisture to make pineapples, all of a sudden the rain disappears. So they discovered that the hard way. So there's a lot of rehabilitation that's going on,

but it doesn't make for the most fun ATVing experience because the landscape was not that dynamic. Right. So between, I would recommend going on an ATV in Kauai, but not on that part of Maui, at least. It just wasn't the most fun thing we've ever done. Were you getting any good food? You haven't talked about the food yet.

Besides the breakfast. We ate some good fish. But you don't seem impressed. Yeah, I don't, the food wasn't a big thing for me. You don't really like sushi? Nope. So you missed- We ate, the kids ate some sushi,

Christy ate some sushi, but nah, that's not for me. I mean, the one thing we did experience, and dad said this was like one of his favorite things was, we went to a place called coconutinformation.com, which if that's not the catchiest name for something- It sounds like a website to me. It sounds like a website, but there's this guy, Ryan, who he has this,

he has this like outpost. Information about coconuts. And he's planted all these coconuts and he just, it was an enthralling experience going, our travel agent told us to go because Guy Fieri went there. And so you can see coconut information featured with Guy Fieri on one of his shows on Food Network.

So like after that aired, we like booked well in advance to go see Ryan and hear about his coconuts. And he gave us this whole education on coconuts. Just like the age of the coconut determines like what the coconut milk tastes like. How fascinating is coconut information, really? We had a lot of fun. You was one of your dad's favorite things?

My dad said it was one of his favorite things. Okay. I had a good time. It was great. Did they put alcohol in the coconuts? No, it was just- It was just information. It was just, well, and was, and it was coconut milk.

And we made, we took the coconut meat and we made these, made it into noodles. We did that. So it was like a little bit of a cooking class. But you don't even like coconut. I don't like dried coconut on like a cake, but you know what I love? Coconut water.

That's what I discovered. It's magical. It's got like electrolytes in it. You discovered coconut water on this trip? No, I drank coconut water in Thailand when I went there. The guy would hack open a coconut and then stick a straw down in it and drink it right there. It's delightful.

Along with some corn. Yeah. But once I got back home, I started buying coconut water. It's great. A lot of electrolytes, Rhett. You like coconut water? Yeah, we have it regularly in the outside fridge

next to the pool. Gotta keep it real cold. Did you, and forgive me if you talk about this on Dispatches from Myrtle Beach, but given the fact that your dad is, you know, into being recognized, did you meet any mythical beasts while you two were together?

Because that seems like that would be a pretty cool experience for some mythical beasts. Well, the podcast was so fresh. Like I think episode one had come out while we were there, but there were a couple of, actually I think he was disappointed because instead of him getting recognized, I was just getting recognized.

He was like, well, hey, I'm his dad. He never said that. He would just, at a couple of times he would be behind me and I would be like at the breakfast buffet when we exited. I was like, where's dad? And then a few minutes later he comes up, he's like, well, there was people back there that recognized you, but you were gone. So I went over and talked to him.

He's got a picture and everything. It's like, dad, you gotta keep moving sometimes. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. He was like, why didn't you stop? Like, well, how can I, you know? So he took my leftovers basically. But yeah, so I did get recognized. So maybe next time you'll go on vacation together.

Oh, it'll be the two of you getting recognized together. Yeah. But I'm trying to think which was more formative to our relationship, us going on vacation together or us making our podcast together. The one-two punch of both of those things has like really opened up our relationship. But you're saying that there's no fights,

no conflict, no conflict to note, no- Well, I think the key was- Even between the kids? We let Lily do what she wanted to do when she wanted to do it. We gave her her space. But a lot of times kids, the age difference between Lincoln and Lando,

I don't know. So Lincoln and Lando being 17 and 12, right? Yeah. Which is essentially the same age difference as Locke and Shepard. Right. Do they do, would they be like, hey, Lincoln and Lando are going to do this thing together.

They're going across the resort, the two of them together. Is that a thing that happens? A little bit. Like a couple of times they would do that. Because kids, if they don't do that, then they'll get bored. Yeah, Lincoln was meeting other people his age. Like he was the one who was like making other friends.

Did he make any romantic connections? He did not make any romantic connections. If he did, I don't think he'd want me talking about it. Well, he wouldn't tell you anyway, probably. He probably wouldn't. You don't know what he did. Every time we'd walk around the resort, be like, what's up? Like he would know people. He'd know people over here. He'd't know what he did. Every time we'd walk around the resort, be like, what's up?

Like he would know people. He'd know people over here. He'd know this guy over here. And then one morning I opened up the fridge and there's like beers in there that we didn't, I was like, where does this beer come from? My friends, my people. Yeah, Lincoln was like, my friends,

they were leaving and they offered me the beer and I was like, what? He was like, I didn't drink any of it, I got it for you. I just put it in the fridge so you and granddad could drink it. Yeah, he did. And then what about Lando? I mean, cause at that age, like I'll talk,

I'm talking about my vacation next week, but like Shepherd being by himself essentially with us as a 13 year old, there was a, you know. Yeah, Lando needed a little bit more. There was a little bit of a boredom thing that ended up happening. Yeah, that was one of the factors like, Lando got a little bored.

You know, I think once you get to be a teenager, you can retreat into your phone a little bit and you kind of wanna watch your shows and just be on your own or make your own friends. But yeah, so it's like Lando is kind of a tough age where it was like, let's do something together. So it's like, all right, let's go snorkeling. Let's play, we had a cornhole set out there.

We did some stuff like that. So like, you know, kept them engaged. And I think that's why like the nine days of it all was like good versus pushing it too far or like going to a second location, which would have been way too much. But the injury, I forgot to tell you about the injury. Dad normally throws Nana under the bus on dispatches

because he's always dishing some dirt, but I guess I'll have to do this one because he didn't talk about it. And she was putting her leg up on the sink in order to, I think to shave her leg or something. And she like, I think to shave her leg or something. And she like, she fell over and hit her, hit her,

like her shin, like super hard. And like made up, got a big old whelp. And I was, I was like, oh, is this the, is this it? This was like, this was like day two of vacation. I'm like, oh man, is she going to be able to walk? I think, I think she was in a lot of pain, but she didn't wanna, she was a trooper, she just kinda went along with it. We iced it, and then she was okay.

There was a mic on it, walk it off. She was okay, so there was no break. But that was the injury I was referring to, was that. But she was okay after that, she was able to like walk around. She was able to walk around, but I think she, for the next day, she was in a lot of pain. And speaking of pain, I think one, and you know what, this can be my recommendation

because I think this is my rec this week. Oh, yep. When you're going on a beach vacation and you want to do a little spa treatment, especially if you're like me and you want to get a massage. Like I, well in advance, I was like, I'm going to book a massage. Me and Christy are going to do a massage.

I'm going to give dad and Nancy a massage. They're going to love it. Like I was, we did it on, if you're going to do that on a beach vacation, do it on day one or day two. Don't even wait to day three or day four, because what's going to happen is you're gonna get sunburned and then you're gonna have this like really nice

spa treatment that you're gonna, it's gonna turn into torture. Like I didn't get sunburned, but Christy did. Even my dad got sunburned. I couldn't believe it. I was like. They got sunburned. On day one.

Really? Like with my dad sitting out there with his mouth gaped open, just drinking up. I mean, this is like vacation etiquette. I know! You gotta sunscreen up, son. I know, but like, and Lincoln had never gotten sunburn in his life,

apparently, because he was asking me, well, dad, what's gonna happen? I was like, you're gonna hurt, dad, what's gonna happen? I was like, you're gonna hurt, son. You're gonna hurt. Now I didn't get him a massage. So he didn't have to worry about it. But like the third morning, he was like, how'd you sleep? He was like, I couldn't sleep.

Everywhere I turned, I was like, yeah, you got sunburned. Well, he learned a lesson. And then whenever, later on in the week, like towards the end of the vacation is when it's like, he wasn't in pain anymore, but it started to peel. And he was like, dad. Am I going to die? It's a, what?

Will it grow back? What's gonna happen? Just one of the seven layers of skin that will never grow back. Yeah, I was like, dude, you'll be fine. But this is the best way to learn a lesson. But like, even Christy with all her years of like, knowing how to like not get sunburned.

I was like, man, you just totally put your whole massage in jeopardy. How did it work out? She had to get one of those like, oh, barely touch me massages. Oh really? Yeah. Oh, but again. That sucks. You don't pay by the pressure, you pay by the time. I know, that's right.

You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, hey, listen, that's why I was telling y'all to slather up. But I think the key is, if you're getting a massage on a beach vacation, get it right when you get there. Or just wear sunscreen. Or get it day two.

I mean, there's ways around this. If you gotta work that base tan, you can do it after that. So again, it was a great trip. Honestly, I feel like not a lot of sensational stuff to report. I think that kind of wraps it up for me here with my Maui trip.

But I think the best vacations, maybe they don't make for the best podcast. I don't know. I don't know. A little even keel. We'll find out next week because my vacation sucked. Oh yeah? I think that'll make for an interesting podcast.

Yeah, I legitimately at one point said, I hate this fucking vacation. Wow. Yeah, in front of my whole family. So we can talk about- That's a good example. We can talk about how I got to that point. So you threw a tantrum.

Maybe my dad should have been on your vacation. Did like, so you'd have been, so you wouldn't have thrown a tantrum. You hated it? Actually- Dude, I'm sorry. No, let me just say that there was some circumstances which I will get into next week

that made it not as enjoyable as it could and there was a moment in which I said that. But there were some highlights that I think ultimately maybe redeemed it at least to some degree. I'm excited to talk about it. But it definitely was not one of my best vacations. Better to have a good story and in a good time. Yeah, well, I've got that.

But I had a good time. Wish you were there, man, but it's okay that you weren't. It seems like you needed to have a crappy vacation. I can't be everywhere. Although, I mean, how many times were you asked, where's Rhett? Because I got asked, where's Link? At least 10 times over the course of two weeks.

Oh yeah, every time I got recognized. Where's Link? He's probably having a better time than me. Like top of the volcano, it was a big group from Kansas who they were taking a cruise from across every Hawaiian island. And they said that they were freaking out when they saw me at the top of the volcano.

And they were like, we were listening to I'm on vacation on reaping as a family and right before this. And now I'm seeing you. And they're like, where's Rhett? And I was like, he's coming up the mountain. Like, that's what I would tell people. He's right behind me, just look out for him. Every time people saw me and they would ask,

I made them start, they spent the rest of the day looking for you. You didn't tell them you were pulling their leg? It's just a dumb question. I'm like, he's not automatically here. Always just say, I don't know. I don't know, I don't have. He's coming up.

You want me to bring up five of my friends? Come around the mountain when he comes. All right, we'll be coming around the mountain next week so Rhett can tell you about the worst vacation he's ever had. Maybe not that. Your crappy vacation. Hey, Rhett, Link. I am literally listening to you guys on what you could not

live without during high school. Rhett just referred to the kefir, kimchi, and kombucha. I have a name for you. It is the fermented K. That's it. They're all fermented. Fermented Ks, we're good to go. Did I mention that my name was Cam from Riverside? I'm sorry if I skipped that. Have a good one. Hi, this is John from San Diego. You mentioned your 3K diet. Might have a better name for you. Since kefir is kind of

a yogurt, you can just say YKK, and even better yet, you can call it the Y2K diet. Hope you have a good one, and I'll keep listening. Thanks. Hey, y'all. I'm just listening to an ear biscuit, and you guys are talking about having keeper,

loving keeper. My name is keeper, and I'm very confused and thrown off. Flattered, but confused and thrown off. Have a good one, y'all.