My new niece Skylar! She’s so tiny, but way bigger than she was a month ago as a premi. So cute!
My meal on the airplane had my name spelled in cheese! How bizarre!
Zach and I arrived in Seattle on August 17 just before midnight. Zach has gone back to his family and vanagon and I’m now with my parents. For me, the transition feels very strange. The mainland feels much bigger to me now. The birds I grew up with seem oddly large and foreign. There’s people and cars everywhere, and what once felt normal to me now feels like overpopulation.
I was really excited to sell my van and return. I sold it to a woman who is planning to live out of it, which is quite perfect. I didn’t expect to feel anything leaving Hawaii, but as soon as the first plane was air borne my eyes teared up. It felt like an energy left me. I wasn’t feeling sad, regretful or like I was missing something, just that the shift out of Hawaii’s unique energy caused the rest of my energy to shift too.
Now that the mainland feels so much bigger, the possibilities seem that way too. I feel that creating the kind of lifestyle I’m looking for and the freedom that I brought back from Hawaii is about to combine in a very cool way. I have a different outlook on myself, people and the world than I did 6 months ago. I’m not really sure what my plan is now. I’m looking at vans currently and in the meantime I’m working on a website, visiting friends and have 2 trips planned in the next month. The first is to see my brother, his wife and my new niece in Eugene OR and the second is my older stepsister’s wedding in Boulder CO.
Me after devouring a Mai Tai and half a plate of nachos at Bongo Ben’s in Kona. Zach and I went to the Mai Tai festival right before this, but we didn’t have any drinks. The competition was fun to watch.
Bongo Ben’s gets my “quick & dirty” rating. Meaning their drinks are mixed with extra alcohol and their food has cheap ingredients. Huggo’s, a place across the street, is way better especially for happy hour.
Notice my henna tattoo :)
Hennnaaaaaaa!
In the center of Kilauea Iki Crater at Volcano National Park.
After the work trade in Hawi, Zach and I tried to head south and look for places that Zach could work while we traveled. This was unsuccessful and we realized it after the second day. (The first day was our Captain Cook’s Monument day). We had trouble finding places to park the van, and were asked several times to move on. We went back to Kona where both of us caught up on work at Starbucks for the week. We also installed curtains in the van and mounted the solar panel. By the end of the week we really wanted to leave Kona so Zach and I headed South again, this time with a better plan.
We started by going straight to Ho’okena Beach Park where we had stopped once the previous week but didn’t have time to stay. This time we stayed for 2 nights. The snorkeling here is almost not worth it except for one major factor: dolphins. This was my favorite day in Hawaii so far. Zach and I headed out to see the Spinner Dolphins that hang out here every day. The dolphins were pretty far out, but we managed to get out there. It’s really hard to get near them because they move so fast. They really have to be where you are, not vice versa. It was so amazing! Both Zach and I had dolphins swimming near us. Some would come up to 6 feet away while others would swim 10 feet beneath or more. Some were jumping, and there were even babies to see. We left when we realized we’d swam into an area filled with tiny jellyfish lol. It was an awesome experience overall.
After Ho’okena, we headed to Ocean View (where I stayed at a bed and breakfast a few months back). We spent about half a day hanging out in town to use our 3G. Here I realized that I’m about ready to head home, so Zach and I planned the remainder of the trip. Zach will be here another 2 weeks and I’ll be here about 3 weeks.
That evening, we headed to Volcano National Park (known as ‘Volcano’ by the locals) and found a spectacular camp site in the park. I was surprised to find that a week’s pass to the park is only $10! We’ve had amazing weather so far and are having a great time! We’ve been leaving our tent up during the day while we take the van to other parts of the park. Yesterday, we traveled down Chain of Craters Road, where we saw immense spans of lava rock. The road stops where an old eruption covered the road with miles of lava. We had lunch at one of the lookouts and then headed up to the Mauna Ulu trail. We weren’t planning to stay, but Zach noticed a ranger who was talking about a hike and went to ask. She was taking a group on a free tour, so we joined in and learned a lot about the area and the current lava activity.
We went to the Kilauea Caldera for sunset (thanks for the suggestions Tad!). There were too many clouds to see sunset unfortunately, but in the center of the caldera there is a crater that glows red as the sun goes down. The picture above is just after dark. Very cool!
I’d really like to see a Nene (pronounced nay-nay) while I’m here. Nene are the Hawaiian state bird. They look kind of like the Canada Goose, but are smaller, with dark stripes on their white throats. They are shy, quiet and don’t spend much time flying or swimming. They walk around in lava fields eating vegetation as they go. I was so excited about the Nene that I told Zach I wanted to wake up to quacking in the morning. Yesterday morning, as I opened my eyes, Zach started to quack. This morning as I began to stir I heard a big honk followed by heavy wings. Obviously, I got what I asked for two mornings in a row! =P
Today, we headed straight to the Thurston Lava Tube. We beat the crowds, and really had a great time there. Outside the tube, the greenery is lush. The ferns and flowers are beautiful and we even saw a pheasant. The Lava Tube itself is magnificent. It’s so big; it’s amazing that lava could create something like that! There were roots hanging out of the ceiling too.
We’ll be here another day and then we’re going to South Point and back up to Kona for a little while. I’ll update again when I’m there.
I’ve started a flicker set so you can view many of my photos on the trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/94612325@N00/sets/72157627311319450/.
P.S. Selling my van if anyone is interested!
I skipped about a months worth of happenings, so here’s what we did from mid-June to mid-July. Zach and I spent 4 weeks doing a work trade in Hawi on a property that is used primarily for meditation and yoga retreats. It was an amazing place and our job was to focus on maintaining the landscaping as well as caring for the vegetable garden. The property manager was awesome and so was the other work trader that was there. I felt like I got a lot out of it overall and really started to delve even deeper into my spirituality while I was there. We ended up leaving because we wanted to travel more around the island and because Zach was falling behind in his part-time online work. I’m really very thankful that I ended up going there, because I felt like a regained a part of my sanity that had been kicked into chaos after leaving the farm I was originally at.
Hawi is a very small town. The entire island has a “small-town” mentality, so being in a small town is like doubling that, everyone knows everything about everyone lol. The local Lighthouse Delicatessen has the best big pretzels I’ve ever had (with a honey and horse radish dip!) and the Kava Bar was a great Friday night hangout with live music. There was also a great Saturday Farmers Market. Overall, it was a great experience!
The property sits on the hill above Hawi and has a spectacular view of the ocean and of Maui. There were tons of beautiful plants and flowers and great spots to sit and enjoy the scenery or meditate. An orchard with tons of exotic fruit was off to one side, but there were fruit trees all over the property as well. There was a kitchen devoted to us work-traders that had everything needed (including an oven!) The bath house was spectacular and the guest yurt was empty after he first week which allowed us to hang out and watch movies or use our computers indoors. There was wi-fi too! We stayed in a really big tent while we were there near the orchard. They provided mattresses, sheets, pillows, etc and we had power running out to the tent so we could use our electronics out there too. The property dog, Maitri, was the sweetest dog and was always hanging out with someone.
I originally really wanted to stay and tried to convince Zach, but I realized that I’d never really enjoy it fully if Zach was feeling as stressed about work as he was getting. We ended up leaving 3 days after the owners got back from traveling. They were great people and very thankful we had been there helping. They gave us a signed copy of one of their meditation books the morning we left too! How wonderful, eh?
At Captain Cook’s Monument and what a gorgeous day!
Zach and I had about 5 days to go explore the Kona side of the island before our work trade and it was great! We went to 10+ beaches during that time and revisited a few along the way. After visiting the work-trade property last Thursday we headed through the small town of Hawi (pronounced like ‘ha-vee’) to grab lunch and check things out. I stopped in at the local crystal shop and got myself a Rainbow Flourite massage wand, which has turned out to be awesome! We then headed straight East to the Keokea Beach Park where we rested on the rocks and I had a chance to explore a bit. I found some strange creatures that I haven’t been able to identify:
The cliffs were also quite beautiful, but rain was threatening. We stopped for smoothies as we headed west toward the warm side of the island. We headed down the coast and stopped in Puako. We found a no-name beach to stay at overnight and watched the sunset.
We went out to the water the next morning to find 2 sea turtles. We then headed down to the first beach in town where we saw about 21 more! They were everywhere! The top image of this post shows seven turtles, can you find them? We headed into Waikolo Village which is a mall in a resort area. We hooked up in Starbucks and computed for awhile. In the afternoon, I got an urge to go see the petroglyph park.
It was neat to see all the petroglyphs and to take a walk through some of the more rugged lava terrain is fun! We visited the beach park right next to the petroglyphs afterward. It is one of my favorite beaches so far; it’s very pretty! The beach was black and white with chunks of coral and lava rock mixed together. I found Peridot (a type of green crystal) growing in the lava rock! (first image is Zach at the petroglyoh park.)
We were able to sleep just outside the entrance of Kekaha Kai State Park. The next day we headed into Kona and toured along the beachfront road to see if we could find a sandy beach. Most of the beaches we’ve been to have been anything but sand and I was surprised to see that many of Kona’s beaches are also mostly NOT sand as well. We found Kahalu’u Beach Park had a decent amount of sand so we stopped in to find that it was a great snorkeling spot! We had no snorkeling gear though, so we made a quick trip to go grab some and visit a farmers market as well. We went back and spent several hours swimming around looking at gorgeous fish and coral. It was great fun! Afterwards, we headed south not really knowing where we were going to stay for the night so we checked out Napo’opo’o Beach Park and parked as though we were staying the night. A huge graduation party started and tons of people showed up so we left without a clue of where we were going. Highway 160 is not wide enough for two vehicles and has 4’ ditches on either side; it was pretty weird to drive on! We pulled to the side to figure out where we were and a car going the opposite way pulled up to ask what the terrain was like ahead. This gave us the opportunity to ask the same question and we were told that the City of Refuge wasn’t too far down the road. I knew I wanted to go there so we drove on and found a little beach outside the park to stay for the night. We watched a few turtles before the sun went down. It was a strange night, because the locals kept coming and going for night fishing. Nobody bothered us though.
We left early because the beach was starting to get crowded and went straight to the Pu’uhonua o Honaunau (City of Refuge) Park. There was no one at the entrance so we entered without paying. There were Hawaiian buildings, games, carvings and more. The park is divided in two by a huge 20’+ thick wall that was built to divide the ali’i (nobels/royalty) beach from the commoners and kahunas (priests/shamans/witch doctors; they were all these things). The City of Refuge was untouchable by violence and someone could go there if they had committed a sin that woud have them killed. The kahunas would preform a ceremony and the person would get a new beginning.
We headed inland to see the painted church and visit the islands best food stand. We headed north to Kona and spent the rest of the afternoon at Lava Java for computing. We watched a gorgeous sunset and then spent the night at the news station. The next day was a lot of lying around at the Old Airport Beach. We went to the indian restaurant (not so great; it’s the only one on the whole island I think) and then the Kona Brewery. In the morning we headed back to Hawi to start our work trade!
