It has been a heck of a month, so far. I returned from the mainland at the beginning of the month, just in time to return to teaching and come down with the evil Maui Plague (again), though I suspect I picked it up in Baltimore this time. Anyway, there’s a lot happening and nothing much happening, as usual.
I had a great visit with my family for the holidays. It was cold and frosty back in Maryland, and the view from Grandma’s living room went something like this: My brother, dad, and I had a great day of skiing in Pennsylvania. They said it was the fastest they had ever seen me ski! Don’t get excited...it was still a pretty easy hill. If only I spent more than four hours a year on the slopes, maybe I would get good at it some day. Until then, some easy runs on a fifty-degree, sunny day were just the thing to kick off the holidays.
After all of the chilly winter wonderful-ness, I was ready to head back to Maui. It was funny landing here and thinking, “I’m home!” It still doesn’t always feel like home, but it’s where I live and where Dave and Porter were waiting for me at the airport. It was nice to be greeted at the curb with a lei and a hug from Dave and some happy dog tail wagging from P.B. I wonder if it will ever truly feel like home, though. (Of course, I used to wonder that about Rhode Island.)Just in case you think living on Maui is all fun and glamorous, here is a story: my new/old station wagon was here waiting for me when I returned to the island...both a blessing and a curse. I had a little problem with some creatures crawling around in the vehicle at night, causing Dave to name it “the roach coach”. Eeeewwwww! I seriously thought about setting it on fire, but it’s not paid for...not even a little bit. So I went to the mainland, hoping the little suckers would get tired of my station wagon and move on to something else. For about two weeks, it seemed like my wish came true. And then, on our way home from the beach last week with poor Kathryn, THEY WERE EVERYWHERE! Well, not everywhere like back alley roaches in Baltimore, but way more than I want to see in my car. So there I was...out in the driveway in the dark, wearing my headlamp, bikini, and a beach towel, sticking 12 roach traps under the seats and in all the little crevices of the car. Grody. The next morning, there were lots of little dead roaches around. I don’t want to make assumptions, but I maybe the poison traps are working. I will spare you the pictures of that gross-ness. Thanks, Dad, for the advice; under the seat was definitely the right place for the traps. I think Dave is a little sad over the roach genocide, but I don’t want to drive off a cliff into the ocean because a roach is on my leg. It had to be done.
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| Mala brunch with Kathryn. Yum! |
On the day that it snowed in 49 of the 50 states (not Florida), our island was getting washed, cleansed, or drowned in rain...depending on how you look at it. They actually had to close schools because of flooding and power outages. The road that winds around the pali (cliff) that I drive to get to the other side of the island was closed due to mud and rock slides. It was a good day to hide out and recover, and I felt a little connected to my snow shoveling friends back East.
After all of that passed, we did manage to get out and have some fun. We went on a cabin camping trip over to Wai’anapanapa (glistening waters) State Park with Cori. Our girlscout-esque cabin featured a one-eyed, hungry cat and some giant, scary looking spiders. We all slept pretty lightly that night, I think.
We also managed to do a hike along the Hana-Wai’anapanapa Coastal Trail, which I have been wanting to check out since about September. It was amazing! We hiked about 3.5 miles along the coast, climbing black lava cliffs high above the crashing blue ocean below. It’s one of the best hikes ever in the universe and I’m kicking myself for not getting my cameras fixed yet. There’s so much lush, green foliage bravely clinging to those cliffs, and I was once again amazed that this whole island is what happens when lava meets water. It’s the birth of Earth! Along the hike, we got to see some of the newest lava on the island (about 500 years young), which made slightly different rock formations. The vegetation was a lot newer there, as well. It was truly humbling and it felt like we were the luckiest folks on the planet hiking along there--not another person in sight.
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| Moon over volcano |
The trip back from our hike was kind of funny. We found some older hippies and traded them a phone call on Kathryn’s fancy, space-age cell phone (they didn’t know how to use it at all) for a ride back to our camp. The hike was wonderful, but the sun was blazing hot and we were getting hungry for more than Power Bars. It was nice to catch a ride instead of trekking the whole way back. Our cheerful chauffeurs had just landed from Arizona or something like that, and they told us of their plans to get a used kayak, strap all of their stuff to it, and paddle around the entire Maui coast. I was a little worried for them, based on what I have seen of the 15-25’ waves out there and the tiny little sit-on-top boats folks usually paddle, but who am I to question someone’s dream? We wished them the best of luck and headed on our way. I hope they are ok out there...
Kathryn’s final full day required a drive to the top of Haleakela for a very cold, windy, gorgeous sunset. I do have pictures of this fine event because I had my phone. It might seem funny to drive for two hours up 10,000 feet of volcano just to watch the sunset, but I will do it again and again. The drive is an incredible change of climates and scenery...like driving through a desert on an airplane above the clouds, somehow. The moon was nearly full, the crater and cones looked magical and painted, and the sunset was breathtaking. I think it will never get old.
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| Haleakala Observatory |
Aloha and happy 2011 to all of my friends and loved ones :o) I miss you!
xoxo
Jen
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