Haleakala Crater

To sum up my first day of nannying:
It was a great time! Who knew you could get paid to go to the park, be a tickle monster, play Tarzan, meow like you're a cat, let children pretend you are a pony and take babies on stroller rides. Sweet.

After I was finished nannying for the day, I wanted to go for a hike to Haleakala Crater. I talked to my Kula family about it, and they suggested I wait for a day where I could take more time to do it. We decided, since the children are still getting used to Maui time- what better time to take a Sunrise hike than this morning! So, instead of a hike I decided to go to Kihei for a special 'you-made-it-thru-the-first-day-dinner'. Good choice, Bets!

Before I took off, I asked my trusty partner 'google maps' what restaurants I should try in the area. Because she knows me so well, she suggested I try the Grateful Dead bar, "Stella Blues Cafe"(http://stellablues.com/). I walked in, there was live music, and I felt right at home. I sat at the bar and ordered a small Maui Brewing Co. Big Swell IPA to start (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/11207/27364/). It was good, I was happy to find a local brew- coming from MI that was a big concern of mine. As my life style is drastically different here, as I am awake at 5:20 everyday, I won't have as many opportunities to taste test these types of things. It wasn't as hoppy as the bartender warned (she doesn't know me well haha) but it was satisfying, for sure. I looked over the menu and decided a side house salad with the house mango vinaigrette and the "Stella" pizza. Again- GOOD CHOICE, BETS! The salad was yummy and fresh- greens, a slice of tomato, cukes topped with sprouts and marinated red onions with a huuuuuuuge cup of their deliciously sweet mango puree dressing (not so much of a vinaigrette but I didn't mind). Its really hard for me not to get hype about pizza, I mean I'd get excited each time we'd go to Gumbys at 3:30 AM. But, wow. When I saw this ZZaaaa coming, totally loaded with feta, egg plant, roasted red pepps, garlic and pesto my grin spread from ear to ear. Sprinkled some crushed red pepper on- holy smokes. So yummy.
It was interesting sitting at the bar alone. I usually am in that type of setting knowing the bar tenders, surrounded by my friends. But, sitting alone I tried not to feel lonely. I kept remembering this one "Humans of New York" post to keep myself from feeling that way (a post I've been revisiting in my mind pretty much daily since I arrived). The picture was a really cute little old man in Central Park, eating Julia Child's soup. The blurb stated

"Julia Child would have been 101 last week. I celebrate her birthday every year. This year I cooked some smoky eggplant soup, and ate it in Central Park."
"Were you alone?"
"Of course. I love to be alone. I’m fabulous."
 http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/59115858198/julia-child-would-have-been-101-last-week-i

I don't think that guy knows how much courage he has given me this week. Its not that I don't KNOW that I will be making friends. But to be honest, I have never lived on an island in the middle of the ocean with very few people to call up before. I've got some contacts- going to do the Road to Hana with my friend Mr. Jesse Moffett and hoping to meet up with April, Suzy and Buzz soon. But, for now its been really interesting for me- who is usually complete addicted to hanging out- to experience so much time by myself (or with little dudes and parents).

After dinner, I went on a little walk around Kihei and tried to catch the sunset- but wasn't able to find a public beach in time to catch it. So I just walked around the lovely strip malls, instead. It was a nice evening, so even though it just seemed like typical American landscape, there were palm trees and ocean breeze so I was still happy to have a nice half hour little stroll.

Today, me and the dudes woke up before the crack of dawn to try to catch the sunrise. But, even though we left the house at 5:30, the sunrise was at 6:02 and we missed it! We still did the hike, but I'd really like to go alone sometime so I can do the parts that were a little to difficult for their little legs to climb. Even after sunrise, this hike was breathtaking. We were in one of the highest parts of the island and could see almost everything. The crater was really cool too- so smooth made of teeny tiny broken up pieces of lava. We talked to the ranger about the volcano. Because the rocks are so brittle, the pressure never builds to much and it slowly erupts after making little mounds. There was a little tourist geology log- we got to write in about our rocks in Michigan and how the differ from those found in Hawaii. It was fun talking to my guys about how MI beach rocks are so different than HI rocks.

Looking over the island from Haleakala we could see clouds below us. At such high elevations, before sunrise and after sunset it regularly gets down around 40 degrees and sometimes freezing ON MAUI. We were all bundled up, so it was okay- but the contrast in plants up that high vs. down where we live, halfway up Haleakala in Kula, was really interesting. It was pretty dry, so the plants were small and there weren't any trees. And the plants that did live there needed to be resistant to pretty serious temperature fluctuations  It was neat. The drive down the mountain after our snack-nic was suppper twisty and turny and smelled like Eucalyptus. We passed a huge lavender garden that has a cafe- I'm thinking I'd like to stop there when I go solo. It looked like the best smelling place to ever have coffee in the world. 

After I nannied, today, I wanted to do some yoga. After looking up some of the local studios, I decided based on proximity and my budget, to try Makawao Yoga. I got a 10 day unlimited pass for 20 buckaroos and enjoyed a slow flow class taught by my neighbor! It was really cool because she talked about some yoga philosophy as she taught- today we focused on satya or 'truth'. She didn't force this as an intention but sort of offered it as a light to look at your practice through. I liked it. I'm excited to try the power class called "Jungle Flow" tomorrow. Should be pretty fun- power classes are my absolute favorite. I think I'll try a few studios before I commit to a membership, but the feel of this studio was really comforting, I liked my neighb's style and their prices are really reasonable.

Holy smokes- its almost 9:30! This girl needs to hit the hay!


Aloha Pumehana,

Betsy