On Saturday I had the morning off and I explored the gallery more thoroughly. It was the last day of the Taken By Wonder show and the fort was buzzing with people. When you first walk into the fort, there is a room with a piano and some lounge chairs and a penny fountain (no water) to your right. An incredible pianist who was visiting the fort was playing for almost the entire time I was there. I thanked him when he took a break- It was magical.
I crawled around and found rooms I hadn't even seen the first time I was there- climbed a cargo net and found a star gazing room. When I was downstairs I went under a bed and found an opening into an entirely open hidden room. I took pictures on my phone and I'm not sure yet how to put them on here- so cool! I spent time decoding lots of the messages- some were really inspiring and others told stories. The 'story' behind the artist's fort was that Hawaiian ancestors were the inhabitants- they left their story to take us by wonder. I loved it. I am going to try to upload the photos sometime this week.
Yesterday I went to yoga in the morning and then met up with Susu and Brad. We sat down and discussed where we wanted to hike and decided to go somewhere none of us had ever been before. We ended up hiking up behind Suzy's place to Poli-Poli state park.
It was a freakin' righteous hike. It was the perfect hike to follow the "taken by wonder" gallery experience. I am still entirely blissed out by the dose of wonder I experienced seeing so many 'firsts'. We walked through a ranch and embodied the mountain goat lifestyle, bounding up the steep Haleakala mountainside. We saw some native Hawaiian trees and feasted our eyes on the view of the West Maui Mountains behind us. After some time, we arrived at a eucalyptus forest. We continued hiking up through the aroma therapy forest- and were 'on the fence' about where to head next. So, we continued up the fence, and eventually between to fences, and then over a fence into Poli Poli State Park.
Shortly after arriving into the State Park, the forest population changed from eucalyptus to a different hardwood. Brad noticed something ahead and thought it might be a cliff. But nope, it wasn't a cliff; it was just a redwood. The forest changed again to be majestically massive Red Wood trees. HOLY POLI-POLI SMOKES. I am a full on tree-lovin', nature admirin', hike-appreciatin' kind of girl and I have never encountered a red wood before and I was in absolute awe. Absolute blissful, star-eyed, humbled, gnomified awe. I was a few paces behind Su-Su and Brad and was stunned by how tiny they looked. Just tiiiiny. Those trees are freakin' massive! Coolest. Place. EVER. OH MY GOD.
Suz knew about an abandon ranger cabin near the edge of the state park, so we set off to find it. We did. It was really cool. The front porch was gone but you could get in through the back. It was mostly safe and mostly stable but not all the way- we ventured in anyway and saw a bunch of new and old booze bottles- Jameson, Seirra nevada, cheap whiskey, some local brews, some PBRs and more all stacked up on the wall above the front door of the cabin. So, we shared the two beers we brought with us and put them up on the wall too. It felt like we accomplished something when those went up. It felt good haha.
We snacked on some punkin' seeds, sharp cheddar cheese and fresh guava outside of the cabin before we continued on to admire more red woods. Damn. The energy of that forest was just magical. I can't think of any other word.
We hiked around for a bit more and then embarked on our return journey. We took a different way back and found our way back to the ranch. Said hello to some goats and observed some potential (scary) mudslide business. There is a lonnnnnnnnnng story that could go along with that comment- pertaining to invasive trees, logging and pastures but I won't go into it because I don't know enough about it to rant. But in short, there definitely is evidence of mudslides and there is definitely a lot of crappy invasive Waddle trees. It doesn't seem so good.
We ran into a teacher from the Waldorf school on the way back down the road to where we parked. She was looking for her runaway pup and had jussst found him. It was good to see her and the car. We were all pretty beat so after a quick convo we headed back down the mountain to get some food at the Kula Bistro. We got delicious dinner- well deserved house salad and pasta after a epic hike. We topped it off with a slice of some of the best German chocolate cake I've ever had and then headed back to Suzy's to play a quick game of Carcassonne.
Neither Suz or Brad had ever played Carcassonne so it was fun to introduce the game and strategies. They both crushed it for their first time and I think we're all excited to play again when we aren't totally beat from an awesome hike day.
Today was cool I played with the baby boy a lot. We went on a walk. He is such an outside-guy. I feel like he just thrives on the energy of Maui- I'm not kidding 80% of the time if you just take him outside when he is fussy he calms and smiles just looking at trees and grass. He loves nature and he is only 6 months old. Its awesome. When we got back from our walk we played on the floor for a little bit- I was waving a silk scarf over his head and he was totally lovin' it. There is nothing better than the full body baby smile. I played a little bit of calm, chill Emancipator for him and he loved it. Great relaxin' on the floor music.
I went to yoga and then came home. I was planning on writings some pen pals but I think I'll just call it an early night and go to Rainbow park to write him tomorrow. Seems like a good yoga/lunch break plan :)
I am so grateful for everything and everyone in my life. I feel so lucky to be where I am and know all of the wonderful people I do. Sometimes its hard to believe that this is real life. Living my life with so much aloha. Mahalo, universe.
Aloha pumehana,
Bets
Yesterday I went to yoga in the morning and then met up with Susu and Brad. We sat down and discussed where we wanted to hike and decided to go somewhere none of us had ever been before. We ended up hiking up behind Suzy's place to Poli-Poli state park.
It was a freakin' righteous hike. It was the perfect hike to follow the "taken by wonder" gallery experience. I am still entirely blissed out by the dose of wonder I experienced seeing so many 'firsts'. We walked through a ranch and embodied the mountain goat lifestyle, bounding up the steep Haleakala mountainside. We saw some native Hawaiian trees and feasted our eyes on the view of the West Maui Mountains behind us. After some time, we arrived at a eucalyptus forest. We continued hiking up through the aroma therapy forest- and were 'on the fence' about where to head next. So, we continued up the fence, and eventually between to fences, and then over a fence into Poli Poli State Park.
Shortly after arriving into the State Park, the forest population changed from eucalyptus to a different hardwood. Brad noticed something ahead and thought it might be a cliff. But nope, it wasn't a cliff; it was just a redwood. The forest changed again to be majestically massive Red Wood trees. HOLY POLI-POLI SMOKES. I am a full on tree-lovin', nature admirin', hike-appreciatin' kind of girl and I have never encountered a red wood before and I was in absolute awe. Absolute blissful, star-eyed, humbled, gnomified awe. I was a few paces behind Su-Su and Brad and was stunned by how tiny they looked. Just tiiiiny. Those trees are freakin' massive! Coolest. Place. EVER. OH MY GOD.
Suz knew about an abandon ranger cabin near the edge of the state park, so we set off to find it. We did. It was really cool. The front porch was gone but you could get in through the back. It was mostly safe and mostly stable but not all the way- we ventured in anyway and saw a bunch of new and old booze bottles- Jameson, Seirra nevada, cheap whiskey, some local brews, some PBRs and more all stacked up on the wall above the front door of the cabin. So, we shared the two beers we brought with us and put them up on the wall too. It felt like we accomplished something when those went up. It felt good haha.
We snacked on some punkin' seeds, sharp cheddar cheese and fresh guava outside of the cabin before we continued on to admire more red woods. Damn. The energy of that forest was just magical. I can't think of any other word.
We hiked around for a bit more and then embarked on our return journey. We took a different way back and found our way back to the ranch. Said hello to some goats and observed some potential (scary) mudslide business. There is a lonnnnnnnnnng story that could go along with that comment- pertaining to invasive trees, logging and pastures but I won't go into it because I don't know enough about it to rant. But in short, there definitely is evidence of mudslides and there is definitely a lot of crappy invasive Waddle trees. It doesn't seem so good.
We ran into a teacher from the Waldorf school on the way back down the road to where we parked. She was looking for her runaway pup and had jussst found him. It was good to see her and the car. We were all pretty beat so after a quick convo we headed back down the mountain to get some food at the Kula Bistro. We got delicious dinner- well deserved house salad and pasta after a epic hike. We topped it off with a slice of some of the best German chocolate cake I've ever had and then headed back to Suzy's to play a quick game of Carcassonne.
Neither Suz or Brad had ever played Carcassonne so it was fun to introduce the game and strategies. They both crushed it for their first time and I think we're all excited to play again when we aren't totally beat from an awesome hike day.
Today was cool I played with the baby boy a lot. We went on a walk. He is such an outside-guy. I feel like he just thrives on the energy of Maui- I'm not kidding 80% of the time if you just take him outside when he is fussy he calms and smiles just looking at trees and grass. He loves nature and he is only 6 months old. Its awesome. When we got back from our walk we played on the floor for a little bit- I was waving a silk scarf over his head and he was totally lovin' it. There is nothing better than the full body baby smile. I played a little bit of calm, chill Emancipator for him and he loved it. Great relaxin' on the floor music.
I went to yoga and then came home. I was planning on writings some pen pals but I think I'll just call it an early night and go to Rainbow park to write him tomorrow. Seems like a good yoga/lunch break plan :)
I am so grateful for everything and everyone in my life. I feel so lucky to be where I am and know all of the wonderful people I do. Sometimes its hard to believe that this is real life. Living my life with so much aloha. Mahalo, universe.
Aloha pumehana,
Bets
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