Grateful for Life and Adventures (lots of pictures)

Wow! Its been a while since I last wrote. I had a fabulously fun filled and adventure packed weekend. I spent a lot of time tonight writing Christmas cards- I'm so thankful to have so many lovely friends! I am really, really trying to get more sleep so I'm going to quickly recap accompanied by pictures. 

I spent Thanksgiving both at the Kula house, quickly at Kara's in Upper Kula and up in Keokea with Suzy. It was hard to be so far away from my family and friends during the kickstart of the Holiday seasons but how lucky am I that I wasn't alone- but surrounded by so many new and old friends that I care about on a special day! 

I worked in the morning helping to prepare for our feast. We made a fruit turkey, a turkey veggie platter, veggie stuffing, cranberry sauce and a HOMEMADE seitan turkey stuffed with stuffing for the main course. I made 2 punkin' pies, an apple pie and butternut squash cookies for dessert. It was really fun to have a fully party of vegetarians to cook for on Thanksgiving- and all the guests that attended (about 20) were foodies too so we had a delicious and unique meal. A friend of the family brought purred carrots that tasted like savory potatoes- amazzzinnng. 

Fruit and Veggie Turkeys. So silly and so fun to make. The dudes helped me with the fruit skewers- the three year old mostly ate the strawberries and grapes but the five year old made about half of the skewers! So much fun to have them help :) 

Masterpiece apple pie. YUM so delish! First apple pie I ever made without Garthe-Farm- Michigan-Grown apples, though. Apples out here aren't quite 'the same'- usually bruised up and a little gritty/soft. Miss those crisp Michigan grown beauties.

My seitan loaves, front and center MADE FROM SCRATCH (I'm pretty proud of how delicious they turned out, never done that before) and the yummy carrots! So much great food.


After my meal at the Kula house I went up to Suzys and stopped at Kara's Thanksgiving bonfire on the way. It was good to see Suz and the gang. We watched "Sharknado" after our meal- I won't say anything but WOW. You have to watch it for yourself.

On Friday, we watched Francis Ha- which is a FABULOUS movie. Really good- I'd suggest it to anyone. The music and the filming and the story- all of it were so well put together and just plain wonderful. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time. 

I had my first Sly Mongoose experience down in Lahaina. Super funny dive bar in the 'Industrial' district of Lahaina- very hole-in-the wall. Had a shot of rootbeer schnapps (first time, in my life and honestly it wasn't even that bad) to be 'inducted' into the Sly gang. We had a d-d for the night and it was really fun to have a drink- I don't really ever get to do that. 

The next day was a Kahana adventure! We went to the Blow Hole on the North shore. We hiked on what seemed like the surface of Mars. Volcanic rocks sort of look like morels to me. It was absolutely breath taking. I have never seen anything like it. 

I had no idea what 'the blow hole' was and didn't really know what to expect. Basically it is a spot in the volcanic rock that has been completely eroded underneath to create a cave. About 30 feet from the edge of the cliff, a hole was formed. The waves crash into the underwater cave and when the waves are big enough the 'blow' out of the hole. ITS SO COOL. 

Then we went back to the house and chilled in the pool/hot tub and got pizza for dinner. 

My morning after Sharknado-Thanksgiving at Suzy's farm. I love that cup and that farm. This is the beginning of Friday.

This is Saturday. Beginning of our hike to the Blow Hole. Just up the hill from where I took this picture, there was a healing labyrinth. I didn't walk it but next time I come here, I want to. Pretty incredible place to just be.

The soil and rocks had such interesting color here! Nearly everything you could see was grey but some spots had broken off and you could see exposed bright red, orange and golds. I'm pretty sure that this means that one (or several) of the flows had a higher iron content. I wanna read up on this because the BRIGHT colors were pretty fascinating. It had just sprinkled rain, too so it was super bright. SO incredibly gorgeous. 

More of the cool colored rocks.

We were hiking amongst large boulders and broken bits of volcanic rock. Super sharp and wobbly. Volcanic rock is really brittle so we had to be pretty careful.

Massive volacnic rocks being eroded away by waves crashing into them. This is a snapshot of geologic history. Looking around here you could just see how the waves shaped the rock. 

Someday, our adventure selfies are going to get us hurt. But not today! Not today, my friends. 

More geologic history.

Adventure selfiessssss

Suzy looking profound.

WATCH. this is the blow hole. We were waiting for it to 'go'.

It starts with this whirring, almost thunder-building kind of sound.

WHOOOOOOOSH it explodes. All the crabs around wait for little meals to drop down on them.

I love this rock.

I love this rock so much, I had a senior photo taken next to it. Sorry its 6 years late.

It looks hot, but its cool lava.

I love seeing chickens everywhere, and I'll continue documenting that. These are Honolua Beach chickens. So funny- they just squack and chill all day haha

At Honolua Bay we snorkeled! I've never done that! I was a little frightened because I haven't ever swam that far out for that long but turns out, when you can breathe the whole time swimming isn't so hard! I was amazed by the coral! So many colors so many shapes! It was like a salad bar for the fishies. I saw fish in colors that I never knew was possible- teal, bright purple and pink? yup. We saw an octopus and one sea turtle and a few schools of fish. It was so awesome.

After we snorkled we went to Flemmings Beach and boogie boarded. Which, again, I've never properly done. Also SO MUCH FUN. Whoa! It made me a whole lot more motivated to try surfing- which I'm pretty shocked I haven't realllly tried to do yet. Ooops. I've been keeping myself busy, though. So the time will come. I won't rush it- and until then I'll keep boogie-in'.

When I drove back to Kula, I drove the North Shore which I haven't ever done until yesterday. Its kinda like Hana because it has sections of one-lane road and major jungle, some pasture and some parts that look straight out of Game of Thrones. Tell me, does this NOT look like it could be the Iron Islands?!?!



EVERY WEEKEND IS A NEW ADVENTURE! So invigorating and exiting to live in such a diverse place.

I love it!

I need to go to bed!


Aloha pumehana!

Bets