Don't worry, I'm alive! I survived holiday break and started back to school today. I never intended to be AWOL for this long, I just wanted to wait to post until I could do a really long holiday post that covered everything. Now I'll be doing a really long post but it could never cover everything...
Let's start with Christmas! I had a nice Christmas, but at the same time it was very strange.. I worked A LOT. I was just a fraction away from 40 hours the weeks before and after Christmas. Matthew and I went to Christmas dinner at Sydney's family's house in Waimea. She cooked an Italian style feast and gave us the game Apples to Apples (one of my favorites!). They had never played before so we all played together and that was lots of fun. I got to Skype chat with the family during the days of Christmas, and we even got to open presents together. Mom took the effort to send all my wrapped presents early so I could open them with everyone. She even sneakily sent an extra one to Matthew so I would be surprised on Christmas morning :) I loved all my gifts and the cards that family sent. Grandma even sent a box of Christmas decorations to make my house festive.
The day after Christmas, I was back to work! I ran the front of the shop while the designers factory-produced Kadomatsu New Year's arrangements. We made a lot extra and hoped to the sell them all- and we did! We sold out after lunch on the 31st so we all got to go home early :) Then we were closed until the 4th so I had my longest vacation yet!
When I got home I quickly packed up and we jumped in the car to head to Kona. On the way Matt and I picked up our friends from Alaska, Callie and Cary. When we got to the other side, the sun was just beginning to set. We had dinner reservations at Outback Steakhouse for 8 o'clock but we figured we had time to stop by Hapuna Beach :P When we got there, we were disappointed to see that there was a "Park Closed for Holiday" sign guarding the parking lot. But right behind us, in the grass, there were about 20 parked cars. We think, "Great idea!" and follow suite, just walking through the parking lot. Then a patrolling police SUV rolls by and the officer asks us out of his window if we would please step aside. He drives over to us and asks if we saw the sign, being very serious. When we started to explain what we were doing, he totally changed his demeanor and became quite friendly. He explained that they had to close down this side of the beach at five, but we still had a couple different routes to access it. :) So we made it down to the beach, following the cop's instructions and were happy to find a nearly vacant, beautiful spot just as the sun was setting. I can't wait to show you all the videos that Cary took with his snowboarding helmet cam. Sounds silly, but it's awesome because it's very small, shoots in widescreen, and has a waterproof case! With a tripod, he was able to get some beautiful shots of the ocean that day. And us boogie-boarding! It was too much fun.
Then we had a delicious dinner at Outback. I had fresh salmon and steamed veggies :) Afterwards, we strolled down Ali'i Drive and watched fireworks.
Most of them were being set off in the street, not the sky.. haha
The next day we had a delicious breakfast in Kona (I had pineapple upside down pancakes!) Then we spent the rest of the day at Hapuna. This time it was very crowded but the waves were big so we had a good time boogie-boarding the day away. Callie and I started a sand castle that could have been epic but the sun was so high in the sky that it was drying out the sand, making it impossible to work with :P
We drove back to town and made a big spaghetti dinner at my house. Then, we got everything together for a backpacking trip! It was a last minute decision to hike 10 miles across Volcano National Park to meet Sydney and her camping group at Halape, a beautiful, secluded beach. We would have to leave very early in the morning for it to be worth it because it's a long hike in, and the sun could really slow us down if it got right above us. We woke up at five and got on the road! We put on our packs and started walking across the lava fields by 7 AM. The terrain changed so many times along the journey. At first it was nothing but lava like pavement, black as far as you could see. Then, it became very rocky with shrubs and hardy trees.
The pile of rocks is a trail marker.
As we began descending the mountain, there was more and more plant life. We were fortunate to pick a day that was very overcast and windy, so we weren't miserably hot as we expected to be. But soon dark clouds moved overhead and within two miles of our destination it began to rain. Immediately, we picked up the pace to a jog. We wanted to stay ahead of the storm and we had gotten SO close that we couldn't help but to run. We arrived, exhausted, by noon, not a dark cloud in the sky :D
Changing from boots to sandals felt amazing!!
Sydney, Brian, Forrest, and the others were fishing for dinner at bay to the left of Halape, where they had set up camp. We got our snorkel gear and spent time in the shallow water there. There was a reef with fish and it was so rewarding after the long hike. Soon, Forrest got into his gear to spear some fish. He was swimming around, patrolling for a good one, when I saw something crawling on the bottom by a rock. I rushed over to get his attention and bring him back towards it. I thought maybe it was a flounder? Or a lobster? haha, I didn't really get a good look, I just could tell it wasn't a normal fish. When we turned back around it was not where I had seen it anymore. He dove under to check out under the rocks. You've got to see the rest for yourself!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgZga5nPpDQ
I had brought only a hammock to sleep in so Matthew climbed the trees and built me a roof to protect me from rain out of palm fronds :) It worked beautifully! I slept like a baby in my new hammock :)
I wish I was there now...
The hike back the next morning was very very difficult. We were drinking catchment water and the sun was blazing since we left at about 9 AM. It got more and more windy as we went higher, which was a relief. The biggest relief ever was when we finally made it back to the vehicles, six hours later!
That trip has been the most exciting part of my recent life. Other than that it has been work, work, work! I went to my first day of classes today and I know soon that will feel like "the usual" but it doesn't quite yet. My break really just flew by! I'll be better about updating now that I'll be on the computer more for school. And I have plenty of videos from the entire weekend that I would like to get uploaded soon... it's just so time consuming, especially since Window's Movie Maker is so buggy. It is constantly crashing. However, I will get more videos up because you all just have to see some of this footage!
