aloha friends!
hope that everyone is well. after a couple weeks of seeing friends and family and experiencing the ups and downs of being back, we are gone again! we found a flight way back when in january for 300 roundtrip to honolulu from seattle (they still have them by the way!) and departed for this tropical destination on sunday. the night before we left we had a great night visiting friends in bellingham at jason's birthday party. we were there for 5 hours talking, connecting, playing music, having a blast. we left around 1 AM, went back to the house and packed until 2, slept for an hour and 20 minutes, then woke up and began our travel day adventure. we were dropped off at the airport by melissa's lovely parents, on an airporter bus down to seattle with two very friendly bus drivers ruth and carla, who showed off their southern hospitality at every stop by telling us exactly of what we were doing and how long we'd be stopped and what was coming up next. melissa and i laughed at the extreme difference between that experience and thailand..which would leave us completely out of the loop as to what was happening with anything at all. we got there 3 hours early, and had 2 + hours to shiver and wait in the frigid airport until our flight took off. vrrrooooommmm! airplane flights seem short now in comparison to our 13 hour/24 hour travel day returning from bali. 6 hours later we were walking off the plane and feeling that tropical breeze whip around our bodies. ahhhh hawaii. we were picked up by jeff, who melissa knew from back in bellingham when she was younger. he's a great man, with an easy laugh and a big heart. he brought us lei's (we were lei'd) and shared about where we'll be living for the next few days. we traveled over to the east side of the island and went straight for the beach. the sand was white, the water blue/green, and we jumped in and spent the next hour body surfing and playing in the water. blake and may (who live here too) and ani and adam (who are visiting from seattle) showed up and we all hung out on the beautiful beach eating ahi poke and making nori wraps, drinking a couple beers. blake and jeff and adam are all great drummers and they set up on the beach playing african drums in their own amazing rhythms and style. it was very idyllic, and one of my favorite drum experiences i've ever had! we came home, had some great food, and hung out with jeff and alycia (another bellinghammer) who are married and live in this great studio on beautiful landscaped property. the next day (2 days ago) we took a trip up to the north shore of oahu and enjoyed the scenery and company along the way, stopping at a fruit stand to enjoy fresh coconuts, mango, banana (i had a friend banana too) and avocado's. oahu has a seemingly unlimited supply of beaches and the one we finally chose to stay at was a crescent moon white sand beach with crystal clear water. it was calm and smooth and we spent the whole day playing in the water and relaxing on the beach. in the winter this same beach is home to some of the worlds most adventurous surfing with some waves reaching over 20 feet. that day was just smooth and nice. we found a great food stand and all enjoyed and ate quickly tons of delicious food. ahi wraps, chili hand cut fries, falaffels. we grabbed a six pack of beer and watched what was to become one of my favorite sunsets ever, fully appreciating the layers of the clouds, the colors, the full spectrum, the sun dropping behind the ocean, from start to finish over an hour of bliss.
the next day alycia, who had worked non-stop decided to take a day off and spend some showing us around. so the three of us embarked on what was to be a day of experiencing her and jeff's favorite spots on the island. we took a hike up a ridge that overlooks the east side beaches that would allow us to see moloka'i on a clear day..but there is an excessive amount of vog right now (big island eruption lava fog) so visiblility is spotty at times. melissa discovered the macro foliage setting on our camera and went wild yesterday, snapping off 150 pictures of all of this islands best it has to offer. we found some crazy foliage on that first hike and it's all documented! we stopped by the store afterwards and picked up lunch to be which included a pound of ahi poke, an avocado, nori, and sunflower sprouts, and 2 bags of kettle chips. then headed up the mountain for another hike which included bamboo forests that punctuated at old ruins that are home to the largest luau ever, over 10,000 people. plus a small waterfall hike. melissa kept dissapearing at all points in time to keep up her photography. less than ten minutes after we left that oasis we were dropping into honolulu. it was amazing to be so remote (it's where they film parts of LOST tv show) and then to be in the big city so quickly. we just scooted around the edge of the city towards an area called 'the wall'. a little neighborhood spot that has lava flow style rocks that have been smoothed by all of the pounding waves over the millions of years since it formed. we saw some big waves there, some people surfing and boogie boarding and tide pools and a big green sea turtle floating out and about. we went to alycia's waldorf school that she is training at to be a teacher and were amazing and impressed with what they've created there. we went to a kona brewing, enjoyed some delicious beer samplers, then drove home along the east side of the island! we came back to the house, met up with jeff here and made some salmon curry with vegetables over quinoa, while the girls put together cookie batter. after eating we all did some art with cool new watercolor crayons and pencils, talked for awhile, and then passed out hard! it's amazing all that you can fit into some days! over one 12 hour period we were at a party in bellingham, then on a plane, and then to the beach in a hawaii. and then there's days like today where by 1:30 we still haven't left the house and have no plans other than to go for a walk. tomorrow we leave for the big island to stay with our friend abram and camp on the property he's taking care of. when i told jeff i was excited about being there he said without hesitation "it'll change your life". i'm excited to be there...i know it'll be a big opening for me :) much love to everyone, we have 2 weeks on the big island and then we're back after that....probably. :)
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