“I’m on the right track baby, I was born this way”

It doesn’t always sink in with me that I’m in the middle of a tropical rainforest. Beautiful, yet manicured lawns span much of the surrounding areas of Hana, that you forget it’s not really supposed to be that way.  But boy I’ll tell ya, it takes a whoooole lotta work to keep that jungle back. Yesterday, we took a hike way back in the true jungles of Maui to the Hana V waterfall. After a two or three mile winding road off the already winding Hana Highway, we parked on the side and headed into the thicket.  

Walking through the jungle (me the only one not barefooted…) we eventually reached a stretch of pure bamboo. An incredible sight like none I’d ever seen before, it curved and took us down to a fairly wide, and rapidly flowing stream by the edge of the crashing ocean. After navigating down the stream, crossing it about five times, a remarkable misting waterfall appeared in our grasp.  In a small pool at the base of the waterfall, water circulated at such a speed, it would have been an extremely difficult swim, even though it looked incredibly refreshing…

Hundreds of dried up tall grasses stood along the side of the stream, which produce remarkable little beads. Well their not real beads of course, I really don't know what you would call them, but Chelsea, Amy and I kept stopping to collect and fill our backpacks with them. Ever since, we've been stringing them through fishing lines to make necklaces, adding an artistic flare to our farming life. :)

Today, to change the pace up a little, Krista and Ian took us out for a lovely Sunday drive in the Toyota Tundra to stop at local artist’s studios. For the first time ever in Hana (and the outskirts, which takes about 45 minutes to get to,) an organized day took place in which artists opened their studios for company to stop for a visit. Krista joined us in the back, ever so sweetly playing what we called “Truck bed driver,” yelling to her husband to slow down. Now she knows what it’s like in the back when Ian’s driving, a very bumpy road indeed. As we traveled from each unique artist to the next, we were fortunate enough to see some absolutely incredible houses and studios, most of which had breathtaking views of the ocean. Two of Krista and Ian's friends visiting from Lake Tahoe joined us, and thankfully they enjoyed the free food at the studios just as much as I did....

Driving along the Hana Highway on any given day, we see a lot of tour buses. With Krista (who knows everybody) in the back with us, we’d stop to quickly have a word with the bus drivers, who of course Krista knew and loved. One tourist, God love her, sitting in a window seat facing us, smiled and kept waving around her hang loose hand pose the entire time we were stopped. (Hang loose or surfer hand gesture, being the thumb and pinky up, if that’s unclear…)

Riding in pickup beds, cruising down the highway, sun beating down and sparkling across the ocean...what a  way to travel. 

Aloha.