Off the Island List

I hope you have enjoyed all the scenic photos I have been flooding Facebook with.  Seriously, I have way too much fun taking pictures, even if I just took a picture of that same strip of beach the previous weekend.  I spent a few hours out at Kam 1 a couple of weekends ago, and I actually stayed for sunset. Usually I don't because my favorite beach has a parking lot that closes (and gets locked) a bit before sunset.  Anyway, I couldn't get over all the unreal colors.

When I first got here, I started compiling a mental Hawaiian "bucket list."  Perhaps I should rename that, because it's not like I'm going to die anytime soon.  Let's call it my "kicked off the island" list, because I now have less than ten months to get my fill of the islands before my temporary license runs out, and I have to go be a dentist somewhere else.  Anyway, I feel like I've accomplished a good number of those things.  I already drove around to Hana - twice - and the second time we went specifically to the Seven Sacred Pools.  The Seven Sacred Pools is a set of, you guessed it, seven pools connected by waterfalls, which runs underneath the road all the way to the ocean.  It's a total blast, but also a total pain to get to.

This was a glorious adventure that my two friends and I set out for one Saturday morning.  We drove the less conventional back way, meaning we braved the treacherous one-lane, windy, gravel road.  But we did manage to beat most of the tourists.  Compare what it looked like when we first got there:

And about an hour after that it was crowded with obnoxious little kids.  Anyway, we had a blast clambering along lava rock, standing under the falls, and jumping off the cliffs.

Number one, go to Seven Sacred Pools is completed.
Number two, survive the Road to Hana is also completed, and I'm sure my car will thank me not to do that too many more times!
Next thing we kept talking about, but never really got around to doing was visit the Lavender Farm.  Another Saturday morning I finally organized and supplied transportation for this activity.

The Lavender farms were beautiful, and had an amazing expansive view of the island.  I also re-affirmed that I love the smell of lavender, and discovered multiple things you can put lavender in and sell to tourists!  That being said, the lavender scones were delicious.

Another list item was to drive up to Haleakela.  That is the name of the 10,000 foot volcano crater on the east side of the island.  The view of the sunrise there is practically legendary, but I had next to no motivation to drag myself out of bed for sunrise, no matter where I saw it from.  Well Labor day weekend came around, and one of my friends suggested we make the Haleakela drive.  I went to bed around 9:30 pm so I could drag myself up at 2:45 am.  Believe it or not, I was surprisingly alert for that time of night!  It took us about an hour and a half to drive from sea level to the summit, and we got there around 5:00am.  It was inky dark, and surprisingly cold for Hawaii.  The cold was surprisingly refreshing, and we dozed with the windows down for a while before heading up to the lookout.

I miss sweater weather.  Weird, right?  I get the feeling I'm going to be incredibly confused when it's still in the 80's come winter time.  The sunrise was glorious!  I sat around with my sweater and blanket, and drank a Diet Coke while the sun came up.

Gotta say, I couldn't get enough of the view.  After the sun came up we drove back down the mountain, and made a stop for some delicious breakfast.  Too bad I spent most of the rest of the day sleeping!

Are you See?

This weekend has been relatively low-key.  The weather has been comparatively poor this weekend, meaning that while the temperature was balmy, it was raining.  That made beach outings less than ideal this Saturday and Sunday.  That didn't really stop me from going, but it did stop me from swimming much.  Needless to say, I had to find other means of entertainment for this weekend.  I busted my Android phone a couple of weeks ago, so I happily upgraded to an iPhone 4s.  This means I've opened myself up to a whole new world of Apple apps, including Tiny Wings.  I know that game is so last 6 months ago, but I downloaded it this last week, and I've been addicted ever since.  Seriously, I think it needs to be deleted...  My friend and I also decided it was a good weekend to go get our nails done.  That ended up being a mess, and both my friend and I ended up going back the next day to have them fix stuff.  Ridiculous.  I then decided to go shoe shopping, and while walking through the mall minding my own business I found this welcome sight:

I have a soft spot for See's.  Yes, I know it's a candy shop, so it would be hard not to like this place.  However, almost exactly one year ago we made our epic trip to the Mall of America, and we had to find a See's because we were all craving chocolate after a day of mall crawling.  For those of you who know my friend Mark, you will not be surprised to hear that he opened up with a facetious comment towards the poor girl working behind the counter.  She was completely confused when he walked up and inquired, "are you See?"

Zach and I didn't mind, because after the two of them got warmed up, she started handing out all kinds of free samples.  It was the best chocolate experience ever!  However, having a bag of chocolates with two boys is pretty short lived, since any candies I didn't enjoy immediately got gobbled up when I wasn't looking.  As a tribute to that ridiculous, and mostly pointless road trip, here is a picture that got taken while I was trying to sleep.

This picture really just explains how this last weekend has been for me.  Lazy, relaxed, and just a little bit ridiculous.  I apologize for my rambling, and we will return to the regularly scheduled Hawaiian updates next post!

Ahhh, Salmon Spring Roll

Check it out, being here in Hawaii has many perks.  One of them is the delicious variety of foods available.  My fellow dental resident and former classmate is a local, so she takes me out to try some local fare quite often.  One of our trips involved getting some sushi, which I'm always a fan of!  It was fun because it was one of those places where you sit at a booth, and the sushi comes by on a conveyor belt.  While there, I just had to try out some unagi.

If it doesn't make sense why I was so excited, check out this video!

Hang Loose

Now that I've stopped neglecting my blog, I can hopefully get caught back up.

Every Saturday there is a big swap meet at the college in Kahului.  I like going and wandering through all the wares.  Most of the stuff is totally geared towards tourists, or people like me!  One of the stands was "hang loose hammocks," which planted a seed in my mind.  Some friends of mine back in Nebraska had mounted a hammock in their apartment, and one had ended badly.  Badly meaning the hammock ripped huge holes in the walls when he sat in it!  So, with that experience in mind, I decided I needed to purchase a hammock!

I undertook this project not realizing how involved it would rapidly become.  Hang Loose has a location clear around on Lahina side, so I drove over after work one day.  I then managed to find the studs in my walls, but after a frustrating night with a hammer and nail did I discover they were metal studs.  I broke down and bought a power drill after I realized I couldn't make a dent in the studs.  Even then, it took me over an hour to drill two holes big enough.  Add to this the fact that I'm pretty certain my landlord would frown on this little undertaking, and I'm quite certain I'm totally going to get busted one day...   Oddly enough, I got to employ some of my dental school education at this point.  I decided that placing hammock screws in the wall was similar to placing dental implants in bone!  (Scary, huh?)

I finally got it all rigged up, and tested it out.  Unfortunately I was still too scared to trust my handiwork, so I put my mattress underneath for several days just in case it pulled out of the studs.  I'm happy to report that, a month later, everything is still totally sturdy!

I actually slept in my hammock for several days following, but I soon discovered I would wake up at 5 am and climb back into my bed.  So now it's more like a very breezy, very cozy couch.  Also, if anyone comes to visit Maui while I'm here, they will most likely be sleeping in the hammock!

Anyway, here is my sweet room now.  Sometimes I feel like I live in a treehouse, you know, Lost Boys style.  I love it, especially since I moved my TV into my bedroom.  Add a Diet Coke, and I'm living the Hawaiian dream.

The mission continues

So I finally, finally, figured out how to load pictures from my new camera to my computer.  (Let's be honest, I wasn't trying all that hard...)  I actually wrote this at the same time as the last post, but didn't post it since I didn't have any pictures.  Well anyways, now we can return to the blogging!

One of the weekends my ward put together a group to drive to Hana.  This is pretty much the only kind of road trip you can expect on an island.  Hana is this isolated little town clear over on the east side of Maui that is reachable only by taking a 3-hour drive through a one-lane, windy, narrow road.  It's notorious for making people carsick, but it's actually a very beautiful drive due to the amount of rain which allows for the green jungles, multiple waterfalls, and the frequent scenic views of the coastline.

We made several stops along the way, including a secluded little waterfall.  We stopped at some lava caves which were filled with fresh-water pools.  The water was rather cold, and once you swam in it got very dark, adding to the excitement.  I couldn't get a very good picture because my camera isn't waterproof.

This was literally right off the road.  Some of our group climbed to the top and jumped off.

This is a shot of the freshwater lava cave. 

After the caves we walked down to the beach which was one of the few black sand beaches.  The beach is black because it's lava rock sand which was cool to look at, but killer on the feet!  I also had fun taking some pictures of the intense surf.

One of our group was a Tongan who totally climbed up a coconut tree, grabbed some coconuts, and sliced it open with a machete.  Sweet!  Gotta say, I'm not really a fan of coconut water.

We spent several hours at another beach, but I didn't get any pictures.  Honestly I think it's my favorite beach so far because the waves were perfect for body surfing, or boogie boarding.  Finally, this last weekend I tried to stay a little closer to home, and I found Kamaole II in Kihei.  Nice sand, and right off the road, but I have to say I wasn't all that impressed.  Way too touristy, and next to no waves, which made for rather dull swimming.  It was, however, perfect for relaxing in the sun in what has become my new Sunday afternoon activity!