Ok, I feel like it's really been a while since our last update, probably because we have done so much in these past few days. The highlights of the past days have been finishing our room and going on a few day trips so here is a rundown of those exciting things:
Tearing out the old carpet
As you know, Tim and I were working hard trying to get our room ready. Leo, one of the guys that lives here too and was a pro painter back in the day, primed and painted our floor for us and then we all just played the waiting game. The paint seemed to take forever to dry because it is always so humid here. We kept the door to the room open 24/7 but there is a waterfall right outside the door and it was a battle between wanting to air-dry the room and keeping all the moisture out. Luckily, we continued to live in the nice apartment, Sunrise, and were generally comfortable while waiting for the room.
Finally the floor dried and we could move in! It was a big job packing all of our things up again and moving them downstairs. As Murphy's law would have it, we had the strangest set backs even on the day of the move. Leo has a dog, Callie, who is a good old girl but I think she's a little crazy. Most of the time she is very loving and comes to play with us but, occasionally, she seems to not recognize us (or who knows what) and growls, barks, and basically goes into attack mode when we walk by. Of course, on this morning, when it would be so much easier to move our things from one room to another by simply going down a flight of stairs, Callie positioned herself on the stairs and played scary-growling-ready-to-eat-us-guard dog! So we had to haul all of our things "the long way" around the outskirts of the property! It was definitley all the more satisfying when all of our things were finally in "our room". Tim and I spent the morning unpacking and making the room cozy. Somehow the room feels much cozier than the pictures portray. Perhaps this is because we finally have a place to call ours and that feels great. By the end of that day we had fully unpacked our things for the first time since being in Maui.
With our room in order, we finally felt more rooted than we ever had before and we were able to take some day trips now that we had easy access to our packs, swim gear, etc. The first trip we did was a drive out to Twin Falls. Twin Falls is a nice hiking area two miles south of the Huelo Farm we were originally living on. The entrance to the park is marked by a fruitstand similar to the one I worked in and we got some fresh fruit smoothies and lilikoi (passion fruit) to snack on. The park consists of nicely maintained dirt walkways that snake through the jungle. Turn on any given path and it will lead you to a small waterfall or shady jungle pool. We had a lot of fun climbing around the rocks and discovering new views of different falls at every turn. Maybe we'll go back for a swim sometime.
Speaking of swimming, we had quite an adventure in the water on a different day trip. We went out to Kaanapali beach, on the North West side of the island, near Lahaina, equiped with snorkeling gear! Sitting on the beach, you wouldn't imagine that 20 feet out in the water was a large, thriving coral reef. After getting over the initial waves you have to break through, Tim and I swam around the reefs pretty peacefully. It was a windy day so the water was somewhat murky but it didn't stop us from seeing some amazing things. The fish on this reef were real tropical fish, all pretty large and of all different colors. Our favorites were large yellow fish (I think there's one of these in the movie Finding Nemo :) ), black fish with florescent outlines around their bodies and tails (Dungeon Trigger Fish), the Hawaii state fish which is called Humuhumukununukuapua'a (seriously!), and a completely rainbow colored fish which I can't seem to find online. We saw three really unique things too. First I saw a trumpet fish, which is a really long fish with a trumpet-like nose. Second, Tim showed me a puffer fish that we followed for a while which was pretty cool. And lastly, I saw a...drum roll...MANTA RAY! This was totally crazy. I looked to my side and not two arm-lengths away from me was a gigantic manta. I freaked out! I came up and started yelling to Tim who was 10 feet away. People on the beach must have thought I was being eaten or something by how I was yelling for him. I just really wanted him to see it but, of course, he couldn't hear me and by the time I looked down again the the thing was gone. I probably scared it half to death! Well, it was really cool to see such a thing but I just started thinking about how something so big can get so close to you so silently (...shark attack...).
The day after snorkeling, we went from sea level all the way up to 10,000ft to climb Haleakala volcano! To get to the top of this world famous, dormant volcano there is actually a really nice paved road that takes you up almost to the summit. We had a long drive up through the clouds to a spot where we could leave our car and hike a short distance to the top. From there you can look into the crater and see an amazing sight. The crater seems like a strange island floating in a sea of clouds. Within the deep valley of the crater are several very large, burnt red cinder cones left over from smaller eruptions over the past 1000 years. The majority of our day we spent actually hikin down into the crater!
The Sliding Sands trail starts at the summit of the mountain and descends several thousand feet into the mouth of the volcano. There is very little vegitation there and the climate is a strange mix of hot sun and icecold breezes. When the strong wind dies down for a few seconds the place is almost entirely devoid of sound. When you clap or shout, the sound seems to disappear almost instantly. It's really a fascinating place. We took the trail three miles down toward a cinder cone that you could climb and look into. We had lunch on the edge of the cinder cone and watched the clouds roll around the edge of the crater - this looked like a strange beach and ocean of clouds. We then turned back and felt the pain of having to climb three miles out of a crater. As much as the path was relaxing and fun the whole way in, it was entirely, brutaly, uphill the whole three miles out. I have to say that, without even a minute of level ground, it was probably one of the hardest hikes I've done. Tim was a trooper beyond belief and we've agreed that if we can do that hike, at that elevation, in those weather conditions, with the packs we were carrying, we can likely do anything. We bought some patches at the top of the summit to commemorate our adventure in the crater, a truly memorable experience.
Well, I guess that is all for now. We continue to look for jobs and come up with nothing but we are definitely enjoying our time here, as you can see. The weather is beautiful always and we're sending you good thoughts and warm breezes from Maui! We'll update about our upcoming adventures soon. Till then, take care!
love,
Tim and Anna
Finally the floor dried and we could move in! It was a big job packing all of our things up again and moving them downstairs. As Murphy's law would have it, we had the strangest set backs even on the day of the move. Leo has a dog, Callie, who is a good old girl but I think she's a little crazy. Most of the time she is very loving and comes to play with us but, occasionally, she seems to not recognize us (or who knows what) and growls, barks, and basically goes into attack mode when we walk by. Of course, on this morning, when it would be so much easier to move our things from one room to another by simply going down a flight of stairs, Callie positioned herself on the stairs and played scary-growling-ready-to-eat-us-guard dog! So we had to haul all of our things "the long way" around the outskirts of the property! It was definitley all the more satisfying when all of our things were finally in "our room". Tim and I spent the morning unpacking and making the room cozy. Somehow the room feels much cozier than the pictures portray. Perhaps this is because we finally have a place to call ours and that feels great. By the end of that day we had fully unpacked our things for the first time since being in Maui.
With our room in order, we finally felt more rooted than we ever had before and we were able to take some day trips now that we had easy access to our packs, swim gear, etc. The first trip we did was a drive out to Twin Falls. Twin Falls is a nice hiking area two miles south of the Huelo Farm we were originally living on. The entrance to the park is marked by a fruitstand similar to the one I worked in and we got some fresh fruit smoothies and lilikoi (passion fruit) to snack on. The park consists of nicely maintained dirt walkways that snake through the jungle. Turn on any given path and it will lead you to a small waterfall or shady jungle pool. We had a lot of fun climbing around the rocks and discovering new views of different falls at every turn. Maybe we'll go back for a swim sometime.
Speaking of swimming, we had quite an adventure in the water on a different day trip. We went out to Kaanapali beach, on the North West side of the island, near Lahaina, equiped with snorkeling gear! Sitting on the beach, you wouldn't imagine that 20 feet out in the water was a large, thriving coral reef. After getting over the initial waves you have to break through, Tim and I swam around the reefs pretty peacefully. It was a windy day so the water was somewhat murky but it didn't stop us from seeing some amazing things. The fish on this reef were real tropical fish, all pretty large and of all different colors. Our favorites were large yellow fish (I think there's one of these in the movie Finding Nemo :) ), black fish with florescent outlines around their bodies and tails (Dungeon Trigger Fish), the Hawaii state fish which is called Humuhumukununukuapua'a (seriously!), and a completely rainbow colored fish which I can't seem to find online. We saw three really unique things too. First I saw a trumpet fish, which is a really long fish with a trumpet-like nose. Second, Tim showed me a puffer fish that we followed for a while which was pretty cool. And lastly, I saw a...drum roll...MANTA RAY! This was totally crazy. I looked to my side and not two arm-lengths away from me was a gigantic manta. I freaked out! I came up and started yelling to Tim who was 10 feet away. People on the beach must have thought I was being eaten or something by how I was yelling for him. I just really wanted him to see it but, of course, he couldn't hear me and by the time I looked down again the the thing was gone. I probably scared it half to death! Well, it was really cool to see such a thing but I just started thinking about how something so big can get so close to you so silently (...shark attack...).
The day after snorkeling, we went from sea level all the way up to 10,000ft to climb Haleakala volcano! To get to the top of this world famous, dormant volcano there is actually a really nice paved road that takes you up almost to the summit. We had a long drive up through the clouds to a spot where we could leave our car and hike a short distance to the top. From there you can look into the crater and see an amazing sight. The crater seems like a strange island floating in a sea of clouds. Within the deep valley of the crater are several very large, burnt red cinder cones left over from smaller eruptions over the past 1000 years. The majority of our day we spent actually hikin down into the crater!
The Sliding Sands trail starts at the summit of the mountain and descends several thousand feet into the mouth of the volcano. There is very little vegitation there and the climate is a strange mix of hot sun and icecold breezes. When the strong wind dies down for a few seconds the place is almost entirely devoid of sound. When you clap or shout, the sound seems to disappear almost instantly. It's really a fascinating place. We took the trail three miles down toward a cinder cone that you could climb and look into. We had lunch on the edge of the cinder cone and watched the clouds roll around the edge of the crater - this looked like a strange beach and ocean of clouds. We then turned back and felt the pain of having to climb three miles out of a crater. As much as the path was relaxing and fun the whole way in, it was entirely, brutaly, uphill the whole three miles out. I have to say that, without even a minute of level ground, it was probably one of the hardest hikes I've done. Tim was a trooper beyond belief and we've agreed that if we can do that hike, at that elevation, in those weather conditions, with the packs we were carrying, we can likely do anything. We bought some patches at the top of the summit to commemorate our adventure in the crater, a truly memorable experience.
Well, I guess that is all for now. We continue to look for jobs and come up with nothing but we are definitely enjoying our time here, as you can see. The weather is beautiful always and we're sending you good thoughts and warm breezes from Maui! We'll update about our upcoming adventures soon. Till then, take care!
love,
Tim and Anna
Tearing out the old carpet
Bleaching EVERYTHING!
Primer
Not the fanciest color, but it was free haha
Room is finished!
Twin Falls
A small waterfall
Snorkeling at Kaanapali Beach
Anna about to explore
10,024 feet! The summit of volcano Haleakala.
The volcano's crater.
Above the entire world
An ocean of clouds.Ok, I feel like it's really been a while since our last update, probably because we have done so much in these past few days. The highlights of the past days have been finishing our room and going on a few day trips so here is a rundown of those exciting things:
As you know, Tim and I were working hard trying to get our room ready. Leo, one of the guys that lives here too and was a pro painter back in the day, primed and painted our floor for us and then we all just played the waiting game. The paint seemed to take forever to dry because it is always so humid here. We kept the door to the room open 24/7 but there is a waterfall right outside the door and it was a battle between wanting to air-dry the room and keeping all the moisture out. Luckily, we continued to live in the nice apartment, Sunrise, and were generally comfortable while waiting for the room.
Finally the floor dried and we could move in! It was a big job packing all of our things up again and moving them downstairs. As Murphy's law would have it, we had the strangest set backs even on the day of the move. Leo has a dog, Callie, who is a good old girl but I think she's a little crazy. Most of the time she is very loving and comes to play with us but, occasionally, she seems to not recognize us (or who knows what) and growls, barks, and basically goes into attack mode when we walk by. Of course, on this morning, when it would be so much easier to move our things from one room to another by simply going down a flight of stairs, Callie positioned herself on the stairs and played scary-growling-ready-to-eat-us-guard dog! So we had to haul all of our things "the long way" around the outskirts of the property! It was definitley all the more satisfying when all of our things were finally in "our room". Tim and I spent the morning unpacking and making the room cozy. Somehow the room feels much cozier than the pictures portray. Perhaps this is because we finally have a place to call ours and that feels great. By the end of that day we had fully unpacked our things for the first time since being in Maui.
With our room in order, we finally felt more rooted than we ever had before and we were able to take some day trips now that we had easy access to our packs, swim gear, etc. The first trip we did was a drive out to Twin Falls. Twin Falls is a nice hiking area two miles south of the Huelo Farm we were originally living on. The entrance to the park is marked by a fruitstand similar to the one I worked in and we got some fresh fruit smoothies and lilikoi (passion fruit) to snack on. The park consists of nicely maintained dirt walkways that snake through the jungle. Turn on any given path and it will lead you to a small waterfall or shady jungle pool. We had a lot of fun climbing around the rocks and discovering new views of different falls at every turn. Maybe we'll go back for a swim sometime.
Speaking of swimming, we had quite an adventure in the water on a different day trip. We went out to Kaanapali beach, on the North West side of the island, near Lahaina, equiped with snorkeling gear! Sitting on the beach, you wouldn't imagine that 20 feet out in the water was a large, thriving coral reef. After getting over the initial waves you have to break through, Tim and I swam around the reefs pretty peacefully. It was a windy day so the water was somewhat murky but it didn't stop us from seeing some amazing things. The fish on this reef were real tropical fish, all pretty large and of all different colors. Our favorites were large yellow fish (I think there's one of these in the movie Finding Nemo :) ), black fish with florescent outlines around their bodies and tails (Dungeon Trigger Fish), the Hawaii state fish which is called Humuhumukununukuapua'a (seriously!), and a completely rainbow colored fish which I can't seem to find online. We saw three really unique things too. First I saw a trumpet fish, which is a really long fish with a trumpet-like nose. Second, Tim showed me a puffer fish that we followed for a while which was pretty cool. And lastly, I saw a...drum roll...MANTA RAY! This was totally crazy. I looked to my side and not two arm-lengths away from me was a gigantic manta. I freaked out! I came up and started yelling to Tim who was 10 feet away. People on the beach must have thought I was being eaten or something by how I was yelling for him. I just really wanted him to see it but, of course, he couldn't hear me and by the time I looked down again the the thing was gone. I probably scared it half to death! Well, it was really cool to see such a thing but I just started thinking about how something so big can get so close to you so silently (...shark attack...).
The day after snorkeling, we went from sea level all the way up to 10,000ft to climb Haleakala volcano! To get to the top of this world famous, dormant volcano there is actually a really nice paved road that takes you up almost to the summit. We had a long drive up through the clouds to a spot where we could leave our car and hike a short distance to the top. From there you can look into the crater and see an amazing sight. The crater seems like a strange island floating in a sea of clouds. Within the deep valley of the crater are several very large, burnt red cinder cones left over from smaller eruptions over the past 1000 years. The majority of our day we spent actually hikin down into the crater!
The Sliding Sands trail starts at the summit of the mountain and descends several thousand feet into the mouth of the volcano. There is very little vegitation there and the climate is a strange mix of hot sun and icecold breezes. When the strong wind dies down for a few seconds the place is almost entirely devoid of sound. When you clap or shout, the sound seems to disappear almost instantly. It's really a fascinating place. We took the trail three miles down toward a cinder cone that you could climb and look into. We had lunch on the edge of the cinder cone and watched the clouds roll around the edge of the crater - this looked like a strange beach and ocean of clouds. We then turned back and felt the pain of having to climb three miles out of a crater. As much as the path was relaxing and fun the whole way in, it was entirely, brutaly, uphill the whole three miles out. I have to say that, without even a minute of level ground, it was probably one of the hardest hikes I've done. Tim was a trooper beyond belief and we've agreed that if we can do that hike, at that elevation, in those weather conditions, with the packs we were carrying, we can likely do anything. We bought some patches at the top of the summit to commemorate our adventure in the crater, a truly memorable experience.
Well, I guess that is all for now. We continue to look for jobs and come up with nothing but we are definitely enjoying our time here, as you can see. The weather is beautiful always and we're sending you good thoughts and warm breezes from Maui! We'll update about our upcoming adventures soon. Till then, take care!
love,
Tim and Anna
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