Greetings readers, don’t worry – everyone is fine and I’ll explain the title of this blog later.

We woke up to a beautiful and sunny morning in Kihei!

I woke up early and enjoyed a cup of coffee while I read my book and watched the sun rise. We had a slow morning and ate breakfast in our AirBnB. Our adventure for the day was driving up to the summit of Haleakalā which is 10,023 feet above sea level.

The drive took us about an hour and a half and led us up a slow and windy road. If you get car sick easily this may not be the trip for you. As we wound up the mountain we drove through the clouds. Light rain fell around us. Along the way we passed a few people on their bikes and we both commented that wasn’t for us.

As we climbed higher up the mountain we both began to feel our ears pop, and experience the effects of the thinner air. We got out at a viewpoint and walked along it checking out the views as the clouds rolled through and over us. At the top of the summit, once we were above the clouds, we were able to view the Haleakalā Crater. It was spectacular! Areas along the summit looked like the surface on Mars.

We saw silversword plants which also look out of this world.

We also saw many signs warning us to watch out for Nene Geese (or Hawaiian Geese) as they are supposedly all over the mountain, but unfortunately we did not see any.

After our desert alpine adventure we headed back to our AirBnB to chill out and get some laundry done. (I can now see why this might not be the most exciting blog…) I did declare at this point that we had a very successful day because we climbed (drove) up a mountain and did a load of laundry and Jacob didn’t really feel the two were comparable.

After that it was dinner time so we walked around the corner to a Mexican place (yes, I know – boring!) but it was good and we were both happy with our meals. As we enjoyed our dinner with the ocean view, the sun shone through the clouds and it was just magical.

After dinner we walked back to the AirBnB to grab some beach chairs and sit on the beach to watch the sunset. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy but we still enjoyed being down on the beach. It wasn’t too crowded and we could enjoy the sound of the waves crashing on the ocean. Here’s us looking happy moments before chaos.

Once the sun had set and it started getting dark, we packed up to go. Jacob needed help getting out of his chair, which led to him almost falling over and taking me with him. Then I couldn’t get my chair to collapse, but finally did and then caught my finger in the buckle. We got back to the room, but I wanted to remove my sandals outside the door, I went to move around Jacob and somehow the chair he was carrying smacked me right in the forehead.

This is when Jacob looked up the closest medical center and began to monitor me for concussion symptoms, while also feeling really bad for accidentally hitting me in the head which was probably mostly my fault. Anyway, I was more concerned about my bleeding finger. I washed it out and put on a band-aid. I am fine! While the smack to the forehead was startling, it was not that hard and I don’t even have a goose egg, and my finger will be fine.

Looking ahead the forecast is going to take a turn. Tomorrow night a storm is going to come in and dump a lot of rain and bring in some strong winds. I would love to get out and see some whales so we booked a whale watching boat tour at noon tomorrow. We are hoping to get out and back before the bad weather arrives. Also please send positive thoughts that we don’t spend the entire boat tour expelling our breakfast into the ocean.

Until then!