Today we have moved from an apartment in the isthmus (Maui is made up of two volcanoes, one very old and the other currently dormant, and an isthmus between them) to a sweet little log cabin on the side of the bigger, dormant volcano called Haleakala. The cabin is at 4000 ft (as high above sea level as Mt Mansfield) with uninterrupted hiking up to the top at 10,023 feet!! There is a famous observatory at the top as well as an Air Force base. This book I’m reading about it claims that the scientific observations have found that this place is “the strongest natural power point in America.” Only the kahunas lived on the volcano, as a “spiritual preparation and testing ground.” It feels very sweet and calm up here, although it was the site of a big groundfire last summer that burned the big old eucalyptus trees on the land.

Update: I didn’t get to posting the above so here is more! Day 3 on Hawaii (yesterday); ridiculously perfect. I went to a yoga class with one of my ‘aunties’ (as mom calls her best friends my aunties) in the morning, then we stopped at the store to get a bunch of food and then went to the beach all day. We found a spot in the shade under a huge rhododendron, one of my other aunties is an acupuncturist so we all got relaxation acupuncture treatments, snorkel ex with turtles, and got the most amazing show from the humpback whales just off the beach! They’re giving birth right now and it’s what they call whale soup out there. One big guy was putting on quite the show slapping his tail on the water over and over and over, and we saw what we think was a mama teaching her baby how to breach because the little guy kept jumping out of the water crooked and making huge splashes. So amazing. And then we rounded out the evening with margaritas, watching the sunset from the porch.

I just got back from a 2 hour hike across the gorge out back from the cabin and then up through cattle pastures up up up the side of the volcano. Perfect!!!