The Backpacking Adventure That Didn't Come to Pass

My friend Shaina has tried to orchestrate an overnight backpacking trip into the Haleakala Crater since the winter.  She had booked the Paliku cabin in December, but we had to scratch our trip since it coincided with our company's Christmas party (that all of the hikers that we had recruited wanted to go to).  She was foiled again in February, and alas, also today.

Shaina had booked the cabin more than a month in advance and rallied together a great group of friends  to hike the crater today, stay the night at the Paliku cabin and then hike out tomorrow.

But then a crazy storm front rolled in last night, and blasted all of Lahaina with ferocious winds and rain.  Shaina and I huddled together at work and discussed the bleak weather.  We had already had a few hikers drop out earlier in the month due to scheduling conflicts (aka "wimping out"--just kidding, guys!), and last night we lost another hiker because she has a cold, and during our shift at work, another friend didn't like the look of the weather and bowed out too (he is also recovering from a cold).

So, this morning, it was the Fearless Duo of Shaina and Paige driving up the mountain to check out the crater and see if this weather was as bad a bitch as everyone was saying she was.

And she was.

We drove through roiling fog once we passed the Visitor's Center near the base of the summit.  Then rain began to mist the windshield.

Once we pulled into the parking lot of the summit of Haleakala, we already knew that we were not going to be doing our backpacking adventure this time.

We were blasted by freezing cold winds and a stinging, chilly rain the second we got out of the car.  I shimmied into my rain gear as quickly as I could, so we could take a look at our hike.

{The picture of the crater at the lookout gives you an idea of what we would see if the weather wasn't so miserable}

Shaina and I got to the lookout and checked out our trail...and there was absolutely nothing to see.  The mist had settled into the bowl of the crater, completely masking the sight of our trail towards the Paliku cabin.

{wet and chilly but still smiling}

{my fearless leader, Shaina}

{Shaina in the mist}

{trekking back to the summit's parking lot}

{it looks like Mars up there!}

Since the weather was so gnarly, Shaina and I abandoned our overnight backpacking adventure and did a short nature walk lower down on Haleakala at Hosmer Grove.

{Shaina snacking on the trail by some Eucalyptus}

{looking minuscule, but brightly colored! in a grove of Eucalyptus}

{edible berries found on the trail--Shaina described them as having a chalky, apple flavor, but watch out for the small pit!}

{we saw two of these during our walk!}

{dew drops}

{blossoms}

{looking back up at the summit}

{ta-dah!}

After our mini-hike, Shaina and I hopped back in the car and cruised down the mountain towards Paia for lunch at one of our favorite places...Flatbread Pizza!

On our way, we saw a lot of cows:

{note all the sunshine these cows are basking in}

After lunch in Paia, we came back into Lahaina to unpack our gear.  Shaina and I have plans to reconvene later tonight and cook up our camp dinner (pasta with ground beef and vodka sauce).  And we're going to jazz up our meal with some good wine to drown our sorrows over our abandoned backpacking adventure.

If life gives you lemons, right?

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Under the Sea at Airport Beach

Bryan and I had an epic day of errands and shopping on the Other Side on Wednesday, so we decided to take yesterday off to really relax.

It had been a while since Bryan had been to the beach, so we grabbed our gear and camped out at Airport Beach.

My main goal was to fix my terrible tan lines from last week's sun burn, but I also spent a good amount of time in the water with my mask and fins and my underwater camera.

Here are a few snaps from the day:

I saw this sign tucked in among some coral.  Not sure what it means.  I've done a little bit of google researching, but was unable to dig up anything relevant.

The highlight of my swim yesterday was listening to the whales singing every time my head was under the water.  At one point, the song had intensified in volume so much that I knew the whales must be close by.  I surfaced, and as I did, I saw a whale breach.  The whale was less than a football field away from me, and it breached over and over again.  It was absolutely incredible.

After my big swim, I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach whale watching from the shore.  The action was great yesterday.  I'm hoping to get on an afternoon whale watch sometime soon to get in a little bit closer!

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I'm a Stalker

Actually, I don't know if I can categorize my obsession of T-Bone as stalking since he's the one traipsing around our lanai and plonking himself down in front of our door.

I think he loves the attention.  What a diva.

{there's that black pedicure sneaking into the photo again!}

{paws}

{streeeeetch!}

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Breakfast for Two

I have really fallen off the wagon for cooking up new recipes at home.  I'm still cooking, of course, but nothing super new and exciting.  I've fallen back on making scrambled egg hashes or making veggie wraps--the usual suspects at my house, and not that anyone is complaining, but variety is the spice of life (or so I've been told).

I recently saw a picture of a stuffed baked sweet potato on Pinterest (oh so amazing for getting some cooking inspiration), and I knew I had to give it a whirl.

I "baked" my sweet potato the lazy way--in the microwave.  This potato was a big 'un, so it took about 15 minutes to cook all the way through.

In the meantime, I sauteed an onion until translucent before throwing in a cup of frozen veggies.  I seasoned the mixture with salt and pepper and red chili flakes before adding in two huge cloves of minced garlic.  After the garlic had softened, I added a huge bunch of kale cut into thin ribbons.

When the veggies were done, I put a heaping mass of them on top of my baked sweet potato.  I then finished it off with some garlic dill goat cheese.

Bryan's not a fan of sweet potatoes, so I made him a Florentine Eggs Benedict (minus the Hollandaise--maybe this is something I should learn how to make so I can jazz up my homemade brunches).

I toasted up some Leoda's bread that Bryan brought home, slathered it with some butter, topped it off with the veggies that I had sauteed for my stuffed sweet potato, and then carefully ladled two perfectly poached eggs on top of it all.

Just another great start to the day at the Beaty-Zimmerman household.

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Fun in the Sun

One is never enough--especially when it comes to whale watches.  Ever since my pre-dawn whale watch on the Pacific Whale Foundation, I've been itching to get back on the water.

I finally bit the bullet and bought a whale watch on my favorite boating company on Maui: Trilogy Excursions.  They have a huge fleet of catamarans and have been doing sailing charters for over thirty years.  I've had the opportunity to sail with Trilogy several times, and I've always been happy with the trips, the staff and the boats.  Trilogy consistently offers some of the best customer service on Maui.

{crew member Amy telling us about Humpback Whales}

{Trilogy flags}

{partner in crime: Liz!}

{gorgeous Maui!}

{aboard the Trilogy Elua--the first catamaran in the Trilogy fleet}

{all eyes on the ocean, looking for whales}

{first sighting: Bottlenose Dolphins!}

{this dolphin swam up alongside the boat with her baby}

{whale tail}

{the signature hump of the Humpback Whale}

After seeing several whales at a distance, we finally came across a competition pod.  A competition pod is a group of male whales competing for the attention of a female.

This pod that we saw seemed to be a group of three (there could have been more whales fighting under the surface). The whales swam in a close-knit knot on the surface of the ocean where they trumpeted, slapped the water with their huge pectoral fins and slammed their tails down.

{pectoral fin slapping}

{a little friendly competition}

{whale tail}

{caught in the act: this whale kept slamming his tail down onto the water, over and over again}

{a Teralani catamaran heading home}

{one last whale tail before heading back into harbor}

It was a great afternoon on the water, but I was surprised to find that I got royally sunburned on my whale watch.  I had borrowed some sunscreen from a tourist immediately after I boarded, but it wasn't enough to deflect the crazy sun overload I got from the sunshine reflecting off the water and all the super-white surfaces of the boat.

I am tomato red with ridiculous tank top tan lines and raccoon eyes (thanks to my sunglasses).  The most sunburned part of my body are my lips.  It looks like I got lip injections.  I've got Angelina lips!  Unfortunately, it's not attractive.  And now, a few days after my sun-extravaganza, I'm starting to peel.  Ick.

Anyways...after my day in the sun, I spent the evening off dining at Kimo's with Bryan and my friend Kimo to celebrate Kimo's Employee of the Year win!

We went big.  We got a bottle of Domaine Serene--easily one of the best bottles of Pinot Noir I've ever had, a few appetizers (the smoked marlin and an artichoke), and then, of course, some monster entrees.

{Kimo posing with his prime rib}

{32 ounce prime rib cooked rare, Texas Style, with a 6 ounce Tristan lobster tail}

{I got parmesan crusted Lehi (short-tailed Red Snapper) with coconut crusted shrimp}

Bryan also got the Lehi but done baked Kimo's Style with a lobster tail.  

We went all out.  Obviously.

It was a great way to end the weekend.

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