Life As a Raisin

Hi. I've been remiss in writing and I'm lucky enough to have friends out there who remind me of it – gently even. OK, so I let other things come in between me and my keyboard and frankly, I should never be distracted from this romance. It's what makes me and something that makes you, shouldn't be ignored. But I'm a bad girlfriend, virtual or otherwise, and periods of self absorbed me-me-me time comes with the territory. Not to worry, my blog and I have already made up. Mostly.

Now, let me get to the story. The story of lately is full of stuff and hopefully, will be an interesting one to tell. But don't get your hopes up folks; we all know the end result of that.

I recently spent almost two weeks in Kauai, Hawaii where I snorkeled in my own private aquarium, hiked the Napali Coast and the Waimea Canyon, sunburned the backs of my legs which prevented me from sitting comfortably for 3 days, and surfed for the first time ever. We got rained on at least once a day but learned to call it a "blessing" and walked whenever possible so I could indulge in Shave Ice daily without guilt. (As a quick aside, I found a Shave Ice hut here in Phoenix last weekend. The guy had signs posted all over his little shop stating I was about to receive, "real Hawaiian shave ice". Thrilled I asked him how he got into the business, thinking he must have been to Hawaii fallen in love with Shave Ice (who doesn't?) and came back home to start his own shop. Instead, he told me he'd never been to Hawaii but while at school in Utah he would frequent a shave ice shop. Deciding he wanted to start his own, he researched the best markets for it and found himself in a little shack in northern Phoenix schlepping syrup covered ice shavings.)

Snorkeling in a place called the Tunnels was quite possibly the most surreal experience I've ever had. I never realized how many fish are actually floating around near your feet while you enjoy the cool rush of water embracing your toes as you get a respite from the sun. But shoving my face into the water (masked of course) right at the shoreline proved to be a surprising experience. Hundreds of fish bounced lazily right at the water's edge, expertly weaving in and out of people's feet. Some looked about intently, waiting for someone to consider feeding them to be a great idea. In fact, at one point, an odd woman with a penchant for rolling up onto her head while sitting on the sand, much like Mork from Ork, did decide to feed them. Ironically, the fish in their frantic attempts to obtain the food bit someone else. Needless to say, Someone Else wasn't very happy.

Tunnels is this intricate weaving of lava rock where 5 feet in one direction will take you over a shallow network of coral and 5 feet in the other will have you hovering over a valley of water and deep caverns full of shadowy, bubbling rock. Hovering way above a bottom that’s blurred by sand particles and rays of sun conjures up images of Jaws in even the most unimaginative. Fish dart and dash among the crags and dance on the current and I try not to blink so I don’t miss a thing. The colors are radiant almost like an accident in a kindergarten class, spilled on the floor and turned into a finger painting event. Fish of all sizes take their turns investigating interesting occurrences among the rocks. The only downfall to this beautiful place is that everyone wants to be there. And who can blame them, really, when it feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience?

Californians littered the beaches (not literally, Californian’s are generally an environmentally-conscious bunch) and a sense of release fills in the gaps. You can practically see the tension and stress and the need to hurry lift up and off each person and become a question of, “what was I so worried about again?” It was nice. Everyone was happy to be and shared their happiness by allowing others around them to relax as well.

The best part of the trip was surfing. I was really nervous as we drove up to the beach at 8 am. I was certain that I would be eaten or at the very least, injure myself in some embarrassing way. But I didn’t! I actually got up on the first try and I fell in love with the sport. Our instructor was great, a really nice guy originally from Kauai but studying architecture in Oahu during the school year. He was patient and encouraging and cheered me on as I caught wave after (little) wave. Of course, he didn’t remind me to put sunscreen on the back of my legs and after 2.5 hours of surfing, my legs looked like I slept the morning away on a George Foreman. Before I realized my predicament, I predicted I would leave Dan to marry a surfboard. Of course, this whole living in the desert thing really dampens that love affair.

We also took two separate hikes, one in the Waimea Canyon and the other on the Napali Coast. Lost from the start in Waimea, we found a group of women hiking on a trail. After explaining where we wanted to go, they let us tag along with them until they could point out our trail. After 4 hours of walking barely defined trails, staving off starving bugs, and witnessing Nature’s work from the ridge of the canyon, we finally came out of the loop and tiredly climbed back into the car for the 1.5 ride back home. In comparison, the coast trek was by far the most stunning coastline I’ve ever seen. It was a collection of blues and greens so bright it seemed like God put food coloring into the water, just to make it look more interesting. Who knows, maybe he did. But the coastline was etched with reefs that would darken the surface in pockets along the water line. It created a depth and mystery to the water that made me want to fling myself off the ridge top just to see it closer. Wisely, I decided to walk a few miles to get to it instead. But after a 3.5 hour round trip hike, we climbed giant rocks, navigated around mini-waterfalls, and explored caves teeming with little critters.

All-in-all, it was an amazing trip. Even if restaurants capitalized on tourism (really, should sushi in Hawaii be more expensive than in the desert? I think not!), and the one road that (almost) surrounded the island was full of people from the mainland who weren’t all that courteous (until day 3, when the stress started to be relieved), I’m so glad we went and so glad it was the trip it was. Now if I can just figure out how to work and live there so I can afford a ¾ acre piece of land (that’s right, no house) for 2 million dollars. Man, I hope this MBA thing pays off.