The study is about the Psalms of Ascent and taking the next step in your journey. The last session was titled My Hope Is in the Lord. It was about being effective to fellow travellers on the path. It reminds you to forgive one another, encourage each other and to love deeply. Then she said, if you can't love deeply you're going to say "fine" to everyone who asks you "How are you?" Then she asks if anyone has ever done that before. It just reminded me that while I struggle on my journey I need to make sure I take a quick glance around to make sure no one else is stranded.
I had the chance to experience some more Hawaiian adventures this past week. Took a break from the snorkeling and boogie boarding. This past weekend we headed out to find the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Carribean. They've been filming here and on one of the other islands. The ship has slowly made it around the island and they just wrapped up the filming on Sunday. Unfortunately, I was not enough of a fan to wait there all day to catch a glimpse of Johnny Depp. But we met many people who were able to shake his hand, take pictures and have conversations with him. I guess he's a pretty good guy. Got some pictures of the ship. They were doing stunt work and smaller scenes when we got there. I thought it was pretty neat!
Sunday was supposed to be a stay at home and do everything you've been putting off kind of day. Instead I left my house at 8:45AM and came home at 11PM. I've been going up to North Shore to partake in the farmer's market every Sunday after church. This week is a short week where minimal groceries are needed so I decided not to go. But a friend enticed me with promises of laying out on her "private beach" (it's not nearly as private as she thinks it is). So we went to the market, grabbed lunch and laid out on the beach. I tried to swim a little but the water made me shiver. A few hours later, some of the girls had to leave and we started talking about hiking. My goal is to do one new hike a month and try to visit as many beaches on the island as I can. Jennifer told me she'd be glad to join my adventure club. Then she told me about this hike she did with her husband while looking for fresh dirt for his garden. The more she told me, the more excited about it she got. At about 5PM we decided we should just go for it. So I threw on a pair of her shorts and a pair of sneakers one and a half sizes too big and started off.
What she failed to inform me was that you had to go off-roading to get to the start of the trail. I envisioned driving over to a trailhead, walking up, taking pictures and coming back down in time for dinner. What I got was much more adventurous and I had a blast. We did about 20 mins of off-roading which was approximately 1.5 miles. It made it crazier that she just learned how to drive stick! We walked up the easy part of the trail, saw a gorgeous view of the ocean and mountains and realized that we weren't satisfied. We climbed up some rocks made it to several old bunkers and then I found out I am terrified of heights. As the wind blew and an airplane flew next to us, I started to panic a little. Going up was much easier than going back down.
I lost my inhaler, but it's not a good hike unless you loose something important. At least this time I made it to the top. We could have gone up further but daylight was fading fast and off-roading in the dark with the ocean next to you is probably not a good idea. We ran back to the Jeep and got out as the sun was setting. We would have made the perfect Jeep commerical!
Today I hurt and have tons of chores to do but I had to get one last adventure in before heading back to the mainland for a few days. I get to see my entire family (parents, brothers, sister-in laws, nieces and nephews) in a few more days. I'm just sad Tim won't be there. It's going to be an exhausting vacation but I will probably fill up my story books for the year.
