Alohaaaa,

Sorry about the past two days. My computer battery exploded (not lying) so I had been using the work computer to do my blog posts and since I left the Mill, I'm using Bethany's now. Coming home this week!!! 

That is unless NYC is still underwater and Westchester still doesn't have power and trees down. Then, I will just extend my stay and figure something out. When I booked my trip back home, I decided that I didn't want to just work until my last day but rather have 4 days to really explore the island...and I wanted to be here for Halloween since it is the absolute most epic party Maui has to offer. There's a big chance I will be passed out by 11:30 and that will be a crazy late night for me. We'll see. These four days is my mini vacation, even though as soon as was off of work I manage to be on vacation. This was such an incredible experience for me. Lucky I decided to  stay otherwise I would have been caught in that absolutely devastating hurricane as well. I'm glad to know all my friends are safe! I literally woke up at 4am to 36 texts and pictures. LOVE YOU ALL. 

Anyways, my last two days:

I decided to leave the Mill on Monday and since Haiku is only 38 miles from Hana, I had scheduled an appointment to go HANG GLIDING!!!!!!!! I had no idea what it was and I dont know why I found out about it, but I decided way earlier that I wanted to do it. Impulse executive decision. I just booked the appointment not really sure what it looked like and recently with Cindy saw a picture. Needless to say, I freaked all the way out in person when I saw it. I packed up my car Monday morning, had borrowed Bethany's speakers to attach to my iPod (really, I'm driving a hooptie and how ridiculous is it that I had an iPod and speakers next to me while I was driving ahhaha local style), and was on my way to Hana by myself! I got there and decided to go to Koki Beach to have lunch which was amazing. I've been having these constant "kiss the sky" moments where I put everything in perspective and realize how much I love my life. I mean really. I'm sitting at this beautiful volcanic sand beach, by myself, surrounded by super luscious green, about to go hang gliding and I totally made this all happen. Amazing. This whole Maui experience has changed me for the better. It's so amazing here. I'm so in love with the island. 

 I'm totally going to miss this outdoor shower...

 ...and beaaautiful flowers under a chandelier kitchen table...

and this GIANT mango tree. Seriously, its only one tree. CRAY. Bye bye Haiku Mill!

 I arrived!

Seriously, coming here by myself was one of the best decisions I ever made. It was so peaceful and way nice to be just with myself. Amazing. So beautiful.

 Anyways, after lunch I went to the Hang Gliding place and as I was walking to the shed, I was mouth opened saying "Holy [expletive]". I walked closer and this tall gentlemen yelled out to me, "Hey Molly!". The hang glider is literally a sidecar of a motorcycle with a kite attached. WHAT. Well, its way more than that but thats what I thought I saw. Anyways, it was the most incredible experience I've ever had. I was freaking out the whole time screaming random things into the microphone into Armin's ear and he was cracking up. I can be so animated and enthusiastic sometimes. Point of the story: EVERYONE should go hang gliding. It's otherworldly. I could talk about it for days. I will remember it for the rest of my life and I absolutely loved it. Armin is such a genuinely nice guy, and so professional!  He told me he would fly me to Kahului to Hana and I could even borrow his truck for the day if I decided to come back. Seriously, a gem. WORLD CLASS.

 Freaking out commences ...now.

 I am almost as big as the trike! Was this a joke?!

 I'm driving/steering here!

 Circle rainbow! How cool is that?! I'm in a circle rainbow!!

 Cindy's favorite picture. She loves the different colors of the water so you can see the reef/shore break and the lush. This whole experience was unreal.

 Shaka!

 Just had taken off... I love this picture so much. I didn't realize the camera was taking a picture and I'm holding my mouth in awe. It was so amazing.

 Clutching my heart. Honestly, I understand what it means to fly like a bird now. At this point I think Armin had turned off the motor so it was completely silent in the air. Absolutely incredible.

 Armin goes, "Have you ever felt a cloud?". I swear this man was after my own heart. I literally screamed "NOOO!" and he went wooosh and was all the way up. I had my hands out and felt the clouds running through my fingers. It was a little wet, like condensation on a soda can, and light and somewhat sticky. Oh my goodness, what an incredible experience. I can't even explain how amazing this was. I am so happy even recanting it.

 Landed safe and sound!

Armin and I in our badass outfits. Seriously, even the outfits are cool! 

After that, I had dinner with Cindy (because she was freaking out that I had no service and couldn't reach me lol) and said bye to Brian cause he left for Whistler. 

Yesterday, I went to Baldwin Beach with Cindy for a bit before deciding to do happy hour. Seriously, how can you pass up 1-6? Anytime you are done with the beach you are able to have $3 margaritas! This guy Aaron met up with us and I went to his place upcountry to kick it for a bit. After that, I met up with Bethany and her friends to watch a movie woke up in Pe'ahi. I've never done this cruising around thing so it should be interesting to see how this week goes. Tonight, I'm going with Bethany and her friends into Lahaina for Halloween!!! I just realized its Halloween! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We're all staying down there in Pukalani and I'm actually going to head out soon so I can hit Ka'anapali for a bit. Not sure the next time I'll get on a computer, but I'll try to have tons of pictures. I'm going to be Cleo-Dite again. I mean, thats all I got anyways.

 True, truuuue.

With warmest aloha,

MJ

Aloha oukou,

MAMA'S. FISH. HOUSE. 

This post is specifically dedicated to the deliciousness that was my dinner last night. Holy goodness. MY PALATE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. Unbelievable. Unfreakingreal. I don't have the vocabulary to express how delicious it was. 

Mama's is consistently rated the best fish house in the entire state of Hawai'i. Everything is freshly caught, day of and prepared in the most divine way. Oh my goodness. After dinner I literally sat down and looked at the pictures of my food for an hour at Cindy & Jason's. I am so excited to write this post so I can look at the pictures again. Seriously, my life is not real right now.

 What a view...

Cindy knew someone and she was able to secure us the BEST table in the restaurant and they gave us a discount!!!!!!! Are you serious. I am crying tears of joy just typing this out right now. 

 Oh that little vixen. Cindy and her husband, Jason.

 How cute! Also to check in, you have to go to this little hut thing. Unreal.

Blurry beauties.

My drink was something crazy. Some ginger, island-y, delicious-ass martini. 

 They started us with some poppy bread and this soup. THAT SOUP WAS SO GOOD. Why doesn't every restaurant start with a little soup thing with bread? Can they? Please?

Shrimp wonton with Macadamia Nut sauce. I called this sauce every name in the book. It was dolphin tears one minute, rainbows from unicorns another. It was so good I kept it for my dinner. I wasn't letting that sucker out of my view. Holy goodness!!!

 Ono Ceviche served in a Coconut!

Cindy's so funny. She excused herself to the restroom and after a couple of minutes comes back and said, "It doesn't matter if you're at a keg or Mama's...you're still waiting on line". LOLLLLL.

 This was the menu description: 

Uku- Hawai'ian Snapper caught bottom fishing near Lana'i by Layne Nakagawa 

Upcountry style with caramelized Maui onion, Haiku golden tomato and baby bok choy.

First of all, I know the fisherman because they said his name. Secondly, are you drooling? I wish the light was better but holy goodness. I don't know if it is apparent in the way I am typing, but IT WAS SO GOOD. I ate the whole thing!!!

 Lilikoi Creme Brûlée! Jason called it 'pure sex'. I tasted it and said, "It's almost like making out with someone you've wanted to hookup with forever". Seriously, the food put me in a state of delirium. 

 Polynesian Black Pearl dessert. Lilikoi chocolate mousse in a pastry shell. 

 Appearance is everything, eh?

 Some little coconut things they gave us with warm hand towels. 

The steps of service at Mama's were out of this world. Literally as soon as you finished a course, you had someone clear and set and food was instantaneously out. Unbelievable. Bravo!

 The happiest customers in Mama's. Seriously. The HAPPIEST.

I was so full but couldn't stop eating. It was outrageous. Definitely worth the money. I said if I had a last meal, I would want it at Mama's. After that, we went back to their place and there was a Tsunami warning! I freaked out!!! I mean literally we had JUUUST gotten back from eating dinner on the waterfront! Also, they were saying it was going to hit in an hour and a half. Really not that much time. The sirens kept going through town and it was kind of scary.... 7.7 magnitude earthquake off of the islands in Canada and it was coming right for Maui! Well for all of you that are reading (and now obviously know), I am okay. I live 700 feet above sea level. I'm having a slammin' trip though. I have experienced so many things! Wild. Also, I have a feeling that Sylvia wants to take me to Mama's tonight. I am totally game.

 Nothing to be concerned about here. LOL. I didn't end up going (hello, food coma) but sweet text, eh? Also, Perri from GW invited me out! She actually just checked out the Mill maybe an hour or so ago. 

Hi Perri!

Oh and its the national windsurfer competition going on at Ho'okeeps right now. Seriously, beautiful people everywhere. Drooooooooling.

With warmest aloha,

MJ

Is it a shoutout if I just scream from the mountaintops (okay volcano tops, Haleakala) THAAAAANKKKK YOUUUUUUU? I hope not. I'll be doing that tomorrow or something equally as ridiculous. 

Aloha,

Yesterday I was off! Woo. I think it was totally perfect that I took Wednesday and Saturday off this week. I don't really mind whenever I'm on or off, but it really is nice having a break in the middle of the week to refocus or just to get out. Maui is so amazing that when you are off you have a billion options of things to do. Yesterday, Cindy and I decided to go hiking in the Bamboo Forest. 

Cindy picked me up at around 12 noon and we headed on our way! The forest is on the same road to Hana, just past mile marker 6 I think. There's a sign that says "No Parking" and then you park (right in front of that sign lol) and hop a fence. Boom, you're in the forest. Totally not kidding. That is how you get to the Bamboo Forest. ahhaha. Anyways, there are some waterfalls in there and we wanted to see them so we went. We got crazy lost in the forest TWICE and since it was slippery, we were walking barefoot for most of the time. Super rugged. Hopping and scaling rocks, walking barefoot through the forest of bamboo, listening to the wind. It's amazing to listen to the wind through the bamboo. It sounds like a horse drawn carriage going down cobblestones. And I was the one really pressing to go on this hike! How ridiculous! 

Cindy is so funny. She took a picture of me and goes, "I feel like I work for NatGeo out here" LOLOL. My response, "Does it could as a hike if you have no shoes on?". 

Whenever we do something cool, Cindy takes a minute and really puts it into perspective. We were coolin' at the waterfall and she goes, "We just swam in a waterfall, in the middle of the rainforest with fresh cold rainwater that we had to climb a rope to get to. Alone. On an island. In the middle of the Pacific". How incredible does that sound for a Saturday afternoon?!

 I love conifer trees! I really, really do.

 This is the entrance to the Bamboo Forest. For real though? We just hopped barbed wire. Doot doot HOP.

So those cars behind us were prob headed to the Bamboo Forest as well. They're just parked on the side of the road. Seriously, people just hop fences into the bush and expect to find things. How outrageous is that!

Before I left this morning, Mickey gave me a hat!!!!! Well Sylvia gave it to me, but I have been wanting one of these "local" hats for a while ...and I really didn't want to buy one. BUT I LOVE THIS ONE!! They chose red because they thought I'd look good in it. So sweet. Honestly, I'm just excited that a freaking awesome windsurfer gave me one of his branded hats. And its super cool. BOOOOOOOOOM.

 Bam-who? BamBOO.

 Shaka!

 I actually ditched my shirt at the car. Figured if we were going to a waterfall, I wouldn't need clothes. So...I went hiking with no shoes and no shirt. Obviously logical.

 We had to cross this little plank thing to get across. Thanks for the photo Cindy! Really guys, I'm rugged. Whooooaaa.

 Canopy of beautiful green! So amazing!

 We hopped, skipped and jumped all these rocks. LOL. We got so lost. And my feet were burning from the hot stones!

SO BEAUTIFUL!

 When we saw this view, it totally took my breath away. How unbelievable is this?! Seriously, how incredible is this to look out at a forest of perfectly luscious greenery? My eyes are so spoiled.

 Cindy and I!

 LOL at this pose.

Anyways, after hiking in the still heat (SO HOT) we made it to the first pool! I was so excited that I was jumping on the rocks really fast. As soon as I got closer to water Cindy said, "Be careful. A lot of the rocks are covered with moss and super slippery". Literally, without fail, I fell right into the waterfall pool and hurt my foot pretty badly. I actually have a baby limp right now. Totally threw off my balance. AND I MESSED UP MY PHONE CAMERA! Super condensation on the camera so everything from this point was a little foggy. Luckily when we drove back to Haiku, Jason gave me some rice to stick that sucker in. MAGIC.

 Waterfall number 1...

 After I fell. Honestly, almost broke my freaking toe. Soaked shorts.

 Sad face LOL

Klutzy Molly reigns supreme...again. Honestly, party fouler of the year award should go to me.

 Climbing this muddy, slippery, crazy rope. 

 I am totally scaling these rocks. WHAATTT. Who is that chick?

 Made it to waterfall number 2!!

 Swimming alone...bliss.

 My all time favorite picture. Perfection.

 This face. Always a winner.

 How cool are ripples? I stayed in the water and played with them for a bit. I can't believe this is my life.

 pretty ginger!

My hiking outfit. LOL. Cindy the super-snapper photographer LOLLLL.

Totes makeup free!

Well, that was the Bamboo Forest! Cindy dropped me off at home to freshen up for dinner because we had reservations at the BEST fish house on the island!!! So exciting. I had the most delicious food and I'll spare the story but out of control, unbelievable, best fish I have EVER had in my life (even though I only started eating fish two months ago). Seriously, my palate is totally spoiled. UNREAAAALLLLL. I'm putting that in an entirely different post because it was so delicious. ahha


With warmest aloha,
MJ

OH SNAP, I don't think my halloween post is going to show on this page! On the lower right hand side, click older posts LOL. I was "Cleo-Dite"... DO IT!!!!!