pololu valley

If you had told me a year ago that I would be living in Hawaii I would have been completely taken by surprise.  This was the last place I expected to move to; I used to tell myself all the time that California would always be home.  And though this is still true, I'm realizing that even in paradise, you still take your world with you wherever you go.  Home is wherever you are, even if it changes all the time.

I have this newfound sense of freedom in recognizing that I can live anywhere and be happy.  The only thing that creates my experience is my own personal perceptions and attitudes about, well... everything.

Hawaii.  Just the idea of this place has so much allure and magnetism.  Part of this is due to the fact that the largest industry in the state is tourism, and so marketers create this attraction to keep their economy in motion.  But the other part of it is how much joy vacationers tend to experience here.  When you're on vacation, you're free from all of the commitments and duties of everyday life.  You wake up in the morning feeling fresh and alive because you have nothing that needs to be done and all of the possibilities of the island at your feet... literally.  There is such joy and invigoration in being free to do as you please.  Especially when you are surrounded by endless beauty in a place where it always feels like summer and a plethora of fun activities to choose from.

Even I was caught up in this whole feeling of Hawaii when I decided to move here.  I thought, it's going to be a dream come true.  And don't get me wrong, it definitely is.  There is a lot to be said for sunshine, warm weather, and beautiful landscape everywhere you go.  The fresh air is heaven.  The warm ocean is to die for.  The people are laid back and incredibly friendly.

But moving here has helped me to realize that the grass is always greener.  It isn't what you are surrounded by that creates your experience - it's you!  You can live on a tropical island and be miserable, or you can live in a desert with next to nothing and be perfectly content.  It's easy to think to yourself, "if I had more money, a bigger house, more fun experiences, more resources at my disposal, then things would be better.  I would be happier."  Sure, they certainly make things easier, but the only thing that can make you truly happy is your decision to just be happy.  And it's easy for me to say but I don't think you can really understand this until you have experienced it for yourself.

Freedom is in the thoughts you choose - not the circumstances that surround you.  And ironically, it is the thoughts you choose that create the circumstances anyway.  I am feeling so much appreciation lately for how magically my life has unfolded and for the circumstances I continue to create.  :)

These pictures are from a breathtakingly beautiful place called Polulu Valley.  You start out at the top of a cliff and hike down into the valley to the first beach where most of the tourists go.  It's beautiful, but a bit crowded.  If you go all the way to the other end of the beach there's another trail that winds all the way back up to the top of the next cliff with another view that is to die for.  There are a few people that take this path, but not many.

Then if you like you can hike down from the top of that cliff to the next beach, and then back upwards to the next cliff.  There are seven valleys between Pololu and Waipi'o Valley and if you want to do a lot of hiking and some camping in between (it's a long way - far too long to do in one day) you can hike up and down through all of them.  Tim and I were only out and about for the day so we only went to the second vista but it was still an unbelievable hike.  I would love to go back and hike/camp the whole thing.  One of the long time locals was telling me that it's amazing there but she wouldn't want to sleep there at night because the energy down there is incredibly powerful.  All I could think was, "that's the fun part!"

That's another one of the wonderful things about Hawaii.  There are a lot of people that just live on the beach and off the land.  It's easy to grow your own fruit and vegetables and the weather is usually good enough to sleep outside (except for the excess rain on the Hilo side.)  But even the rain is warm.  I can easily understand why someone would choose the freedom of living in a tent.  Everything becomes so much more simple.  There are homeless people here, just like there are everywhere in this world.  But if you're homeless and hungry in Hawaii, you really have to be trying hard.  There's abundance everywhere you look.

Here are a few shots from the drive to Pololu... we also dropped by Kohala Estates so Tim could pet the horses.  They just roam free throughout the property, which I think is awesome.  They hang out in the middle of the road and the occasional cars that come through just drive around them or wait for them to pass.  No one is in any big hurry.

Enjoy the journey we took through the trees and the stunning beauty of this incredible place.  I had a lot of fun taking pictures of everything around me.

People build these everywhere on this island.

We also stopped at this place in Kohala on the way back.  I can't remember exactly where it was, we just decided to go explore one of the side streets and found this place.  That's kind of how everything is here.