COUNTDOWN

It is Saturday August 27th, and we have less than a week before we are off on our Big Adventure.

The past week has been busy getting ready for the trip and making the most of our windsurfing vacation on Maui.

The wind has been great this trip. Fairly light compared to years past, which is great for me. I think I am slowly graduating from "Chicken of the Sea" to "Kai Wahine"
(Sea Woman) Johnny has recovered from his sinus infection and has been sailing nearly every day.

We did take advantage of a "no wind" day and headed up to the Haleakala crater, and drove through "Up Country" (the hillside on the way up to the crater) I love up country. If we lived on Maui we would definately live there. After touring around all day, stopping at art galleries and other attractions along the way, we stopped at a lavender farm. It was beautful! They grow over 30 types of lavender. We enjoyed a lavender scone with a cup of lavender tea, on a deck overlooking the sugar cane fields and coastlines of the island. It was very relaxing. We also purchased some lavender oil for the long plane ride to New Zealand. It really is amazing how the lavender has such a calming quality about it.

Another no wind day we took a trip over to Hana. It is a beautiful drive and as always, we enjoyed the dramatic scenery of lush forests, waterfalls and cliffs dropping down to a sea so big and blue it can make our every day worries seem small. The size and power of the ocean really puts things into perspective for me.

With the help of a few friends and my lovely neighbor Karen Bailey, our New Zealand trip preparations are nearly completed. Karen shipped me a package with jackets and binoculars. Airline tickets are purchased and we have secured a 4 berth campervan for the tour. I have notifed work of my sabbatical, and set all of our bills up on autopay. I think the only thing we have left is to ship our windsurfers back home and we will be ready to lift off!

MAJOR CHANGE OF PLANS

So, we are on Maui for a 4 week windsurfing vacation, when 3 weeks into the trip…MAJOR change of plans!

Have you ever felt like you needed to do something really big? Shake things up a bit, go out on a limb? We all have our definition of what “going out on a limb” is, but for me, a fairly cautious, serious, gal, who’s idea of adventure is parking in a no parking zone or breaking a rule of any kind, taking a sabbatical from work for 3 months and traveling New Zealand in a campervan is a BIG DEAL! I often dream of adventure, but generally do not take any risks. But, for some reason, I have this uncanny feeling that this is something we need to do right now. When we look into the mirror these days, it seems like there is someone else looking back. Someone who is wiser yet a bit softer, gently used, nicely broken in, and seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Some call it middle age, I prefer to see it as your favorite pair of jeans. Just worn enough to be comfortable, but not too old to wear in public. I guess we better get some use out of these jeans before they wear out and have to be retired.