I woke up a little stiff this morning, but not too bad. I woke up once during the night and looked outside the window- lots and lots of stars. But, alas, by morning the cloud cover rolled back in by sunrise, and we were greeted with a light, misting rain. Of course, no rain, no rainbow, which showed up at about 7:30 am. Yay, rainbow!
Last nightʻs sleep was a little restless for me - I had dreams of being pushed multiple times throughout the night. Breakfast was a treat, pumpkin pancakes with chocolate chips! Along with our usual eggs, fruit and other goodies. We got off to a bit of a late start, but all was still well in the world. It gave me the opportunity to have a little quiet time to write about yesterday, and our time with Baron. What a wonderful man. I hope he stays for a while longer!!! After 13 years, Iʻd imagine that the solitude gets to be a little bit too much.
The rain started back up again in earnest after breakfast, so went over to the garage to get boots and rain jackets. It took a while to find a pair of boots large enough, but at last I found the right size!
We then headed off to find Steve, our birding guide, back at Pua ʻAkala. We were hoping to see some of the endangered birds of the forest. Hakalau is home to four of six endangered Hawaiian forest birds - the ʻAkiapolaʻau, Hawaiian ʻAkepa, Hawaiian Creeper, and the ʻIo.
Alas, luck was not overwhelmingly with us today. We heard the ʻAkepa, but did not see. We did see one ʻIo, though, but it was too quick for me to photograph. That's ok, though, the lush canopy of trees and the sounds of the birds overhead were enchanting. We saw lots of Iʻiwi, their flamboyant red plumage highly visible in the trees. We did get to see the earlier Hakalau plantings. It is amazing how quickly the koa grows, and how large the ferns get.
After about 12:30, it was time to head back to the cabin to eat lunch, pack out, clean up, and he’d home. Naturally, Iʻm a bit anal retentive when it comes to meeting SP time, so I allowed for no lolly-gagging around the lunch table! :) We did make short order of things, and after divvying up what would remain with Baron, and what would go to Rhiannon’s mom, we commenced out of the park towards Big Island Candy. We did a pass-off of Rhiannon to her family once we were out of the park, and headed off into the rain.
As we were driving down Saddle Road, we saw the most beautiful rainbow that almost drizzled like melting ice cream. Oh, to not be driving the truck! When we got out of the truck at Big Island Candy, we were overwhelmed with heat and humidity. Huge change after the last two day, we had even been running the heater in the truck on the way down the mountain! We are back to reality.
As we entered into the airport, we saw yet another magnificent rainbow (we are, after all, on the Rainbow Isle) that spanned the area. Picture 1/3 rainbow to the left, blue sky in the middle 1/3, and 1/3 rainbow to the right. Nature is enough to give you chicken skin.
Following a beer and a miso soup, it was time to begin boarding the plane. A quiet flight back, it gave me time to think and to write. I was sad to have spent this wonderful time away from Wayne, but I wouldn’t trade it at all. It was lovely.
