Every day here is full. This past Sunday, Feb 1st, was a relaxing hour long drive to Waimea with Anthony and Robert. They are both Canadians, and sadly both leaving this week. That's one of the hardest things about being a Mission Builder-you bond with people and then they leave.
We drove up to the northern part of the Big Island, my first time up there. It's cattle country, home to one of the largest ranches in the U.S., Parker Ranch. It has around 135,000 cattle. The landscape is bizarre and beautiful. The cacti are like sculpture, popping out of the ground among the grazing cattle. The mountains are reminiscent of Bolivia and China, and definitely give you a feeling of being in another country. I often feel that way being here, with the incredibly varied and lush plant and wildlife.
We didn't have time for a horseback ride, since I needed to be back by 5 pm for a luau, so we stopped on the mountainside for a nice half hour nap. It was quite restful and peaceful.
The artwork in this one gallery we stopped in was incredible. He paints landscapes as if they were a picture, with a glass bowl effect.
We got back in time, but my friend Jim was not around, so I hurried down to the pier, and as I walked along the wall, I heard a woman exclaim, "What is that?" and a man who lived here for 12 years said, "Spinner Dolphins!" He said this was very very rare that they came this close to the pier, and had only seen anything like that 4 or 5 times. Incredible. I was so excited and sad that I wasn't wearing my bathing suit as I wanted nothing more than to jump off the pier and join them. But it seemed that the people on paddleboards and swimming were pushing them away. At least I got to watch them break the water gracefully with their fins, sometimes 7-10 at the same time. And they would sometimes break out of the water completely doing complete 720 degree spins in the air and dropping back in. It made my heart soar. I had been praying the day before for God to send me some dolphins and whales.
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