Today was nothing short of amazing.  Jim and I started early and got to the start of Pololu Valley a little after 6am.  This is quite simply the most breath taking scenery I’ve ever seen. I’ve taken MANY pics and have a link to them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markdeso/sets/72157630598473752/

We came down the trail on the north end to the beach and stayed there for a bit.  We did a T’ai Chi set and hung out for a bit.  I turned my back for about 5 minutes and Jim had set upon building a huge stone tower.  He had it at about waist high and continued till it was almost up to his nose.  He would take a big flat stone, place three smaller stones on it and then stack a slightly smaller one on top of the three stones.  He did this smaller and smaller till the tower spiralled up.

We crossed the beach into the forest and made our way up the south side.  This was very muddy and it turned into being a very slippery walk up.  We didn’t make it to the top… I pooped out and asked to turn around.  I was a little worried about the descent but Jim grabbed a walking stick for me and suggested a meditation on the way down… concentrate on right foot, then left foot.  That was it.  I found that by really thinking of right foot/left foot/right foot/left foot, it helped me slow down, be grateful for the solid footing when I had it and gave me the ability to be very mindful about the many muddy turns on the way down.

When we came back, there were a lot of people that started to come down.  EVERYONE that walked by and noticed the stone tower took pictures.  It was truly a remarkable piece.  Jim rocked it!

We came back into town and had a bite to eat. At the coffee house we got a couple of egg sandwiches.  There was a saxophone player we were talking to outside the coffee shop and he was setting up for a set with a guitar player.  I decided to stay in town, listen to some music and mingle for a bit.  I listened for a bit, did some gift shopping and found a little gallery that sold ukuleles, guitars and other musical instruments.   Outside the gallery was a young man with a huge beard playing the ukulele and singing.  I asked the shop owner if I could grab a guitar off the wall to play with him and she gladly agreed.  So, on the outskirts of town, I got to sit and play with an awesome ukulele player.

We finished the day quietly, a board game with the family (sorry Jim, it looked interesting but I think I may need to go to a class for this game.), nice tacos and now my blog entry.

This was such a beautiful and wonderful day.  Again, the people I encounter here… they are heart felt and genuine.  The rain is coming down in buckets right now.  I’m thinking I want to go out there and enjoy the storm…. Till tomorrow, aloha!