What is this strange, unfamiliar sensation creeping over me? I don't recognize it, and that makes me suspicious. But I think I recall what it is. Dare I say it? It is a feeling of contentment?
I think it just might be.
Which is weird.
We drove along the "Other Hana Highway." This highway snaked along the northwest part of the island and was unfamiliar territory on an island I've already tread. The road was bumpy and full of hairpin blind turns that made me nervous for head-on collisions (Lilo lost an "eye"--her headlight, it kind of just dangled there). But eventually, the stunning scenery of the jagged lava rock against the green growth wedged in the rocks won me over. I couldn't stop smiling.
It takes a lot for me to add a place to my list of "the most beautiful things I've ever seen" but the Mushroom Rock was shoved near the top of the list today. It competed against the crisp air of the Canadian Rockies, the red sand of Wadi Rum in Jordan, the grassy mountaintops of Yangmingshan National Park in Taiwan and the first time I saw the ocean peeping over the dunes in New Jersey.
These places have all taken my breath away. The Mushroom Rock was off of a gravel pullout. A few middle aged women looked at us with skepticism, in our flip flops, about our decision to hike down to the rock. I wanted to see the shore. We went down, pushing our way through long grasses and spiky bushes, down the slippery wheel marks made by a four wheeler and climbed our way to the top of the rocks. Looking over the ocean was beautiful. The incredible sapphire colored water crashed along the lava rock with such force it created waves that splashed up 20 feet. Matched with the sheer cliff faces along the side, it was spectacular.
But when I turned around, my heart did some version of skipping a beat. No picture could ever do it justice. The lime greens and yellows against the sandy ground and lava rock made a color palette so vivid I never had seen anything like it. I stared at it, wishing my eyes to permanently implant it into my cornea. We stood there, in silence, only breaking to say how beautiful it was. Standing there, that weird feeling--contentment--renewed, if only for a brief moment. But still, how beautiful it was.
I think it just might be.
Which is weird.
It takes a lot for me to add a place to my list of "the most beautiful things I've ever seen" but the Mushroom Rock was shoved near the top of the list today. It competed against the crisp air of the Canadian Rockies, the red sand of Wadi Rum in Jordan, the grassy mountaintops of Yangmingshan National Park in Taiwan and the first time I saw the ocean peeping over the dunes in New Jersey.
 |
| The view from the mushroom rock--no justice done |
But when I turned around, my heart did some version of skipping a beat. No picture could ever do it justice. The lime greens and yellows against the sandy ground and lava rock made a color palette so vivid I never had seen anything like it. I stared at it, wishing my eyes to permanently implant it into my cornea. We stood there, in silence, only breaking to say how beautiful it was. Standing there, that weird feeling--contentment--renewed, if only for a brief moment. But still, how beautiful it was.
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