A big beautiful mess.

I haven't been in Hawaii very long. Just over a month to be exact. So naturally each day feels incredibly new and fresh. Even when I stay in all day editing on my computer, the sound of the ocean and swaying palm trees out my windows are still very much foreign to me. Each day feels like an adventure, but adventures come in different sizes and last night's adventure was a big, beautiful mess. 

Around 3:00pm my roommate Devin suggested that we go camping. The location sounded amazing. A lighthouse perched at the point of the rocky coast complete with WWII bunkers on top. The catch, is that nobody is supposed to be there after dark, and cops check the nearby parking lot for vehicles. This led to the decision to travel by bus.

Our destination

So we packed lightly. A little food, some water, small blankets, a tarp, and most importantly our camera gear. We headed out the door and down to the nearest bus stop. This is when things stopped going our way, and everything that could go wrong did.

Little did they know the adventure that awaited us.

Our camera gear... complete with "Nate".

Cameras make good pillows. 

Our first bus wasn't much of an issue in the beginning. It seemed simple enough. Take the bus down the coast, get off at a particular stop, transfer onto another bus, and head to our destination. Not quite. What happened is that we missed our stop and ended up going clear over the mountain to the other side. We promptly got off, and caught a bus back from where we had just come from. We got back to the original transfer stop and waited again for the next bus. Here we met a nice lady named Judy, she was from New York and in her 60's. She has lived on the island for 44 years. Why do I know such things about Judy? Because my friend Devin decided it was his obligation to interrogate the poor lady. Waving his arms, talking loudly and being downright crazy he carried on a conversation with Judy. Oh, and did I mention I filmed the whole thing? Yeah, I totally did.

Finally our next bus pulled up, we boarded and though we were running out of daylight, we were on the right path, at least we thought. The bus got us within a few miles of where we wanted to be, but still far from walking distance. We tried to hitchhike, but I guess nobody had room because we watched as car after car passed on the opportunity to pick up three strapping lads.

I guess my huge biceps were intimidating people?

With the power of Google Maps on our phone we found another bus stop that would FINALLY get us to where we were trying to get, and to our surprise it did! We arrived at "Sea Life Park", which is just a couple miles from the Lighthouse.

So up the hill we trekked. We arrived at the parking lot that sits at the base of cliffs. There is a paved trail that goes all the way around the cliff side and eventually leads to the Lighthouse, but we had little to no daylight left, so we decided going up and over was the best idea. We were both right and wrong. The daylight disappeared faster than we anticipated, halfway up a cop car had pulled into the parking lot with the lights flashing. Did he know we were there? Was he calling for backup? We didn't care, and it only motivated us to move faster.

Still a long way from the top it began to rain, and the wind was blowing violently. Through the dark we staggered our way up over the rocks and through the cactus and bushes. Finally we reached the top, but the lighthouse was at the base of the other side. We had hit the halfway mark. By this time the rain was relentless and showed no signs of slowing down, so we took refuge in one of the WWII bunkers. It's good enough for soldiers, should be fine for us we figured. As we scoped out the concrete floor for a spot to sleep with the lights on our phones I began to see movement. Upon closer examination I discovered some fun friends that we were about to have a slumber party with. A handful of scorpions and a very menacing looking centipede. Suddenly the rain and wind didn't seem so bad. We grabbed our gear, climbed out of the bunker and decided we would walk down to the lighthouse. It was dark, raining, and dangerous but by this point we really didn't care.

We stumbled, fell, and slid down to the path that led to the lighthouse. Hooray! That wasn't so hard now was it? The lighthouse was finally within sight. We finished the remaining last steps that led us to a lookout point. This point consisted of some concrete stairs leading to a concrete slab with a small fence around it to prevent people from falling to their death I suppose. This looked like a perfect spot to sleep for the night.

Best suite on the island.

 This is when all the hurdles that we had just spent hours jumping over suddenly seemed so worth it. Looking out over the ocean the nearly full moon was so bright I had to squint to look at it. I'd never seen the moon look so powerful. It hung up there in the clouds, and all I could imagine was the force it has pulling our oceans around like rag dolls raising and lowering the tides. We could see another storm approaching as it dumped rain back into the ocean, but all I wanted to do is take photos.

Only in Hawaii does the moon shine like a sun.

 Finally my pal Nate talked us into getting our "campsite" set up. This consisted of putting a tarp up against the face facing the wind. Not much of a tent, but I was grateful for it. It kept everything dry, and shielded us from the intense wind. After the storm passed what I saw next was not only a first for me, but one of the most surreal moments of my life. A lunar rainbow.

Dear Planet Earth. You are stupid cool. That is all.

 I didn't even know it was possible, but there it was, staring me in the face. I scrambled to get my tripod set up and my camera primed to expose. Unfortunately at night the only way to take photos is using long exposure, and subtle movement during the exposure causes blurry images. So, long exposure combined with wicked nasty wind equals less than focused shots. I did the best that mother nature would allow. Nothing will compare to being there in person and witnessing such an event. We had a little more fun with long exposures as well.

Nate wins the circle game. Devin gets bronze.

My handwriting looks better when I write backwards using my phone. That's strange to me.

As the night wore on we eventually wrapped up in blankets and attempted to sleep. I don't think any of  us got much. The combination of multiple rainstorms, and coastal wind throughout the evening mad it tough to doze off. Eventually morning arrived and we were greeted with a gorgeous sunrise. I'm beginning to think Hawaii doesn't know how to have any other kind of sunrise.

Insert 1000 words here

Me shooting the "lighthouse"

My shoes have never been so scared.

Even though we didn't face ideal conditions during our venture, what we received in the end was priceless. A memory that will never be pulled from our minds. A memory that we had to earn. The difficulties of this trip were what made it worth having.

This adventure ends, to make room for the next.