Packed up and moving on

Today I moved out of my apartment in Hilo and finished saying my goodbyes to the Big Island of Hawaii. CRAZY. This summer went by in such a whirlwind, and I can’t believe I’ve lived somewhere outside the Bay Area and am already moving on! I finished work on Monday – it was the last day of the whole summer, and Jake and I forgot to bring the Whirl Packs for the Malaise traps! That means we had nothing to put the bugs in so we ended up using our water bottles, the Menehune gallon jugs, and triple-bagging samples. It was creative to say the least, a bit sketchy to be honest. But we got the job done and afterwards I separated my last three bags of leaves and branches EVER (hopefully). So that was my last day of work. Here's a photo of the trail sign for our often-traversed path to the kipuka, and below is a photo of my view coming home from the forest service. That hill is a pain to climb, but it's so fun to whizz down. I'm actually going to miss it!

Jake and I cleaned the apartment on Sunday and Tuesday so that Sal, our landlady, could do her walkthrough. Apparently only Clorox with bleach can get rid of stains on the bottom of the shower, incase you were wondering. I cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed our living room, and it looked great! So that process was a lot easier than expected. Here's one last view from my apartment door. And Wednesday, Tommy and I just drove around saying goodbye to Hilo since Jake had already left and the apartment was pretty much all set to leave. We stumbled across an awesome waterfall that emerged from a huge tunnel cut out of the rock, but I got a bunch of bug bites. Lame!

Today I finished packing my last few items, took out the recycling, and boarded a plane to Honolulu. I still can’t believe I’m not in Hilo, and that in just a couple days I’ll be in Singapore! I’m staying at my friend Kanoa’s house while I’m still in Honolulu. It’s a beautiful house and he has a car so I think we’ll be able to hang out at the beach and whatnot. This summer has been the best of my life, and I can forsee it getting better and better as I travel!