After Dena left, Tom and I had about 5 days to relax and hang out together. We visited Volcano N.P., checked out some waterfalls and historical sites, took several yoga classes, swam, and most definitely ate well. It was a great visit and lots of fun catching up with a good friend I hadn't seen in 8 months.
After the visit with Tom I was down to my last 6 days at Kipuka Temple. It was hard to believe two and a half months of community living was coming to an end. There were several highlights over my last few days at Kipuka. One of them was a trip to the summit of Mauna Kea with four of my community friends. Mauna Kea is an inactive volcano that is nearly 14,000 ft. above sea level. We drove up and over the clouds to reach the peak about an hour before sunset. The temperature was about 40 degrees so we bundled up and drank hot cocoa while enjoying the sites.
The top of Mauna Kea features 13 different telescopes which are huge and privately owned by various countries around the world.
Here's the Mauna Kea gang, Malia, Leif, myself, Mikal, and Maria in front. I enjoyed several opportunities to sing, dance, laugh, and bond with my friends the last few days. I really enjoyed my time spent living in community and will definitely seek opportunities to visit other communities in the future (www.ic.org). I'm grateful for all the friends I made during my 10 weeks who opened my mind to new areas of interest and possibility. I'm especially thankful for Robert Silber who welcomed me to the community back in early January. I learned a great deal from Robert from how to run a community with integrity to conscious communication. My final three weeks before returning to the mainland will be spent on the island of Kauai.
