sometimes i find myself in situations where it feels like i’m in a movie. this has both gotten me in trouble, as well as resulted in some of the most incredible moments of my life. i’m a total nerd when the right song comes on for whatever is happening i just imagine a soundtrack to my life, but to be honest, when that happens i find myself truly present, and that’s what this particular saturday october 29th was for me.

wake up baby. i rolled over and glanced at the clock, i had no intentions of getting out of bed at 3:00am to drive an hour an a half for a sunrise i knew didn’t even start until 6:00am. i tried to close my eyes and go back to sleep after replying “talk to me in an hour”, but i just couldn’t. he was so excited and i knew it would be worth it, so after laying there for 8 stubborn minutes, i got up.

he was making way too much noise in the kitchen for 3:08am but i couldn’t help but smile. i’m so grateful to be with someone so hungry for adventure and new experiences. you can sleep the whole way baby i promise, i’m going to show you the most beautiful sunrise in the world today.

i didn’t sleep for even a second. we had the most amazing drive up to the mauna kea summit together, hand in hand, listening to some of my favorite lists on spotify. the sky was absolutely incredible, pitch black and clear, filled with so many stars. i kept counting shooting stars outloud to pete as he was driving, i didn’t even know you could see so many from a car window. we made it almost to the top and we came to a sign that said “4×4 only”… we stopped and looked at eachother. i could feel the disappointment in his eyes as we contemplated whether or not we should continue in our tiny compact rent-a-car. the paved road turned to gravel and it was hard to see how steep it was in the dark. we decided to give it a try since the sign was likely for when it snows, and if it got to scary we would come back down. part of me was grateful it was dark so i couldn’t see the drop off on the side of the road, but we made it up to the top no with no problem. when we got to the end of the road and we were the only ones up there so we parked the car, turned on the heat and opened the doors so we could lay back and stare up at the blanket of stars. i put on my newly updated bon iver list (of course:)) and wrapped the comforter off of the hotel around us, the air was so cold and crisp thank goodness peter thought to bring that. we reclined our seats and i snuggled up on his chest with his arms around me and we had the most peaceful sleep. about 45 minutes later i woke to the faintest color in the sky as the stars slowly faded into the new day. we layed there as we slowly woke up, watching the color rise into the sky and the stars disappear. it was seriously one of the most magical moments.

it felt like we were on another planet with the clouds beneath us and the sunlight turning the sky the most vibrant soft pink i’d ever seen. we finally braved the cold so we could take a few photographs and it was nearly freezing. by this time a few tour buses had arrived with people wearing parkas and boots and hats, and there we were, board-shorts and a dress with a half sleeve sweater and a blanket from our hotel bed, i’m sure everyone thought we were crazy. he wrapped his arms around me as we kept eachother warm and the sunlight finally reached us. we still had soft music playing in the background from the phone in pete’s pocket and it felt like a scene out of a romantic movie. everything moved slowly and it was such a beautiful experience.

we were so exhausted on the way down from the mountain that near the bottom we decided to pull over and take another nap. it was sunny when we fell asleep cozied up in our little front-seat-car-bed, and when we woke up the windows were glittered with rain drops. we felt a million times better after an extra hour of sleep and we made our way back to the hotel. i am so grateful for peter always pushing me to do these types of things. it would have been so easy to just say skip it and not get up that morning but his zest for life and adventure keeps us doing new things and creating new memories like this one that i will never forget, and for that i am thankful. <3

(next time we’ll remember to bring warmer clothes and more camera gear to properly document how incredible it is to watch the sunrise from this spot, but for now, here are few iphone photographs:))