Wednesday, March 25, 2009
And on the third day...
Slept in late today and then spent the majority of the day at the beach spear fishing. It seems I have the same unfortunate luck fishing with a spear as i do with a rod and reel, but at least I got to see a lot more turtles though. Went back to the house, cleaned up, and drove to a town on the other side of the island for dinner. Got the best burger I have ever had, seriously, amazing. Hung out for a bit in the town, came back, watched a movie, went to bed. No pics today.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Day 2 - The Road to Hana
Ever wonder why locals everywhere get so friggin annoyed with the tourists,,, its because they DRIVE SO FREAKIN SLOW!!! Today we decided to be those tourists (sorry locals. although, in our defense we at least pulled off the road to let them pass) and drive the famous "Road to Hana". Its about a 60 mile strip of beautiful, ridiculously curvy one/two lane, mostly paved road that goes out to the little city of Hana. A good portion of this road is cut into the sides of the radically vertical cliffs along the ocean only moving inland to drive through some amazing rain forest. 
It was very "country", which was a nice change from the over-developed areas we have been in. A lot of the places reminded me of a more tropical version of the Smokey's back home. It took us most of the day to make it all the way out because we stopped at a bunch of hikes, waterfalls, and beaches. On our first hike we ended up getting pretty lost in a bamboo forest trying to find a waterfall. The hike really wouldn't have been that bad if we had stayed on the main trail, but what fun would be??? 
We ended up in some farmers pastures with his cows and had to turn around and tramp back through the insane bamboo to the main trail and then we found the waterfalls. 
I think our extra little trek probably better than the waterfalls actually. Our next few stops were a few (no hiking required) waterfalls and overlooks
and then we stopped for lunch at a sweet little area right on the ocean. The rock wall in front of us was the first and only thing to take the brunt of the wicked wind and waves that have traveled thousands of miles of open ocean to get here. 
After lunch we headed to a black volcanic sand beach which was quite cool.
It had (obviously) black sand :) and a sweet volcanic rock archway.
Our last major stop of the day was a red volcanic sand beach. The red sand beach was SO RAD. We hiked down to the shoreline and headed around to the next cove. 
Of course, there were some more nudies there, three guys to be exact ;( (thats my crying frown). The cove they were in was amazing though, so we just headed down anyway. The ocean was really REALLY rough, but there was this line of rocks that stopped most of the swells and left a calm little pool to swim around in, which was perfect since we were all nasty from a day of hiking. 
After a quick swim, we packed up, took a group pic and headed back.
On the way back, Georgia was in control of the music in our car on the way back since I had already had my song pics for the day(we have a little radio transmitter that plays your Ipod on the radio in your car). She was hoping back and forth between songs before they would ever finish, and finally settled on the Mary Poppins sound track... :( We stopped to take some pics and i went up to the other guys in the next car and said "you guys are never going to believe what we have to listen to in our car!!!", and they said "really, it can't be any worse than what we are listening to cause we only get one radio station out here and the freakin DJ won't let the songs finish and now they are playin MARY POPPINS!!!!". There weren't any other radio waves out where we were so they were picking up our transmission! Funny poop that was,,, we laughed for like, ten minuets before we got back on the road. We ended up at a pizza place for dinner, it was good, we ate till we were stuffed, we went home, and we slept... No sleeping pills needed tonight.
It was very "country", which was a nice change from the over-developed areas we have been in. A lot of the places reminded me of a more tropical version of the Smokey's back home. It took us most of the day to make it all the way out because we stopped at a bunch of hikes, waterfalls, and beaches. On our first hike we ended up getting pretty lost in a bamboo forest trying to find a waterfall. The hike really wouldn't have been that bad if we had stayed on the main trail, but what fun would be??? 
We ended up in some farmers pastures with his cows and had to turn around and tramp back through the insane bamboo to the main trail and then we found the waterfalls. 
I think our extra little trek probably better than the waterfalls actually. Our next few stops were a few (no hiking required) waterfalls and overlooks
and then we stopped for lunch at a sweet little area right on the ocean. The rock wall in front of us was the first and only thing to take the brunt of the wicked wind and waves that have traveled thousands of miles of open ocean to get here. 
After lunch we headed to a black volcanic sand beach which was quite cool.
It had (obviously) black sand :) and a sweet volcanic rock archway.
Our last major stop of the day was a red volcanic sand beach. The red sand beach was SO RAD. We hiked down to the shoreline and headed around to the next cove. 
Of course, there were some more nudies there, three guys to be exact ;( (thats my crying frown). The cove they were in was amazing though, so we just headed down anyway. The ocean was really REALLY rough, but there was this line of rocks that stopped most of the swells and left a calm little pool to swim around in, which was perfect since we were all nasty from a day of hiking. 
After a quick swim, we packed up, took a group pic and headed back.
On the way back, Georgia was in control of the music in our car on the way back since I had already had my song pics for the day(we have a little radio transmitter that plays your Ipod on the radio in your car). She was hoping back and forth between songs before they would ever finish, and finally settled on the Mary Poppins sound track... :( We stopped to take some pics and i went up to the other guys in the next car and said "you guys are never going to believe what we have to listen to in our car!!!", and they said "really, it can't be any worse than what we are listening to cause we only get one radio station out here and the freakin DJ won't let the songs finish and now they are playin MARY POPPINS!!!!". There weren't any other radio waves out where we were so they were picking up our transmission! Funny poop that was,,, we laughed for like, ten minuets before we got back on the road. We ended up at a pizza place for dinner, it was good, we ate till we were stuffed, we went home, and we slept... No sleeping pills needed tonight.
My first day in Hawaii
Ok, so Im here,,, in HAWAII!!!!! Kehei, Maui to be exact. David N, Steve, Jenn, Amy, Georgia, and I all got in late Sat night, and David J. is coming in tomorrow night. We are staying in a cool little condo just a few hundred yards from the beach. When i woke up Sun i decided it would be a good idea to go for a run. Im not sure if this decision was made due to the extremely small amount of sleep i got the night before, or because i thought that maybe, running on the beach in maui would be less repulsive to me than running in the smog of SoCal,,, or (most likely) because Shelli's sadistic exercise habits are rubbing off on me :( Whatever my reasons were, it was NOT one a good idea. I mean, this is vacation after all right, and your not supposed to exercise on vacation right? My run started out good and i ran past lots of other out of shape vacationers who had same idea i did and were out running too and they didn't look like they were having much fun either. I did see whales out in the ocean which was sweet. Anyway, a ways into my run i must have gotten sand in my shoes, because I suddenly realized that the pain in between two of my toes was not in fact an early warning that i was about to have a massive coronary, but was just a really bad blister... POOPCRAP! first day of vacation and i already have a blister! I limped back to our condo and showered. Then we went to breakfast and it was SO GOOD, steve and I got the breakfast burrito,,, excellent choice. 
After eating, we went to the beach. 
Dave, Steve and I decided to hike around to the next cove and see if it was any less crowded. It was,,, but, if we wanted to go to THIS beach, we would have to look at the hoards of old wrinkly fat people who were sun bathing starkass buck NICKED! Obviously the reason that our side was crowded. We went back to the clothed side and went for a snorkle. I saw a huge turtle who had to be 5 feet long, we swam together for a few min and i even was able to swim down and touch him before he left me,,, im still ooooober excited about that. I don't have a pic of him, so ill put one in of his cousin :) 
After that, we headed out to do a little exploring in the Jeeps. We were looking for a famous surf break called Jaws. Most of the pics (like this one) of the guys surfing the huge 60 ft waves were taken at this place. 
The road down to it was not marked, and not paved. in fact, we only found it by chance. We put our jeeps through some good use because we had to off-road it through some places that looked seriously sketchy,,, the kinda like the places you expect a bunch of spring breakers driving around in board shorts and bikinis to be killed by some creepy masked axe killer in a scary movie, which is exactly what we were thinking on the drive in. Anyway, we finally found it and were SUPER stoked about that... at lease, the guys were, i don't think the girls cared so much. 
It was getting about time to go, so we headed out and decided to try a few of the other trails on the way out,,, you know, we had to give the axe killer a fighting chance :) 
On our way back into town we stopped to watch some windsurfers. 
And by the way, the one on the right is about 20 ft in the air! 
We got some great food at a little fish restaurant and went back home, the fish-n-chips were deeeeeelish . Got back home and I was so wasted from the day and lack of sleep the night before, but since i really wanted to sleep, i took 2 sleeping pills anyway just to make sure i slept. I did.
After eating, we went to the beach. 
Dave, Steve and I decided to hike around to the next cove and see if it was any less crowded. It was,,, but, if we wanted to go to THIS beach, we would have to look at the hoards of old wrinkly fat people who were sun bathing starkass buck NICKED! Obviously the reason that our side was crowded. We went back to the clothed side and went for a snorkle. I saw a huge turtle who had to be 5 feet long, we swam together for a few min and i even was able to swim down and touch him before he left me,,, im still ooooober excited about that. I don't have a pic of him, so ill put one in of his cousin :) 
After that, we headed out to do a little exploring in the Jeeps. We were looking for a famous surf break called Jaws. Most of the pics (like this one) of the guys surfing the huge 60 ft waves were taken at this place. 
The road down to it was not marked, and not paved. in fact, we only found it by chance. We put our jeeps through some good use because we had to off-road it through some places that looked seriously sketchy,,, the kinda like the places you expect a bunch of spring breakers driving around in board shorts and bikinis to be killed by some creepy masked axe killer in a scary movie, which is exactly what we were thinking on the drive in. Anyway, we finally found it and were SUPER stoked about that... at lease, the guys were, i don't think the girls cared so much. 
It was getting about time to go, so we headed out and decided to try a few of the other trails on the way out,,, you know, we had to give the axe killer a fighting chance :) 
On our way back into town we stopped to watch some windsurfers. 
And by the way, the one on the right is about 20 ft in the air! 
We got some great food at a little fish restaurant and went back home, the fish-n-chips were deeeeeelish . Got back home and I was so wasted from the day and lack of sleep the night before, but since i really wanted to sleep, i took 2 sleeping pills anyway just to make sure i slept. I did.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
I got to go home for Thanksgiving this year... first time in the last 4 years! My aunt Cindy helped me get back without any one else knowing, so I showed up at midnight and woke my parents up to the obnoxious ring of the cell phone so they could let me in the door. Shelli had bet me that my mother would cry, a bet i took... Bad move,,, she won. I got to spend a day with my uncle Will fishing for crappie at High Rock lake. It was friggin freezing, but we still caught some fish. 
We kept the big ones and fed the little ones to Skeeter,,, this is Skeeter. 
Once my brothers got to hang out. Hanging out with my brothers was great, cause it was the first time we have hung out since they decided to become cut-off-jean-wearin hippies. Before our big family meal on Thursday, we decided to do something hippie and go climb on some rocks. 
So we did a little bouldering down near Lake Lure, or rather, they did some bouldering, i did some falling. It seems that gravity has a slightly stronger hold on me than on them. 
Anyway, then we headed back for our GIANT meal with the fam. After the meal (and adding a bit more to gravities hold on me) we decided head out for a nice late afternoon nature waddle. So my brothers, erika, john, kim, christian, and myself headed out for Bradley Falls. We had a good time, Kim did her first bit of climbing, we took some pics, and headed home.
Saturday night, as I was packing to leave, we decided to attempt to take a family photo for a christmas card. It took a lot of shots before we got a good one, but we did eventually get a winner. 
It was a great holiday, and i can't wait for the next one.
We kept the big ones and fed the little ones to Skeeter,,, this is Skeeter. 
Once my brothers got to hang out. Hanging out with my brothers was great, cause it was the first time we have hung out since they decided to become cut-off-jean-wearin hippies. Before our big family meal on Thursday, we decided to do something hippie and go climb on some rocks. 
So we did a little bouldering down near Lake Lure, or rather, they did some bouldering, i did some falling. It seems that gravity has a slightly stronger hold on me than on them. 
Anyway, then we headed back for our GIANT meal with the fam. After the meal (and adding a bit more to gravities hold on me) we decided head out for a nice late afternoon nature waddle. So my brothers, erika, john, kim, christian, and myself headed out for Bradley Falls. We had a good time, Kim did her first bit of climbing, we took some pics, and headed home.
Saturday night, as I was packing to leave, we decided to attempt to take a family photo for a christmas card. It took a lot of shots before we got a good one, but we did eventually get a winner. 
It was a great holiday, and i can't wait for the next one.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Galinda and Elpheba
Mt. Whitney
Have you had to carry your own doodie around in a bag??? Me neither, but shelli and tara have :) On whitney, you have to "pack out your poop"
A group of us decided to hike up to Mt whitney, the highest peak in the continental US (14,497 ft). Shelli's cousin, Curtis organized the trip for us. Dick, Staci and staci's friend Andy flew out all the way from NC. We left on Friday and packed up 6 miles from 8000 ft to 12000 ft. 
and spent the night there. The next morning we woke up and hiked the 5 miles up to the summit at 14,497 ft. and then back down to our camp for the night. The next morning we headed back down the mt and back to loma linda.
A group of us decided to hike up to Mt whitney, the highest peak in the continental US (14,497 ft). Shelli's cousin, Curtis organized the trip for us. Dick, Staci and staci's friend Andy flew out all the way from NC. We left on Friday and packed up 6 miles from 8000 ft to 12000 ft. 
and spent the night there. The next morning we woke up and hiked the 5 miles up to the summit at 14,497 ft. and then back down to our camp for the night. The next morning we headed back down the mt and back to loma linda.
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