Sunday, February 24, 2008

Whale Video

Dave caught last weekend's breaching whale on video. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayX8b5Te2z8

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Breakfast and a "Movie"

We couldn't have chosen a better weekend for hiking South Point. It's normally windy with huge surf, but this weekend was calm and peaceful. Whales put on a constant show while we hiked six miles of coastline over rolling, green hills. At least three whales spent their morning in the mouth of Ka`alu`alu Bay, not more than 200 yards offshore from our campsite. Just as I sat down to eat breakfast, one breached three times. This is definately better than Saturday morning cartoons!

Howard and Diane approach the Greens Sands beach:

Friday, February 15, 2008

Amazing Discovery

The nozles at the Dixson 76 station on Kuakini now have the flippy do-dads in the handles so you don't have to stand there while you fuel up. It's the first time I've found this feature in Hawaii. Does anyone know why they don't have that here?

It's almost sad how little it takes to make me happy. I took great pleasure in washing my windshield while the gas pumped away. It was just like being back home again in Indiana where folks would go inside to escape the cold and to buy instant win lotto tickets while their tanks filled.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Felt like I was sittin' on top of the world

I wait all year for a day like Sunday. A storm has been dumping snow on the mountain all week, and Sunday morning the summit road was open. The air is pretty thin at 13,796 feet, so my stragegy is to exert myself as little as possible, and get as many runs in as I can before I am lightheaded and dizzy. My dad was the perfect ski lift, he'd drop me off at the top of my run and pick me up at the bottom. I got a record 10 runs in! Two from the UH telescope and eight from the Keck, where the snow was less icy.

Besides the thrill of boarding, it's just amazing being up there. It's pretty fun to get in the car in the tropics, drive a bit, and step out into a pile of snow. The stark contrast of the deep blue sky, blinding white snow and black volcanic cinder cones is breath taking. I may have skipped church to go snowboarding, but I truly felt like I was communing with God on that mountain. Our God never ceases to amaze me!

A view of snow covered Mauna Loa from the Mauna Kea summit:



The best looking ski lift I have evern seen, my dad!


A Hui Hou, here I go!

Hard to believe this is Hawaii:
Excellent Explorations

Chris and I still have not exhausted our caving spot. The lower portion of Goat Skull cave kept us busy last weekend. Most of it was tall enough to stand up in, but there were a few tight squeezes, including our exit hole. Who could guess by looking at that tiny hole there'd be a 1/2 mile cave under the ground?

Tight squeezes in lava tubes can be painful because the rock is so darn rough and sharp. We almost didn't attempt this one, but the caving adventure that followed made the effort worth while:

Our exit hole with a Maglight to show scale: