Dunk the Editor

West Hawaii Today's own editor, Reed Flickinger, and publisher, Rick Asbach, and other WHT staff, just agreed to be in the dunk tank 5:00 p.m. Friday in the Safeway parking lot to raise money for West Hawaii Special Olympics. It's a great cause...AND...I know a few community members who would enjoy this opportunity. See you there.

Trip Highlights

The following several posts describe some highlights from a recent two-week trip to Glenwood Springs, Colorado and Moab, Utah. So many good times!

Return to Winter

Going back to Glenwood Springs felt like a homecoming of sorts. I have had three previous visits and all are filled with fond memories. While moving from Indiana to Hawaii ten years ago we drove to Oakland, Calif. to put our cars on a Matson boat for shipping and a visit to Aunt Alice in Glenwood Springs was on the way. I still remember how close to God I felt as I hiked up the majestic mountains, being amazed that in the midst of all that splendor and beauty He cared about me and wanted to involve me in His plan of ministering to others. I thought about that a lot during my first trip to Glenwood for some reason, and I have since flown back twice to spend some time with my dad's super sweet older siste, Alice, and to get a taste of winter.


Well the three days Chris and I spent in Glenwood Springs did not disappoint. Alice is doing great, I finally met her son, Patrick, and we even visited with two Hawaii friends who moved to Colorado a year ago. Chris loved my favorite ski spot, Ski Sunlight, where a day of good snowboarding costs half of what it does down the street in Aspen. This is the kind of place where lift tickets are sold out of a single window by a friendly woman eager to answer questions, and locals are not ashamed to duct tape their jacket if it gets a tear. Our kinda spot! And on the second day it snowed constantly so we had about a foot of fresh powder on the ground. Chris amazed me with his skills- after not having skied for 15 years he was hitting moguls after his second run and he even pulled off a perfect helicopter in the terrain park. I felt so proud!

Too cool for school: Chis poses at the top of Sunlight Mountain with Mt. Sopris in the background. I married an amazing skier, and he even puts up with my silly snowboarding habit.

Hanging Lake: One of the most tranquil and beautiful spots I have been yet.

On the hike to Hanging Lake. The bridges in Hawaii never get this much snow!

Knuckle Head

We drove out to an amazing overlook on our first day in the desert near Moab, and on our last night we ended the trip by camping in the bottom of the canyon viewed from the overlook. It was a peaceful ending to our fun in the desert. We also explored some mines in the bottom of the canyon. The letters AU were spray painted on the wall of the mine so we are guessing it was a gold mine.
Click on this video to see why a panoramic view of a beautiful canyon has been titled Knuckle Head.

Road on a Ledge

Our first night of camping may have been my favorite. Chris sure knows how to find neat roads and spots. Narrow switch backs descended into a canyon where we had dinner and camped near the river. The road was super fun with commanding views of steep cliffs and the Green River below. We chilled two local brews in a plastic rotisserie chicken box with some snow we had picked up earlier. Camping is all about improvising. Dinner, a quiet stroll, then it was time for a campfire as we watched the moon rise and light up the canyon walls surrounding us. This is what vacations are all about.

Our red car blends in with the rocks on the switchback into the canyon:
In the bottom of the canyon, we had dinner and set up camp among the cottonwoods.

Dinner in the Desert

After driving around the desert looking for a way to drive to the backside of Arches National Park, and exploring what we were conviced were old Uranium mines, the time got late. So we pulled off a dirt road and set up camp next to this pond. These still waters beautifully reflected the majestic hills surrounding them. Strangely, it may have been the muddiest water I have ever seen. (and Chris bravely used it to wash our dishes) We took a peaceful, evening hike and hit the sack.

Exploring Arches

Chris poses near Landscape Arch at Arches National Park. We did a couple pretty neat hikes in the park. Not long after this picture was taken, it started snowing.

Taking a Break on the Slick Rock Trail

We rented mountain bikes and rode Moab's famous slick rock trail. I think Chris really bonded with the sport. He likes exercise, challenge, working the controls, going fast, and the thrill of always being on the verge of crashing. I used to mountain bike a lot in Indiana and had high hopes but the trail was just too darn hard for me. The downs were so steep I was afraid to ride down them, the ups so steep I could hardly push the bike up them. The wind howled consistently and it always seemed to be a headwind. Whoever designed the trail chose absolutely the most difficult route navigating through miles of petrified sand dunes, so it seemed. Even the practice loop kicked my butt.

The scenery was beautiful and it was amazing to see how well bike tires gripped slick rock. I can see why the trail is world famous- it's kind of like a roller coaster on a bicycle. Skill, nerves, and muscles necessary. Later in the week we found a trail that better suited me. Weeeeee!

Brrrr.

Temperatures dipped below freezing a few nights during our stay in Utah. After two nights, I purchased a new sleeping bag: the North Face Goliath model, which is rated to 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Look at all the junk inside our car! Even with the new bag purchase, we were able to pack all this up into two suitcases for the plane ride home. United charged us $20 per bag each way so we were careful what to pack, which was a bummer because I really could have used more, warm clothes!

Mess:

Frost on the car:

Stuck!

Against our better judgement, we headed out into the dessert on what was considered an easy off road trail to find a remote camping spot for the night. Around 11:00 a.m. I struck a patch of wet, green clay that was the slickest, stickiest mud I have ever seen. The road was on a ledge heading down into a canyon and the road was sloped the wrong way. I knew if we did make it down the hill without going over the edge, there was no way we'd ever make it back up. Too scared to try, I asked Chris to try backing up. Precise driving was required because I had just driven around a large rock lying in the road with only inches to spare between the rock, our car, and the edge. It was immediately apparent that backing up was not an option - we had absolutely no steering in the mud, and any attempt to go down caused our car to slide closer to the edge of a slippery slope slanted the wrong way. We did rent a 4X4 this time, but the grocery-getter tires and lack of a limited slip differential dampened our fun several times during the trip.

Being the start of the Jeep Jamboree week in Moab, we decided to wait for a Jeeper with a winch to come by and un-stick us. So we read books and waited. And waited. When the rain stopped, we got out and scraped half of Utah's desert off our tires and made a cobblestone path in the mud to direct our tires in the right direction, and off we went. The mud dried faster than my soil scientist husband expected and we were able to make it down and back up the hill with aid of our homemade rocky road. Total stuck time: about five hours.

Crawlin', Crawlin', Crawlin'

Chris found this awesome place for serious offroaders just outside of Moab. Area BFE is someone's private land where folks are allowed to check out gnarly trails and they hold events and concerts and such. We drove out there hoping to spectate, and man, did we hit it on the right day. A group of people from Colorado were out there putting their rock crawling buggies to the test! They could drive straight up cliffs and over rocks that are bigger than my whole Jeep. After a while, Mike offered us a ride in his buggy (pictured above) What a thrill! This vehicle absolutely defied gravity. I crossed my arms near my chest to be sure they didn't come outside the car. I have no idea why the vehicle didn't roll over.

Jasper Enterprises

Chris has been working on setting up a small coffee business. He buys locally grown coffee wholesale and takes orders from individuals through a website. The orders are shipped out to the mainland through UPS or the Post Office. It is a pretty simple concept but he has been working on the business for a while. It has taken him a lot of effort to make the logos and labels and buy the boxes, bags, stickers, labels and get a website created. I guess the hard work of being a business owner is all part of that American dream they talk about. His favorite part of setting up the American coffee business was making a machine to help put the labels onto the coffee bags. The machine works really well even though it was made mostly of parts from a broken computer printer. Chris projects the coffee business to be a part-time thing he will do on the side.

Evacuees

Dozens of cars, people, pets and boats retreated from the coastline to our neighborhood to wait out the potential tsunami. We don't have an ocean view from our house, so we packed up a shade tent, lunch and binoculars and headed up the hill to join the crowds to watch for waves. Our house is just a stone's throw above the tsunami evacuation zone.


Alii Drive during the evacuation- normally it has constant traffic. I bet once they sound the all clear and let people return to their houses and hotels, it's going to be a giant parade down there.

Small Kine Tsunami


Chris and I set up our shade tent on an empty lot with a view of Kahalu`u Beach to watch for tsunami action. Just a little while after the tsunami was projected to hit (around 11:00 a.m.) we could see swells filling up the bay, then water receded. This happened several times over about a two-hour time span. It took about five minutes to fill the bay once it had been emptied. Watching the water recede was pretty fascinating- lots of rocks were protruding that I have never seen exposed and are usually under several feet of water. The tsunami occurred during a very low tide, I speculate this may have prevented water from rising too high and causing damage. It was interesting to watch. I think many of the people in our crowd on the hill wanted to see more action, but were happy, overall, that nothing got broke and no one got hurt. A tsunami generated from a 1960 Chile earthquake killed 67 (I think) people in 1960.

After 1:00 p.m. we decided it was safe to head to the coast so we blew past the civil defense guy who was supposed to be blocking the road to the ocean and we took a ride along Ali`i Drive. We took some close up pictures of Kahalu`u but the ebb and flow wasn't nearly as dramatic as it had been earlier. Ali`i Drive, which winds along the coast at sea level, was desolate. No cars, very few people, empty beaches, parking lots were void of cars and hotels were closed and gated. Quite a contrast to the practically bumper-to-bumper traffic I sit in on Ali`i Drive daily. I never knew a tsunami could be so peaceful.

Water drained from Kahalu`u Bay, leaving rocks exposed that are normally a few feet underwater. Second photo shows the bay filling back up. (click photo to enlarge)



After the biggest swells had struck, Chris and I took a ride to Kahalu`u (same bay as pictured above) and noticed there was still some ebb and flow. The two following pictures were taken just a couple of minutes apart:

Chile

Our prayers are with the people of Chile today. I can't even imagine what an 8.8 magnitude earthquake feels like and I know we're going to be hearing a lot of bad news from that area in the days to come.

We're under a tsunami warning here in Hawaii. The sirens sounded at 6 a.m. this morning and it may be the first time I have heard them in the past ten years other than the monthly tests. Our house, and my parent's house, are above the tsunami zone and we aren't expecting excitement here on the west side of the island. The Hilo side (east side) has had significant damage from tsunamis generated in Chile before, so we'll see what happens. We're just hanging around the house now and maybe we'll find a place with a view so we can watch if any waves hit.

The tsunami sirens been sounding every hour since 6 a.m. today.

Relief From the Torturous Office Chair

Chris and I both felt particularly stale after sitting through another work week so we hiked a couple of miles above the highway in search of lava tubes. We're about ready to give up on the Kiholo flow because its lava tubes have too many cave-ins, making the caves too short. The hike helped get the blood flowing through our legs again, but crawling around in caves was a bit uncomfortable for my sore, stiff, office neck. Does anyone else's body object to sitting in a chair for 8+ hours per day? I made my very first visit to a chiropractor today because my neck has been stiff for the past two weeks and I said, "nuff, aready." Our bodies just weren't made to sit at a desk- and that mainly explains why I haven't been updating the blog as often as I would like. Don't worry, I haven't gotten sucked into social networking sites or reality TV.

I don't want to sound like a complainer because I like my job and I am still finding fun in life pretty much anywhere I look. On a recent Saturday I saw four endangered species- a Hawaiian Monk Seal sleeping on the beach, several Humpback Whales breaching and spouting, a Green Sea Turtle swimming and a pod of Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins gliding right by me. Wouldn't you know it, I left my camera at home that day! Didn't they teach me anything in journalism school?

One of many caves we explored on our last caving day. Notice Puu Waa Waa in the background.

Show Time!

Sixty-five musicians played a full house at Kahilu Theatre this weekend during Kamuela Philharmonic's second concert of the season. I was incredibly fortunate to be part of the group. We rehearsed all day Saturday, then did a dress rehersal and one concert today. It was both thrilling and exhausting, and mostly, I'm just honored to get to play with these guys. Here is a snippet of Rossini's William Tell Overature filmed on Sarah's phone.

Thoughts About Paul's Yacht

The road leading to my office was finally paved Tuesday after more than two weeks of construction to install a private propane line for Microsoft Co-founder, Paul Allen. Paul has been in town all week, as evidenced by his yacht in Kailua Bay. Many of my co-workers saw his helicopter buzzing around and we think he has been flying the chopper from his house behind our office out to his yacht which has been parked in the bay less than a 1/2 mile from his house. It sure beats taking a dingy out to his yacht and having to drive a block in Kona traffic to get to the boat ramp.

Last week I went on a Christmas caravan with the Realtors to look at houses on the market. One of our stops was a $9.4 million mansion at Kukio. (Yes, you read that correctly. Nine point four million dollars) Homes at Kukio are commonly purchased as second or third homes so the filthy rich have a place to call their own when they want to visit Hawaii. The home we saw was typical for the style- granite counters, pocket doors that open up to an ocean view and infinity pool, tropical hardwoods, pod style construction, giant, glass showers and Jacuzzi tubs in every bathroom. To be quite honest, it's really not that impressive. There's nothing in that house I need, and although it's professionally designed and decorated, the house was lacking in personality. It didn't feel like a home.

It made me reflect on my own home (which is rented) and I honestly didn't desire the Kukio mansion or any of the other 1+ million dollar estates I saw that day. OK, they were pretty nice, but my point is, I'm content with what I've got. Maybe the people who own them are quite happy, but so am I. There's love in our home. I am greeted by a happy husband every evening when I return from work. We grill a steak and enjoy each other's company and there's joy and I feel at home. I hope Paul Allen and the buyer of the $9.4 million home have that happiness, too.

Standing Between the Skylights

Here's a photo from another recent caving trip. We still haven't found the mile-long, stand-up cave we're looking for but we found one cave that went back about 100 feet and saw lots of interesting lava formations.

White Christmas

Like most of the nation, north and west facing shores of the Big Island enjoyed a white Christmas yesterday- our coastline is being slammed by waves and our island is bordered by white water as far as you can see. A pretty good size swell is predicted to continue through today. Chris took this picture of me watching the splashes at NELHA Christmas morning.