The Big News

A few years ago I sent out an email informing everyone that I was getting married. News spread fast, my inbox was flooded with mail and I received phone calls from as far as Germany. Most people who read my message failed to realize it was sent on April Fool's Day.

But this time it's for real. Chris and I are engaged. He proposed to me a couple of Sundays ago at a special spot on the beach at Kukio. We've already been working on wedding plans and the big day is set for June 7.

Blog readers already know my history with Chris includes hiking, caving, and learning how to spearfish and dirt bike. We met at church and got to know each other during pastor Bruce's well-known Theology 301 class. We're still amazed at how much we have in common and how much fun we always have together. My mom says I couldn't have done better and I think she's right. It's a pretty cool deal...I guess I never thought this would happen to me. And I have to admit it's still a little shocking when I catch a glimpse of the diamond ring on my finger!

It's that time again...

...time to post this important document. So far I am in 4th place out of 8 people in our annual work contest. What does it say about the competence of our newspaper staff that I am ahead of both our sports editor and one of our former sports writers?

The Day that Lives in Infamy

I've always wanted to visit the sunken USS Arizona and see the memorial for those who lost their lives on December 7, 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Jen and I got the chance Thursday during a day-trip to Oahu. We also toured the USS Missouri. Japan officially surrendered on her deck in 1945 when she was docked in Tokyo Bay.

Andi on the deck of the USS Missouri:

The base of a gun turret on the USS Arizona protrudes the water in Pear Harbor:

Dare Devil Kids


My sister, Jen, is here visiting with her daughters, Lydia and Camille. We spent the day on the Fairwind's snorkel cruise to Kealakekua Bay. The kids are pretty good swimmers, and at age 6, Lydia is already an expert snorkeler. But the ship's slide was the big hit of the day. The other passengers got a kick out of watching the little girls fly down the slide squealing with delight, much to the chagrin of some teenage boys who were at first afraid to try the slide. The kids love a good thrill, it's no wonder we're related!

Camille makes a splash:

Lydia's turn:

Great snorkeling:

Family photo:

Priorities

More play time this weekend. Chris and I took the Jeep down the "awful" 4WD road to Keawaiki and hiked to a Queen's Bath. Sunday was church, cooking on the grill, my second dirt bike lesson, and yesterday was surfing, building pine wood derby cars and yet more grilling. You're probably wondering when I do chores and such. In life, you have to have priorities.

Holoholo to Halape

Wow, I'm behind on the blog again. I was feeling pretty burned out and in need of a break, so I went with Sierra Club on a three-day backpack trip in Volcanoes National Park. It was just what I needed!

The plan was to hike seven miles down the pali to Keauhou, but the vog (smog from the volcano) was thicker than I have ever seen. As soon as we got out of the car we started choking. So we decided to take the coastal trail in. Wind along the ocean blew away the vog, but this trail was three miles longer than the other. Just when I had enough of the scorching sun and trekking over heat-soaked lava rock, we arrived in paradise.

Keauhou was an unexpected oasis along the rocky coast. We camped beside a calm bay with fresh water springs and black sand bottom tide pools.

The next day we took a side trip to Halape before hiking to Apua Point for the night. Sunday morning we sat on the beach sipping Howard's homegrown Kona coffee while watching the sun rise.

Looking to escape the crowds? Hike eleven miles from the end of Chain of Craters Road and Halape is yours to enjoy.

Peaceful Paradise- A fresh water spring and sandy tide pools refreshed us after a day of hiking.

Sunrise over Apua Point.

Whale Video

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

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

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:

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.

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:

Will it Float?



Chris' boat actually looks nicer in this photo than it does in real life. We took it out spearfishing Saturday. This spearfishing stuff is harder than I imagined. Chris got two fish in about three hours. I got zero. I had one goatfish on the spear but it got away. The highlight was listening to Humpback Whales sing underwater and eating our catch the next day.

We went spearfishing a few weeks ago, also. On that trip, Chris woke up a shark that was sleeping under a ledge by shooting a fish as it passed by. If someone threw some steaks on the grill right outside my bedroom window, I'm sure I'd wake up, too.

Returning to the dock was pretty fun. A DLNR guy was inspecting boats and trailers. It seems most folks don't have their trailers safety inspected and what not. I'm sure the guy took one look at our boat and assumed he'd be writing some citations. He was a bit surprised when Chris produced the necessary papers, stickers and safety equiptment. The man next to us with a fancy, big boat, brand new trailer and a shiny, jacked up truck did get a ticket.

Chris later told me he paid more to get the boat registered than he paid for the boat. That, I believe.

Goin' fishin'- this way beats shopping:

A Little Toilet Humor

There's always a problem in the women's bathroom at work. This time it's a leaky pipe leading into one of the toilets. Instead of fixing the leak, management placed a cup under the pipe to catch the water. Over time, the leak accelerated, so now a large, deep vase is required. I couldn't resist. I took one look at that and ran out into the atrium to gather foliage for an arrangement. Turned out pretty nice, didn't it?

Pahala Pig Path

We recently took a group of folks for a hike up a pig hunter's trail through native forest mauka of Pahala. The highlights were meeting some new, interesting people and watching Ken make several attempts to drive his truck up the steep, dirt road. (no problem for my Jeep, of course) The disappointment of the hike was our failed sledding attempt. I carried a genuine saucer sled up the trail in hopes of sliding down a moss-covered stream bed. It didn't work.

My dad, Chris and I:

Surf Safari

A surf day turned into quite the adventure. We paddled out from the beach at Honokohau, and found a spot about a 1/3 mile out with some fun waves. We were getting some good rides and I was happy, but I think Chris was getting impatient waiting between sets. You know how the grass is always greener down the road...we paddled the entire length of the harbor beach scouting better spots, catching waves as we went. Then a few good sized sets rolled in and I got pounded a little, then spent some time fighting white water. We were now about a mile from our starting point and I wasn't about to paddle back. So we opted to walk back, but our ocean exit was less than graceful. Rough a`a lava lined the shoreline. It was just too shallow to paddle, and whitewater made it impossible to see where you were putting your feet. My ocean luck finally ran out, I stepped on my first wana (venomous sea urchin) Kicking my leg to get the needle-sharp spines out of my foot made me loose my balance on the board and the waves smashed it into the rocks. Then I had the challenge of balancing over razor sharp lava with wana foot while carrying a nine foot board.

Honu
The incident was worth it, though, because on the hike back we saw on the beach what was by far the biggest sea turtle we had ever seen. It was massive! Then we gazed up at the view of snow covered Mauna Loa. Lucky we live Hawaii.

Close call
We returned to Chris' house for lunch and for a surf board repair session. On our way back from the hardware store we observed a truck with a trailer that had lost its brakes coming down La`aloa. It had slammed through a rock wall on Ali`i Drive. It must have happened just minutes after Chris and I sat at that intersection on his motorcycle. Chris figures we escaped death by a minute or two. Weird.

Enough Already!
Having our fill of adventure for one day, we chose to end with a romantic, full moon stroll along Ali`i Drive and on Kailua Pier.

Yet More Caving

We're still scouring the island for caves. We have a map of Goat Skull cave and we've been looking for a way in. Chris found two leads on aerial photos so we went looking again. The first lead turned out to be a skylight, but it had about a 40 foot drop, so we had no way to get in. Steel rods pounded into nearby lava were evidence that someone else has rappelled into the cave. We hiked mauka for a ways and found a tiny entrance. We smashed some of the lava covering the hole so we could fit inside, and away we went! The cave went a good half mile and it was large enough to stand up in most of the time. The best news is, there's still more fun to be had. We found one more skylight on our hike back, and we still have the other lead from the aerial photo.

Our entry. We had to smash some of the lava out of the way to make the entrance big enough.

Ill-equipped. We'd need mountain climbing gear to get into this one.

Hau`oli Makahiki Hou

I know I'm a little late with the New Year's post. I've been busy as usual, and I refuse to forgo fun so I can update the blog.

Here's my New Year's in a nutshell. Chris sent these beautiful roses to me at work on New Year's Eve. That night, we attended a party where we ate homemade pig and sheep sausage and light off fireworks all night. One of my favorite firework inventions was stuffing an old wreath with fireworks, then lighting it on fire.

Retraction

I may have recently posted inaccurate information. Jerri's nephew claimed to have built the beer tree, but now I don't believe him. He emailed Jerri this week to complain about other people's drunkenness at a Christmas party. An interesting position from a beer tree builder, don't you think? I Googled "beer tree", and discovered the photo is all over the internet. Plus, the vegetation doesn't look like Texas, where Jerri's nephew lives. I should have checked my facts before printing the picture. It's a beautiful tree, though, isn't it?

More Caving

Chris and I went back to the area north and mauka of the airport to look for more caves. His map shows a long one out there, but we haven't found the entrance yet. We did find a few short caves and neat places to poke around in. One went about a 1/4 mile (see picture with Chris standing in the exit) Another cave had a Willy Wonka chocolate ceiling.

Hoppy Holidays

Jerri's nephew decided to spread some Christmas cheer by creating this Christmas beer tree. I'll bet it's beautiful all light up at night. We don't know how many hours it took him to stack the Grolsch bottles or how many weekends it took to empty the bottles. It's a good thing he lives in Texas where they're not prone to earthquakes.