Evidence of Lives Past

During our trip to the north rim of the Grand Canyon we read about the Kayenta Anasazi who lived on the Unkar Delta along the Colorado river in the bottom of the canyon 900 years ago. Some of the tribe members would hike to the north rim in the summer to farm beans, corn and squash. Chris has a particular interest in discovering archaeological sites and piecing together small clues of the lives that were lived in generations past. His skills as a scientist helped us find spots that would have made advantageous summer homes for these natives based on soil fertility, possible water sources, etc.

There we found the remains of many stone dwellings, some with evidence of mud that held the stones together. We also found countless remnants of clay pots that have survived at least 900 brutal north rim winters with herds of animals walking on them, forest fires and anything else nature has dished out. Some of the clay fragments still bore the fingerprint of their makers. We also found flakes from arrow heads and a river rock with a patina on one side that indicated it must have been used as some type of striking tool. It's illegal to keep artifacts found in the park, so we piled up our treasures for the pictures, then scattered the goods how we found them for the next discoverers. I hope they have as much fun as we did.

After marveling for some time, I looked around the forest and tried to envision the land's previous tenants. Their lives must have been so different than ours, and yet so similar. Living through life's joys - the birth of a baby, and life's hurts and struggles. All lived out right there on the canyon's rim.

I'm a Grand Fan

I've always been captivated by the Grand Canyon. My family drove from Indiana to see this wonder when I was three years old and I still have memories of that trip. During most of my growing up years, I imagined there could be nothing better in life than a return trip to the Grand Canyon, and I finally made that journey five years ago and did the four-day rim-to-rim hike I always dreamed of.

On our recent trip, I was thrilled to stand on the edge and marvel beside my husband. What a great thing to share together! We spent several nights camping in the Kaibab National Forest near Grand Canyon National Park, taking in dozens of viewpoints in and outside the park and hiking many trails. It's such a huge area, a person could spend years exploring just the rim of the canyon, not to mention what's down below. When I think about a trip to Havasu Falls, Horeshoe Mesa or someplace even more secluded I get antsy to pack my bags.

A Little Bit of Backpacking

We did a couple of overnight backpack trips. The first was up the steep Hendrickson Lake trail where we had a gorgeous alpine lake all to ourselves. We watch trout create ripples on the surface of the lake at sunset. Then the sky was light by stars that reflected off the water. Incredible!

Our second overnight hike was in Zion National Park. We were able to escape the crowds while discovering an incredible view of the park's back country. We heard elk bugling late into the night. At dawn eight elk trotted through the meadow where we were camping. Awesome!

On the trip we also saw an endangered California Condor on the north rim of the Grand Canyon, a tarantula in the Utah desert, dozens of mule deer and several Kaibab squirrels, which are endemic to the forest surrounding the Grand Canyon's north rim.

Well above the heat and crowds in the main canyon at Zion National Park, we enjoyed solitude and quite a view!

The hike up the steep Hendrickson Lake trail was well worth it!

Taking Time to Enjoy the God-made

I often long to go camping, and when I finally get out there it's even better than I had hoped. There is no schedule to adhere to and I can spend all day with my sweetheart exploring new places and admiring God's handiwork. We spent the last day of our trip in Las Vegas and the difference between what's God-made and what's man-made was striking. All the flashy lights, fake Lady Liberty statues, pyramid shaped hotels and showy water fountains pale in comparison with the grander of the great outdoors.


Chris takes in the view on one of our hikes.



I had to shield myself from the hot campfire while preparing apple oatmeal on our trusty Pocket Rocket camp stove.

Peering through the golden Aspens in Dixie National Forest.

A Cure for Traveling Woes


The airlines have really taken all the fun out of traveling. Half way through the flight I wonder why I choose to ride overnight in a crammed cabin with a bunch of coughing strangers with no food or water, lugging heavy bags through the airport because they cost so much to check. But after the endless flights and a day of driving we arrived at our first campsite in the Dixie National Forest near Brianhead in Utah. All was right with the world. The smell of pines, the feel of the dry moutain air and the warmth of an evening campfire sent me to sleep with a smile. The next morning we took a hike through the forest up to a ridge with an amazing view.


Chris washes our breakfast dishes in a spring.



Once we arrived at our first campsite it finally felt like vacation.

A South Point Ride

There aren't many places to legally ride dirt bikes on the Big Island. South Point isn't really a riding area, but riding there is not prohibited, either. So we occasionally make the trek to the southern most part of our island, and the southern most point of the country, to ride. Chris, Ben, Christoph and I took in the sights of the ocean, the dry, grassy plains and the famous Green Sands Beach while we navigated the road's rocks and red dust. The weather was typical - dry, windy and ridiculously hot. But we had a great time.

My Friends on Rainy Street Like Steak, Too

Chris, Christoph, Ben and I attended the Parker Ranch rodeo in Waimea on Labor Day weekend. It felt so good to be surrounded by mountains, cheering fans and dust as we watched barrel racing, roping and bull riding. I have always been amazed by cows, the magnificent creatures that turn grass into steaks.

On somewhat of a related topic, I made a major accomplishment today: I watched the final episodes of King of the Hill. It's my all time favorite TV show that went off the air a few years ago. I've been watching the episodes mostly in sequence on Netflix so I could catch the ones I missed on TV, and I can now say I have watched every single one. I saved episode 20 from season 13 for my grand finale because of the great topic: it was all about Bobby's skills of judging cuts of meat. He and his dad, Hank, finally found something in common, a love for steak. It couldn't have ended better as the sun set over Rainy Street in Arlen, Texas, Bobby and Hank grilled side by side, and all the neighbors came to enjoy the sumptuous steaks. All was right with Texas and America that day, I tell you what. But I did feel a little sad, as if I was saying goodbye to a group of close friends. We're cancelling the watch now portion of Netflix now that it costs extra, so I'll have to go back to watching the first six seasons on DVD, the rest were never released.





After attending the rodeo, I wished I was a cowgirl.

House Progress


It feels like we're really advancing on the house projects. Instead of removing, we're adding. Heaps upon heaps of weeds and unwanted vegetation has been removed and we've constructed planters all along the front of the house and along our curved rock wall. Pieces of flat pahoehoe lava form the border, and the inside will be filled with red a`a lava. We've hauled about ten truck loads up here from lava fields so far, but we need more.


My soil scientist husband tells me the soil in our yard is terrible and I believe him because he's really smart, and because many of the fruit trees that were here when we moved in were almost dead and the grass is patchy. So Monday, we brought in two truck loads of nice red soil and a also a truck load of gravel to create the pad for our future gazebo. We also rented a bobcat for two days to move the dirt around.


We practically spent our life's savings at Sunrise Nursery Saturday (a great place by the way, she had everything on our list except the sugar apple which I am told is pretty hard to find) Now our investment can thrive in good soil. Wow, digging holes for fruit trees is a chore in our rocky soil. A jackhammer would really be in order.


Chris waters the plants we bought Saturday: white bird of paradise, Tahitian tiare gardenias, croutons, seven orange trees, a pomegranate tree, a star fruit tree, a mango tree, a jaboticaba tree.


Ben spreads dirt where Chris plans to make a parking area with grass blocks.


I forgot to mention Chris refinished our front doors. It's too bad I don't have a before photo. What a difference it made!

Our Strange and Incredible Ocean

Duane took us on an overnight deep sea fishing trip last weekend and we had an amazing time. Duane is energetic and optimistic at every opportunity and he loves to fish. We trolled until just after sunset and had two good strikes but no hook-ups. Then we headed a couple of miles off shore and set out our parachute which drags in the water to slow the boat down so the current and breeze don't push us too far. Next, we sent two lines down with small fish as bait, and Duane put out one floater line near the surface.

Not long after dark the squid started biting and we filled up a cooler with squid to use as live bait. The rest came home for calamari. I get so caught up with the squid that I forget about the potential of getting a bite on the big reels. Squid are one of the strangest animals I have encountered. Their tentacles grab you while you're trying to place them in the cooler, when you reel them out of the water they spit ink everywhere, and in the water they are amazingly fast, stealthy and they can even light up in a fluorescent green color. Dolphins show up frequently to hunt the squid. It's a thrill to hear them breathing heavily as they cut through the water, chasing squid and hunting as a team. One dolphin swam just under our boat and snapped up a squid right in front of my eyes.

When the dolphins show up the squid scatter and quit biting. A couple of squid tried a different approach and came right up to the boat and held perfectly still to avoid dolphin detection. Always a hunter, I reached over the edge of the boat and snatched up one a squid with my hand before it knew what happened.

Strange, strange creatures swim around the ocean at night and all kinds of crazy, indescribable animals were attracted to our underwater light: long, needle-like fish, various blobs, a small flying fish, tiny crabs that float around. When it comes to ocean animals, fact is stranger than any fiction of science fiction humankind can imagine.

We caught a really nice mahi mahi (about 30 pounds) on a live squid, and later they let me reel in a small ahi. The fish are beautiful- so brightly colored, strong and streamlined. Really amazing creatures! I was even more impressed the next evening when we enjoyed seared ahi for dinner.

Duane shows off our 30-pound mahi mahi.


We found this bizarre creature stuck in our parachute the next day. I'm telling you, there is weird stuff out there.

Blowing Up Some Cheap Chinese Junk

Americans are terrible consumers. With all the practice we have at shopping you'd think we'd be good at it (my mom sure is!) but too many of us make purchase decisions based on price alone and we completely ignore quality. This has made airplane travel miserable because airlines provide minimum service so they can compete on price. It has also resulted in stores packed with cheap junk that we insist on filling our houses with.

The fridge in our old house only lasted seven years. My parents' water heater lasted about that long. Chris installed a brand new Chinese piston into a 50cc scooter, and it wore out after one week. Next, the windings in the motor of our Shop Vac melted after less than two years of ownership. So to get full enjoyment out of our Shop Vac, we sucked up some gasoline into the machine and watched it explode.

Safety tip: If you want to vacuum up gasoline with a Shop Vac, take a few steps back.

A chance to stretch my legs

I've always wanted to hike into Honokane Nui Valley, which is the next valley past Pololu Valley in Hawi. After a week of constant sitting at my desk at work my legs were happy to make the trek down into Pololu, up the other side, then back down into Honokane Nui. Chris and I took our time and made a whole day of it. The view from the ridge between the two valleys is incredible! And the drop down into Honokane Nui is pretty fun because the 2006 earthquake wiped out part of the trail, making the descent super steep. Someone put a lot of work into stringing ropes between the trees. With those to hang on to, the descent wasn't too difficult. We also enjoyed walking through a small bamboo forest in the bottom of the valley that gave way to a babbling brook. Very peaceful.



A view of Honokane Nui Valley from the top of the ridge.



Chris demonstrates the steep section of trail dropping down into Honokane Nui.

A view of the beach from the top of the ridge.

The beach. We've arrived.

Eli Eli Kau Mai

Let awe possess me. That's what the sign said at the edge of Kilauea Crater. As the sun set and the sky darkened, a towering steam plume and the walls of Halemaumau Crater took on a bright orange glow, reflecting the lake of lava that pooled inside. It's hard not to be in awe of the Creator when you see such a sight. He makes stuff like this. The sign at the overlook went on to talk about the significance of this site to Hawaiians who still come to pay homage to Pele, and it compared the spot to significant religious sites like Mount Sinai, which got me thinking. Seeing the glory and fanfare and firey fury of God revealing his presence on Mount Sinai must have paled in comparison to the melted rock that thousands of visitors flock to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to see. When I think about the one true God, may my prayer be, "Let awe possess me."

No Wonder Tourists Love Volcano Nat'l Park

What a spectacular time I had camping at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Thursday night. I was prepared for typical blowing rain and was surprised by sunshine and a peaceful calm.



While in the park I racked up a few more miles on my terribly worn hiking boots and realized I have often underestimated the beauty of this park. Highlights included driving out to the Hilina Pali overlook first thing in the morning before the vog settled along the coast. I could see all the way to Na`alehu. For dinner, I fired up my pocket rocket stove and just as I finished eating pasta I heard the honk, honk of geese. Sure enough, I looked up just in time to see a flock of rare nene flying overhead. These unique birds are thought to be descendants of Canadian Geese, and this species is endemic to Hawaii, only on two islands, I think. Once the sun set, I was treated to a view of lava lighting up a towering steam plume and the walls of Halemaumau Crater. Still feeling the stoke, I returned to my campsite at Kulanaokuaiki Campground only to be greeted by an unbelievable sky- the Milky Way had so many stars it appeared as a long cloud, stretching across the sky.

Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea set the back drop for this vista of Kilauea Crater.


Three nene browse the area near Devastation Trail for Ohelu Berries.


A view of the park's back country from the end of Hilina Pali Road.

Circle Island Tour

I have accumulated extra vacation time at work, requiring me to take 7.5 days off before mid-July. So I took this whole week off and didn't leave the island, which is something I have never done before. I've been getting a lot accomplished around here, but after five straight days of working on the house I decided to take a little holoholo around the island. I've never properly explored Boiling Pots in Hilo, so I spent some time climbing on the rocks and poking around the waterfalls, then it was off to camping in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I think I put 250 miles on the Jeep in less than two days. No wonder they call it the Big Island.

What a great garage

Judging by the comments on a previous post, there is more interest in reading about our house projects than I thought. Come to think of it, I do like to hear about other people's projects. And it's good timing to realize that because we're moving past the stage of dealing with deferred maintenance and swinging machetes at out-of-control vegetation and into an era of actual improvements that would be more fun to blog about. (Chris just fixed our last water leak yesterday) On our wish list: a complete kitchen remodel, a master bathroom remodel, tiling our car port, building a BBQ gazebo, and lots of landscape improvements.

First and foremost, of course, was the garage. Before we even moved our stuff inside Chris, my dad, and Christoph fixed a boarded up window, completed the framing, hired Duane to do the drywall, painted, built shelves and workbenches, painted those, wired in new light fixtures, applied epoxy and glitter to the floor, overhauled the garage doors right down to the gears inside the electric garage door openers. (Why buy new when you can fix what you have?) Chris has good reason to be proud of his shop and he's open for business if anyone has a motorcycle or other device in need of repair.

BEFORE:


AFTER:

The View is Tremendous

Chris and I have had a couple of memorable hikes to our "red rock canyon" near Oniuka Center at the 9,000 foot level of Mauna Kea. If John Glenn had been on our hike with us he would have said, "the view is tremendous." Instead I shared the day with my two favorite guys, my dad and my sweetheart. The cool, dry mountain air was perfect for hiking. When we finished we stopped by the Onizuka visitor's center where we were treated to a view of the sun through their super fancy telescope. We could make out a couple of solar flares on the edge of the sun. Awesome!

All eyes on the sky

Kona had its first air show over Memorial Day weekend, and since Kona doesn't really have any events to speak of, this was a big deal. Several military planes were on display as well as some old Army Jeeps, the first airplane flown by Hawaiian Airlines, and more. The show included Melissa and Rex Pemberton, who jumped out of an airplane and "flew around" in bat suits, an F-16 demonstration, a WWII plane that sounded just like the movies and other cool stuff. I am sure the show was small compared to those on the mainland, but there was enough to keep us entertained for most of the day and I have to hand it to the organizer of Hawaii Airshow Invitational for putting so much work into bringing something like this to our area. I hope they do it again.


Chris lays in the back of the KC-136 Stratotanker while he figures out the controls used for refueling planes in mid air.


A B-1 Bomber provides refuge from the hot sun.

One Man's Trash

Chris and I bought a foreclosed house in February and our recreation time has turned into yard work and house repair time. We've accomplished a lot and for the most part we're having fun, but I haven't been blogging because I didn't want to bore everybody with, "we painted the garage, we cleared weeds," etc.

For some reason, I think this story is worth noting. We have cleared huge areas overrun by monstera by yanking it out with the Jeep and slashing it with machetes. This created massive heaps of yard waste, including one pile about 3 feet deep and almost 200 feet long. Then the daily summer rains came and the discarded monstera began to sprout, threatening to take over our yard once again. So Chris had the genius idea to put an ad on Craig's List for free monstera root and we had at least a dozen customers. They filled trucks, trailers, bags, boxes, and one guy even took a whole dump trailer full. They also raided our ginger and plumeria. I had no idea the world is full of friendly people willing to come take our garbage away. It was great!

Lake Minnetonka Fishing

Lake Minnetonka fishing with Chris' brother Dan Jasper is highly recommended. Dan left his corporate job a couple of years ago to pursue what he really likes to do ... fishing. Dan is now a fishing guide for all kinds of Lake Minnetonka fishing. It is one of those inspiring stories of somebody who decides that life is too long to stay in a line of work that doesn't suit them. So he made the risky move to leave the high paying secure job and charge ahead with his passion for Lake Minnetonka fishing. Dan's wife Jill says, "He is completely different now that he is fishing on Lake minnetonka, he funner to be around." His clients are also glad he made the move to Lake minnetonka Fishing. I think the most important trait of a fishing guide is not just thier skill but how much fun do you have fishing on the lake. That is what fishing is all about having a good time on the lake. Dan has both excellent Lake Minnetonka fishing skills and when he is on the lake he is right where he wants to be. His Lake Minnetonka fishing clients catch fish and have a good time. Last summer on our trip to Minnesota, we got to fish with Dan a lot and he is an excellent host and really knows how to catch big fish. His lake minnetonka fishing website is highly recommended if you are ever in that area and want to catch some fish!

Friends in High Places

We have a friend named Christoph who is here from Germany training to become a helicopter pilot. He will take his test to obtain a commercial license in just a couple of weeks.

He recently had instrumentation training which required a four-seat helicopter so Chris and I were invited to ride around the island for two hours while he practiced flying by instruments only. For the exercise, he wore blinders so that he could not navigate by landmark. So we climbed into a helicopter with our blinded student driver who - no joke - had to ask his instructor how to start the chopper.

All kidding aside, we could see that Christoph is already a skilled pilot and I was completely comfortable flying with him. I've seen our island from the air before, but I was just as stunned as ever by the beauty. Incredible!

Christoph works his way through his preflight checklist before we leave Kona.

Christoph prepares to land in Hilo with his blinders removed.

The entire flight offered views like this one of the Kohala Coast with Hualalai peaking up through the clouds.