The rest of the story.....

The day we flew into Honolulu from Phoenix which was on January 1st, my good friend, Paige, from Heidelberg High School (Germany), was vacationing with her family. It was all by chance that we contacted each other right before our trips and found out that she would be in Honolulu while Jesse and I had our 6 hour lay-over at the Honolulu Airport. So, her gracious father picked us up and took us back to Waikiki Beach and we had our first Hawaiian Experience. I was so excited to see Paige and spend time with her since we hadn't seen each other in 5 years that I hardly enjoyed the beach. I'd have time for that later on in the week.
She has lived in Germany for the past 7 years and teaches for the DODDS (Department of Defense Dependent Schools). I had forgotten how much energy and humor she still had after all these years. Her twin sister, Courtney, wasn't able to make it on the trip, but I hope I can add her to the Blogspot in May after we visit with her in San Diego. There are some friends that are true and they are the same ones that you will never forget.

I can't compete with Jesse's amazing writing skills and story telling but I wanted to add a few more things to the Hawaiian Adventure.
After we arrived at the Kalalau Beach I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Well, I hope it's once in my lifetime because I really don't wish to experience it again. As Jesse mentioned in his portion of the blogspot below, people (mainly MALES) were constantly walking around in the NUDE. I have never seen so many different naked men in my life all in a matter of a few hours as I did on the first day at Kalalau. Jesse failed to mention that he also got so comfortable one evening that he took a dip in the ocean without his normal swim gear on.
Don't worry, the next picture is safe to look at. He was swimming in the rough water. I was pretty scared because the current was so strong.

Hawaii was a near perfect experience although I have to be honest: roosters roamed all over Kauai and parts of Oahu. We got our early morning wake up calls around 3am from the crowing. At our last campsite in Oahu, Jesse chased the hens and roosters that were roosting near our tent with a stick until they finally decided to leave our camping area. You have no idea how hilarious he looked as other campers looked on.

One day while visiting the North Shore of Oahu, we stumbled upon a local surfing competition in memory of the famous surfer named Eddie Akiu. This was at the Banzai Pipeline. The waves were hitting about 20 feet (the swells were much higher). You can see a professional photographer in the foreground.

On our way from the North Shore back to Honolulu the day before our departure, we stopped at the famous Hanauma Bay. This bay used to be a volcano crater that later filled with water. The dark areas in the water are coral reef. We snorkeled for an hour or so. The fish were colorful in neons and bright yellows, oranges and reds. It was surreal.

Our last few hours in Hawaii were spent climbing Diamond Head trail (something like 500 stairs included) to get a beautiful view of Waikiki. Our last night in the hotel was spent on the beach somewhere in one of those white towers.

It was an adventure we cherish.
We are ready to face new challenges in 2008 but we hope that
when we are faced with enormous trials this year, we can look back
at all the wonderful things we have seen here and be thankful.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Fresh Change

No we're not talking about the change we are constantly hearing from Hillary, Obama, and the rest. We're talking about getting away from the negative temps of the Colorado Plateau. We're talking about the old Corona commercials that said, "Change your latitude." We changed our latitude a little and our longitude a lot as we escaped on an excursion to paradise, the land of the rainbows.

Hawaii! More specifically, Kauai, the garden isle.
While there are plenty of resorts scattered throughout the Hawaiian Islands, we elected to camp and stay at hostels. The Kauai International Hostel proved to be a good fit for us our first night and the night after our backpacking trip. We were about the only Americans there, and it was fun listening to all of the different languages, mostly Europeans on holiday.

Our main objective was to backpack the Napali Coast via the 11 mile Kalalau trail. We envisioned it being a piece of cake since the trail is close to sea level and our lungs are used to 7000 feet plus, but the trail proved to be quite rugged and challenging. There were a lot of climbs and descents with the Pacific always in view. The first half was very muddy and slippery. Fortunately the last half was much drier where the trail narrows and you are greeted to near sheer 500 plus feet drops down to the surf. In the picture above you can see Bill working on the trail. He has lived near the trail for eight years doing trail maintenance. He does not work on the trail for any organization, it's just a calling or something like that. He reminded me of my ole' Bloomfield buddy Adam Oliphant who will never read this because he will never get on a computer.

There were several stream crossings, which claim at least two lives a year according to Napali natives. This is the Kalalau Valley stream where we met the mayor of Kalalau on our way out. He has lived in the valley at least 15 years. He and other Kalalau natives evade the rangers pretty well.

The Napali Coast is not overrated. It is ranked as a top ten backpacking destination in the world. The only drawback is the constant helicopter tours overhead during the day.

The destination at the end of the 11 miles is Kalalau Beach. You can reach it by hiking or by boat. The maximum number of days the permit allows is six, but we soon found out that many people stay for weeks, months, or go to live in the valley. We spent four days there. The first couple of days there were about 40 other campers, a third of which enjoy the beach in the buff. In fact when we came to the end of the trail there were a couple of nude Europeans there to greet us. At first it is kinda shocking, but after a day or two you just roll with it.

There was a group of three guys camping next to us who proved to be wonderful neighbors. They packed in seven camp stove gas canisters only to find their stove did not fit. In exchange for using our camp stove , they treated us to Indian and Italian cuisine two nights. They also packed in 16 plastic bottles of wine. In the picture above, Juan and Denny share some of their blueberry pancakes with Ydine, another neighbor camper who is from the Big Island.

We camped next to a palm tree underneath the fluted, green cliffs. Our Jetboil stove proved up to the task, but it was almost confiscated at the Lihue airport.

A waterfall in the corner of the campground was the only source of freshwater. It was also a great natural shower.


One day we hiked up the Kalalau Valley and visited the Ginger Pool. We also met some more of the "old-timers" who explained the different landmarks such as Mango City, Hippie Highway, Outlaw Pools, and Big Pool. There were ripe oranges to eat, but the other fruit such as mangoes was not ready to eat yet.



After the backpacking trip, we headed to another part of Kauai and viewed Wameia Canyon, "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific".




Back on Oahu, we visited Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. This was a stirring experience.


We camped a couple of nights on Oahu's North Shore where we watched some pro surfers on 20 foot waves. I rented a board one day and tried it for three hours before I was wiped. It was one of the hardest physical challenges I have ever tried. I got worked over pretty good and only stood up for about 1.5 seconds a couple of times. I always thought baseball was the best sport. After living in the southwest I decided mountain biking and ice climbing were the top sports. Now it is clear to me that surfing is the best, most pure sport. Those guys and gals are amazing and have quite the life. It makes me wish I had skateboarded growing up. You hearing this, Watson?

After six nights of camping, two nights in a bug infested hostel, and one night at a local Lihue dive, Tracy was more than ready to check into a nice hotel our final night in Hawaii. As for me, yeah the bed was nice, but I missed falling asleep to the crashing breakers.

We returned to Tsaile and a foot of snow and negative temps.
ALOHA to all.