Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Aloha from Maui!!
9 days in Maui joining Eric and his family was a welcome break from the NW winter!
The snorkeling was quite good, including a few sea turtles, but I don't have any pictures unfortunately. I do have some pics of what I now consider my favorite Hawaiian pastime, boogie boarding!

13 years later, DT Flemming Beach park on the NW corner of Maui still provides the best waves in my opinion. I could spend hours there!

And occasionally some that were a little big. This is the "uh-oh, too far away to dive through it, too close to avoid it" shot, we affectionately referred the aftermath of this as getting "maytagged". As in....washing machine.
Eric's sister Karen also outfitted us with some sweet Hawaiian shirts, and along with my $20 ABC store Ukulele I almost felt I could fit in. The look was topped off with real handmade lei's by Eric's niece and nephew.
Local's Henry and Shermane were so hospitable....not only to us but to so many US and Canadian visitors. I'd love to have more time with them. Here was dinner and then a valley hike below.

Waihe'e Valley Hike (Good recommendation Jill...I just mentioned it to Henry and next thing I knew the guided trip was on!)
The shot that confirms I'm not local, but that I do know how to use sunblock!
Papaya (I think)

Alaskans Aaron and Travis invited us on an excursion up 10,000 feet and into the Haleakala crater. I imagine Mars might look a little like this, without the cool silversword plants.
A look down inside a cinder cone

It was pretty fun to have our vacation time coincide with Henry and his families! Got to enjoy a couple great meals with them and some snorkeling and boogie boarding!
Our fine dining fare at Mama's Fish House.

Much thanks to the Forner family for inviting me along. I highly recommend a Hawaiian trip someday if you can do it. And if you need a travel along babysitter, pet walker, shoe cleaner, or even poor tour guide. I'd love to send you my brief and somewhat falsified resume!
The end. Back to the rain :)

Monday, August 23, 2010

Congratulations Stefan and Kimberley!
Had a great trip to CA witnessing these two tie the knot, a little San Francisco tourist time with the Lindsay family and then ventured a few hours south to see my sis!
San Fran touring the next day.....
San Louis Obispo followed that.....here we are kayaking Morrow Bay with host/guide Truitt.
Heidi and kids....maybe in a few years they will be in kayaks too.
Maybe at least 5 years!
Seeing my sister was a great end to a great long weekend in California!

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Cascade Lakes Relay 2010
11 of us ran 216.6 miles from near Crater Lake to Bend Oregon. There are two vans, all runners in van 1 run, then van 2 runs, then van 1 runs, etc alternating three times until everyone has done three legs...or in our case we had a couple people run 4 to make up for having 5 runners in our van.
We got some early good luck when the rental place at PDX was out of mini-vans. Would a 12 passenger van suffice?? Yee-haw!

A big part of the fun is having cool van mates.....because basically you are stuck together for 40hours in a row.
Introducing the van 2 characters:

Dave (the guy who got me into this running nonsense in the first place),
Kateen
Laura Thomas (Bend)

Mike Robinson (Salem)

Driver/runner Rian Johnson (Portland)
Me

At the first major exchange we get to meet up with Van 1, we only get to interact with them at major exchanges really......in some ways we are like two mini teams. This was typical scene at the major exchange, all eyes looking for our runner to come roaring around the bend. Notice how fresh we all look, van 2 hadn't yet run and van 1 had just finished their first segment.With the Malia to Dave exchange....van 2 was officially under way


Some vans actually supported their runners....we apparently chilled out and took pictures!
Next time we need to bring one of these sprayers....a big hit! Mike taking advantage of it.

Nah...our van was there when needed, here I felt like I had an entire pit crew, although they did not offer me a new engine!
Running at 4,000 feet in the heat of the day was noticable for this sea level dweller
A familar scene here: "See you in a couple miles"....back into the van we go.

2nd major exhange point now....van 2 is done and van 1 is back running. Here our team captain Callie is taking the baton, aka slap bracelet.
Van 1 runners included Callie, Jim, Derrick, Sean, Malia and Todd

After some driving, some Dairy Queen and 2.5 hours of no sleep on a gymnasium floor, we were ready for round 2, this is about 2am, I am getting ready to roll. This was by far my favorite leg, cool temps and the novelty of running at night was enough to keep me enthused.
I think Rian pretty much sums up the feeling of the van here. But he was a good sport...he kept driving!
The next morning now...we are giving the bracelet back to van 1 again. They are now on their last legs....in more ways than one.
Malia dresses the part to represent our team. She is an Aleve bottle. We were "The OverAlevers" We aren't on fire, we are inflamed!


Home stretch now....back down into Bend
Success!! A great time. Thanks Callie for pulling this together and Van 2 for being fun van mates!