I was going to dedicate the next few posts to my pictures from Hawaii as I slowly add them to the site. However, I don’t think slowly is the right word, as I am still working on the first day of pictures. The few pictures I took in Vegas are up, and I should have the first day of Hawaii photos up by the end of my day.

Instead of picture talk, I will provide an update on my fantasy football leagues. As I mentioned before I have Chad Johnson on two teams and I actually ended up with him on my third team despite the draft being automatic. Needless to say, I am pretty excited about that. The final league didn’t get the draft done in time for the first weeks results, so I don’t have much else to report there. The other two leagues that I am in did play this week, and I wound up victorious in both, just like the Bengals! Here’s two some future league championships.

I’m back from Hawaii, but still wishing I was there. I hope that my new tan doesn’t fade off too quickly, although fall is right around the corner and the weather in Denver is already cooling down. While we were on the island of Oahu the weather was nice and hot, maybe a little too hot at times, but the ocean was usually nearby providing a quick relief. Here’s a list of some things we did and don’t worry pictures are coming soon. I have nearly 700 on my new camera that I need to sort through and cut way down to post online.

So, we got in super early on Friday morning, as I mentioned earlier. After picking up our rental car, a Jeep Wrangler, we headed off to first climb to the top of Diamond Head. Despite the early start, the weather was already hot and baking us throughout the hike. But the view from the top was well worth it. From there we made a couple of stops at various sights such as Halona Blowhole, Pali Lookout, and Kapena Falls. We stayed busy throughout much of the morning and afternoon, stopping at many of the places on my list.

Saturday we met up with our friend Maria, who was also traveling for the same work function as Kim, and hiked to the Manoa Falls. The 160 foot waterfall and surrounding forest were amazing. Later that evening we all attended the conferment ceremony for the girls’ insurance designation. The highlight of this event was the keynote speaker, Erik Weihenmayer, who is a blind mountain climber. His speech was incredibly inspiring and delivered in both a funny and touching way. What he has accomplished without being able to see is truly incredible.

The highlight for Sunday was exploring the north shore of the island. We found the location of the Banzai Pipeline, and though the waves are highest in the winter months, the surf was still strong enough to keep me out of the water completely. This didn’t stop others from heading out and surfing, which provided some basic surfing lessons to us. We also saw some sea turtles in the water at Turtle Beach, and did our own snorkeling adventure near Hidden Beach and Secluded Cove, which required 4WD to get to. The only bad thing was a flat tire we got along the way, but it was easily replaced. On a more positive note, we stumbled upon a seal who was laying out in the sun near Secluded Cove.

Monday was another shorter day. After stopping at Pearl Harbor and finding out the wait for the USS Arizona Memorial was over two hours we decided to drive up the Waianae coast. This was once rarely seen by visitors of the island as it is a poor area and has a reputation for being a rough place. However, most of this is not true anymore, although the area still appears to be poor. The highlight of this drive was seeing dolphins out near Kahe Point. This was the first time we saw them on our trip, although we would later see a group of them while on a boat ride on our way to a snorkel spot.

Speaking of snorkeling, we decided to take a trip early on Tuesday morning on a sail boat which would include a stop to snorkel. The dolphins we saw shortly after leaving the shoreline were Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins, and there were close to ten of them in the group. It was amazing to see them up close, and I’m still bitter that I didn’t bring my new camera on this trip. After watching the dolphins, the boat headed out to the snorkel spot which we were told was populated with sea turtles. I was a little hesitant at first, but once in the water all my fears were gone. There were turtles everywhere and if you didn’t make sudden movements you could get to within a few feet of them. There were also tons of fish there. The guys on the boat said that there were nearly 30 species on the reef, and although I don’t think I saw that many, there were at least a dozen or more when we were there. It was an amazing experience, and by far one of my favorite things from the trip.

Since Tuesday was our last day on the island we quickly tried to fit as much in as possible. So after the boat trip, we rented a surf board and tried to surf after watching others do it for days. Surprisingly it wasn’t as hard as I thought, and standing up on the board was pretty simple. The hardest part is actually padding enough to get on the wave and continue to travel with it as it breaks. So we took turns helping each other get started and then watched as the other actually rode the wave for much longer than I was expecting.

From there we headed back to Pearl Harbor, and to my surprise, we immediately got in a tour group. I was really surprised since I figured that 9/11 would be a busy day, and maybe it was earlier in the day. We got there late in the afternoon, following a tip from Oahu Revealed, and walked right into the movie theater. After touring the memorial we headed back toward Waikiki to take another cruise on a sailboat, this time on a “booze cruise” which was a little different than the trip earlier in the day, but was nearly just as fun. This event wrapped up our time on the island, and it was nice to see the sunset from out on the water before leaving. I think we made the most of our time there and stayed really busy throughout the entire trip. I will be sorting through my pictures in the next few days and will be slowly adding them to the site. There should be some good ones.

Oahu on Dwellable

The day is here! Kim and I are heading to Hawaii later tonight. Our flight leaves here around 10pm, putting us in Honolulu around 5:30 tomorrow morning. This includes nearly a four hour layover in Vegas, where I hope to make a quick buck. We’ll be staying at the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio until Wednesday morning. Though the trip is still business related for Kim, we should have plenty of time to spend exploring the island. Fortunately we have a copy of Oahu Revealed: The Ultimate Guide to Honolulu, Waikiki & Beyond on loan from some family friends. The book has proven very useful for both them and my parents, and I’m glad to have their advice as well. I’m sure I will come back with a ton of pictures and lots of good stories. Have a nice week and go Bengals!

Last night Kim and I attended The Killers concert at Red Rocks once again. The concert started very much like the last one, but this time they decided to keep playing after their second song of the night. They played all of the big hits, which are pretty much the only songs that I really know. The band and mix sounded great, and the show was very entertaining complete with a great light show. Front-man, Brandon Flowers, is a very entertaining performer, much in the same way that Scott from Red Wanting Blue used to be.

We were treated to seats inside the roped off FOH section once again last night. Many thanks to my friend Mike for hooking that up once again. Watching a show at Red Rocks is incredible, but watching a show at Red Rocks from within the first twenty rows is even better. This show may have been our last at Red Rocks for the season, but hitting up six shows this summer was nice. Hopefully we can hit even more next year.

I am now the proud owner of a new digital camera! Feeling often limited by the point and shoot Nikon Coolpix 3200, I opted to buy a digital SLR, more specifically the Canon Digital Rebel XTi. I’ve added a couple of new photo albums to the site from my first couple days of using the camera. The first contains photos from the Coors Brewery tour that we checked out on Saturday with our weekend visitors Phil and Doni. And the second contains photos from our day of hanging around our house on Sunday.

So far I am very happy with the results of the camera. Many of the brewery photos were messed up because of the glass that stood between the guts of the brewery and myself, but that’s almost impossible to avoid. The pictures from outside have been amazing so far. I cannot wait to test the camera out in a more scenic location. Fortunately our trip to Hawaii is right around the corner!

For more on the weekend, check out Phil’s blog entry which details the events of the extended holiday weekend.