In addition to the photos I added last Friday, I just posted some more from our Hawaii adventures. In this album are photos from our hike up to Manao Falls along with a few from the Byodo-In Temple. The Manao Falls plunge 160 feet or more down the mountain side cliff. As great as the falls are, the hike to them is nearly just as scenic. Along the mile to mile and a half route, you pass through a rain forest which is filled with every shade of green imaginable, along with some colorful flowers and even shoots of bamboo. This is on my list of must sees while on Oahu.

After the hike, we took a nice and relaxing drive over the mountains toward the Valley of the Temples. Inside this large cemetery are many temples, the most prominent being the Byodo-In, which is a replica of a 950 year old Buddhist temple in Uji, Japan. This temple is an amazing site, with the Ko’olau mountain range in background and a large pond in the front. The temple was built in the 1960s without the use of any nails and it fits together like a giant puzzle. Inside of the Byodo-In is a nine foot Buddha that was carved out of wood, the largest made of wood in over 900 years. Though our visit was short, I was still able to take some good pictures of it.

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!

And just like that, the week is over and I’ll be on my way back to Denver shortly. Our friends Phil and Doni are also on their way to Denver for the extended holiday weekend. It should be a fun one. I hope everyone else has a nice weekend as well.

Hello from Kansas City. I’m back in the office for the week working from a lovely cubicle. Obviously the work setting doesn’t compare to my luxurious home office, but there are a few nice things about these work trips. First, I really enjoy going out to eat for nearly every meal and not having to pay for it at all. It’s also nice to see all of my friends in KC and hit up some of the old stomping grounds like the Brooksider or 75th Street Brewery. However, the weather here just doesn’t compare to Denver. I stepped off the plane and even though I was still inside a jetway, I began sweating immediately. I’ll be here for the week, so if there is something exciting going on, give me a shout.

I mentioned it a couple times before, but this past weekend was spent at Deer Creek, aka Verizon Wireless Music Center, in Indiana for two nights of the Dave Matthews Band. I left first thing on Friday morning and flew to Chicago where a couple of friends picked me up and we were quickly on our way to our campground. Despite a few traffic jams along the way, we made it in pretty good time and immediately began setting up our tents and other camping goods.

Before too long we were heading into the venue for the first night’s show. I enjoyed the second night’s setlist a little more than the first, but it was still a great show. Song highlights for the weekend included “What Would You Say”, “So Damn Lucky”, “Jimi Thing”, and “Tripping Billies”, to name just a few. Heck, I could list almost every song they played as a highlight for me, especially with so few repeats between nights.

Besides the shows, we had a blast hanging around camp, enjoying the surprisingly nice weather, playing cornhole, hanging around a campfire, etc. In fact I slept most of yesterday just to catch up from everything. That included the drive back to Chicago, a nap or two on my friends couch, and then sleeping through most of my entire flight back to Denver. Even still I slept like a baby last night. All in all it was well worth the trip and I always look forward to seeing future shows at Deer Creek.

Toward the end of last year, I mentioned that Deer Creek Music Center (Verizon Wireless Music Center) went up for sale and could soon be turned into something else. Well it hasn’t happened yet, and I have finally ironed out my plans to head back to the famed amphitheater for two nights of the Dave Matthews Band. I haven’t been to Deer Creek since 2004, and I couldn’t be more excited to return there. As always we’ll be camping at Sleepy Bear for the weekend and probably sweating like there’s no tomorrow. Gotta love camping in the Midwest in the middle of the summer.

As I mentioned earlier Kim and I headed to North Carolina last Thursday to attend the wedding of our friends Amanda and Joel. These two were some of the first friends we made in Kansas City, and it was nice to be a part and help them celebrate their wedding. Kim was a bridesmaid in the wedding along with our other friend Maria. So it was nice to see all of these friends of ours again. Despite a couple of canceled flights, and some lost luggage, we eventually made it to Wilmington, NC after nearly 18 hours of travel time. We met up with our friends Mike and Christie and Mike’s parents’ condo, which was conveniently located about ten minutes from the site of the wedding.

The rest of the long weekend was spent golfing, sitting around pools, checking out the beach, and other wedding related activities. Mike and I, along with two of Joel’s friends, won the golf outing that they had. I contributed a few shots in the scramble despite playing with a set of rental clubs since my clubs didn’t show up until late Friday night. Needless to say, I will never fly US Airways again, at least not by choice. The wedding activities I attended were all very nice and mostly outdoors. We had great weather for the most part, even though it was quite humid. The ceremony was held outside and was very picturesque, although most of my pictures didn’t turn out too well because it a little too overcast, but the good ones that I do have can be found here. Congratulations Joel and Amanda!

I’ve been meaning to write about our weekend but the events of the past couple of days have kept me a little preoccupied. So, this past weekend we headed to Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend the wedding of our friends Gabe and Brad. I think the last time I wrote about these two, was way back in the days of Hurricane Katrina and their experiences living down in New Orleans (links to these entires:1|2|3|4). Well they are now living in Michigan and decided to have their wedding ceremony at Wellerss Carriage House in Ann Arbor.

The actual ceremony was fairly quick and simple and took place outside in a beautiful garden. This was a nice change when most of the weddings I go to are inside a large Catholic church. After the ceremony we had cocktails in the garden for a little while, and then were seated inside the carriage house for dinner, which was excellent! After eating our meals and having a couple of toasts some of the tables were cleared out while the band setup on the stage. It’s always great when there is a live band at the wedding, at least in my opinion. The rest of the night was filled with dancing, conversation, and many vodka tonics. It was a very nice wedding and reception, one of the tops in my book. Congrats Gabe and Brad!

PS I would post pictures but we only took a couple. Besides, I’m waiting for Amy to put together a slide show.

I hope you aren’t sick of our pictures yet; I’ve added more! The first group comes from our drive out to Utah last week, which became my first time in Wyoming. The drive was very windy, cold, and we ran into a little storm too. It didn’t make for the best driving conditions, but it led to a few good pictures. Check them out in this gallery.

The second gallery comes from our brief stay at the Zermatt Resort. It was a very nice place, but a little secluded. Fortunately they had enough activities to keep us entertained for a little while, including some shuffleboard.

I’ve also posted pictures from our super busy Saturday after leaving the resort. After making a long drive, our first stop was at the Hovenweep National Monument, which is actually a series of various Native American Puebloan-era villages. The building remains date back to 800 years ago, or more. Had I known how much there was to see, I would have planned to spend more time here, but unfortunately we were only there for less than an hour.

From there we made another quick stop at the Four Corners. I’m sure most people know what I am referring to, but if not this is where four states all meet at one point. What I didn’t know prior to visiting is that the site actually sites on Native American lands, and the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department actually run the site, charing $3 admission per person. There isn’t much to see there, but it’s cool to say that you once stood in four different states at the same time.

Continuing on, we drove through parts of New Mexico and Arizona to get out to Monument Valley. This area near the Arizona and Utah border is a sandy desert filled with many bright red buttes and mesas. It has been filmed many times for movies, especially westerns, TV commercials, etc, so it may look familiar. We didn’t make too many stops, as it was already getting late, but did manage to take a number of pictures. The best of what we have can be found here, along with other pictures of Hovenweep and the Four Corners.