Highlights from Hawaii

I just got back from a terrific vacation trip to Hawaii with my sister and parents. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and I can't recall a more relaxing vacation in recent times. Mind you, I thought the family was crazy when they thought that we should travel to Hawaii in August....but as it turned out, the weather in Hawaii was MUCH cooler than here in Mississippi. And for that reason alone, the trip was also a relief. It had been 40 years since I was in Hawaii the last time and memories had faded a bit.

Day #1--Travel to Hawaii--Friday

We met in Atlanta for the flight to Honolulu, a ~10-hour flight during the daytime that got us to Honolulu mid-afternoon. I'll give Delta credit for a safe, on-time, enjoyable flight with a super-friendly cabin crew.

My initial impression of Honolulu was: crowded! We stayed the night at the Hale Koa Hotel, a hotel run by the Army for military folks. What a great place....right on Waikiki Beach at Fort Derussy (70+ green acres in the middle of Waikiki, the only "open" space in sight). The photo above is from our 13th floor balcony, looking down on the surfers. We had a quiet, restful afternoon and Lori and I had a bite to eat at an outdoor eatery right on the beach, next door at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. After the long day of travel, it was no trouble getting to sleep.

Day #2--Honolulu and Embarkation--Saturday

On Saturday morning, I headed out for a run down Waikiki, up and around Diamond Head, then back to the hotel (~8 miles), my first outside run in a while. I felt like there were about a 1,000 other tourists doing the same thing. Pretty funny. After breakfast, we headed out for an early morning tour of Iolane Palace, the palace once used by Hawaii's royal family. In modern times, the stair steps are probably better known from the original version of Hawaii 5-0.

The "real" purpose of the trip was a cruise on the Norweigan Cruise Line's Pride of America....a 7-night cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. We set sail on Saturday afternoon, bound for Maui.

For the cruise-minded, this was a typical large ship cruise. Nothing terribly unusual....good or bad. If I had any complaint, I'd say that the service in general might have been better. But there's probably no easier way to get a glimpse of the islands than to have the ship take you to the next stop each night. The fitness center was good and I logged more than a few miles on the ship's treadmills.

Day #3--Maui--Sunday

We awoke as the ship was arriving in Kahului Harbor in Maui. From the ship, you could see the nearby airport. After a pre-docking run on the treadmill and a quick breakfast, I headed off with the family to pick up a rental car. Today it was Enterprise. Then, it was off on the drive to the top of Haleakala, the island's extinct volcano. The drive took about 90 minutes and topped out about 10,000 feet.

One sight along the way was the many silversword plants, found only here. The picture here is of one of the plants that was flowering.

The view from the top was great. You could see over to the island of Hawaii, with it's Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea and over to Lanai in the other direction. We passed a few hardy cyclists making the uphill journey....and more than a few cyclists making the downhill trip on fat-tire bikes.

After our excursion to Haleakala, we returned to Kahului and then headed out the Road to Hana....at least as far as our lunch stop at Mama's Fish House. This was awesome. Beautiful setting, totally peaceful, and great food. No wonder that several of the Twitter friends wrote back quickly about having loved Mama's, too. We spent the late afternoon and evening on the ship which remained docked for the night in Maui.

Day #4--Maui--Monday

After another early session on the treadmill, my sister and I left for a day-long snorkeling excursion to the Molokini Crater, a couple miles off the shore of Maui. The parents joined a shopping excursion from the ship that headed to Lahaina. We would catch up with them in the late afternoon back at the ship.

Our snorkeling excursion was with Trilogy Excursions on a large catamaran. There were about 20 folks along for the trip. We made stops at the Molokini Crater and also along the reef off the shore of Wailea. This was my first time to try SNUBA and I thought this was great. We had 20-foot oxygen lines, so it was possible to dive down and really have a close look at the fish and coral. The best sighting was a large sea turtle. We had fun chasing after some dolphins between the 2 stops and we used the sails for about an hour on the return trip.

While we were at Molokini, I could look over at Lanai and eye up the Lanai Channel. Each October there is a relay (or solo) swim of the 9-mile channel. With each island's coast climbing to (very) tall volcanos, the 9 miles didn't look very far. There'd be no problem sighting, given the volcanos. I'd like to return some day to do that swim. It'd be fun to be part of a relay, but it'd be even more fun to tackle the swim solo.

Back on the ship that evening, I went to a spin class. It was more like a tutorial....just me, 1 other cylist, and the instructor. We had a good time, though. With the ship under sail, I got a little sea sick as I was spinning. There was a lot of up and down and I was happy that to see the class end.

Day #5--Hil0--Tuesday

Tuesday was Hilo day. After a treadmill run and breakfast, we picked up a rental car and drove to Volcanoes National Park to see the Kilauae Volcano. Pictures won't do this justice, but the picture below is from one of the observation areas at the rim road. The volcano has been erupting continuously for more than 20 years now.

Our excursion stopped at the visitors centers along the rim road and then again for a walk through the Thurston lava tube, one of the "tubes" that once carried molten lava toward the sea. Our ship departed Hilo in the late afternoon and at about 10 pm we got close to shore and slowed up to cruise by the seashore (at least from binocular distance) where the lava is currently flowing into the sea. Amazing, really. There were about 8 areas where molten lava was putting on a display as it hit the cold ocean water.

Day #6--Kona--Wednesday

I'd been looking forward to Kona day for a long time. We had met a fellow triathlete, Gerd Weber, on our trip to Brazil last year and it turns out that he lives in Kona. I made plans to meet Gerd on the pier and go for a swim and bike. Mom rested and Lori and Dad went on a snorkeling excursion south of Kona.

Gerd was waiting on the pier and it was fun to catch up with him. He's done 6 Ironman races this past year to celebrate his 60th birthday. Wow! At any rate, we stored our gear bags and went for a swim on the course. It's different than I had imagined from TV....didn't realize that the course parallels the left shoreline (on the way out). It's really beautiful. Crystal clear water with big visibility. Lots of fish and a couple manta rays. Plenty of swimmers, too.

After the swim, we picked up my rental bike at BikeWorks and headed out for a long ride. We had a quick tour of town, then got onto the Queen K Highway and went north as far as Waikoloa. Like everybody says, the scenery is on the bleak side with the lava fields on each side of the highway. There's a little bit of greenery at the turnoff to head to the Four Seasons Hotel (and Lance's Kona home) and then no greenery until Waikoloa. We turned off there, went on a lap around the resort, checked out the beach, then grabbed an ice cream. The guys at the Waikoloa branch of BikeWorks watched our bikes. The return ride featured a headwind and the afternoon heat. I can see why this ride would be a challenge on Ironman day.

Back in Kona, we stopped at Lava Java for a smoothie and Lori joined us there. It was fun people watching as we sat outside on Alii Drive. We returned the bike and returned to the ship. An awesome day. After seeing Kona for so many years on the TV, it was great to see the place in person.

Day #7--Kauii--Thursday

Thursday morning we arrived in Kauii as I was finishing up a treadmill run on the ship. Nawiliwili Harbor was my favorite place name. Almost everybody has seen Nawiliwili Harbor....even if they haven't been there. Picture the opening pictures from the TV series MASH. The twin peak hillside where the choppers fly around is actually the hillside along the pier at Nawiliwili Harbor. Small world.

Here, we rented a car and drove to Waimea Canyon, Hawaii's version of the Grand Canyon. I must admit it looks very similar, if only on a smaller scale.



We had a restful afternoon on the ship and then went (with the masses from the ship) to a luau at a local plantation. The show was fun and I thought the pineapple juice was great. Couldn't make a trip to Hawaii without a luau, I suppose.

Day #8--Kauii--Friday

The ship overnighted in Kauii. We didn't plan any activities for Friday morning. I went for a long run off the ship, heading up the hill, down to the airport, and back to the ship. There was a mini-hurricane, it seemed, but it only lasted as long as my run!

The ship left port at 2 pm and cruised toward the Na Pali coast, the setting or backdrop for many movies--most notably, Jurassic Park. The scenery was just beautiful in the afternoon sun.

Day #9--Honolulu Again--Saturday

The ship arrived back in Honolulu early on Saturday morning. I think I was the last remaining passenger in the fitness center as everybody was getting ready to disembark.

We spent the day on a bus tour of Honolulu. The highlight was the stop at Pearl Harbor. We had a chance to visit the exhibits and movie at the Visitors Center and then take the short boat ride out the USS Arizona memorial.

It's just so hard to imagine that there was a world war in our parents' lifetime. The tour also included a drive through the Punchbowl cemetery and a quick drive to Oahu's north shore. We got dropped off at the airport, where we picked up a rental car and returned to the Hale Koa Hotel.

Day #10--Honolulu--Sunday

Sunday was a recover day. I went for a short run, but we spent most of the day just lounging at the hotel pool. We took a breat to have Sunday brunch a couple doors down at the Halekulani. Great food. Great setting. And a waiter who offered to take the family photo....

We ate an early dinner at the hotel and went to bed early so we could be up early the next day.

Day #11--Honolulu--Monday

Monday was race day. The 2010 Waikiki Roughwater Swim. I'd been looking forward to this for a long time, too. The 2.4-mi swim is the original Ironman swim. This day, there were 965 swimmers, organized into 4 waves by seeding time. I was in the 2nd wave, with the 437th fastest seeding time. There were a lot of fast swimmers! There were a couple entire college swim teams in the first wave.

The race starts on the beach in front of the New Otani Hotel, heads out about 700m through the boat channel, then parallels Waikiki Beach, heading to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The final leg toward shore happens in the boat channel there, with a finish on the beach. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was awesome.

The swim went well and I reached the final turning buoy, with 670m to go in ~51 minutes. I thought that was a great effort in just a bathing suit (no wetsuit!), but with the surf and undertow, it took me nearly 16 minutes to do the last 670m. Wow! I finished 256th. I thought it was my best-ever open water swim. Solid from start to finish. My folks and sister were there to cheer me across the finish line. I picked up my t-shirt and cap and we enjoyed a celebration lunch at Cheesecake Factory down the street.

After lunch, Lori and I took a trip to the Ala Moana Mall, where we had a smoothie and took in a belly dancing show. The rest of the afternoon was spent just resting at the hotel. What a week!

Day #12--Depart--Tuesday

Tuesday, departure day, came all too quickly. It was a great vacation. We left on Tuesday afternoon for the afternoon flight back to Atlanta, then the short flights to our own hometowns. All I could think of was....the flight to Australia is 6 hours longer!

A Blast in Boulder

Last month I had the chance to visit in Boulder with Brooke Burger and Justin Daerr. It was a super short weekend trip, but I had a blast.

I managed to get away from work at lunchtime on Friday and was pleased that afternoon thunderstorms had not yet developed here in Jackson. I'd be traveling on Delta Airlines, first from Jackson to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to Denver, arriving at about 9 pm. The trip was complete with complimentary upgrades to first class on both flights....and a "real" dinner on the Atlanta to Denver leg.

Some of you will know that I don't have the best luck with Delta and, sure enough, the illusion of a perfect trip came to an end at the Delta Baggage Office when my bike didn't show up. The agent could tell that the bike had made it to Atlanta, but not to Denver. It'd probably be in Denver later that night, he told me. Oh, well. So off I went to pick up the rental car and head to Brooke and JD's place.

The drive from DIA to North Boulder isn't very long. It was dark, though, and I couldn't really appreciate the scenery. It was great to see JD again. And it had been last November, at Ironman Florida, since I had seen Brooke. We probably could have spent the entire night talking, but we needed to get an early start on Saturday. Even still, it was a short night!

Saturday morning arrived with some bright sunshine. The picture above is the view from their balcony, looking south toward Boulder, I think. JD has often tweeted pictures from the balcony, usually to show the weather, snow, etc. The sunshine was welcome for the day's activities....a 2-mile swim race at the Boulder Reservoir and then a bike ride.

We headed out on Saturday morning to the Boulder Reservoir for the Bare Bones swim race that was organized by the Boulder Aquatic Masters (BAM) swim club. BAM apparently organizes a series of these no frills swim races each summer. Swimmers could choose between 1- or 2-mile distances and could enter wetsuit or no-wetsuit divisions. I chose the 2-mile swim without a wetsuit, thinking that this would be good preparation for the upcoming Waikiki swim race that would also be a no-wetsuit event. It was fun to see so many people gathered for the swim race....and the Reservoir seemed to be a terrific venue. From the results, it looks like there were about 130 swimmers. We ran into Dennis Meeker before the race and it was nice to see him again. He was heading to IM Canada the following weekend. Laura Tingle apparently made an appearance, too, but I missed seeing her.

All of the swimmers started at the same time, but the race thinned out pretty quickly. I can remember thinking that the race started off pretty fast (like always), but then I settled into a steady swim for the rest of the race. I thought the race was pretty uneventful, which was great. I swam alone for most of the way. I remember looking at my watch at the 20-minute mark and thinking that either: 1) I was going very slowly or 2) this was going to be more than 2 miles. As it turns out, speculation after the race had the 1-lap distance at 1.35 miles or so. I was pleased that I didn't seem to notice any adverse effects of the mile-high altitude. I had worried that I'd feel like a fish out of water.

I finished in 1:10. I had a strong 2nd lap, I thought, and I caught up to a group of swimmers who had been out in front of me. As I got to the finishing "chute," I saw JD and Brooke standing on the pier cheering. I was a little surprised to see that JD had already changed. I rolled over in the water, laughing, thinking that it really HAD been slow! Hmmm. It turned out that JD had stopped after 1 lap. No wonder he was already dry. Among the 2-mile non-wetsuit folks, I finished 13th out of 18. On the bright side, I managed to finish ahead of 13 of the 26 folks in a wetsuit. Matt Reed was the winner, in 52:36. Wow!

We headed into Boulder for a hearty breakfast at Foolish Craig's Cafe. That was a fun choice and we got to see a bit of Boulder on the way.

Delta came through in the end and my bike made its way to JD's place around noon on Satuday. Just in time for the bike ride. JD helped assemble the bike....and we were off for a ride to Ward and back. JD deserves an award for patience for this. In contrast to the swim race earlier, it took me only 2-3 minutes of riding (essentially riding in the driveway behind JD's place) to realize that there was almost no oxygen here. At any rate, I told myself to stick with it and see what comes. I can only laugh now that JD told me it'd be no different than skiing at altitude. I assured him that skiing was a downhill sport....and riding to Ward would be almost entirely an uphill sport.

Living on the edge of North Boulder puts JD right at the foothills. Our ride would take us north on Hwy 36, then up Lefthand Canyon Drive to the little town of Ward. This was about 44 miles, with a climb of 16 miles up Lefthand Canyon Drive to an elevation of about 9200 feet. The climb was a pretty slow effort. JD probably had trouble going so slowly. I had a great time, though. The scenery was great. The ride was a challenge. And eventually--after a very steep last mile--reached the town of Ward and a welcome rest stop at the general store. JD bought me a cookie (the traditional fare) and we sat and rested for a bit. My photo of the store doesn't do the scene justice. Ward really looks like something out of another time (decades ago).

The 16 miles downhill went more quickly. It's the first time I've gone downhill that far (or long). These past 2 years in Tucson I was afraid (of heights, going fast, etc.) to do the descents. On this descent, there weren't big drop-offs, so I wasn't worried about heights. It was fun to go fast.

For dinner on Saturday, we headed to The Med. This was a great choice. Brooke, JD, and I had a chance to talk about so many things. And enjoy the tappas menu items as we did. I had pizza (I was SO hungry!) and they had salads. After dinner we went for a walk along Pearl Street. It was fun to see so many people out strolling, enjoying the shops and street performers. The most surprising finding was stumbling across Into the Wind Kites. As it turns out, my family has ordered many kites from Into the Wind over the past 20 years....and never really thought about the location of their "real" store. And here it was. They had a great collection of kites on display, including many Hawaiian, Spin-off, Revolution, etc. stunt kites.

On Sunday, JD and I got a very early start to the day. We headed out for a 5-hour hike in the mountains to the west of Boulder. I'd be hard pressed to describe the route now, but we figured our route was about 12 miles or so. There was plenty of climbing, too....and portions were as much vertical as horizontal. The views were great, the weather was great....and it was just great to be outdoors. Once again, I could have used more oxygen. JD made it all look pretty easy (as you might imagine), but this was pretty strenuous. I figure the hike equated to about 10,000 squats at the gym!

Sunday afternoon found the 3 of us lounging at home, recovering from the weekend's activities. We re-packed the bike and decided to visit FedEx to send it back to Jackson instead of trusting Delta again. Cheaper, too.

We finished up the weekend with dinner at Cantina Laredo. Brooke and JD described this as part of the "new" Boulder. Everybody chose fajitas. And a few chips, too. Bedtime came early because I needed to be up at 3 am for the trip back to Jackson.

It'd be impossible to do justice to the story here, but the Monday morning trip back to the Denver airport was pretty amazing. My rental car broke down within sight of JD's place, it took 4 hours for the tow truck to arrive (pressed into service by the Longmont police and then ran out of gas on the way to Boulder), and I made the trip to DIA in style with my rental car on the back of a flatbed truck! I had planned to be back at work by noon, but instead I got back to Jackson at about 8 pm. I can laugh now....

This was a super weekend. Good friends, good times, great memories.