Honomilino Beach Tsunami!

Real quick-like here, before I have to go to what has become the cursed smoothie-jerk job.
I went with Beth, my boss Betsy, and her friend Sterling to Milolii and Honomilino Beach last Friday.  A great little one mile kayak from Milolii beach park to Honomilino Beach. I don't think the clarity of the water here, especially over nearshore reefs, will get old.  It is so cool to paddle over reefs in calm seas and be able to see the yellow coral heads, the white sandy bottom, and every once and a while, a fish.  On a sunny day, all illuminated by dancing light refracted through the waves, and tinted shades of aqua.
Honmilino got pretty torn up by the recent tsunami.  I guess I didn't think it even warranted a photo!   We were checking it out for an upcoming kayak trip.  fun day anyways, though.  Had a fire on the beach and ate some sausages!  just like back home!

needs no description! excellent!

Beth on the open sea!

looking across the bay at Honomilino Beach

exploring Honomilino Bay

good spot for a house

headed back in the afternoon sunshine

found a neat arch.  look at the contrast from jagged aa to ocean rounded boulders

headed back towards Miloli'i

I'm trying all of these at a lower resolution, hopefully to make it faster for me and for you.  thoughts?

Mauna Kea Death March!

By Beth

Jump back a couple weeks in Martin’s blog entries and you’ll find something about the Daniels brothers coming to visit.  While they were here in Kona town, I was mostly working (Boo).  But… we did also have a sweet road trip adventure to Volcano and beyond.  Martin, unfortunately had to work, and couldn’t join us on the trip, and has asked me to put up a post about our ascent of Mauna Kea in particular.

 SO…here it is!  Introducing the main characters: 

Pete!

 Will? 

Beth.

These photo gems, along with others in this post, have shamelessly been stolen from Will’s Picasa album entitled “Hawaii Road Trip 2011!! Woot Woot,”  and Pete’s Picasa album called “Volcano National Park and South Point.” Check them out here: https://picasaweb.google.com/william.c.daniels and here https://picasaweb.google.com/pdaniels99

We started our morning at ~25 feet above sea level in Hilo with three oatmeal packets apiece for breakfast (barf).  It rained ominously during the 45 minute drive to the Mauna Kea access road, but as we neared the visitor center at 9,000 something feet, the clouds started to clear out.  We were so stoked we started juggling rambutans and doing the Will dance!  If you don’t know what rambutans or the Will dance are you can look the former up on the internet.  To view the latter however, you’ll have to stalk Will on facebook.

The trail from the visitor center is 7 miles long and gains a little over 4000’ in elevation.  Sadly, not long after we began our hike/trek/slog (or whatever you want to call it), the clouds closed back in and, instead of a potentially spectacular view of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, we mostly saw rain, mist, sleet(!), and even snow(!!) during the rest of the climb.

View Du Jour

Snow seemed appropriate?

It was cold and breathtakingly uphill with the elevation, but we did make it to the adze quarry, the permafrost-fed lake that Hawaiians throw babies’ umbilical cords into to give them Mountain Power, the observatories, and, last but not least, the summit!  Ta-da!

Umbilical Cords Live Here

Keck Observatory

Summit in site!

Here we are, grinning through the altitude headaches and wooziness.  Fortunately we had pop tarts, snicker bars and a gigantic block of cheese to get us back down the mountain.  Not much of a view from the top that day.  I guess Will and Pete will just have to come on back for a second summit on a sunnier day!

P.S. If you’re not tired of perusing photos yet, I also have a Picasa album featuring Will and Pete's adventures in Hawaii.  You can find it here: https://picasaweb.google.com/beth.bernhardt

gray in kona again/economic stimulus

how bout that weather?
it seems I'm most inclined to sit down and write something when it is gray outside...
contemplative weather? 
good weather for staying cool and comfortable at the computer?
I don't know.  I have been up to fun stuff, and I promise I will get some reports up here.  I just need to take more photos, so you have something better to look at than these words...

Here's a bit of good news:  if you're sick of hearing all the rhetoric about budgets and borrowing and deficits, I can testify, with certainty, that there is a cruise ship in Kailua Bay this morning. 
Rare for a Sunday.  Usually, as you may have read here before, the cruise ship is a wednesday phenomenon.  Whatever we have to say about them, tourists mean money for this town.  Don't call it a comeback, but I welcome a little more cash in kona after all this apocalyptic budgetary posturing.

Well, there's my stalker photo of the day.

I've got to get ready to go be a smoothie jerk.  But I will promise you news on such thrilling topics as:
Lifeguard Certification!
Bodysurf at Kua Bay!
if you're lucky:
Shark at Kua Bay!
if you're really good:
The Story of Dropping a Bed On My Toe, and My Falling Off Toenail!! stay tuned.

One month ago....

...was my last post!  Yikes, I've been negligent.

It has been a busy month. Our northland friends, the Norwegian Bachelor Brothers Will and Pete brought us a breath of fresh Minnesota air this month, which was certainly the highlight. We had a lot of fun; I'll put some pictures up soon.

Beth and I have been reeling in the quiet since they left, but perhaps I need to find a better way to fill the space than fret about gainful employment...
I've certainly kept myself busy, with some additional work teaching middle schoolers how to work on their bicycles.  It is a little stressful to come up with lesson plans for them, as everything about the program is new and undefined.  I'm trying to take things one little step at a time and not get lost in the big picture: use my time productively.  This work is for PATH.  I'm becoming less intimidated by the chaos, and looking at this as interesting experience in teaching and curriculum development, and a chance to make a little extra money.
I still have trips with Pack and Paddle, which is good.  They are that much more fun and relaxing contrasted with the middle schoolers.
Also checked off the stressor column is our house hunt-- not because we found anything new, but because we decided to stay where we are.  A potentially very unsatisfactory choice, as anyone who has tried to sleep through the night next to our obnoxious and immature partygirrlz neighbors knows.  But we have it on inside information that their lease will not be renewed.  So, we hope things don't get bad this month and that the new neighbors share a schedule similar to ours.  Looking for apartments sucks.  We'll tone it down for a while, but keep our eyes open for that perfect spot.
Ultimate frisbee is in the much improved column this month.  After some effort expended to organize a legitimate pickup game here in Kona, our fledgling game is looking all right, and we've made some new friends through it, too.  I think it will grow and hopefully stick around for a while.

OK, if you made it this far, my unsolicited self-disclosure has allowed you to achieve an intimate understanding of my life this month.  Use this knowledge responsibly, (stalker).  I'll start posting pictures and words about hawaii now, which is what I'd rather do on this blog. 

Soundtrack to this post: Bob Dylan, New Morning.  Getting ready to eat some fresh banana bread and play cribbage.  Life ain't so bad.