Rain in Kona!

Ok, it's been a couple of days.
I have:
-fretted over and finally submitted my best job application yet
-received my truck
-gone ocean canoeing
-witnessed a tropical rain shower in kona
-begun to wade through the process of registering the truck in Hawaii

The highlight is a toss up between canoing and receiving the truck.  This is the most excited I've ever been about having a car.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder?  Our legs are pretty worked after biking (almost) everywhere the last two weeks.  Thanks to our friends who have given us rides.  The hills here take more out of you than expected.  They don't look like much, compared to the mountain behind us.  But they are enough to tire a cyclist out. 

It is raining like crazy right now.  I would say that visibility from my window is about a quarter mile.  It is even raining hard enough to drown out the shrieks and cackles of what are starting out as very noisy neighbors.  It's nuts here, though.  They said flash flood warnings and 2-3 inches of rain-- I bet one has come down in the last 15 minutes.  This is all very weird for the side of the island that is normally so dry that there isn't even a stream on it!  The weather, as I think it is prone to do in the winter, is coming from the west, and the radar right now shows it is clear in Hilo. A total role reversal.

It has been spectacularly clear for the four days leading up to this.  That is also thanks to the winter weather pattern, I hear.  The vog, or volcano smog (more of which has been seeping out of Hualalai than usual for the last two years or so) is blown away from kona by these winds from the West (this is all speculation based on my limited observations. I should find some sources on this info).

click here for a bigger version of this cool photo looking east at Hualalai and the vog over kona from Mauna Kea observatory.  This guy also has a pretty blog about working at the observatory with lots of awesome sunset photos.



Beth and I went to Keahou Canoe Club Tuesday morning, her Sunday.  I didn't get any pictures, but there are lots of good ones here.  Also, if you are a lakes and rivers paddler, you might like this discussion of outrigger paddling technique.

The paddling felt really good.  With so many people in a canoe (we got in the idiot-proof canoe, as we were nubes, and had 10 people in the double hull) it is way more aerobic than the canoeing I'm used to in Minnesota, after which I inevitably had worked my shoulders really hard.   Also, the technique is such that I got a better back and core workout.
It was super fun to be on the water.  We paddled out for 20 minutes or so, then jumped into the super warm and clear water for a little "midlake swim"  then headed back.  We were with the retirees and other  people with nothing to do at 8 o'clock on Tuesday morning.  It will be fun to try paddling with the really strong paddlers sometime.

What can be said about the Hawaii "Safety" Check aspect to getting a vehicle registered here?  It is ridiculous.  $20 every year to have someone tell you that your lights work.  check.  At least it's not any more expensive.  And, I'm pretty happy with the folks down at Dixson Service. So it could be worse.
Here are some cool photos.