E Komo Mai!

Last Wednesday, Kelsey and I left the frigid and snowy landscape of Minnesota for the warmer climate of Honolulu, Hawai'i. E komo mai means welcome, in Hawai'ian.
Only 18 hours of travel later, we had (almost) sunny skies above our heads and sandy beaches below our feet. The weather the first two days was not completely cooperative, but we made the most of it.

Our first stop was the Ihilane resort at Ko Olina, on O'ahu. According to Kelsey, it was the best hotel room she's ever stayed in. Ever. The view was pretty nice, too.
Our first day on the island we headed to the Dole pineapple plantation. Again, it alternated heavy downpours with sun all day.Did you know that pineapples are completely planted and harvested by hand? And it takes 18 months for the first pineapple to appear, 15 months to the second, and 12 months to the third. At that point they raze the whole field and start again.
After the plantation, we headed up to the North Shore, which is kind of the country. It was less built up and resort filled.
Here's an example of the weather. We're standing in sun, and there's a mountain obscured by clouds in the distance.
The day finished out with a beautiful sunset, however. You'll find that this is a repetitive occurance.
Friday we decided to head over to Pearl Harbor. Before leaving the resort, the valet said it would probably be busy. Why's that? Oh yeah, it was December 7th, the anniversary of the day that would live in infamy. Except that Kelsey and I had forgotten. So much for infamy...
There was a 3 hour wait to get into the Arizona Memorial, so we decided to see some of the other sites. This was the USS Bowfin, although we didn't go onboard.
We headed to the USS Missouri, instead. The USS Missouri, along with the USS Wisconsin, was the last of the Iowa class battleships. It is famous for being the place where World War II ended.Them's some big guns! Two of those guns weigh more than the space shuttle!
And them's the big shells the big guns fire. Enough to put a 20 foot hole in the ground 26 miles away.
There were still battle scars from WWII on the ship. A kamikaze had hit the side of the Missouri, which was still dented and bent along the side. Just moments before we got there, a group of Japanese tourists had left a memorial for the pilot. The guide said it was very common for flowers to be left.
Here is where my geek powers failed. We toured the weapons center of the ship, which was still outfitted for the first Gulf War. To the left of this picture was the computer system used. Can you guess what brand computers the Navy used? Would you believe it was PACKARD BELL!? How the hell did we ever win a war with Packard Bell computers on board?
Here was the exact location of the ending of World War II.
After the Missouri, it was time to head over to the Arizona Memorial.
Over 1,100 sailors died on the Arizona.
On Saturday the weather broke and it was absolutely perfect. This was the day to go hiking, so Diamond Head and Manoa Falls were on tap. Diamond Head is a former volcano crater and more recently an army fort.
It's not a long hike, but it was unfortunately extremely busy. At the top was some great pictures of Honolulu.
A shot across the crater. It's a completely different ecosystem inside the crater. The wind dies down and it's much drier.
The Manoa Falls trail is a slightly longer hike, up to a 150 foot waterfall. Beware of wild pigs!
The flora was reminicent of what was in Hong Kong. These trees were similar to the trees on the trails of Hong Kong.
And the falls! I wanted to be really impressed, but was merely impressed. They don't let you jump in the pool at the bottom, probably because they're afraid you'd sue someone if you got hurt.
After all the hiking it was time to relax. And how better than a luau? We headed to a luau close to our resort, Germain's Luau. With a great sunset, of course.It was a celebration of various Pacific cultures. The fire dancer was pretty impressive.
And a little Mele Kalikimaka! That's Merry Christmas for all you haole.
Goodbye O'ahu! On to the Big Island!

Goodbye Dear Friend

The Explorer was retired today. She'd served her purpose, and since I received my company vehicle, the explorer really didn't get out much. So I drove her down to the Newgate School for a donation. Oddly enough, both of the people in front of me also donated 1994 Ford Explorers.

Here I am, sad to say goodbye.

Dance Dance

Friday night, Kelsey and I went over to Cameron's and Kristen's house for a Guitar Hero III / Dance Dance Revolution party. Or GH3/DDR for short. If you're not familiar with these games, they're performance games. In Guitar Hero you (obviously) play a guitar for points. It's a simple guitar, with just five fret buttons. The game is extremely addictive, however.

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR SuperNOVA 2, in this case) is similar in style, however you press buttons on a dance pad instead of fret buttons. The game is nearly the same, with a scrolling display of upcoming moves. Although the party had GH3, it quickly turned into a DDR party.

Muffin came with us, so we dressed her up as Whiplash, the monkey from the Taco Johns commercials.
Kelsey and Kristen rocking out to some Ashley Tisdale. No, I have no clue who that is, except she's some sort of Brittney circa 2003 rip-off.
Even Steve and I were persuaded to play a little DDR. I believe that Christina's favorite song was 'Suddenly I See' by KT Tunstall. The music in DDR is not necessarily of the highest quality. I mean, at least the licensed GOOD music for Guitar Hero.
Although I told Kelsey that there was absolutely no way I would play DDR, I ended up jumping on the pad. And was surprisingly not terrible for having never played. That show choir gene must have gotten to me. Although not as badly as it got to Andrew.

Turkey Bowl XI

11 years. That's how long we've been playing our traditional day after Thanksgiving football game. It originally started out as Rednecks vs. non-Rednecks. A good matchup, back in 1997. One year we had so many people participate that we actually had to have two games simultaneously. These days our numbers have thinned, just 14 this year. But the fun hasn't abated, only our speed. And our chances for minor/major injury are slightly higher. But we do have neat-o shirts!

Here's an action shot, with Mike's Black team facing Donnie's Orange team. The orange team had the size advantage, but in the end, the stamina wasn't there.
Only one injury this year. Keachen took a hit from Mike, which knocked him out of the game. No broken bones, but possibly a minor concussing. He does remember at least one play. As for the rest of us, just sore muscles, and maybe a hangover for some individuals.

The victorious Black team.
The unsuccesful Orange team.
As for any bowl game, an MVP trophy must be handed out. This year's recipient was Mike Ternes, for his great form tackles. The MVP trophy is a fresh deer leg, killed only hours before by Ricky Anderson.
The full group, before retiring to The Wharf.
See you all for Turkey Bowl XII.

Pumpkin Carving!

Saturday night Kelsey and I had a pumpkin carving party at our place! Autumnal beers were served, as well as hot cider with an excellent recipe from the Joy of Cooking. That comes later. But on to the goods.

Here are the first few. In all, 13 pumpkins were carved, with some people less artistic than others. Fortunately, the carving kits came with a bunch of templates, making hacks like me into artists.Here is Christina's and Kristen's art pumpkin. It was made to look like a porcupine or hedgehog. I was only a little scared when Christina showed up with a drill...

Oh, and for the cider recipe:

• 6 liters apple cider
• 3 cups of dark rum
• 20-25 cinnamon sticks
• 3 very thinly sliced oranges
• 7 tablespoons sugar

Mix all items in large pot. Heat to simmer, then reduce.

Festing Recap

Last weekend brought the annual rite that is Oktoberfest. As is typically the case, hijinks ensued.

The first to have wool pulled over his eyes was Mr Derek Kruse. You see, Derek and his girlfriend Nicole have recently become enganged! Although Derek had not informed me of this, word travels fast in the small hamlet of O-Town, and I had indeed heard. Anyways, congratulations to them both!

Here's the happy couple at the first stop on Friday night, the Recovery Room.One cool feature of the Recovery Room is the "sit down keg stand." They had an old style hospital chair sitting underneath a tap in the wall, so Justin was persuaded to give it a try. The tap won.
Next we headed to the festgrounds. Wilkommen, indeed. This part of the night would have made a lot more sense, had we stayed away from those shots at the previous bar.
Mitch's friends, I presume.Friday night was a good time. I was planning to stay downtown, but my mom was afraid I'd fall in the river, and made my dad come pick me up. Maybe a good idea given what happened the following night.

Saturday brought the highlight of most years, the Maple Leaf Parade. We've been luck the past few years, in that the weather was perfect. So we were due for a crappy day. A light drizzle turned progressively worse, until we were forced from the parade.

Here's Steve, Cindi and Derek, before the rain.
A parade isn't a parade if we don't jump in and steal some drums. We're NOT good anymore.
After the parade we headed to Jake's parent's house for some more food and fun. And luckily we were able to get this group pic.
Even Jessica and her baby boy Marek were able to make it out for some fun.
Soon it was time to head to the Northside Festgrounds. Where the second to fall victim to tomfoolery would be... Mr Derek Kruse. It turns out, Kruse family friend Sal Sorentino has a band in which Derek negotiated to drum for a few songs. Sal kindly agreed, bringing Derek to the stage whilst announcing his recent engagement to the crowd. At which time Sal breaks into a song. Which song? The Greg Kihn Band's The Breakup Song. Oh, poor Derek, Nicole was not amused.
After a rousing performance, it Southside grounds redux. One of the first people we run into is our friend Jackie, whose boyfriend Matt played on our flag football team in the past.
Justin obviously wants the beer, "His Way."
Not exactly sure what's up with Jake here, but something in the roof got his attention. Sara and Michael are yet to notice.
Here's my former boss Jen, who I worked for at Orange Julius.
We ended the evening at Bennett O'Reilly's downtown. Here are Chris, Joanna, and Molly. I remember trying to play the Roxanne drinking game, although Jake had bought a singular dark beer, so we had to pass it back and forth quickly. Which doesn't work well with dark, heavy beer.
Like most Oktoberfests, a great time was had by all, and it's a mere 360 days to the next 'fest. Mark your calenders for September 26, 2008!

Vacation?

No home renovations or football talk this time, it's a guest blog entry by Kelsey! This post is about my vacation on the north rim of the Grand Canyon in Sept 2007. Instead of a relaxing getaway, I hiked through the desert carrying a 60 lb backpack and slept on a bed of rocks. Doesn't that sound fun? I spent half the trip wondering why I wanted to to do this. I went with Kristen, Christina and Cameron again, we hiked a different trail on the south rim of the Grand Canyon 2 years ago. You can see more pictures and read about our misadventures from this trip on Steve's blog where Christina is a frequent guest blogger.

After changing a flat tire and retrieving the wallet I left at the hotel (a 1.5 hour drive from the trailhead) this was the first scenic vista we came across. Kristen and I were behind the others because of the return trip for the wallet. There are no more photos from the first day because it was a trail of tears. Kristen was a slave driver and would not stop until we caught up with Cameron and Christina. I really did cry a little bit.
Here we are on the second day of hiking. My nickname from our first trip to the canyon was caboose because I was always the last in line. In this photo you can kind of see everyone far ahead of me. This is the closest I ever got to catching up with the rest of the group. I mean, they all run marathons, what chance did I have?

After a very strenuous hike on the second day, we reached the Throne Room. Hikers from the days of yore fashioned these crude seats out of fallen rock near a small spring. It was the most comfortable thing we sat on during the entire trip.
This is where Deer Creek meets the Colorado River. We had a day of rest on the third day so we only hiked a short distance (1-2 miles instead of 5 or 6 miles) from the campsite down to the Colorado River. This waterfall made the whole trip worthwhile because we were able to frolick in the cool water. And we could bathe.
This is the fourth day when we began the hike back out. There were several very narrow sections of trail with the sheer cliff face only inches away. I am really afraid of heights and got a little weak in the knees here. But I still managed to snap a photo.
Most of the "trail" looked similar to this, a narrow path of rocks without cacti on it. The cacti did grow near the trail though and I had to pull some spines out of my leg.
Here's the gang cooking breakfast on the last morning. And by cooking I mean boiling water for instant oatmeal. You can hardly tell we haven't showered in days!
A trail shot on the last day of the trip. This was one of the few nice sections of trail that was relatively flat but still rocky. Sweet relief from the steep ascent of the previous day.
This picture was taken about halfway up to the rim on the last day. It's about a 6000 ft elevation difference from the rim to river.
Near the end of the trail was a very steep ascent with some scrambling over rocks. The scrambling was intense, our guidebook suggested hikers take off their packs, hand them up and then rock climb.
Here's Christina near the end of the trail. The last half mile was downhill and it was fantastic!
Once I knew I was going to make it out of the canyon and that I wasn't going to die there, the trip was great. It's an incredible natural wonder and it really is awesome. However, for our next hiking trip I'm going to suggest somewhere flat, like Nebraska.