Back! (for a limited time)

I survived the whole 2 weeks in Hawaii,

and I escaped almost completely intact.

One of the last days I did a bad cliff jump, though,

and broke my ass right off.

I swear, it still hurts so bad.

I don't even know how it's not black and blue,

but you should feel very fortunate that it's not.

Because friends, this post would be nothing but butt shots it it were.

I have a fear of heights,

but I'm also really competitive,

so when Meryl's sisters were jumping off stuff,

I usually had to do it, too.

We first found Black Rock on the douchebag side of Maui,

and I jumped off that,

but it was pretty easy at 22ft.

Then you swim to shore,

which was also easy, even in Carhartts.

You thought I was kidding?

Then, a few days later, and on a whole different island,

we went to check out the southernmost part of the United States.

It just so happened that there was some serious cliffs there,

and a few people were jumping off of those, too.

So I videotaped Meryl and her sisters jumping those cliffs,

and then, while they were swimming around below,

I stripped to my boxers and did it, too.

Some terrible fear of being outdone overpowered my terrible fear of heights,

and I jumped 44 feet into an ocean I didn't even want to swim in at all.

So dumb.

But luckily, no one was filming MY jump,

because I must have looked like an idiot when I hit the water in a sitting position.

(and since i was only wearing boxers it was probably NSFW)

Here's a video of Lindsay jumping, instead:

But yeah, I'm back in MPLS now,

but only for another two days.

Crazy packing time.

Then a long drive west,

and settling down for the winter in Grants Pass, Oregon.

I don't think I'd call my Hawaii time relaxing,

but vacation time is officially OVER.

More Lanterns.

More Rebecca and the Cucch hang out time happened,
and we released another few lanterns before dinner.
As the third one went into the sky,
this nice older homeless man asked if I was videotaping.
I wasn't.
So then when Meryl and I got back to the condo we asked her sisters for help,
and we released the last two.
This time I did take video.



Here's two lanterns trying to reach the moon.

Kicking it Off.

New Year's Eve.
Meryl and I met up with Rebecca for a lunch at Fresh Mint,
an all vegan place in Pa'ia.
Such a good final lunch of 2011.
Then, after he got off work, the Cucch joined us,
and we ate dinner and rang in the New Year as a big group.

I had those 30 Japanese floating lanterns

(think mini hot air balloons)
and we went to the beach to set them off.

It was so windy,

but we managed to release a bunch before midnight.

A couple of them didn't clear the ocean,

but the rest were headed south last time we saw them.

And they were cruising.

I think I took a nap after that,
and "woke up" at 3:00 am.
The family got into the rental car and drove a few, windy hours
up to the top of Mt Haleakala to watch the sunrise.
Hatsuhinode is the Japanese word for the first sunrise of the New Year,
and their traditions of new years firsts is something I'm so brutally into.
So we saw the first sunrise of 2012 from the top of a volcano,
and it was awesome.
10,000 feet above sea level,
and we were sitting above the clouds.
It was even cold up there.

Goodbye 2011.
Hello 2012.
I think I'm f'n ready.
I get home from Hawaii soon,
then I'm off to Grants Pass, Oregon.
I've set up this year to be the best ever.
I hope everyone had a beautiful beginning to this new year.
All my best wishes to you all.

Hiding from the sun (continued)

It's a crazy place, this Hawaii,

especially for tattooed weirdies trying to avoid the sun (like me).

Yesterday we got driven around Maui in the back of an old bio-diesel Mercedes by the Cucch and Rebecca, and it was so amazing.

We hit black sand beaches, red sand beaches, a billion waterfalls,

caves, spring fed pools, and other other-worldly views.

All of this on a 12 hour, too-close-for-comfort,

driving-on-the-side-of-some-cliffs kind of adventure.

Highway to Hana.

It's even better when someone else is driving,

and you can hang out the sunroof.

On vacation.

Hawaii, kids.

It's a love/hate relationship.

I love the ocean, but hate the beach.

I love islands, but hate the people that flock to them.

Meryl has family living down here for a year,

and she had never been before.

And she's also moving out to Oregon just for me,

so......Hawaii for the holidays!

You know I don't even own a pair of shorts,

but so far we're doing well.

Day two and I already have two different lighthouse visits.

This first photo is at the top of a mountain Meryl and I climbed to get to Makapuu Point Light the really hard way.

There's a two mile paved path winding around to the lighthouse,

or an unmarked, not-at-all-legitimate super steep climb up to the top and then over.

It got dark before we even hit the top,

it was scary windy,

and some Hawaiian dude kinda told us we were screwed.

But we did it,

and it was so rad.

Here's a view of of the Makapu Point Light from partially up our hike.

At our destination we met this couple who were both biologists working in Hawaii.

We bonded over our shared love of dead birds

(i was wearing a 'dead birds are sexy' shirt)

and they brought us out to dinner and drove us home.

And since their jobs include working with sick and dying birds,

we're about to have some amazing additions to the I love dead birds blog.

So awesome.

This morning I woke up early

(which isn't hard to do with a four hour time difference)

and took a bike ride with Meryl's mom, Colleen,

out to Diamond Head Lighthouse.

Then a few hours later,

Meryl, her sisters, and I hiked the Diamond Head crater,

and got to see the lighthouse from above.

We then ate lunch at the top in a coastal artillery bunker built in 1908.

Tomorrow we fly to Maui,

and get to see some stuff out there for a while.

Rebecca and the Cucch are living on that island these days,

so we'll have some hang out time with them.

And New Years happens while we're there.

Luckily, I was prepared,

and shipped those 30 Japanese floating lanterns to myself.

I don't know who else will be there,

but I will be saying my goodbyes to 2011 in style,

and making sure 2012 gets kicked off right.