Hike Pictures

The above is looking to the left from the trail, maybe a third of the way up.


This is the view from about halfway up the trail, looking to the right. Not half bad.


View from the top! It's a little blurry because it was incredibly windy. It's probably right about 7pm here, so it's starting to get dark and it's cloudy out. The town we're looking down on is Waimanalo.


Going back down the trail. This is near the top of the mountain, so it's pretty steep.

The "holy crap I can't believe I did that" hike

Unfortunately I can't get my pictures to download off my camera at work, so I'll have to update the post with pictures tonight.

Will and Rick set up a hike for some coworkers, and invited me to come along. Because it was on a Wednesday, I had to ask my trainer if I could switch my appointment to Thursday. I should have known what I was getting into with the hike when my trainer was ecstatic that I was going. I even got a long voicemail from him full of excitement and encouragement and comments about my "journey."

There were seven of us coworkers, one husband, and two teenage sons. I was a little nervous about this hike - four/five miles round trip, I'm not a hiker, I work with these people, and I was with my boss! But, I was determined to do my best, and I knew I was stronger and in better shape after six weeks of working out.

Some of the group was in really good shape and booked it up the mountain - Rick and the kids, and the kids' dad. The rest of us took it as we could, and no one was afraid of stopping to catch their breath. About a mile up the hill I commented that this was really hard, and Jane told me she thought I was doing great. Yes, because I'm quiet and you can't hear how hard I'm breathing! This was not an easy hike! I had decided that if I could at all make it, I was definitely going all the way to the top. I wanted to prove to myself that I could.

The last 100 feet or so of the hike was steep and muddy, but I made it up. We were so lucky; the wind had blown the clouds away and we were treated to an amazing view.

The whole way up everyone encouraged each other and chatted, and I'm so glad I went. I knew that it would be good for me to spend some time with my coworkers outside of work - I get left out of office functions sometimes and don't work directly with anyone except my boss. I had no idea how much doing this one hike was going to let me into the club though. Even before it, when Jane found out I was going it was like a switch flipped and all of a sudden she liked me. And today in the office people want to hear how it went, and are so happy for me that I made it to the top. Most of the people here know that I'm working out six days a week and making big changes and they've been so supportive. I've gotten a couple of big hugs for making it all the way to the top =)

Coming down was its own kind of hard. It's easier to avoid roots and rocks when you don't have gravity working against you. I had a couple of slip and almost falls, and told Will "hey, at least my butt hasn't hit the ground yet!" 30 seconds later, BOOM! Butt's on a root. Another 30 seconds, BOOM! I'm surprisingly not sore today, except for my butt bruises.

About halfway down it started to get dark, but wasn't too bad until the last 20 minutes or so. I was right behind Will, who's basically a goat on these hills, and I could hear my boss talking behind me, so I knew I'd be fine. Will was great about letting me know what obstacles were in the way. When it got really dark I got a little anxious and at one point had to call out to Will to stop because I couldn't see him anymore and that freaked me out.

People talk about the high you can get from exercise and that kind of thing, but I've never really felt it. In the last couple of weeks I've started to get into a better mood when I finish my workouts, but I had no idea how exhilarated and happy I would feel after finishing this hike. That feeling alone almost made it worth it. I'm sure my sense of accomplishment didn't hurt my mood either.

I decided to do this on a whim, and I couldn't be happier that I did. I told the group that I was going to have to do this again in November before I leave, so that I can see the difference. I cannot remember ever doing something so physically challenging. Maybe swimming 200 fly or something, but maybe not.

It's really incredible to see the dynamic of this agency and the people who work for it. It's so different than anything I experienced in DC. You get a different kind of person who wants to do this work, but they also have to move around relatively often in order to move higher in their career. So, you have people from all over who come together like a little motley family. The family in our group is out here for a little while from Atlanta, Rick has been in Alaska for the last five years, and everybody has known someone else in the group before they all converged in Hawaii. I think that's part of the reason I've been feeling especially like an outsider at work. Moving out here has been one of the best things I could do for myself. I needed a different kind of atmosphere, and to push myself to do things outside of my normal realm of comfort.

I don't think I'm an outsider anymore. Jane just called over the cube wall to ask if I was going to this goodbye lunch today for our contract guy (he's the one I went on the lei-finding adventure with). No one had thought to invite me. I'll be going. I'm on the list now.

My new calling

The other day I was supposed to meet up with this guy, Mike, but at the last minute he texted me and canceled. Needless to say, it was frustrating. It turns out that he is going back to California tomorrow because after only a week in Hawaii, he's decided to scrap his grad school plans and leave. Kind of nice to know that him cancelling wasn't about me, but also nice to be reminded that even though this is hard for me at times, I'm not about to quit after two months, much less a week.

Last night I had a barbecue at the bunkhouse with a few of my coworkers, so I got to show off my amazing grilling skills. It was mostly Mark's idea (whom you may remember from my first days here, awesome guy) because he thought I was too isolated at work. But, you give people one day's notice, and not a whole lot show up, just Mark, Rick (another guy at the house), and Will (a coworker). However, when they started raving about how good the food was, and that I should quit my job and open a restaurant, I didn't care that nobody else showed up =) We had a good time and luckily had finished cooking and eating by the time the skies opened up on us. Apparently we're going through a rainy period.

It's pretty gray out right now, but hopefully it clears up by this afternoon. I'm going on my first "real" hike ever with some coworkers and my boss...It's four miles, and "offers stunning views of the windward and southern coasts." I'm just worried that I'm not quite in good enough shape for it, but they think I'll be fine. Plus, there's nothing like the fear of humiliation to push my butt up a hill! And yes, I brought my camera.

I was thinking that on days I don't have pictures that fit the posts, I would just put up a "picture of the day." So here's yours for today. It's Hule'ia National Wildlife Refuge on Kaua'i. We just stopped at an overlook to look at it on our first day.

Day Five - Sunday - Pooped

Sunday morning the kids did a really lovely thing for both M and myself. They took ti leaves and braided us leis, and then sang a traditional Hawaiian thank you chant. It was really touching and I of course teared up, prompting the kids to tell me not to cry. It was a little love fest with hugging and thank yous and happiness. All along the kids had been very gracious to all of the adults and refuge employees they encountered, so it was nice to hear they appreciated me being there too. One of the boys hugged me and told me that I'd done a great job for my first time camping =)

Everything at the rental car place went smoothly, thank goodness, and we got to the airport super early. Lihue Airport is a teeny little place, with live Hawaiian music, and mostly open air. I especially loved the world clocks on the wall all set to the same time. That threw me for a loop at first.

Our flight was great, pretty much just taking off and landing. All the kids had parents there to pick them up and I treated myself to a cab. I basically just fell into bed. I don't remember the last time I felt so grateful for a bed, and for a pillow! My nap was wonderful, and I spent the rest of the afternoon with a Corona and labelling all of my pictures so I could get them up on the internets for all of you lovely people to see.

Overall, a pretty damn good experience, although harrowing and exhausting at times.

Day Four - Saturday - Proud

You like my "P" word day descriptors?

I forgot to put up a picture of me in the cave; I figured everyone might get a kick out of it, but it's a little dark, so forgive me. For your viewing pleasure:

Yup, I actually got my butt into a cave. I walked all the way in, luckily I had my nose to light the way (Marc, if you ever read this, that Ruldolph reference was for you), got in, said yup it's a cave, and tried not to run back out. Totally gave me the heebie jeebies.

On Saturday we spent the whole day at Ocean Fair at the Kilauea Point refuge. It's a multi-agency fair that they do every year to educate the public about wildlife and ocean issues. I was so proud of my kids that day. Everyone who worked at the refuge kept coming to tell me how lucky I was to have such a great group, and I really was. They jumped right in to the work, never complaining, never standing around trying to avoid helping. And, they really had fun.

I actually had fun as well, despite being assigned for several hours to the albatross bolus table. Look there I am, teaching some wild haired guy about albatross boluses (boli? I'm not sure...) Now, for those of you who don't know, an albatross bolus is much like an owl pellet. We were supposed to explain it as, "what a young albatross regurgitates before fledging for the first time." This is albatross puke people! Before the bird flies away for the first time it wants to feel all light and frisky, so it pukes up the stuff it can't digest! When the park ranger first informed me that I'd be hanging at this table I looked at her and said simply, "No." She assured me that it wasn't gross, but this was also the girl who said that the blind snake/worm was cute, so I wasn't buying.

Turns out it's not too gross. It's completely dry, and unfortunately, mostly a bunch of plastic. There is also some natural fibrous stuff and a bunch of squid beaks (indigestible jaw of a squid), but those are brittle and not disgusting. It smelled a little rancid, as dried puke is wont to do, but after a while I stopped being skeeved out and had fun with it. Plus, it was really an activity for little kids, so that was super fun! By the way, if a ten year old boy thinks it's nasty, it probably is.

Ocean Fair was a delight (with the yummiest shrimp wagon lunch ever - yay Savage Shrimp!) but was completely exhausting. Once we got back to the campsite I just wanted to veg, but the kids were dying for one last time at the beach. So, I bargained with them and since they got the van cleaned out, I took them back to Black Pots. This was my first real "mom" moment of the trip: One of the girls told me that she wasn't going to help because everyone else would get it done. I told her that if she didn't help, I'd leave her behind. She helped.

Poor kids. We get to the beach, the group leader goes bounding into the water, and I see some older man go running after her. He talks to her, she gets out, and I'm really confused. Apparently there had been a shark sighting and everyone was told to stay out of the water for a couple of hours. Oh well. They all hung out on the beach instead and I walked around and called my mom to tell her about the albatross puke and how happy I was to be going home the next day.

My second mom moment came when we were leaving the beach and one of the girls informed me that her friend would be "stopping by" later. The conversation went something like this: "I'm sorry, you can't have any friends come by, you'll have to call and tell him." "He's not my boyfriend!!" "I don't care if he's your boyfriend or not, we are guests at the refuge, it is a privilege to stay there, and you are not allowed to have people over!" "Well I'll just go meet him on the road then." (oh my god, you have got to be joking) "No, you won't. Please call him now and tell him because I don't want him showing up and me having to deal with it, or the people in the bunkhouse having to deal with it." Then there was just silent fuming and I knew she was cursing me in her head. Tough break kid. You're 21; you know better. The team leader backed me up and was so embarrassed by it. I had to reassure her that it was fine, and completely not her fault.

M had made a big fire for us at the campsite, so I made a pot of spaghetti and then the kids were just going to hang out by the fire all night. Around 11 I was surprised at how quiet they are, but figured they were just exhausted and had gone to bed. Turns out I was wrong. They were frog hunting, and needed stealth capability. Glad I was in my tent at that point!

Day Three - Friday - Pardoned (Part 2)

The beach we stopped at, Tunnels Beach, was gorgeous. A little foresty on the edges, with beautiful blues in the water. It seemed pretty shallow, so I hopped in, only to be immediately assaulted by a wave that was much stronger than it seemed. I ended up with sand in so many crevices, a blistered bug bite ripped off my knee leaving a bloody crater, and just a little confused. The tide was ridiculously strong and it brutalized me because I was too stupid to just say no. I kept going back for more, somehow thinking that it was just a freak wave, or two, or three...It was a little fun though, in an exhilirating, think I might drown kind of way.

Our next adventure was to drive home so we could be ready for sunset at Kilauea Point. On our way home we stopped to try and find marshmallows at another store, but apparently the entire island of Kaua'i was sold out of marshmallows. We ended up picking up a couple of jars of marshmallow fluff and making s'mores with it by putting the chocolate and graham cracker on the grill first to get it melty. Then you spread fluff on another graham cracker, and smush it together. And the "ghetto s'more" is born.

Anyway, that night M opened up the Kilauea Point refuge for us and let us climb to the top of the lighthouse to watch the sunset. The clouds weren't really cooperating, but it was beautiful nonetheless. It had been such a fun day for all of us that it was a really nice way to cap things off. Everyone was lighthearted and enjoying each other's company, and I had finally felt better about the van accident because all of the paperwork had been taken care of. The picture is blurry because of the setting we had to use to get enough light, but I think you can see that we're happy =)

After sunset at the lighthouse, we went back to the campsite and I made everyone fajitas on the grill, which were a huge hit. You all know how I love to cook for people, and teenagers who are really hungry and not picky are a great crowd, haha.

With full bellies and knowing that a long tomorrow was ahead of us, we crashed pretty early. Unfortunately, the rain continued much like it did Thursday night, but since I was better prepared it wasn't quite as bad. I was snug as a bug in a rug in my hooded sleeping bag. I felt a little more like a steaming sausage in a casing though, what with the heat and rain induced humidity...

Just wanted to share

This is my favorite court reporter mistake ever: "I really want to encourage parody in budgeting." Almost made me laugh out loud at my desk, but the office is too damn quiet, so I stifled it.

Day Three - Friday - Pardoned (Part 1)

I'm going to split this post into two as well.

I spent early Friday morning doing paperwork about the accident, so I didn't work with the kids. However, they informed me that the trail was really steep and "you wouldn't have liked it." How quickly they got to know me.

The kids and I headed over to Kilauea Point NWR after that. We got a quick tour, but then it was time for me to do more paperwork with M and the kids got to explore with the biologist and the park ranger.



The paperwork got done and apparently no one is mad at me, but I will be teased mercilessly. I've been told that this is my initiation into the club. I think I would have preferred not being a member.

After we were done at Kilauea Point the kids and I went back to the campsite for lunch and then would be going to Limahuli Garden.

Limahuli Garden is a beautiful botanic garden for native Hawaiian plants. It was a nice easy hike through the hills and had some wonderful views and just gorgeous plantings. The kids were so cute, calling out to each other and excited to be seeing plants they had learned about before. We had a really good time there.

On our way back to Hanalei, we stopped at a beach not far from Limahuli Garden.

Day Two - Thursday Punished (Part 2)

After our great morning at Waipa we came back to the campsite to get ready to do some work at the refuge.

We met up with M and were going to be removing invasive plants (pulling weeds) and getting some areas ready for native plants with mulch, etc. It was super hot out, but the work wasn't too bad, especially with eight people doing it. Well, it wasn't too bad until about an hour in when I realized I was getting eaten alive by mosquitos. By the time we finished I counted 20-30 mosquito bites on each of my legs, a couple on my arms, a couple right below my butt, and one that swelled to the size of a quarter on the delicate skin of my boob. It was awesome. One of the kids looked at me and said, "Colleen! You didn't just get bit, you got attacked!" Thanks, I know.

And then I got bitten twice more while I was in the shower.

It was also really fun when the park ranger coming to help us said, "Oh, you must be Colleen. I heard about the van." Apparently, the guy who saw it happen on the porch decided to tell everyone in the Kaua'i refuge complex. The kids really enjoyed my muttering about that one. "Oh yeah, that's exactly how I want to be introduced. Not, this is Colleen, the youth opportunity coordinator, or this is Colleen, she went to Georgetown Law, or this is Colleen and no, she doesn't understand how you could possibly think a tiny blind snake that looks like a worm is cute. Get away from me."

That night, M had a barbecue for us and some other refuge employees. There were a couple of people my age there, so I thought that could be fun, but they were the only two people I've met since working here who weren't friendly. Almost downright rude. So I just stayed away from them.

By the time night rolled around, I was ready for "bed" and a good night's sleep. It was not to be. A couple of hours into the night I was woken up by the hardest rain I have ever seen or heard. At first I just tried to go back to sleep, but then I realized my tent was leaking. It was my last camping trip all over again. The rain would abate for a little while and I would fall asleep, only to be woken up again, sure that we were going to be flooded. I considered making a run to the van, but then I'd be soaked and in the van. Not a promising option. I ended up just getting inside my sleeping bag, pulling the hood over my head, and trying to sleep like that. It was hot, but at least I stayed dry. I have to say, the sleeping bag I had was awesome (unlike the tent) and I'm grateful to the man who lent it to me.

After that really good night's sleep, I didn't have much hope for the morning. I knew I wouldn't be hiking and working on the trail with the kids. I had accident paperwork to do.

Kaua'i Camping Trip - Day Two: Thursday Punished (Part 1)

After worrying about the van accident as I fell asleep and using a folded up towel as a pillow, I felt less than refreshed as we all trekked off to the Waipa Foundation at a quarter to eight.

The Waipa Foundation was started by a family who bought up a bunch of land to keep it from being developed, and it now also does environmental education and Hawaiian cultural education. So, we were there to help a bunch of auntys and uncles make poi for the whole community.

We split up to help at the different stations, some of us cooking taro, some peeling it, and some cleaning it. Peeling it basically entailed scooping the chunks out of water and rubbing the charred skin off of the taro with your hands. Needless to say, these were all messy jobs.



It was really a wonderful experience. The elders were all so lovely and happy to share their traditions, especially Uncle Calvin (in the red board shorts). When we said goodbye he told me I had to come back and that he loved me. I felt very special to have been included in such a longstanding tradition. The kids really enjoyed it as well. Plus, we were treated to a delicious lunch of chicken stew, rice, and poi of course.



Waipa was an amazing place to experience being a part of the community that Kaua'i is. Everyone who entered made sure they gave an aloha, hug, and kiss on the cheek to everyone present. The older men did the traditional greeting with each other where they put their hands on the back of each others' necks and pressed their foreheads together. This was a part of Hawaii I feel like I never would have been privileged to experience on Oahu; it's too developed and spread out.

The Foundation's land was awesomely beautiful, and they're doing their best to run a sustainable farm. All of the taro peel and scraps were put into tubs for pig slop. We all got a kick out of the piglets! And, between working and lunch, we were sent across the street to a beautiful beach. Unfortunately I was unprepared for the possibility of beach time and just got to stick my feet in.



Oh, and I definitely still hate poi...even though M said this had a nice smoky flavor, it still basically didn't taste like anything to me and had the texture of elephant snot or something. Not my cup of tea. The Hawaiian girls dug right in though!



So, after having an excellent morning, I thought maybe my luck was turning.

I was wrong.

Kaua'i Camping Trip - Day One: Wednesday Punk'd

I'm sure you all missed me last week while I was off camping in Kaua'i, but rest assured that I made it back in (mostly) one piece and have an abundance of stories to tell.

Let me start by saying that I was still getting punk'd by life, even after the food situation was solved and I had arrived in Kaua'i.

I met the crew at the Honolulu airport at 1:15pm and everybody was there on time, so my first worry about traveling with seven young people (not all are technically teenagers, but that's how I think of them) was assuaged. However, I don't think these kids travel off island much, or at least not without parents, because they had a myriad of questions about what to do before we even hit security. I was glad I had checked everyone in online and kept the boarding passes.

The flight from Honolulu to Lihue, Kaua'i only has you in the air for about twenty minutes. I think it's my favorite flight ever. Heaven. I barely made a dent in The Economist I bought at the airport (the only time I'll spend that kind of cash on a magazine...Karri knows what I'm talking about, haha). Getting our bags in Lihue was also a super speedy process, and everything came through fine.

"M" met us at the airport and followed us to the rental car place after Jose picked us up. It was at the rental car pickup that we encountered our first snag - I was definitely glad M was there.

The federal government is self-insured, and as such, employees are not required to have any kind of proof of insurance when doing things like renting giant 15 passenger vans in which to drag teenagers around islands. This vans'r'us type place did not seem to understand that, and wanted proof of personal driver's insurance. Having not driven on a regular basis in the last four years, I do not have such insurance. M stepped in and said he would fax them a copy of his personal insurance card that night, and they seemed appeased by that.

Following M, we started out on our one hour drive back to the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) where we would be camping, with a quick stop at an overlook to see the Hule'ia NWR. Kaua'i has one main road, basically a two lane highway that has lots of curves, turns, and one lane bridges. An excellent place for my first time driving a vehicle that large...

But everything was fine. I did a great job.

And then I crashed the van.

Ok, I'm being a little dramatic. After an hour on the windy road, we pulled onto the Hanalei NWR road, and the end was a mere fifty feet away. I turned right into the yard/driveway area, and promptly hit a fence post with my passenger side. Apparently I didn't gauge the necessary turn width properly. I realized this with a simultaneous CRUNCH from the van door and a slightly too late STOP from the kids.



That's when I just wanted to lay my head on the steering wheel and cry and then go home. Strangely, that wasn't an option. I had to unload kids and luggage and set up a tent, and face all kinds of embarrassment. Turns out not only the kids and M saw it happen, but one of the volunteers staying in the bunkhouse and was on the porch when he saw me "ruin my day." Awesome. (This lovely fella told the whole Kaua'i Refuge Complex what happened, which you'll hear about later.)

So I sucked it up and dealt with campsite setup. We camped behind the refuge bunkhouse (which is way nicer than my bunkhouse). M and I took the kids to a beach and left them there while we went to his house and got Costco pizza and lasagna ready for dinner. That's when I had my mini meltdown - just got choked up, no actual crying, but M was great and told me about knocking a sideview mirror off a government vehicle. And then he gave me a sorely needed rum and orange juice.



After dinner M and I went grocery shopping at the most expensive grocery store in Hawaii. Six dollars for a loaf of bread?!? No wonder Kaua'i is having food sovereignty conferences!

The rest of the night passed fairly uneventfully, although I still felt depressed about the van. M said he'd take care of figuring out what we needed to do, so that was nice. I really did not want to make that call to my boss: "Um, hi. I kind of had an accident with the rental van..." It'd be like telling my parents about my Echo mishap when I was sixteen all over again.

I Must Be Getting Punk'd

Figuring out how to pay for food for seven kids on a youth conservation corps camping trip can't possibly be this hard. There have been waivers, multiple conversations, talks with the regional office, you can't use a credit card, now we have to do a purchase order and find a vendor who will accept payment over the phone, no we can't do that because the kids aren't volunteers because they receive a stipend, we're going to make the kids pay for their own food (surprise! I was so against that idea), never mind, we'll just pay cash from the bosses and fiddle with the reimbursement form, nope, now a one time credit card payment has been authorized.

Are you kidding me????

After several days and many more phone calls, it's all been worked out. The refuge guy who's meeting us will pay for the groceries on his government credit card, but I must purchase everything I'll need to create 88 meals (11 meals x 8 people) at once. Fine, but I have to store it in one big cooler.

Again, are you kidding me????

I also have 500 bucks in my wallet from one of my superiors. I think it's my booze budget so that I don't go insane on this trip.

I leave for the airport in a couple of hours and I'll be on Kaua'i until Sunday afternoon. I won't have internet access (good god, am I really camping?) so I'll post again when I get back. I have lots to tell about my birthday and my gym progress, but it's just been a crazy week trying to get ready for this trip.

Wish me luck! I figure all of this must be making me a better person. Now if I could just stop looking over my shoulder wondering when Ashton Kutcher is going to jump out...

I think I'm getting dumber

So the moped was just out of gas. Luckily, that's quite easy to fix =) I went to the moped shop and said, "Joe, my moped just died." "How much gas is in it?" "I don't know, but the gas light didn't come on." "Um, there's no gas light. That's the gas guage." That?? I honestly thought the gas gauge was some RPM-o-meter or something. It has numbers (corresponding to percentages) and I'd never seen that before, so I didn't even pay attention to that. At least now I know, right? I felt incredibly dumb though...

Stupid Moped

Last night I was riding home from the gym, stopped at a red light, when my moped died. I was sitting there waiting, and it just died. Luckily all the lanes I had to cross to get off the road were also at a red light and I was able to get their attention and push the thing to a parking lot. I was fine, and there was no reason to be that upset, but I was pretty panicky. I think it's because things like that put into high relief that I'm pretty alone here still.

I ended up having to push the damn thing home about a mile and a half. I have a nice big bump and bruise on the back of my leg where the kickstand hit me too! I'm going to take it into the shop after work today. We get off two hours early because it's the day before a holiday, so I get to leave at 1:30. Hopefully the moped is just out of gas and the fuel light/guage doesn't work and it's a quick fix. The store gave me a warranty for the entire time I'm here, so I shouldn't have to put out more money after only having the moped for a week and a half.

So Jess, Mom, Sarah, anyone who wants pictures of me riding, you'll just have to wait a little longer =)