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.