Utah...

Hawai'i Topher's not on the islands anymore. I was at corporate for a day of meetings in Salt Lake City, and then Park City, Utah for a corporate retreat. It was nice to meet another 100 manager colleagues. Hawai'i tends to be isolated professionally. Work has kept me so incredibly busy between meetings, conference items and just plain old fun.

What I didn't realize was how beautiful Utah is. Wow. It is stunning here in Park City. I've got to get back here to snowboard in the future too. I even saw the Olympic ski jump area.

On Friday afternoon we had 'activity time." I picked mountain biking but didn't realize I'd be going with 4 expert mountain bikers within the company. They based their trail decision on the fact that I told them I do triathlons and marathons, but I was not prepared for the 6.8 mile climb up the mountain to start the journey. I had to stop a few times on the way up. I made the excuse that I wanted pictures, but really I was just dying. The three guys in their 40's/50's and the one woman in her 40's were kicking my butt. It was a very humbling experience, and they kept saying I was doing great considering the altitude (but I beg to differ...i was just putting on a brave face). They only took one rest break on the way up, and I think it was just to let me catch up. Haha. Once at the top the views were amazing. We rode along the tips of the mountains for a bit and then it was time to head downhill.

The downhill....where I almost died...twice! The terrain was crazy. There were drops of a few feet that you had to go fast into. Adrenaline was pumping the whole way. The switchbacks...oh the switchbacks. This is where I was almost injured seriously twice. I almost went over two embankments; apparently I didn't bank hard enough. Needless to say I didn't get any pictures on the way down since I was just trying to survive. At points I was seriously considering if there was some reason the company was trying to do away with me as an employee???

Fact: very little road biking expertise translates over to mountain biking!

But overall it was awesome and I lived to tell the tale. I completely underestimated what true mountain biking is now. Wow. Hopefully you can see some of the pictures below.

I'm at the Salt Lake City airport now. Next stop: NKY!

Mahalo for visiting. See the pictures below (in no particular order).

Polynesian Cultural Center...

A while back I went to the Polynesian Cultural Center when Luke and Michael were in town.  The PCC is a really popular attraction on O'ahu.  It is run by the Church of Latter Day Saints (ie. Mormons) and is attached to BYU's Hawaii campus.  The PCC acts to educate people about the different polynesian cultures while also serving as a way to fund BYU's various student programs.  The PCC highlights a few of the 1000's of islands considered Polynesia.

When you think of Hawaiian hula dancers, what do you picture?  Girls in grass skirts and coconut bras doing wavy dances?  Well, you'd be wrong.  Native Hawaiian dress, even for hula dancers, is more of a skirt and strapless kind of top.  Men are just as active in hula dancing as women too.  There are two pictures of their native dress below.

Trivia: In what island did grass skirts actually originate from?  (sorry...no coconut bras though)  Answer is at the bottom.

I don't know near enough about all of the different islands, so I won't even try and tell you.  I'll just add snippets in the captions of things I actually know.

Oh yeah!  Family and friends back home: I'm headed back to visit next week.  Super excited!  I'm headed to the mainland this week for some corporate meetings, but then flying over to Natti-KY after that.  I'm only back for a short bit, but hopefully I'll see many of you! (except for Moose because he's dead to me...out of town all of a sudden the few days I'm in.... coincidence? hehe)

Wall of coconuts: My favorite picture of this post.

I visited the area of Samoa first.  There's Luke ahead of me.

That guy's really doing that!  Climbing a coconut tree during the Samoa show. 

Then he came down and posed for pictures.

I'm spying on this little romantic basket weaving encounter...no really, they were basket weaving! 

I just thought the Fiji sing looked pretty neat.

Hummm...wish I could tell you what this is, but it was a neat little building. Obviously I didn't learn very much this day, but in my defense the previous night (as Michael already mentioned) was the night of 2 mai tai's as big as your head with 151 toppers...so I wasn't really in the learning mood this day.

Here's the royalty for the canoe parade of islands.

People in the native dress of Samoa.

This is one type of native dress for Hawaii.

Grass skirts...native dress for Tahiti.

Here is the common native dress for Hawaii...sorry for the blurriness.  The Hawaii area was actually under construction so we were just crammed into a small tented area.  As a result, the Hawaii show was the least exciting.

These were some show people during an island wedding (I think it was the island of Aotearoa) 

After going to many of the various island shows, we went to a luau.  After the luau we had tickets to the night show (which was pretty neat but you aren't allowed to take pictures during it, so you don't get to see it unless you come to visit).  While waiting for the show to begin there was this teenage music crew, Bahuru, that was playing for all the visitors.  They were really impressive with their odd xylophones of various sizes made from wood and PVC pipes.  Here's a video of one of their songs.

Trivia: In what island did grass skirts actually originate from?  (sorry...no coconut bras though)
Answer: Tahiti

Mahalo for visiting.

Arizona Memorial...

I recently visited the Arizona Memorial in the Pearl Harbor area while CJ and Danielle were in town.  The area is so fascinating, informative and the memorial itself has a calming and respectful feeling to it.  The area surrounding the memorial has several museums and educational displays.  I'm a huge History Channel and all things WWII fan, but I learned many new things.  I have yet to visit all of the museums, but I will eventually.

Nerd Alert:  some basic points and facts that I found to be interesting:
-1,177 naval men were killed in the explosion/sinking of USS Arizona
-The USS Arizona is considered a US Military grave site.  It still entombs 1,102 of the crewmen.
-Of the 20-something ships sunk/badly damaged, only 3 did not return to service in WWII
          -USS Arizona
          -USS Utah
          -USS Oklahoma (she was floated and was planned to be scrapped since it was outdated
            anyway, but sank in 1947 while being towed to California
-The superstructure (the part above the main deck of the battleship) was removed shortly after the Japanese sunk it otherwise most of it would actually be above water.
-Oil is still seeping out of the Arizona's oil tanks and constantly floats on the water near the memorial.  USS Arizona Memorial supporters who want the underwater structure undisturbed call this effect the "tears of the Arizona" ...environmentalist call it pollution.    eh...you decide.   (the supporters are winning the battle).

On to the pictures...

This is one of three anchors on the USS Arizona.  Each weighing 19,585 lbs.

What a perfect time for a rainbow!

Here is the memorial itself.  It can only be reached by boat.

The USS Arizona Memorial sits on top of the battleships deck and is perpendicular to the hull.  The below picture gives you an idea of where the memorial is compared to the sunken battleship.

Not my picture, but thank you to this website.

The wall of names of the servicemen lost aboard.

This is a shot of the USS Missouri from the vantage point of the USS Arizona memorial.  The USS Missouri is now a museum.  The Japanese surrendered onboard at the end of WWII.

The USS Bowfin (submarine).  Also now a museum.  It has a very distinguished career as a ship, but it's claim to fame is the sinking of a pier, land crane and bus on one particular tour of duty.

CJ and Danielle aboard the USS Bowfin.

Mahalo for visiting!

Mahalo e Komo Mai (a guest blog)

Mahalo e Komo Mai   (Hey friends of Hawai'i Topher!)

Note: All text and photos from Michael unless noted.

I'm honored to be in the guest spotlight with this post.  Kris actually decided to give up a little control and asked me to write about my travels on O'ahu.  Well, it's immeasurably difficult to condense 2 weeks of legendary travels into one quick blog post.  This was actually my 3rd trip to O'ahu; I've been incredibly lucky to have friends on the islands before Dave and Kris moved there.  Despite this, my hosts found some really beautiful, NEW things to show me.  This was my first visit to Hawai'i during which I felt like a native... well a resident at least.

North shore just prior to sunset.  from left: Luke, Topher, Dave

My trip began with the Obon Festival (previously posted by Topher), then the three of us took a beautiful hike before meeting Luke at the airport (also a previous post by Topher).  The next day, we all went on a circle island tour; if you have the good fortune to visit, I'm sure they will make a point to take you.  I watched the sunrise at Diamondhead, snorkeled, met Dave's turtle buddies, got a really good sunburn (a necessity for us pale folk), and then watched the sun set over the ocean on the opposite side of the island...all in one day!

In case you don't know me... this is me... And I'm very afraid of heights, so this was a quick pose.  

(Note from Topher:  Yes....it was a VERY quick pose)

This was during my first hike with Dave and Kris.  You can see that it was 

windy...but Dave wasn't able to fly like he had hoped.

The elusive Topher... a rare sighting on this blog.  Don't worry, Kris' Dad: I didn't let 

him do any dangerous hikes while I was there.

This is a shot of Topher's camera screen of a picture he just took... quite a tricky shot.  

(Previous post by Topher: Diamonhead Sunrise Time Lapse)

This is the same sunrise with totally different settings, but only about 2 minutes later.

Frequent readers, guess where he is!  Hint, there's a spitting cave behind the camera's POV.

Throughout the rest of the trip, we went to the waterfalls, Dole plantation, beach, Polynesian Cultural Center, and Luke and I even learned to surf and stand-up paddle board.  We were rained on frequently thanks to Dave's sister and her mean-spirited wishes (something about me taking her preferred visiting week?).  And some of you might have been lucky enough to have been called at 4am EST after some of us had one to many Mai Tais at the Dixie Grill.  Despite the crazy sightseeing schedule, I had plenty of time to chill.  We were on Island Time.

Michael and Luke at Waimea Falls.

I love this shot at the Pali Lookout... except that guy wouldn't move and we 

were about to leave so I had to just take it.

Michael with the Tahiti performers.

PCC - New Zealanders showing their moves.

When it came time to leave, Topher asked me what my favorite part of the trip was.  Luke had already left, and he mentioned that the food, snorkeling, surfing, etc. had all been awesome.  My favorite parts of this trip were being able to walk to the beach alone in the morning, reading on the beach, riding the city bus with the locals (Note from Topher: always a great people watching event!), getting lost with Dave while trying to find a bus stop that wasn't where it was supposed to be (platform 9 and 3/4 all over again), and just being able to hang out with friends.

Well, that about wraps up the visit Luke and I too to Hawai'i.  Enjoy a few more pictures below!

Mahalo,

Michael

Pali Lookout

On a ridge trail with another ridge in the background

The Blow Hole

This is a picture of a humpback whale that just went under water.  Ok, so it's 

just a rock under the surface, but it would be better if it was a whale.

This is Dave with his buddy Oakley.

Kris upset the black swan while taking its picture... what a chicken!  

(Note from Kris: Those things are beautiful AND mean looking at the same time!)

Kialua Beach Park with the kite surfers. 

Dave's wondering where the trail went.  It's a typical cloudy day on the ridges, and you could barely see anything past this cliff.  That's supposed to be Kane'ohe or Kailua out there. 

2 Fish are about to hit each other...see next picture.

This is probably my proudest photographic moment.  Two fish just butted heads in the water.  I was trying to get a shot of them squaring off, but got this instead... mid head-butt!

Note from Kris:  Mahalo for reading about my recent visitors time here.  Next post is the Arizona Memorial!