Horseback in Ka'a'awa Valley...

First: great win by my Wildcats Tuesday night.  Go Cats!  I've been anxiously watching each game all year to see when they'd play a hard and physical game.  Hopefully there will be more to come!  ...I'd like to stay off the bubble.

Secondly, I'm posting about horseback riding.  Made me think of Kentucky bluegrass and all the horses back in my home state.  In this post I'm at Kualoa Ranch.  Kualoa Ranch is mostly a tourist attraction, however, many locals visit it too.  It was an overcast, winter day here, but the views were still great.

The tour guide asked all the male guests if any of us had been horseback riding before?  I raised my hand, and was then promptly placed on the "spunky horse," named Kekipi.  Kekipi means rebel, so I guess it was fitting.

Apparently my horse was sexist.  Not only that, but he didn't like Asian people either.  It took a number of questionable incidents involving female Japanese tourists before they figured out his 'problem.'  Unfortunately, I couldn't get the tour guide to expand on any of the stories.  Kekipi was a spunky horse, but luckily, he mostly behaved this day.  I didn't mind too much: this allowed us to march to the beat of our own drum (or rather: his drum) and we took intermittent excursions to other parts of the trail until the guide would notice.  Then I'd have to rein him in to join back up with everyone else.

Kekipi

Topher on Kakipi.  To bad Kakipi would look up for a second. 

What a great looking tree

Chinaman's Hat Island.

As usual: we are not with the rest of the group.

Getting dark...time to head back.

Unicycle Failure...

I was downtown on a recent weekend for an art gallery hop.  It happens once a month, and is mostly located in the Chinatown district.  Most big cities have some sort of this (Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati all have one).  Honolulu's is named First Friday, and thus occurs the first Friday of every month (it's not just a clever name).  I was walking around Chinatown when I was encouraged to venture unicycling.  My friend captured said adventure on video, consequently: you get to watch.  I've added comments to the video, both for your enjoyment, and because I'm now adept to performing minor post production video editing after making my Survivor contestant video application a couple months ago.

Side note: everyone should say a prayer that CBS wants me on the show!
...and no, I will not post my Survivor contestant video on my blog.

Mahalo for visiting and enjoy the video.

Sunset Beach Surf...

I was driving by Sunset Beach on the North Shore, and, luckily, had my camera in tow.  The North Shore this time of year is full of big surf, professional surfers and heavy traffic - there is only a two lane road that runs past it.   This day was during the Vans Competition, however, a competition was not happening at the moment I was there; probably because the surf was not big enough.  Fortunately, that meant I found a parking spot and did not have to wait in 1 mph traffic for  2-3 hours (seriously not exaggerating the potential traffic situation).  Competitions often last for a week or so.  The organization running it picks which days the competition will happen based on surf forecasts.  Ideally, they pick the days with the biggest surf.  At the bottom are a few sets of pictures strung together of surfers riding the waves.  I'm a sucker for some good scenery shots so I took a few pictures of the beach too, so I'll start with those.

All the little dots are surfers that are haphazardly in some sort of "line" awaiting their turn at a wave. 

Here are two sets of pictures with surfers riding Pipeline.  You can click on the first picture and it will open a picture window.  Then just click directly on the picture and it will cycle through and you can watch a small time lapse of the surfer ride Pipeline.

Picture Set 1:

   

Picture Set 2:

Mahalo for visiting!

Hiking Diamond Head...

Le'ahi, Hawaiian for Diamond Head, is an old volcanic crater, and is probably the most hiked trail/path in Hawai'i.  It's a popular tourist attraction, and is also one of the easier hikes that also affords spectacular views of Honolulu.  Diamond Head is located on the eastern end of Waikiki and is on just about every post card that shows Waikiki.  The current trail sits on top of a previous trail constructed from 1908 to 1911 as part of Hawai'i Civil Air Defense System.  Although it's been retired as a air defense system post-WWII, many of the bunkers and artillery batteries are still present along the way.  Parts of the largest bunker/battery can be accessed by hikers at the top.  It was one of the first things my family members did when the arrived on the island.  The pictures and captions will tell the rest of the tale from here.  Mahalo for visiting!

A view from half way up.  Looking North East.  Past the crater's far edge (foreground) is Hawaii Kai Bay, Koko Crater (middle) and Hanauma Bay (background right)

They are getting towards the top.

People heading up one of many switchbacks along the trail.  Picture looking northwest.
Past the crater's far ridge is the Ko'olau Mountain Range.

One of several bunkers watching the southeast part of the island.

Beth and Laura look south in front of the largest bunker/battery viewing points
This bunker is actually 6 levels with several portal holes

This smaller bunker looks southwest over Honolulu and Waikiki 

Honolulu and Waikiki in all their glory.  The small pink building in the bay is the famous Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Looking northwest.  Past the crater edge shows the outer limits of Honolulu
crawling up the valleys between the mountain ridges.  

Sailing...

While Dad, Beth and Laura were in town for Christmas we went on a catamaran sail at sunset.  We celebrated Daddio's birthday the same day.  Happy Birthday Pops!  This trip was also my first whale sighting here in Hawaii.  The Humpback Whales are arriving more and more by the day.  They vacation in Hawai'i's winter waters to rear their newly born calves.  They make the journey from the northern arctic waters.  The easiest way to spot them is by the water spouts on the horizon and then look in those areas.  I did manage to get a picture of a tail (below).  The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, so mahalo for visiting and enjoy!

Whale spout and whale tail!

Our ride for the evening.