Fear the Crab

Yep. Looks like ocean.

Continued ~

Maile and I, along with my mother-in-law and her boyfriend, planned a road trip through parts of central and southern California. This would be thus far the longest vacation I’ve ever had away from home, as well as the most extensive; over 5 cities across a span of 2 weeks. I had never been to many of the locations on our itinerary, or hadn’t visited there in over 2 decades.
Continued ~

Friday (29 May) was the last full day of Las Vegas vacationing for us. Naturally, when accompanied by people who are not as interested in gambling, the only other activities available after the sightseeing road trips are exhibits and shopping.

We met up with The James as a chance to catch up on old times, and he didn’t seem to mind tagging along. It had been over a year since I last saw him, so it was nice to get together.

Continued ~

Thursday (28 May) was another drive to another canyon, but this time the distance was much shorter. We went to Red Rock Canyon, ~18 miles west of Las Vegas, where the rocks are, naturally, quite red.

Chuckwalla

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We arrived in Las Vegas on Tuesday evening (26 May), late enough to do little but eat and shower. Since we were staying at the Main Street Station, we ate at the Triple 7 restaurant. Tried the pale ale, and it wasn’t too bad, except I’m not a big fan of fruity flavors in my beer. I don’t recall what kind of flavor it was supposed to be, as I didn’t spend all my time studying the menu.

The reason for the quick bite and bath was because the next day was our journey to the Grand Canyon. By car. That meant waking early enough to grab some breakfast (at the Garden Court buffet) and wash up before the big road trip. We started driving at around 0700, I think.

Continued ~

I just returned from a family vacation to Las Vegas. Stayed for four nights from Tuesday to Saturday. I do intend to document my adventures in the desert, but I’m going to post them on the corresponding day instead of all at once. Consider it like a one-week delay between events.

Meanwhile, tonight is the sleep study appointment. I’m very interested in knowing the results, and hopefully I’ll be sleepy enough to provide the doctors and techs with enough data to diagnose whatever it is I’m affected by. I have the expensive sleeping pill to help me pass out, and I think I will bring an extra blanket just in case the room is too cold, or the pillows are too flat.

One of the cories died, so now I have 3. Maile gave me her two sterbai cories to up my total to 5, and now everyone seems a bit more active. Perhaps the similar markings lead each to believe there’s more than what really exist.

Argento is getting big. He also seems to have a gap in his gill cover, which from what I’ve read online, seems to be a minor genetic defect. Most reports indicate that the fish can still live to a ripe old age, so I’m not too worried.

I have approximately two more weeks of school left, and if all my grades are of passing level, I should receive my diploma in a couple of months. During that time I’ll have to find a job. I’ve only had one interview so far, with a private firm, but I’ve sent apps and resumes to many places.

Maile and I expect to be in Las Vegas late May, for vacation. My family is flying there, too, so it’ll be a nice outing.

Seems many people I know are living in or moving to the San Francisco area.

Last full day on Maui. Met up with Crystal and her family for a hike to the Twin Falls, but unfortunately Maile and I weren’t dressed for the occasion. We wore jeans and boots, which you would normally expect to use on hikes. Turns out that the hike was really easy, and the hot weather made jeans and boots ill-advised. Then to get to one of the falls we had to wade through thigh-deep water. Not something you want to do with shoes and socks.

After the hike we went back to the hotel for a quick nap, then rejoined Crystal for dinner at the Palm Court, a restaurant at one of the Wailea hotels. Her husband Brian is a chef there, and our meal was comped, so it was really a wonderful surprise and a pleasant occasion. One of the specialties at the restaurant was their handmade pizza, topped to order. The service was excellent, though part of me wonders if it was because of Brian and Crystal. In the end, Maile and I ate too much and felt very uncomfortable, but it’s nice being full.

Tomorrow we head out to the airport for our trip home. We’ll be riding one of those turboprop airplanes, so it’ll be an experience.

Had a strange dream the other night, of horses and camels at my high school. Most definitely a result of the memorable ride yesterday.

I keep hitting my fingers in the hotel ceiling fan.

Well, today was the day of the cave tour. The rain from yesterday prompted a flash flood warning, so we decided to call the tour to see if everything was still a go. No news was good news in this case. Still feeling sore from yesterday, we took some aspirin to ease the pain and started the 3 hour drive to Hana. I decided that I’d rather walk the lava tube in a bit of soreness than wimp out and skip the whole thing. Plus I might regret it later.

Damn, I hate Hana highway as much as I hate the Kula highway. Too many winding turns, and each one reminded me of a desert; every time you think that the end is just after the next turn, but it ends up going forever. 3 hours and 31 miles (!) later, we arrived at the Ka’eleku Caverns in Hana. Met up with the guide and got set up for our part of the tour.

Seems there are two parts of the tour. The “walking” tour which everyone goes on is a 1-hour journey down the lava tube, with the guide describing the various features and geological trivia associated with molten rock. The “wild” tour then starts where the walking tour ends, as the first group turns around and exits while the rest of us continue on down the tube. Turned out that Maile and I were the only ones on the wild tour.

That tour certainly is wild. We had to climb over boulders, shimmy up small crevices lined with jagged lava, crawl into tiny passages lined with ice-smooth lava, and all the while wearing bump hats and carrying large flashlights. Thankfully we had kevlar gloves to protect our hands, but my elbows and knees got scratched up. We really got a workout from all the climbing, but it was worth it.

This lava tube wasn’t like others I had seen, and I actually learned more about lava here than in school. For example, the lava in the tube had “frozen” so quickly that splash marks could be seen where rock from the ceiling fell. There was a “lava pearl,” a perfectly formed sphere of molten rock that fell from the ceiling, hardened, then stuck to still-soft lava on the wall. And I had no idea that lava could harden so smoothly that it was like running your hand over ice. There’s more, but I’m so caught up in the whole experience that I can’t explain it all. I mean, Sara Lee cupcakes, corncob stalagmites, lava layers, the Devil’s Mask, lava pearls, upflows and cave-ins make for some pretty intense excitement.

I can’t even remember where we ate dinner afterward.

Today was the horseback crater ride. We had to check into the ranch headquarters by 0915, and since it was a two hour drive from the airport, we left at 0700 without eating breakfast. We ended up arriving way early, like at 0830, and that was even after stopping to call for directions because we thought we had passed the headquarters (turned out that we were just down the road). Continued up the slope, stopping off at the small visitor’s center about halfway up. All during the drive it was nice and sunny, rather cool, so we felt we were in for a nice ride.

Then we got up to the top, and the cloud cover was so thick that everything was just a blur. There was a continual drizzle of rain surrounding us, and as we talked to the guide it seemed as though the ride was going to be canceled. However, the weather cleared a bit, so we all mounted up and took off.

Going down the slope, the scenery was picturesque. The landscape inside the crater is like being in another world, filled with features you don’t normally see on a day-to-day basis. In fact we saw this one flock of birds called chuckers (at least, that’s what the guide called them). Small birds, they run around the crater and glide off of ridges. I guess they’re so used to human activity that they even ran under our horses to get from one side of the trail to the other.

At the bottom of the crater we stopped for lunch, after a two-hour ride. Getting back to ground was rather wobbly, and our knees ached. Every so often during the ride the clouds would roll in and we’d get rained on, but it wasn’t anything bad.

We had spoken too soon, though, as the weather turned worse during the ride up. The clouds fell and the rain and wind came rushing in, making life pretty miserable. Thankfully we were given rain gear before we started the ride, so our clothes weren’t soaked. Much. The wind was so strong that rain came in horizontal, stinging our eyes and cheeks. The clouds were so thick that you couldn’t see the horse in front of you. The horses themselves felt as miserable as us, turning their heads away from the rain and sometimes having to walk sideways to get back up the trail. Maile and I got windburn.

When we got out of the crater, I discovered that the disposable camera we brought had been sitting in a small puddle in my pocket. Water drained out of it when I pulled it out, and we were really worried that the film had been damaged beyond recovery. I decided to try and develop the roll anyway, and hope for the best.

Butt and back sore, we ate dinner at Canoes, and contemplated the prospect of doing more “adventure” the next day, at the lava tube in Hana.

I have to say, though, that I really liked the horseback ride. Yes, the weather sucked, yes it was cold, but I think it would have been worse had it been hot and sunny. The sunburn would not have been bearable. And I felt like I was finally roughing it outdoors. All in all, I wouldn’t trade that ride in for any other.