Wakeboarding - Gun Lake

I told Scott Brown (shown here) that if he landed a good one, I'd post it on the blog. I was looking for him to land a 360, but this series looked better (at least to me).

Got through the wake boarding, but a storm rolled in just as Karen was getting ready to ski. Looked really bad, but more show than anything else. Had some lightning and just a little bit of rain. Enough for us to come off the lake and cover the boat, then cleared up.

Earlier in the day, Karen and I went out and did some kayaking with the Brown's kayaks. We're supposed to go out on the Thornapple river with some friends tomorrow and we hadn't ever been in a kayak before. It was kind of fun. We went back into the swamp in the back bay of the lake. (See Photos). Got pretty warm back there, but not as buggy as we thought it would.

Independance Day

Actually, this was the Fifth of July. We were doing what is becoming a fairly routine event. We were riding from Grand Rapids to Rockford to visit Herman's Boy. No, this isn't an individual. This is a great destination as one of my friends put it. She doesn't like to ride just to ride. There has to be a destination. Herman's Boy is a shop on the north side of Rockford. Hard to explain exactly what it is, but we go there to have coffee and a bagel at the mid point of our ride. It turns out to be about 25 miles from my house, making for a 50 mile ride. But they have all kinds of stuff related to cooking and grilling there.
Anyway, as we were riding through Riverside Park in Grand Rapids, I saw this hanging on the grounds at the Veterans Facility. I thought, "No way I can pass without getting a picture of this". Good reminder of what the holiday is about and those that made it happen.

Just another day at the lake...

One of my favorite activities isn't really an activity at all. I like to sit out on the lawn at my Mother-in-law's home on Gun Lake and watch the sun set. It's much better once all of the boaters have gone home and the lake is quiet. During the day you can always hear the sound of Jet Ski's or "go fast" boats, racing around, kids laughing and all of the other fun activities. But at night, I enjoy just sitting and listening to the quiet that goes along with the sunset. This happened to be an especially pretty one.

June 7, 2008

I know, I know. Another bike ride blog entry.

I haven't ridden my bike all week. After last weekend's MS-150, I wanted to ride this week to keep my legs in shape. Didn't happen. So I called Dave to go for a little ride this morning. I also got a couple of friends to do a part of the ride with us. Rick and Barb are shown in the picture to the right. The pictures didn't turn out too bad, so I don't think Barb will mind me posting them. I had to promise that I wouldn't post them if they were bad.
Dave and I left Jenison at 7:00 and rode the Kent trail into Grand Rapids to meet another friend, Bob, at Riverside Park. Rick and Barb met us there as well.
From there we followed the White Pine Trail north to Rockford. Usually a lot of people on this trail. Today didn't seem to be an exception. Of course, it was pretty early on the way there. Many more people on the way home. We stopped at Herman's Boy in Rockford for coffee and a bagel. Great place. After a relaxing coffee, we hit the road for home. Wind was a little strong on the way home. Bob left us when we hit Comstock Park and Rick and Barb packed it in at Riverside park. By the time Dave and I finished, we had a good 52 mile ride.

I had to stop along the trail and take a couple of shots of the flowers along the trail. Don't know what they are called, but they were all along the Kent Trail.

Karen and I had a wedding reception to go to in the evening. Left there and got home just as a storm was starting. Continuing as I type. Really coming down.

More Photos

MS-150 Bike Tour

150 Miles on a bike over 2 days.

Water bottle - $2
Bicycle Golves - $15
Helmet - $50
Shorts and Jersey - $150
Shoes - $200
Bicycle - $800 - $5000

Raising money to find a cure for MS - PRICELESS


This ride is to raise money for the MS Society. Their goal is to find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. This disease plagued my mother for 35 years. Each rider is required to raise $250 in pledges for the event.

We started out at 7:00am on Saturday morning from Holland High School. Day 1 took us South along the Lake Michigan shoreline to South Haven then back towards Holland, ending up at Hope College for the night. My son Mitchell and a friend, Dave Deal joined me for this years event.

Day 2 started from Hope College at 7:00am and again followed the Lake Michigan shoreline. Only this time the direction was North, towards Grand Haven, then back towards Hudsonville, Jenison and back to Holland High School.

Photos

Memorial Weekend - 2008

Had a great Memorial Weekend. These photos kind of sum up the weekend. As you can see, the water was a touch chilly. We opted to use our wet suits for skiing. The weather was real good. Clear and sunny most of the time and warm. Just a bit cool in the water. We did have a storm roll through on Monday morning early. Power was out from 2:30am until about 2:00 pm. Kind of noisy walking up and down the road. Everyone had their generators on to power refrigerators, coffee pots, etc. Karen's sister, Lisa and her family were out for the weekend, as well. Justin, their son, enjoyed wake boarding. He was trying to slalom ski with Mitchell but had some difficulties.

We did notice that there weren't as many people on the lake this year. Probably the gas prices keeping people at home, or close to it. Of course, gas prices went up just before the weekend. 4.39/gallon on the lake for premium for the boat. But, we had a great time. Not too often that we have good weather on Memorial weekend.

More Photos

May 17 - Bike ride

Getting ready for the MS 150 bike ride.

Dave, my son Mitch and I are doing the MS-150 bike ride at the end of the month so Dave and I are trying to get a bunch of rides in to prepare. Today we asked Wes Dupin (left), our pastor to join us. Had a great ride out to riverside park in Allendale. Dave even managed to stay upright today. Boy, was it windy. Had to be 30 mph winds out of the NW. So, we left Daybreak... about 11:30 and headed that direction. Stopped for lunch at the park and enjoyed conversation and some lunch, then headed back. Much easier riding with the wind.

Photos

May 10 - Mother's Day

What a gorgeous day. Karen, Mitch and I celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday instead of Sunday. The weather was shaping up to be better on Saturday and Karen wanted to do something outdoors. After a big breakfast, we packed up the bikes and headed to the lakeshore. We planted Mitchell's car in Grand Haven and then went south to Holland to start our ride. We parked the truck at Holland State park and took a liesurly ride up Lakeshore Drive to the the riverfront at Grand Haven. There, we had pronto pups and a picnic lunch along the river. Once we rested after lunch, Karen got in the car we had planted there and headed back to Holland. Mitch and I got back on our bikes and headed back to Holland. Not such a liesurely pace back. We averaged 19.1 mph for the 23 miles back. Karen was pooped after her 23 mile ride to Grand Haven. Once back home, I grilled steak kabobs for dinner (Karen's choice). Great day.

More pictures...

April 6 - First ride of the Season

Weather is finally turning somewhat decent. Got out for the first ride (outdoors) of the season. Dave, Bob and I got out for a Sunday afternoon ride. Kind of cool still, but had lots of sunshine. Got a 27 mile ride in. Check out the web album to see Dave's injuries. He likes to say it was from going down a hill and hitting a turn at 30mph, but really it happened in Bob's driveway when he forgot to unclip after stopping. It happens to everyone at least once.

March 22 - Spring morning?

ITS BAAAAACK.........

Yes, after returning from 2 beautiful weeks in Hawaii, we woke up to this on Saturday, March 22. I though this was supposed to be spring. We had 6-8 inches and felt lucky. About an hour south of Grand Rapids, they had 14 inches.

Depressing....

Oh, well. Tomorrow's Easter. Our church has a great program called "Rise". Should be a great day, despite the snow.

Saturday, March 15 - USS Midway

USS MIdway CV-41

What a gorgeous morning. We started the day with breakfast on the patio overlooking San Diego Harbor. After breakfast we made our way down to the Midway Museum. The USS Midway (CV-41) is moored in downtown San Diego. CV-41 means Carrier class, fixed wing #41. It was cristened in 1945 just after the end or World War II and served the country until it was de-comissioned in 1992. It saw battle in Vietnam and its aircraft shot down the first two enemy aircraft of that war. It also served in Desert Storm in 1991. After de-comission, it was brought to San Diego and is undergoing restoration and being used a museum. Karen's Uncle Alan is a docent on the USS Midway. He was an intelligence officer on a similar carrier, the Hancock, before being stationed at Naval Air Command, Pacific in San Diego. After touring the USS Midway we went to Point Loma and Rosecrans National Cemetery. After this, we made our way back to their house for dinner and packing. Overnight, we had storms roll through the area, with hail, lightning and thunder. Very unusual for this area.

Today's Photos

Trip Photos

Friday, March 14 - San Diego

San Diego

Had a great day of visiting and sightseeing with Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Alan. After breakfast, we headed north to visit with one of Karen's cousins, Sheila, in Coto de Caza. Had fun catching up with her and had lunch at the country club in their housing association. We took the scenic way back to San Diego, stopping to watch par-gliders along LaJolla's coast. Stopped at various turnouts to see the seals on the beach, watch surfers, and view the coastline. Saw where Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Alan's frist home on the cliff in LaJolla --Cousin Anne's 1st home.
Made our way back to San Diego and had dinner at "C Level", a great restaurant on the San Diego harbor, with a great view of San Diego skyline, naval base--Ronald Reagan in port--our most advanced carrier--and the Midway. At dinner we saw four Naval Leap Frogs jump out of an airplane and land on the Miday! Really cool!

Today's Photos
Trip photo summary

Thursday, March 13 - Farewell

Farewell,

Nolan greeted us this morning for breakfast. Not sure he wanted to go to breakfast dressed like this, but it was a good laugh. See picture below. Then the laugh was on us. We went into the hallway to get at picture, but found that neither of us had a key to get back into room. I had to go down to front desk barefoot to get another key. Nolan was rolling on the floor. Had breakfast with Nolan and Sheri at the resort, but then had a difficult time saying goodbye, as our shuttle prepared to leave. We all agreed, it wasn't goodbye, rather A hui hou, until we meet again. We thank the Lord for bringing us together with Nolan and Sheri. We had such an awesome time and grew so close to them in the short amout of time, that we know that the Lord's hand was involved.

We left for Honolulu from Kaua'i then on to San Diego, where Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Alan were waiting to pick us up at the airport. We had a nice conversation about the trip then off to bed.

Today's Photos

Trip Photo Summary

Wednesday, March 12 - Hanalei and Luau

Today we headed up the east coast of Kauai, past Hanalei. This side of the island is known as the garden side. Yesterday we were on the dry side. We went as far as the road would take us, to the other side of the Na Pali coast, which is the northern end of the island. 70% of the island is not reachable by car. The Na Pali coast is reachable only by air or water. The closest you can get by car is the Waimea Canyon which we did on Tuesday. The weather was beautiful again. Very unusual, according to the locals. This part of the island is the rainiest spot in the World. It gets over 400 inches of rain per year. The weather switched today so that the trade winds were coming back. This meant high winds on this side of the island, which meant lots of waves and surfing. The locals were itching to get to the surf. On the way back we made numerous stops for pictures, and of course Ice Cream at Lappert's. Couldn't believe the surf that was caused by the wind.

Upon our return, we had our farewell Luau dinner. This was tremendous. The show was great, right up until the time that Nolan volunteered me to get up with the Tahiti dancers. I guess I had one too many Mai Tai's. So off I went.

Today's Pictures
Luau Pictures
Photo Summary

Tuesday, March 11 - Waimea Canyon

Kauai
We had our rental car and chose not to go with the tour group today. Instead, we traveled around the island's southern coast then up the western side of the island to the Waimea Canyon. It is known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. We stopped in Lihu'e for breakfast then continued up the coast. Our waitress at breakfast suggested that we take the mountain route up and then the ocean route back. Good choice. It was beautiful. At our first stop, we met up with another couple that had been there numerous times. They suggested that we not stop at all on the way out to the the end of the canyon drive, but go to the end of the road first. This was to ensure that we get there before the clouds set in. We followed their suggestion and made our way to the end of the canyon drive. We got there and followed a couple of trails to a viewing area for the Na Pali coastilne. Spectacular. We then stopped at some of the viewing areas on the way back. Of course, on the way back we stopped in Kekaha for ice cream, at Lappert's, then made our way to the "blow hole", called Spouting Horn, along the coast. That was real cool. Our last stop was at the Wailua Falls. This was the water falls that was best known for its use in "Fantasy Island". It was gorgeous. After closing our eyes and making our way past the "Do not go beyond this point" signs, we hiked 30 minutes to the bottom of the falls for what was an even better view. Of course, then we had to climb back out again using ropes, roots and rocks. We were all sweaty and muddy, but we had a great time. Last night, we had dinner at a local restaurant called Olympic Cafe, overlooking downtown Kapa'a. Karen and Sheri had the Ahi sandwich and Nolan and myself had an Ahi burrito.

Todays Pictures
Trip Photo Summary

Tuesday, March 11 - Waimea Canyon

Kauai
We had our rental car and chose not to go with the tour group today. Instead, we traveled around the island's southern coast then up the western side of the island to the Waimea Canyon. It is known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. We stopped in Lihu'e for breakfast then continued up the coast. Our waitress at breakfast suggested that we take the mountain route up and then the ocean route back. Good choice. It was beautiful. At our first stop, we met up with another couple that had been there numerous times. They suggested that we not stop at all on the way out to the the end of the canyon drive, but go to the end of the road first. This was to ensure that we get there before the clouds set in. We followed their suggestion and made our way to the end of the canyon drive. We got there and followed a couple of trails to a viewing area for the Na Pali coastilne. Spectacular. We then stopped at some of the viewing areas on the way back. Of course, on the way back we stopped in Kekaha for ice cream, at Lappert's, then made our way to the "blow hole", called Spouting Horn, along the coast. That was real cool. Our last stop was at the Wailua Falls. This was the water falls that was best known for its use in "Fantasy Island". It was gorgeous. After closing our eyes and making our way past the "Do not go beyond this point" signs, we hiked 30 minutes to the bottom of the falls for what was an even better view. Of course, then we had to climb back out again using ropes, roots and rocks. We were all sweaty and muddy, but we had a great time. Last night, we had dinner at a local restaurant called Olympic Cafe, overlooking downtown Kapa'a. Karen and Sheri had the Ahi sandwich and Nolan and myself had an Ahi burrito.

Todays Pictures
Trip Photo Summary

Monday, March 10 - Kauai, Hawaii

Kauai

Early flight from Maui this morning. One stop in Honolulu then on to Kauai. First stop in Kauai was at a park for the "Family Picture". This was the picture of the tour group. Then was a quick stop at Opaeka'a waterfall near the park. Next stop was lunch at the marnia before boarding river boatson the Wilua River to make our way to the Fern Grotto. This is a beautiful area. They told us that it used to be complete covered with ferns, but two hurricanes in the past ten years have devestated the grotto. It was still beautiful. The tour guide at the grotto said that they perform hundreds of weddings there every year. Then it was off to our hotel. This was by far the nicest hotel of our trip. Resort Quest, Kauai. Karen and I took enough time to pick up our rental car and take off for what we were told was a good snorkeling spot. It proved to be false information. After snorkeling for a while we got out and talked with the life guard and found out that snorkeling on this island was somewhat limited, due to local fishing. He said the best bet would be getting on a charter that would take us out to the Napli Coast. Don't know if we'll have enough time for that. We left there and made our way around Kapa'a for a bit to get a look at the village, then picked up Nolan and Sheri for dinner. We ate at The Island Cafe, out on the patio.

Todays Pictures
Trip Photo Summary

Sunday, March 9 - Maui Sunrise to Sunset

Maui
Today began real early. The alarm went off at 2:40am. We were picked up my Maui Downhill at 3:15. No, we weren't skiing. This was a downhill bike ride. First, we were taken to the top of Mt. Holiakala. We watched the sun rise over the crater at 9,700 feet. It was beautiful. Then we went to 10,023 feet. Kind of cold at that altitude. Felt like being back in Michigan, sorta. OK, not quite. Temperature was about 30-40. After watching the sun rise, we were taken back part way down the volcano to about 6,500 feet to begin our decent, on bike. They used to be able to ride down from the summit, but have had to change that due to some recent accidents. The roads in the national park (6,500 to 10,00 feet) are very narrow and winding, with no guard rails. The tour company provided wind breakers to help take the chill out. It was a gorgeous ride down. The ride actually only went about 17 miles. Shorter than we were looking forward to, but fun, none the less. After the bike ride, we rented a car with Nolan and Sheri and headed out looking for beaches that needed to be snorkeled. Success. We found a couple of gorgeous beaches on Mokule'ia Bay and had a great time snorkeling and picnicing. Evening was drawing close, so we found a scening spot to watch the whales and sunset. Couldn't believe all the whales we saw. I saw one breach completely out of the water. I was so taken with it that I forgot to get my camera out to take a picture. Rats. We also saw four to five sea turtles playing int the water as we watched the sun set over Lana'i. The pictures don't do justice to the beauty. Then we headed back to Nahalui to return car after dinner at Koho's. It was a long day, but filled with fun.

Today's Pictures
Trip Photo Journal

Saturday, March 8 - LaHaina

Aloha from Maui

Today was a travel day again. We had an early flight from Hilo, Hawaii to Kahului, Maui. We were picked up at the airport in Kahului and taken on a tour. Our first stop was Iao Valley State Park. This is a beautiful tropical gorge between two volcanos. We then went to LaHaina. This is a neat town, with lots of shops and restaurants. The bus lets you out right in front of Hilo Hattie's. A popular tourist trap. You almost have to go through the store to get out the other side to get to town. We made is through relatively unscathed. We had lunch on the upper deck of Cheeseburger in Paradise. Small world, our waitress was from Rochester, MI. After lunch, we had a liesurely walk through town. Had to stop for some ice cream. Our new friend Nolan is particularly fond of ice cream. The town was sponsoring an art fair this weekend, under a banyan tree. This particular tree is the second largest Banyan tree in the world. After the afternoon in LaHaina, we left for our hotel, The Maui Beach Hotel. We had dinner at the Hideaway overlooking the harbor in Kahului.

Pictures from today

Trip Photo Journal

Bus trip from Kona to Hilo

Today was a travel day. The tour group had a sightseeing bus ride from Kona to Hilo. It was more of a relaxing day, compared to helicopter and ATV rides. We left the hotel in Kona at 8:30 and arrived in Hilo at the hotel at about 5:00. The bus took the southern route around the island. We made several stops along the way. The first was at the Kona coffee company. Before getting to Volcano Park, we stopped briefly at one of the black sand beaches. We made several stops in Volcano National Park, a couple around the rim of the volcano. We couldn't get very close to the rim as the volcanic smog, or vog, was real thick. The vog is a hydrogen sulfide gas. A fatal level of this gas is 10 ppm. The level in some areas have been measured at 40 ppm. We did get to the visitors center and to a couple of the scenic turnouts around the crater. We also went on a hike through one of the volcanic tubes (old lava flow tube). Lots of beautiful flowers on this side of the Island, also. After leaving the park, we went through the Macedamia Nut forest and factory, and an orchid garden. We have an early flight tomorrow morning for Mauai.

Todays Pictures

Trip Photo Summary

Thursday, March 6 - ATV Excursion

Another busy day. Karen and I started the day again with snorkeling right by the hotel. It was sunnier than yesterday so the colors came alive. Lots of purple and orange. Later, we met up with Nolan and Sheri Heilman, our new friends from Iowa. We've been doing most of our activities with them. Today's activity was an ATV excursion. We travelled to North Kona. Along the way we could see Mauai. I didn't realize that it was only about 25 miles from the Big Island. Before going on the ATV excursion, we went out to a lookout point that was just gorgeous. Check out the pictures here. Karen was a little apprehensive about the ATV ride at first. She thought at first that she may ride with someone, but decided to get on her own vehicle instead. She was glad she did. We thought that it would be a mild ride, just putzing along. WRONG. They really moved. They took us up along the hills overlooking the ocean. It was spectacular. Then we hit two spots where there were waterfalls. One of them had a pond at the bottom of the falls that we could swim in. The tour guide said the pond had a Hawaiin name that tranlated into "Shrinkage". It was cold (55 degrees). All four of us took a dip in it. It was real nice to get some of the dirt off from the ride. However, we just put it back on, on the ride back to the start.

On the way back to Kona we stopped for ice cream in a neat village and took some pictures. The lava along the coast made for some great photo opportunities. Later in the evening, we went to Bubba Gumps from the move Forest Gump for dinner.

Todays Pictures
Trip Photo Summary

Wednesday, March 5 - Hilo, Volcanoes and Waterfalls

We started the day with a trip to the beach for some snorkeling. The tour guide said the beach right across the street from hotel was the most under-rated beach for snorkeling. He was right. It didn't look like much, right next to the pier, but once you got past the corner, it exploded with color and life.

After snorkeling, we left with rental car for the other side of the island, Hilo. Hilo is the rainiest city in the U.S. It gets over 250 inches of rain a year. It is lush and green, much different than Kona, which looks much like a volcanic desert. Oh yeah, that's what it is. Anyway, on Hilo we took a helicopter ride over the active volcano and some waterfalls. It was great. In some of the pictures, you can see where the vent holes are with the bright orange lava inside. It was neat to see where the lava flow had gone over the road. That happened the night before. We tried to get there by car, but the police had it blocked off. The different colors of the lava are different ages. The newer lava is bright and silvery in contrast the darkness of the older lava.

After the helicopter ride and lava search, we went to Rainbow falls and the boiling pots on our way back to Kona. Very cool, but took a lot of climbing to get to see them. Actually had our first rain of the trip last night. Rained for about an hour after we got back to Kona.

Today's Photos

Trip Photo Summary

Tuesday, March 4 - to Kona

Today was a travel day. We flew from Honolulu to the Big Island of Hawaii. Once we got to Kona, we found a beach that some friends had told us about and went snorkeling. Later that night Karen and I went out and bought a birthday cake for Nolan. The four of us went out for dinner at a seaside cafe near the beach we were snorkeling at.

Todays Photos

Trip Photo Summary

Monday, March 3 - Polynesian Cultural Center

Cultural Center

What a great day. Left the hotel at 10:30 for bus trip to Polynesian Cultural Center. This center is designed to entertain and educate people about the culture of the countries that make up Polynesia. Among them are Hawaii, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, and Tahiti. The center is staffed by students of Brigham Young University which is located directly behind the center. The students that are in the show or part of the village exhibit are actually from the country they represent. We first we lead around to the different villages where we the students presented a brief bit of song, dance and other parts of their culture. After we went around to the different "Islands", we had dinner. In the evening, we were entertained by the students with a show that showcased their culture. It was quite impressive. It was a great end to our time in O'ahu. Tomorrow we leave for The Big Island. Aloha

Polynesian Cultural Center

Todays Photos

Trip Photo Summary

Sunday, March 2 - Snorkeling

Hanauma Bay

Had a liesure day today. We decided to pass on the tour groups "Circle Tour" of O'ahu. Instead we rented a car with another couple on the tour and did our our own sightseeing and some snorkeling. We started out by going to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling. It is a beautiful cove, protected from most of the ocean's surf. Once we got past the reef it was about 15-20 feet deep and filled with color and sea life. We saw five different Sea Turtles, and tons of different fish. We snorkeled along the outside of the reef for a while then decided to head out to a point further out. But as we got there, just about to go around the point, we found a lot of tiny jellyfish and had to turn back. So, we followed the coastline of the cove back to the beach. We snorkeled for about 2 hours.

After snorkeling, we headed north to the North Shore. We made numerous stops for photos and viewing. At one spot we saw 5 what looked like sky divers floating over one of the peaks. They were riding the air currents. At this same spot we climbed up to a site where you could see whales off the coast. About 45 minutes uphill in the sun and the whales were a ways off the coast, but I guess it was worth it. Other stops were at a Macadamia Nut Farm, North Shore for lunch and the Dole pineaple plantation.

• Pictures from Sunday


• Trip Photo Summary
  

Saturday, March 1 - Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor was on the agenda for this morning. On the bus at 6:30 to go to the memorial. The memorial is the most visited site on the island. It is limited to 4,500 visitors per day, and they are always maxed out. The first hour is spent going through a 1 hour movie that gives a background of pearl harbor. You then go from there out to the memorial. This was quite moving. Over 1,100 crewmen are still entombed on the ship.

After Pearl Harbor, the bus did a tour of Pali Lookout Point and other sites around Honolulu. We always seem to make our way over to the beach in the afternoon. While on the beach, we met a couple of college students who gave us a bunch of tips on things to do on the other islands. We decided not to do the optional dinner theater with the tour group tonight and just went to Outback.

• Pictures from Saturday


• Trip Photo Summary

Friday, February 29 - Diamond Head

Today we got up and went over to Diamond Head to climb to the top. Didn't realize that half of the adventure would be getting there. The park is about 4 miles from hotel so we though we'd take bus. After waiting for the bus for about 20 minutes we ended up taking a cab for about the cost (lots of competition). Anyway, view was spectacular, but quite the hike to get to top. It was pretty warm and the hike was steep in places. Not sure I could have done this a year ago. On our way down, we came across an older gentleman who wasn't fairing very well. He had lots of help who already were in contact with Emergency services. We made our way down and watched the Hawaii Fire Rescue team get him off the trail via helicopter. We saw him later walking from helicopter to EMS vehicle and seemed to be doing ok.

We spent the afternoon soaking up some sun on the beach. We also went out for a canoe ride. Not quite the same as canoeing in Michigan. These are 4-5 person canoes with a stabilizer. They take you out into the surf and wait for a big wave. Then you paddle like crazy and ride the wave, hoping not to run over a surfer who's not paying attention.

The group had tickets to a dinner show Friday night. We watched SOS or Society of Seven. Seven guys put on a musical, comedy show. They covered a bunch of different songs, impersonated artists and had fun with the audience.

• Pictures from Thursday


• Trip Photos