Paddling the school canoe...ooh, you better believe that's a paddling.

So also about a month ½ ago I wanted to try canoe paddling. They have paddling clubs all over the island and groups go out every day. So 1, it looked like a lot of fun, 2, it’s social, 3, it’s great exercise, and 4, it gets you out of the house and enjoying nature every day. As it turns out there’s a club that meets right at the bottom of our hill here. So one morning Steve and I checked it out. And it was everything we thought it would be. Soon after we tried it, tho, Steve got a job working on a snorkel boat and he couldn’t paddle mornings. I, on the other hand, have time just about every morning to go. So I wrote my check for membership and even bought me my very own paddle. (I'll have to post a pic of my paddle some time - i have to say it's beautiful. Practically a work of art.)

The first time I went someone was saying to me that racing season had started and the coach may need an extra guy to paddle for him. So the next time the racers met I woke up at 4:30am and met them at the beach at 5am. Then we proceeded to paddle ½ mile sprints over and over and over. Holy crap, I was so in over my head. So I politely bowed out this racing season, but I’m really looking forward to racing next year. Should be cool stuff.

Here’s a view of us paddling out in Maalaea with West Maui mountain in the background,

and here’s a picture of Haleakala from the water.

A lot of times we paddle out to a reef where the turtles hang out and we swim around with them. And apparently when the whales are in season it’s truly amazing to be out with them.

Anyway, in other news, I'm off to camp on the big island for the week with Steve. When we had first booked the trip I stumbled on news that they were filming the new Indiana Jones movie on the Big Island right when we would be there. I can't tell you how excited Steve was to possibly get a glimpse of Harrison Ford or to have a chance to be an extra in the movie. Unfortunately, they moved their schedule up and I just read about the wrapping-up party they had in Hilo 2 weeks ago. So close.

Hana revisisted

2 weeks ago Chris and Steve and Mini and I were all able to camp in Hana. Mini wrote a blurb on our family blog, and she did an alright job for her first post ever, so I'll just repost the whole thing here:

On Thursday the 19th, we left to go camping to Hana. We packed up the Suzuki and took off in the morning. Steve hadn’t been there in over twenty years and Chris and I (Megan) had never been. We made a stop at Hana Bay to stretch our legs. There is a cute little town and a really nice beach with a popular hole-in-the-wall plate lunch place called Tutu’s.


Here is a picture of our camp in Haleakala National Park. It was beautiful! You could take a walk right out to the ocean.




Apparantly, it was not recommended you swim here:


After setting up camp we took a drive to find the Red Sand Beach. The directions we had were not too clear, so it took a bit of wandering. There was a trail that led right down into this cove. It was awesome and the water felt so good after the hike there. Little did we know it was a popular nudie beach! Just kidding… But we did get an offer for some weed, but figured we already had enough, so we turned it down. hehe


The next day (Friday the 20th) Jeff, Christin, and I got up to do some hiking. It was only like a 4 mile hike- round trip. The trail starts out pretty rocky, then it leads you through a bamboo forest. There are a couple bridges overlooking green valleys on the way.



At the end there is a waterfall that’s about 400 feet high or something. It’s HUGE; the pictures just don’t do it justice!


The famous 7 Sacred Pools were just a walk away from camp. We all got in our suits and took a swim. They really were amazing.



On our way out of camp we stopped to see where Carl A. Lindberg is buried. It was such a quaint and peaceful place. On the grounds is this old chapel that was built in the 1800’s; so old and still being used and still as cute as ever.

Last stop was the Black Sand Beach. There is this lava tube you can crawl into and the water comes crashing right into it. It’s a really fun beach.