Day off in Hawaii

Last Monday Phil and I took a day off from work. With a whole day to ourselves we had the usual exchange: "What would you like to do?" Reply, "Oh, I don't know, you decide!" This went on for several rounds with suggestions to see what was playing at the theater (nothing) to sitting around and do nothing (that was probably mine). We finally decided to get out of the house, take a hike up Makapu'u Point and take Ajax with us. To get to the start point we took H1 East till it, drove through Hawaii Kai, past Hanama Bay, Blow Hole and Sandy Beach. We parked on the side of the road and started up the trail.
Above is one of the pictures we took of Ajax at the top of the Makapu'u Head where the old lighthouse is located on Oahu. The next picture is at the beginning of the trail. The trail winds up about 500 feet above sea level and is advertised as a two mile walk.
Phil been thinking about running up this hill since Christmas so he wore his running gear. So once we got on the more paved ground he gave me "control" of Ajax and took off up the hill. Ajax found more rocks and bushes to water than he had water to water with (does that make sense?) But he didn't give up. He seemed to enjoy all the new smells and all the other people that passed us on the way up and down.
I mentioned that the advertised length of the trail was two miles. After running it in just a little over 15 minutes, Phil declared that it couldn't have been much more than a mile but the run was a welcome bit of exercise. It took me a little longer and I blamed my slowness on Ajax's desire to investigate each and every bush along the way and I won't deviate from that story. We all enjoyed our excursion to the top of Makapu'u Point and once we arrived back home enjoyed a really nice nap. The last picture included in this post has nothing to do with our day off. It is a picture I took from my office. The ridge rainbow was so beautiful and I just wanted to share it with my friends and family. Enjoy! Here is a link to more pictures of Makapu'u. http://www.pbase.com/aukipa/makapuu

Ford Island Bridge Run/Walk

Saturday 8 April was a beautiful day to be outside in Hawaii. Although our day began early, unlike most of the events we have participated in, this run actually started after dawn had broken - 7 AM. Arriving at the start area around 6:15 in order to pick up our timing devices, we had plenty of time to take care of last minute details - like a visit to the ubiquitous porta-potties and note the fashionable black raingear seen above.

I had planned to run and walk the course but during the first mile a friend and I crossed paths and ended up walking most of that mile together. After that bit of time had passed I decided to just do a fast walk for the whole course - which I did until about the last two miles. Well, the whole course was only 6.1 miles so my "fast walk" only lasted about 3 miles. What happened during the last couple of miles was that a high schooler started talking to me and I couldn't seems to break away from the conversation. Everytime I started going faster again, she would do a quick run to catch back up again and start talking again. So I just kept to close to her pace and "kinda fast walked" the last mile and a half. She was a nice young lady and it turned out that she only found out she was participating in the event the previous evening. Her uncle was on Maui and not able to get back so her father told her she would use his entry number.

Phil finished the course in just over one hour. A couple of the young men from church also participated in the event and said that "Mr. Phil had just run by them early in the race." Here they are prior to the race. Congratulations to Taylor and Gary for finishing the race in such good time.



The next picture is Gary's mom, Shana at the beginning of the course. It was fun walking with her as we talked our way through the first bit of the course.
This picture if of something called a "sea-based radar" and from what I understand is undergoing some refurbishment or repairs here in Hawaii. Here's a link if you are interested in the arcane. http://www.raytheon.com/feature/sbx-1_05/

One last picture should overfill my quota for this day is of the USS Utah Memorial that we passed on the way around the small Ford Island. Should you want to learn more about the Battleship Utah you can read about her at this site: http://www.ussutah.org/. The picture is just after the flag had been raised on Saturday morning and evoke so many emotions. I am so blessed to be living in this time and place and thank God for the many places around me that remind me of those blessings of liberty.

Rain, rain and more rain

Hawaii has been blessed with more rain than the ground knows what to do with. After more than 40 days (and nights) of rain we feel as if we should have begun to imitate Noah. Just as those thoughts began to be entertained, the sun re-emerged from behind the clouds. There was a lot of squinting and scrambling for sunshades all around the islands.

For the record, Oahu has received more rain in the first three months of the year than our annual average. Yet, we in the midst of all this water we are still being advised to conserve. It seems that it takes about 20 years for much of the water to seep through the soil, rocks and whatever else is under the ground to the aquifers. We learn the most interesting things!

Another interesting aspect to all the rain is that the ground outside our home has turned from its usual brownish shade to a lovely green color. So instead of wading through water to the car we wade through a jungle of knee high weeds and stuff to the car. It's been too wet for the mower to be used. Life in paradise keeps us on our toes.

Current events - well this weekend Phil and I are running in the Ford Island "fun run." Actually Phil is running, I'm probably going to walk most of the way. The course is around Ford Island (which suffered in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor due to many of our battleships being anchored around it) and is about a 6 mile jaunt. It should be an interesting trip around as we pass by the moorings for many of the ships hit on that day including the resting place of the USS Arizona. We will also pass the historic Battleship Missouri Memorial - on her decks the allied forces accepted the unconditional surrender of the Japanese thus ending World War II. We are both looking forward to the run and to the views offered during the run. Hopefully the weather will be dry!

Well, that's enough of this for tonight. I'll try to post again after Saturday's festivities.