No Rain (Finally)!

Note: This entry was started pre-Madeline and completed post-Madeline. I would never participate in fire-breathing, torch-running or log-breaking now that I'm a responsible father.

Thankfully the rain has stopped, which is why I haven't updated in awhile - I've been outside.

Last week, we headed to Maha'ulepu beaches once it finally cleared up, because it was still too moist to do any hiking or mountain biking. Em enjoyed the weather on the beach while I did some snorkeling. The water was slightly sandy, but overall pretty nice so I saw lots of fish and a large manta ray. This is my first effort with an underwater camera, so give me a break.

I got a few mountain bike rides in over the following days and despite the recent rain it wasn't too muddy. The highlight of the weekend was hiking 5 miles of the Kalalau trail along the Na Pali coast. The first few miles were really muddy and slippery, but passable with the aid of trekking poles. I'd done this hike several times, but never beyond Hanakapiai beach at 2 miles. I continued out of the valley and crested a ridge after about a mile to look down into a beautiful valley and see along the east and west sides of the Na Pali coast. Clouds intermittently crept in and along the mountains, making for dramatic scenery.

Shortly thereafter, I encountered an interesting individual who lives on the trail and uses his own time and money to maintain the trail. http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2007/12/11/news/news01.txt

I have mixed feelings about this sort of thing. I appreciate what he is trying to do and enjoy the fruits of his labor in the form of better trail conditions. However, this is an untrained individual making changes to government property. If everyone was allowed to do this, it might be trouble. I'm starting to get too political lately and I hate politics so back to the trail scenery.

Back into another valley only to crest a ridge after another 1.5 miles - an even more spectacular view with sheer green sea cliffs rising all around me and Hanakoa falls (1400') visible just half a mile inland. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to descend into to Hanakoa valley, visit the campsite and make the 1/2 mile side trip to the base of the falls due to the weather and a late start. A great start to a long weekend.

Friday night was wild one. Our entire group headed to the beach near the Sheraton (Poipu) for drinks and a grillout. We sat, snacked, talked and watched the sunset - the beer flowed like wine. I fired up the grill and cooked the sausages. Joe and Chelsae nearly starved since Joe left the turkey burgers at home - but he would pay for his sins later in the evening. We started a campfire on the beach with driftwood and listened to music on portable speakers. After getting through the majority of a Great Lakes Sampler Pack, I taught everyone to breathe fire. I was surprised that no one had seen or done this before, but when they saw it, it was an instant hit. There's nothing like a mouthful of gin blown onto a campfire to stimulate the senses. Everyone took their turn, even Emily who (unbeknownst to her at the time) would deliver her first child only 3 days later.

We (meaning me) continued the fun by lighting 6 ft. palm fronds and running down the beach with the fiery palm torch held overhead. As we ran low on fuel we set our sights on larger driftwood. We found a 10 ft., 5 in. diameter log, but were unable to break it into firewood sized chunks. Joe had the bright idea to have me grab the other end while both of us ran full speed at a palm tree trunk in order to break the log. Alas, I outweigh Joe and physics was against him, for when we hit the tree trunk, I kept going forward and Joe got slingshotted back toward our group. I saw him get launched into the sand from the corner of my eye, but our friends said the view from behind was downright hysterical. The shenanigans continued for a few more hours and I'm pretty sure we managed to scare quite a few of the hotel guests, but hey, beaches are public property and we weren't doing anything illegal - just acting like idiots.

Miraculously, I wasn't hungover (despite finishing the sampler pack), but my chest was a bit sore and scraped, Joe, on the other hand, is still recovering from the near-paralyzing blow to the chest that I delivered. We only had a camera phone to document this event, but I'll try to get some pictures. Good times!

The Best Christmas Gift...Ever.

What else can I say except - she's here!

Em endured more and more frequent contractions over early morning the 24th while I slept peacefully. She kindly awakened me at 6:45 to tell me her contractions were 5 minutes apart and we needed to go to the hospital. It was a very calm operation without screaming, running or madness.

When we arrived at the hospital, I was betting on early labor and Em thought she was about 5 cm dilated. The OB nurse proved me to be a complete moron when she said Em was already 6-7 cm and would have the baby by 3 PM. She got her epidural from my friend and partner, Joe. This helped her pain and she was pushing by 12:30. Garyetta was born at 1:57 PM on 12/24/07. She became Madeline Ruth this morning when we finally had some time to ourselves to think about it. She didn't seem to mind too much that we still called her Garyetta for a few hours. She thought it was a small price to pay in order to see both sets of grandparents and most of her aunts and uncles over the webcam on Chistmas Eve. Her Hawaiian aunts and uncles were also nice enough to change their plans for the evening to see the three of us and bring us much needed pupus.

Here's what you want - Pictures! (original and unedited, I'll do some cheesy Anne Geddes stuff later)

Lookin' good at 7 cm (without an epidural!).

Definitely looks like an alien.

Worn out from her big day.

My two favorite ladies in the whole world!

Fame and Notoriety

STILL RAINING!!!!!

However, in my boredom (thank God I had to work 5 days the past couple weeks) I read a few articles in the local paper, The Garden Island (http://www.kauaiworld.com/). I was interested and then angered by an article featured on the front page titled Lawsuit claims signs moved after deaths (http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2007/12/06/news/news02.txt). In summary, the article details the unfortunate hikers who fell to their deaths on an unofficial trail to the base of Opaeka‘a Falls. As a result, the spouse of one hiker has filed a lawsuit against the state because it "negligently created a false appearance of safety by posting a sign to the left reading, 'danger, keep out, hazardous conditions'”. The 2 women proceeded to the right and fell to their deaths. The attorney claims that the sign was later replaced to indicate the correct direction.

In short, I was outraged by the lawsuit. While it's terrible that 2 people died engaging in my favorite outdoor activity, this does not make the state responsible for filling the widower's pocket with cash. This prompted me to write a letter to the editor which was published in the 12/8/07 edition. You can read it here:

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2007/12/08/opinion/edit01.txt

What happened to personal responsiblity? No one is willing to accept the consequences of their actions and decisions anymore, escpecially if the outcome is bad. I wonder if the widower ever considered that his wife made a bad decision and the consequences were fatal. Maybe, but probably as an afterthought when he and his attorney visualized their big payday from the state. Personal injury attorneys and their clients piss me off.

Rain

It won't stop - 10 days now - no exercise - must get outside!

Good Times in Cincinnati

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted, but I didn't have any time during our whirlwind tour of Cincinnati with Thanksgiving, Kelsey's wedding and trying to see everyone else. It was definitely fun to get back, but a little weird at the same time since streets, stores and just the general look of things are less familiar to me now. It's an odd feeling going back to the place you lived for 26 years and not recognizing certain things.

Since so much happened while we were back I'll divide the time up into days (starting the weekend before Thanksgiving) so we can keep things straight.

Saturday - bachelor party details not for the faint of heart
Arrival in Chicago after a miserable overnight flight filled with weird dreams fueled by Ambien and Tanqueray. A quick nap at the Country Inn and Suites followed by dinner with the guys for Tom's bachelor party. Things started out pretty slow and then Big Den took Chase back to the hotel. The drinking ramped up pretty quickly with shots of Jagermeister, Patron, Jack, etc. We went to several bars and Tom managed to find an extra 13 bucks in his pocket toward the end of the night (ask him how). All of us were managing pretty well until we tried to find a cab and in doing so I tripped over the curb into the street in full view of 6 cops. They must have had better things to do because I picked myself up, smiled and they just laughed. We finally got a cab and hauled Tom back to his room. I think by that time he'd gotten rid of his last few beers/shots in one of the bar bathrooms. I thought he was doing OK until the girls got back from the bachelorette party and told us he was in bad shape in his room. Of course we needed to investigate. What we found was quite entertaining - Tom, passed out on his belly, with a nice cascade of puke over the side of the bed into Kelsey's shoes. For some unknown reason, they left me with him to further defile the bachelor. I unrolled 2 rolls of TP, covered Tom with it and stuck some pink bachelorette party stickers on his head. By that time the girls had arrived back, so we took some pictures of the lucky guy. I forgot to mention that in the meantime Jesse had set the new kicking distance record for elevator light panels in the hotel hallway. Bedtime 4:45 EST.

Sunday - Terrible
We woke up at 8:45 EST in order to make it back to Cincy on time for the awful Bengals game and Dominic's birthday party. I'm pretty sure that my heart was still pumping pure Jagermeister at that point and my head felt like Jesse had place-kicked it. Chicago to Cincy in the back of Mike's minivan - Terrible. I'm sure I looked great when I walked into Laura and Paul's to see my family for the first time in 4 months. Tina cried when she saw me probably because I looked like a drunken bum. Dominic was cute as ever and managed to tear into a few 1 year birthday presents. Then we headed back to my parents' house for our first decent night of sleep in over 48 hours.

Monday - The Comet and Poker
Uneventful day of sleeping late and recovering from the weekend's festivities. Went to the Comet with a select few for excellent burritos, salsa and beers and then on to Essen's for poker. We had a great showing, so great that I didn't even get to hang with a couple guys since we had to split into 2 tables. We went to the disgusting Wagon Wheel for a beer and a carton's worth of secondhand smoke. At least you can still get your nicotine fix at the Wheel.

Tuesday - Girls Night for Em
She said there was a tight group of friends there and they had a delightful evening talking about makeup and boys or whatever. Paul, Dominic and I went for a short hike at Miami Whitewater. I spent the majority of the evening just hanging out and talking with my Mom which was a nice relaxing break from going everywhere trying to see everyone.

Wednesday - Gebhardt Traditional Pre-Thanksgiving Celebration
We headed to Grandma and Grandpa G's for a the traditional German Thanksgiving meal of ham crepes. Unbeatable. I count myself lucky to still have so many grandparents and enjoy every second of this time that I spend with them. We finished up there and went to Tim's because he was kind enough (or unkind enough) to get a 1/6 barrel of Great Lakes Christmas Ale for the crew ( http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com/beerProfile.php?beer_id=00000009) . If you've ever had about a dozen mugs of Christmas brew, you'll understand why I said this might be unkind. We spent the night talking and laughing, mostly about Todd and his friend the ottoman. Laura, Paul and I formed a family band to the XM radio in Cathy's Escalade while I performed the requisite drunken, head through the sunroof, neighborhood wakeup at who knows what time.

Thursday - Thanksgiving at Grandma T's
Em's parents gave us a reprieve from Thanksgiving with them since we were going to spend the majority of the next couple days with wedding festivities. This made for a very pleasant, relaxing Thanksgiving day instead of running from place to place trying to see everyone. Grandma T kicks some serious butt in the kitchen, especially for an 82 year old - preparing full Thanksgiving dinner for about 20 people every year ever since I've been around. Delicious as always.

Friday - Black Friday and the Rehearsal Dinner
I spent Black Friday playing paintball for bachelor party number 2. I'd never played before, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was to try to shoot some of your good friends in the (helmeted) face with a CO2 powered rifle. Everyone survived and came home with a few nice welts to prove we'd been there. Tom looked much better after bachelor party #2 than he did after #1. The reahearsal dinner was at the original Montgomery Inn and enjoyed some classic Cinncinnati Ribs King fare. It's been awhile and I'd forgotten how good those ribs are.

Saturday - The Big Day for Kelsey and Tom
Guys went to the hotel, drank a few beers and got dressed for the wedding while the girls went to the salon and spa to have their hair done in ways that defy the laws of gravity in order to look nothing like they do in real life. For the next wedding, I'm getting my hair done in dread-locks. In any case, I managed to forget my tux coat at home (moron). Tragedy was averted when the photographers brought it along. The wedding went off without a hitch and we headed to the reception on the trolley, coolers in tow. I couldn't even convince Em to have a drink for her sister's wedding. We did the traditional Jagermeister shot outside the reception and filed in to hang out with family and friends we hadn't seen in quite awhile. I tried to make the rounds and see as many people as possible. It was a fun time, but I was about partied out by then. Despite this, we still had't made a trip to Rootie's, the neighborhood pub. Onward to more beers. Rootie's was unremarkable until Hilary got totally wasted and then left her dinner on Jen and Jesse's driveway. Bedtime 3:45 EST - again.

Sunday - The Sad Task of Leaving
Goodbyes were painful, as always. Understandably so for our parents, Em and me since the parents are going to miss some of the fun of Garyetta's birth. We weathered the flight home relatively well since we had an exit row for the Atlanta to Honolulu leg. Em nearly ran her pregnant butt off making the connection to Lihue in less than 20 minutes from a different terminal.

When we finally made it home, I felt like crap from too much drinking and not enough sleep and Em was just generally exhausted, but we enjoyed seeing everyone (though for too short a time). I'm just starting to feel better from my cold and Em's in tip-top shape for pushing Garyetta out in the not too distant future. Scary! Thanks to everyone who made our trip home tremendous.

Please email me pictures from the week so I can post them. 'Til next time...

Em and Garyetta Pictures

At the request of Big Erv, I'll dedicate this episode's pictures entirely to Em and Garyetta. Although Garyetta's adventures are much more extreme that Em's and mine, I don't have any action shots of her yet. Be patient - she'll be hitting the trail at an early age. In the meantime, I do have standard and 3D ultrasound shots that I'll share.

Face profile

The "It's a Girl" picture

Proof that Garyetta already likes beer

Face and Foot with "only" 5 toes (thankfully - ask Jen)


Proof that she's mine

Here are some pictures of Em as I crack the whip and put her pregnant butt to work.

Em and I went on a kayaking/hiking adventure on the Wailua river Sunday.

We paddled 2.5 miles upsteam to the fern grotto which we thought woud be a serene, beautiful spot as it is only accessible by boat. However, on arrival, we were greeted by a large dock (currnetly empty), lots of concrete, signs, bathrooms, sprinkler systems, propane tiki torches, decks, tables, etc. Shortly thereafter, we heard loud music and the churning of a large engine which we soon figured out belonged to a barge (seriously) filled with about 150 people. We snapped a quick picture before the tourists unloaded and hit the water again quickly - but not before another barge arrived. Cheesy Hawaiian music played on a bad PA system while 15o tourists sat packed in like cattle, awaiting the disappointment of the fern grotto - what a beautiful scene...to leave in the rearview mirror.

We paddled from there up a small fork of the river, unaccessible by barge, until the river became a small creek. Then we got out and hiked about a 1.5 miles over slick mud and roots to something a little more our style - a secluded 80 ft. waterfall with a gorgeous turquiose pool beneath and nobody else there. The water was very cool, but refreshing after the hike and paddle. We stayed awhile and a few people showed up, but nowhere near the herd at the fern grotto.

OK, just one picture of me.

Cincinnati in less than a week!

A Complete Report from Colorado

Hopefully you caught my update from Colorado. That pretty much sums up the first half of the trip. I should mention my acclimatization technique. I flew into Denver on about 3 hours of sleep since my airplane seat didn't recline, drove directly to Breckenridge at 9,600 feet, drank copious quantities of high alcohol beer and the following morning departed for an 8 mile winter backpacking trip (read - heavy load) at high altitude thus breaking just about every rule for avoiding altitude sickness/acute mountain sickness. Nevertheless, it worked and the worst symptoms I had were shortness of breath while carrying a 40 lb. pack and getting outpaced on the mountain by Jeb.

Continuing where I left off, Jeb and I planned to summit Quandary Peak which is one of Colorado's 14,000 ft. mountains. I'd been to the top already, but that was 5 years ago during the summer. The night before, we rented snowshoes and prepared for the climb with a sampling of microbrews. The morning was clear and bright, perfect for a summit day, but painful for a couple guys who had gotten cooked by the sun the day before. Upon ascending the east ridge, we realized that snowshoes were more of a novelty than a necessity for this climb, but I continued to carry mine. Jeb broke trail through the snow and I literally followed in his footsteps. We ascended 3500 ft. over a little less than 3 hours. Not bad considering the snow cover and my lack of acclimatization, but I summited this same peak in less than 2 hours in the summer 5 years ago when I had spent a month living in Leadville.

Jeb on the roof the world.

We were excited to have the summit to ourselves for our entire stay, a very rare occasion during the summer, but more likely as fall and winter close in. This was Jeb's first 14'er since becoming a permanent resident and my first winter summit. We called our friend Matt V. in TN and bragged to him since he was working.

The descent was unremarkable except for the 60 degree temperature - much hotter than we would have liked. I also used snowshoes for the first time and I found them surprisingly easy.

The following day, Jeb worked while I met a few of his partners and toured the hospital. They've got a great set up and spectacular setting nestled between Breckenridge and Frisco, but the storm is coming and the forecast includes hip, tib-fib and ankle fractures with a slight chance of shoulder dislocation. When ski season hits, the population quadruples, the hospital averages 4 surgical fractures a day and Jeb's playtime is over.

That evening we planned our next hike and overnight. Our goal was to utilize one of the 1oth Mountain Division Huts for an overnight stay, but most of the huts hadn't opened yet for the cross-country ski season and the ones that were open could be accessed by four wheel drive. Since it wasn't much of a hike in to the hut, we just planned a separate hike to be followed by a short drive to the hut.

The hike was near the old mining town of Climax through the valley and onto a ridge on the west side of the Tenmile-Mosquito mountain range. The snow hike was relatively easy and the payoff was unobstructed views of an impossibly rugged sawtooth ridge to the northeast with Clinton reservoir to the southwest.

Action shot for my sponsors, Mountain Hardwear, Osprey, The North Face and Stone Brewing.

After returning to the car, we headed back toward Shrine Mountain at Vail pass and the huts of Shrine Mountain Inn. We drove as far as we could with Jeb's FJ Cruiser and backpacked the rest of the way to Walter's Cabin, one of the 3 cabins that makes up Shrine Mountain Inn (http://www.huts.org/hut_details/shrine_hut_details.html). As it ends up, we had the whole 12 person cabin to ourselves. Running water, propane heat and stove, beds, flush toilet, electric lights, even a shower with hot water - luxury compared to sharing a two man tent in the snow with our breath freezing inside. In addition, when your backpacking entails a half-mile walk with no tent or stove, the list of luxuries we could carry grew to include a cooler with beer, an iPod and portable speakers.

We stopped by one of the other cabins and had it's 2 guests over for dinner since we had extra. They were a nice couple from Summit County who had skied out.

They departed by 8 PM and when left to our own devices and an increasing BAL, we headed out to explore the (locked) upstairs of the cabin. We accidentally opened a window and climbed in to check it out. It was appointed about the same as downstairs except for a woodburning stove. We rationalized that we might as well use it since it was there and about 10 cords of seasoned firewood sat below the deck. We listened to Radiohead and watched the fire burn down to coals while sipping our final beers of the evening and relishing our crowning achievement of the trip - breaking and entering. But the window was open, I swear officer...

Sadly, I departed from Breckenridge the following day to ensure a prompt arrival at the airport the following morning. The good news was that I got to visit my friends the Pernas who had moved from Leadville to Denver. They are the family I spent a lot of my time with when I lived in Leadville/Twin Lakes a few years ago. There's never any lack of conversation when we're together as they are some of the most interesting, well-travelled people I know. Furthermore, they are very kind and generous - always willing to offer me a place to stay while traveling their fine state.

The flight home was as pleasant as possible considering my half-day of layovers. However, upon arrival to Lihue and seeing Em again, my excitement turned to anger when my luggage didn't arrive. Apparently, a four hour layover isn't enough time to get luggage transferred between flights. That makes Go! airlines 2/2 in losing our luggage. Their website is iflygo.com and any questions about luggage can be emailed to moron@iflygobutmyluggagedoesnt.com. I guess you get what you pay for. Thankfully my luggage was found mid-afternoon the following day and I could stop ranting for a few minutes to enjoy my time back with Em and Garyetta.

I'll leave you with this "stroke" of genius until next time.