The Outdoor Fireplace, Maddie's First (sort of) Solid Meal and Blue Hole

I started construction of the surround for my outdoor fireplace which has been ordered and is probably in transit somewhere in the middle of the Pacific as you read this. This involved cutting out the rails on the corner of the lanai and then constructing the surround out of plywood, 2x4s and slate. Things are moving relatively quickly with the biggest delays being the arrival of the firebox and chimney from the mainland and inability to use power tools above Maddie's bedroom while she naps (which happens to be when I have the most free time).



Speaking of Maddie, she still has killer hair, especially when backlit by the afternoon sun.
Angelic.
Maddie's first drink of water.
She got her first taste of rice cereal on May 5th and based on the pictures, she clearly enjoyed it. Even before the rice cereal she was growing in leaps and bounds, putting on weight and getting longer by the day. She's in the 90th percentile for length which makes her a veritable giant in the land of Hawaii.

On an unrelated topic, some friends and I hiked to Blue Hole this past weekend. The area is named for the view obtained by gazing up from the caldera of the extinct volcano Wai'ale'ale, the centerpiece for the formation of Kauai and now the wettest place on earth (~430 inches of rain/year). This hike involves a 4 wheel drive road through the gates featured in Jurassic Park to a gauging station and water diversion dam. The "trail" crosses the dam and runs through the stream and intermittently along the stream deep into the center of Kauai. After hiking/riverwalking about a mile, many multiple-tiered silver ribbon waterfalls come into view along the sheer green cliffs of the caldera.
At any given time, 5-7 waterfalls are visible from this point onward.
On and on we hiked over slippery river rock, mud and cliffs for about 4 miles until we arrived on a small clearing at the center of the volcano. What you see from this clearing can be conveyed by neither pictures nor words. I can only equate it to the grandeur of the NaPali coast, the summit view from a Colorado 14'er and Yosemite Valley, possibly the Grand Canyon. Sheer cliffs rise thousands of feet and into the clouds with waterfalls erupting from the tops and walls due to the sheer volume of water deposited in this area by near constant rainfall. From where we stood, these steep, watery walls surrounded us completely. Looking out through a notch in the "hole", a perfect 4-tiered waterfall was visible.

Despite being the only people in the caldera that day, the feeling of solitude was marred by the constant stream of helicopters invading this sacred place. Yes, they experienced Wai'ale'ale crater, but we were immersed in it. The hike out continued to be rainy, misty, foggy and slippery, but about 30 minutes after the turnaround, the clouds began to break up, the sun peeked through and soon the emerald green top of Wai'ale'ale was visible contrasted against the clear blue sky with waterfalls still shimmering on the walls of the crater.
I've lived here for 9 months and that was the first time that I'd seen the summit. Near the summit the mountain was all jagged notches carved by powerful waterfalls proceeding to precipitous drops into the caldera. Magnificent.

The hike out gave us a different perspective of the topography especially when we detoured onto a pig trail and ended up shoulder deep in skin-tearing ferns. We persevered until we found a moderate downslope to return to the stream. On arrival at the stream we were greeted by a deep pool which soothed our scratched arms and legs. We hobbled the last couple miles in the stream and crossed the dam back to our car after 7 hours.

Even a couple days later, my legs ache and I look like I got into a fight with a cat. I've hiked twice that distance and felt better afterwards, but I certainly wouldn't give up the experience.

Am I board certified? HELL YES!!!!

'Nuff said.

Cincinnati Visit and Backpacking the Big South Fork a.k.a. Catharsis

My arrival and stay in Cincinnati, though short, was sweetened by the knowledge that the oral boards were now behind me (for a year if not forever). Erv kindly met me at the Dayton airport and I was ecstatic to see him, Em and Maddie as well as my mom on arrival to Cincinnati. Maddie was now a movie star...

...a swimmer...

...and a Skyline Chili lover. We spent the following days around Cincy visiting family. We also managed to squeeze in a Mike Doughty concert at the Southgate House in Newport. Unfortunately, the concert was probably best described as uninspired - not bad, but certainly not the best concert I'd been to, which says quite a lot considering there is essentially no live music scene on Kauai. In any case, we enjoyed the live music as a change of pace.



I spent the majority of Thursday picking up odds and ends for the backpacking trip the following day.



Next thing I new, we were meeting at Todd's house and I got to see Eric, Hark, Todd, Bender, and Chris for the first time in several months. These guys were willing to trust me to "guide" them on their first backpacking trip ever, which might explain why what followed was truly a comedy of errors. However, I can proudly say that there were no near death experiences unlike last year. We packed up and got on the road with relative efficiency until we smelled propane in the car and figured we were only minutes away from a backpacking stove canister explosion. Tragedy was averted though we never did determine the source. Shortly thereafter, Chris realized he left his dinner in the freezer at home so we had to make a stop at Meijer in the middle of KY. We proceeded without further incident to the trailhead where we prepared to hike into the wild.

I forgot to change from my shoes into my boots when Bender was dropping the car off at the parking lot so Todd offered to throw my shoes down to him and promptly got a shoe stuck in a tree about 75 feet off the ground. Thankfully it wasn't my boot.

We started hiking and aside from a few pack adjustments, we were making good time and had a couple miles under our belts. Then Chris dropped the bomb. "Todd, did you grab the sausages from the car?" Todd - "No, they were you're sausages". Chris "Yeah, but you were planning on eating them too". What followed consisted mostly of expletives, but was of no consequence. They decided to proceed and just eat everyone's food.

We arrived at our proposed campsite which turned out to be much larger and nicer than we could've expected considering I picked a place on the map at a trail crossing with no knowledge of a campsite actually being present. There was a nice stone firepit, lots of flat tentsites and we were only 50 yards from the Big South Fork river. Paul arrived unscathed an hour later. Best of all, we were in the woods with no distractions.

The tents were pitched, water filtered, firewood gathered and we prepared dinner with our drink of choice in hand as the sun set on the cool spring evening. We enjoyed some tunes on the portable speakers, but mostly just conversation and companionship (I know it sounds cheesy, but some us live for this).

I arose well rested after my Ambien, Patron and antihistamine induced slumber. We cooked breakfast and headed out for an ambitious 8 mile hike crossing multiple creeks and viewing 2 large waterfalls. A few wet feet, multiple scrapes, bruises and male-bonding moments later we headed back to camp.

Todd and me



The Liberal and the Conservative even managed to come to an agreement on racial issues.

We arrived back at camp and tiredly collected some firewood as the evening was cool and we'd need it to stay warm.

We cooked some backpacker meals (snacks), lounged around camp and started drinking the remainder of our liquor. Thankfully, after dinner, Todd got severely intoxicated and provided entertainment throughout the evening next to our roaring fire. We retreated to our tents and morning rolled around soon after (not soon enough for Todd).

After breakfast and some coffee, we packed up and headed out of the wilderness fairly efficiently. On arrival to the car, we found that mother nature had removed my shoe from the tree despite all of our weekend transgressions against her (think of Todd retreating to the woods with a shovel and TP 5 times on Saturday night - if that's not a transgression, I don't know what is).

The trip home was uneventful and and sadly said goodbye to my friends one by one until who knows when - we don't have any trips to Cincy planned.

On arrival to my parents' house I was greeted by Em, Maddie, Mom, Dad, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc. for a belated birthday celebration and they were greeted by the stench of campfire and body odor. After a quick shower, I enjoyed a cold Ruination IPA and later some Kroeger Bros. fresh sausages - excellent.

The morning of our departure arrived too soon and I felt that I'd barely had the chance to see anyone because the trip had been divided among so many activities, but I think the opposite was true. I had seen many friends and really enjoyed our time together especially with the burden of boards off my back. Unfortunately, all I had to look forward to was returning to Kauai and the splendors of paradise...and Yosemite in May...and Molokai in June...maybe New Zealand or Alaska in August. Yep, life really sucks.

The Board Exam Is Over!!!!!!!

Well…it’s over - FINALLY! I finished taking the board exam this morning and I’m writing from the air on the way to Dayton via Atlanta now that the couple beers and Patron margaritas have worn off a bit.


For those of you who have dutifully checked the blog and been disappointed by the lack of updates, I assure you that more updates and excitement will be forthcoming. I apologize for the delay, but I was studying my ass off. It was a choice between not getting outside at all or not blogging and the choice I made should be evident. By the way, the word blog is stupid.


As my free time will be more plentiful now, I will likely add abbreviated updates of the past month or two along with more recent updates. To keep you current, on arrival to Cincinnati, I’ll have a few days to see everyone, catch a concert, relax and then Friday morning the guys and I will head to Big South Fork Nat’l River and Recreational area for some backpacking. This is bound to be as exciting as our last spring trip during which Mike D. and Brian B. nearly died. At least hypothermia is more manageable on solid ground than in 45 degree water. Everyone hopes for the return of Vodka Joe Benson and the always popular Hark Johnny.


I can hardly wait to return to my life of leisure (pronounced LEZ-uhr) and forget about studying, hopefully permanently, if all goes well (as I believe it did). Oh yeah, it would be nice to see Maddie too since I feel like I missed the last month and a half of her life while memorizing difficult airway algorithms and the like.

STILL STUDYING BUT ALMOST FINISHED!

Studying

Adventures with Erv

Big Erv and I managed to get out on our own for a few sweet hikes while he was on island. The first was the Po'omau Canyon Ditch trail which I hiked in the late fall last year, but it might as well have been a completely different trail back then. The winter rains had fueled the streams and waterfalls, I mean big waterfalls, were everywhere.
We got a bit wet on our hike from some light rains, but were rewarded with rainbows over the waterfalls.


A couple days later, actually the morning of their departure, Erv and I did the "secret" falls kayak and hike. .

We paddled upriver and met with some significant current near the takeout for the hike. Erv rolled his kayak here, but tragedy was averted. We started hiking and I encountered my own tragedy in the form of thick nasty mud while I was wearing only slippers (that's Hawaiian for flip-flops). I had no choice, but to go "hippie" on this hike and just walk it barefoot. Surprisingly, the mud was soft enough that I don't think I got a single cut

In any case, after some slipping and sliding, we made it to the "secret" waterfall which was raging.

I took a quick swim to cool down after the frustrating hike and then back into the mud toward the kayaks.

It was a rewarding hike and a very rewarding visit from my family. Their departure that evening involved tears, but all were consoled by the idea that we'd be back in Cincy within 2 weeks.

The (Delayed) Arrival of Big Erv

We had a few friends over on Saturday night when we got a call from Big Erv saying his flight was delayed and he was probably going to miss his interisland flight. Bad news for everyone, especially Big Erv who had to spend a buck and a quarter on a closet...I mean, Honolulu hotel room to sleep in. Fortunately, he would catch an early flight Saturday.

The Grandmas were kind enough to pick him up at the airport so Em and I could catch a few extra Zs. Big Erv arrived in good spirits despite his unanticipated stay in Honolulu and was clearly overjoyed to hold his new granddaughter.

We headed to the north shore again and caught a few of the sights on the way there. We stopped by Wailua falls which had turned into a raging torrent from the recent rains and also saw Opaekaa falls (where the hikers fell). We grabbed burritos in Kapaa and continued on to Hanalei Colony Resort where we had a booked a room. The room was decent, very close to the beach which was average, but very nice views of the surrounding mountains. Happy hour with beer, wine and margaritas was enjoyed by all while Great Grandma T prepared a meal of chicken (no turkeys at the grocery store), stuffing, gravy and corn. It's pretty awesome when your grandma travels 5000 miles to visit her great granddaughter and still has the energy to prepare a great meal for the whole family.
The evening was filled with margarita-fueled hijinks (that's right, I said hijinks) involving carrying my infant daughter in a wicker basket.
The following day was spent enjoying the sunshine and wandering along the nearby beaches.

Relaxation was the key word. In the late afternoon we retreated to the condo and enjoyed happy hour again. From there we headed to the mediterranean restaurant on site where Big Erv and I enjoyed the special, Paella for 2 (at a price tag of $100 unbeknownst to us until the bill arrived). A bit of a surprise despite the massive portion. I recovered from the sticker shock more quickly than Erv, but that's because he paid. In any case we enjoyed our meal immensely. I even managed to fling a chunk of crab claw meat into Maddie's seat while she slept - she didn't mind.

In the morning, after a continental breakfast, we checked out and visited Hanalei Bay beach for some more sunshine. A bit later Em and I took advantage of our visitors and left Maddie for a few hours while we hiked to Queen's bath and I snorkeled at Hideaways beach. From there we visited Kilauea Lighthouse on the way home. Oddly enough, I ran into a former attending physician who taught me at UT. We talked awhile, enjoyed the sights and headed home. The trip was a nice diversion from day to day life and a perfect way to enjoy a few days with my family.

Grandma G and Great Grandma T

We got to spend about 4 days with Maddie before she was scooped from our arms for another week and a half - that's right, the Grandmas were in town. The first few days of their visit were dominated by spending time with Madeline while it rained frequently. Great Grandma T passed the time by hitting the bottle. They did get to spend time on the lanai in some intermittent sunshine with temps in the 70s (which should satisfy anyone from Cincinnati in February). They also went with Em and Maddie to the National Tropical Botanical Gardens where they were kicked off the tour since Maddie was too young(?????). Despite this, they did a walking tour and managed to see some beautiful garden areas from what I can gather.

On Saturday morning I had planned on hiking to the Jurassic Park waterfall, but torrential downpours throughout the night continuing during the morning required canceling this adventure. We headed to Salt Pond beach in the late afternoon to get outside and catch a few rays.
We watched the sunset and I walked with Maddie along the beach. We headed home and awaited Big Erv's arrival at the airport that evening.

Where to Begin...

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Lots of visitors, busy at work, new baby - take whichever excuse you like. In any case I'll try to remember some of the highlights, but going through the pictures should help. I didn't even get a chance to finish up comments on Grandma and Grandpa D's trip to Hawaii. The Thursday before they left, big Den and I took a NaPali Coast tour with Blue Dolphin. It consisted of starting from Port Allen on the southwest side of the island, heading west to the NaPali coast and then some snorkeling off the coast. It was an enjoyable trip and the day was beautiful. We caught up with some spinner dolphins and they cruised alongside the boat. Views of NaPali were gorgeous although the pictures didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped due to the backlight from the sun.

After turning around near Honopu (ridgeline pictured on the title page of blog viewed from Honopu trail), we anchored for snorkeling which was, at best, below average. 'Nuff said. Big Den said the same for scuba. We ate some lunch and I had a few beers, while we enjoyed watching some of the other passengers blow chow off the back of the boat. As the afternoon progressed, the wind picked up, the seas got rougher, more and more people retreated to the stern to puke. We found great joy in watching others suffer - call us mean if you'd like, but we had fun. The next day at the airport, good byes were difficult, but buffered by the thought that we'd be in Cincinnati with Maddie in a month's time. Only 4 days until Great Grandma T, Grandpa and Grandma G arrive.