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 Honey
to Davey's ears
I know that it has certainly been a while since
my last entry, but I have had a damn good excuse to neglect
the real world. For the last four weeks I have been on three
vacations that each on their own would merit a healthy amount
of jealousy from friends and neighbors, but together all in
one summer have encouraged a few too many death threats for
comfort. You know who you are, and to tell the truth, I don't
blame you. I'll get on with it then. The first of my adventures
called me away from my research at the beautiful UA to Northern
Arizona where my dad, Shar, Kris, Dave and a couple of family
friends set off on an lavishly rugged river trip. We started
at Lee's Ferry and hopped on board the mighty river pontoon
with the crew and fellow passengers of the Colorado River
and Trail Expeditions. Words cannot describe the majesty and
awe-inspiring beauty of the Grand Canyon experienced by "running
the river." Pictures don't even do it justice. Our guides,
John, Jon, Walker and Mindy were incredibly fun and showed
us some of the most amazing side canyon hikes and filled us
in on all of the "river lore." We met some awesome
people and grew closer to the ones that we already knew. If
fact, we all loved it so much that we are going again next
summer. Hey, running the Colorado River is a once in a lifetime
kinda trip. Why not do it again if you can?!? If you want
to get a vague idea of the splendor that only nature's imagination
can capture, check out the Grand Canyon pictures.
No one wanted that trip to end, but if it's got to end,
you might as well leave the desert with a little bit of water
for the water with a little bit of land. That's right, after
we left our dry, hot desert, Dave, Kris and I joined the other
half of our lineage in Hawai'i on the Big Island. The day
after we returned from up north we all flew to the most southern
part of the United States to spend two weeks with the maternal
side of the family: Mom, and her four kid brothers & Co.
The first week was fairly laid back as one might expect with
a little bit of Orr-style mini-van touring and very little
real activity. An integral part of that week was Dave and
my diving certification dives. The main reason for us to get
certified was so that we could do the famous Kona Manta ray
night dive on the following Wednesday. David described it
best as surreal. Mantas have to be some of the most beautiful
angelic creatures on earth. For 30 minutes I had six black
angels soaring over and around me, coming within inches of
the crest of my head but still seeming to emanate from another
world. If you ever get a chance to dive in Kona, you have
to be part of this dive. The experience will be with me forever.
Besides getting certified, duh, we made friends with Kawika
and Miles, two of the coolest employees of Jack's Diving Locker
who happen to be the sons of the owners. We also got chummy
with other members of the staff and scored an invite to the
Thursday and Sunday Ultimate Frisbee games held at Old Kona
Airport. I leave the determination of whether that was a good
idea or not up to them. Despite missing a Sunday game that
we "swore" we would be at, they forgave us and we
ended up sharing the evening of the 4th, a day at a spectacular
beach, and a movie with them at various points in our vacation.
I benefited especially from this co-family friendship because
on Sunday the 11th, I was the last of my family scheduled
to leave the island at 10:05 pm. With no one to care for me,
the Leichers graciously took me in and, in exchange for participation
in the Sunday Ultimate Frisbee game, invited me to their gorgeous
home in the tropical rain forested hills above Kona for a
shower, dinner and some fantastic family fun. I don't think
it is possible to feel more at home in a supposedly foreign
environment. Thanks to Jeff, Teri, Kawika, and Miles, when
my 10pm flight was cancelled, I had a wonderful waterbed to
sleep in and great company among friends.
When I finally did get away from paradise, I didn't go
home. I flew to Seattle, WA only to be picked up from the
Airport and be immediately driven to Portland, OR. You might
be a bit confused by this, but here is the explanation. A
number of months ago, I tried to convince my best friend,
Lauren, to move back to Arizona to live with me and go the
University of Arizona. To my utter amazement and pleasure,
she fell for it and made arrangements apply to UA. So there
I was in Seattle at 11:30 at night getting picked up in Lauren's
nifty new car cram-packed with her whole life: everything
she owned ready to drive all the way to Phx, AZ. Hey, what
are best friends for? Long distance road trips? You'd be dead
right. And dead sexy too. You don't even want to know what
multiple days of being in a car for 14 hours at a time does
to a girl, let alone, two! So after not seeing each other
for 5 months or so, we had plenty to talk about and filled
many hours with singing ridiculously loud to our favorite
songs, the driving was hardly a painful experience. We drove
through Weed, CA, slowing down just long enough to snap a
shot of the infamous sign designating one of the hardest decisions
in many a troubled youth's life. We also stopped in Santa
Rosa to see the Uncle, Aunt, and cousins that I hadn't seen
since the Friday before in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Oh, and of course score a free meal and a warm bed for the
night. The next day we ventured over to Marine World Six Flags
and rode some fun coasters and got a little wet on a ride,
huh, Lauren? That evening we went into San Francisco to meet
up with a friend of mine from school and Yuki, devoured some
great grub from Bucca di Beppo, wandered through the Sony
store (it is HUGE), and crashed at Doug's after playing Mah
Jang (no idea how to spell that one). The next day we hit
every traffic area right and flew right home to Lauren's Dad's
house in Mesa by 9:30. Yup, definitely have to do the road
trip thing again. Way fun.
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