Hawaii here we come!!

Almost ready to say good bye to this continent for the first time. I've never flown away from North America, been to the states, but never to another continent. And I'm getting married too!!! Never done that before, ha ha. Wooo hooooo Sorry I haven't written much lately, it's the same excuse as last time. I have pictures and want to write up on my hiking last weekend with them, but never get around to it when I'm at home. lol don't tell my boss I write on the blog at work.

Last weekend I rate right up there with Ironman. It was one of the best days I've ever had workin out. My buddy Gerad hikes quite a bit and somtimes does some climbing. No ropes, nothing too dangerous(although there were some sketchy parts) and he invited me to go with him and a friend of his, Laura. We got to Heart Mountain around 11am, it was going to be a beautiful day although a lil cool at the start. There's a short trail to the start of the climb, ummm I forget the name of the trail, it's quite well known, just off the trans can, and barely into the Rocy mountain range.

We got going on the trail and soon saw this was a well used trail and lots do the same climb, it's not really a trail, cause it's climbing, some scree, some rock, trees, grass, roots, etc. At times we didn't know the exact right line to take but there were footprints in the snow to follow. Yes it had snowed the weekend before and we climbed high enough to get into this. The day was soo warm though that by the time we headed down the snow was nearly gone. The pace we started out was pretty quick, and we soon realized we better slow it down a bit if we are to make it. I'm relatively knew to climbing, Gerad and Laura had tried this climb before and not made it. They were determined to finish it, conquer it today.

So we finished the trail and headed up the barely unmarked sorta trail. It was awesome and I was truely loving it. Fall colors coming out, beautiful sunshine, awesome workout, then the view is the reward!!! What else could a exercise junky/outdoorzie person want?!?!?!?!? There was a fairly large grp ahead of us and we passed them eventually, Gerad's a bit competitive deep down inside. Maybe that's why the pace was so high at the start, hmmmmm Gerad? hee hee Oh well we would take a break and eventually we'd settle into a more doable rythym. My calves were getting the workout of a life time, constantly pointing the toes upward.

We even got to do some rock climbing. Don't worry, it was really dangerous as in one wrong slip and.... well you know. But the rock was dry and really rough so the hand holds were solid and I wouldn't pull myself up till I was sure about it. Some "livin on the edge attitude" is ok right? We even got to climb up through a chimney section, that was really neat. Soon we had passed the point at which Gerad/Laura had turned around last time. There was no stopping today, we moved onwards and upwards(as Greg says, but this time literally upwards). We stopped a bunch but I didn't mind. I think at one point Laura appoligized, I guess she figured cause I was waiting. My response was somthing like, "Sorry for what, I get to be up here in this crisp clear air and look at the view around me, climbing and having the time of my life!!!"

There were several humps we have to get over, if you have ever done any climbing you'll know that when you're on the mountain you can't often see the top. So you just climb towards the peak you can see and know there will be another after that, and another, etc. Julie will know what I'm talking about. It's awesome, I took so many pictures, and we posed many times on various outcroppings. Gerad and Laura both work at istock photos, they are photographer geeks. Gerad is one of those people that can do it all, he excels in absolutely EVERYTHING!! I can still kick his ass on the bike though. lol You can tell I hold onto that, hopefully he never actually trains or I might be in trouble. :P Eventually we got to the top and once again the view was amazing, I was like a lil kid up there, and the weather was great too. We did a lil exploring on top and sat down to have lunch.

There was a bit of wind(in Susi language "wee bit") that seemed to be blowing up the mountain from our backs and we got to witness an awesome sight. There was a hawk gliding around in circles wayyyy down below us. You know like they normally do, I'm not a city person I've seen it a million times, but this time I really got a good perspective of it. Anyways we watched and he climbed. When we first saw him he was a spec wayyy below us, the thing that was soo amazing was the rate he climbed with so little effort. They just tip their wings around, never really moving them or flapping them and in like a minute he was now a spec above us. I don't know how far he climbed maybe 2-300 ft in 60 seconds??? You get the picture he made our trek look like a day at the beach for him.

The way down was pretty uneventful, except that my quads were like jelly after. I'm only now on friday getting over the pain. I had a worse time walking after that hike then after Ironman. I guess it's not something that I'm used to. Hopefully I can do more in the future, this totally confirms it, when I'm done IM I'll be moving to trail running/ultras. There are two things I really really enjoy they are exercising and being outdoors. I'm sure I'm not alone, you guys enjoying the summer/fall weather we're having??? Even if you're not exercising, get out for a walk or somthing!!

Tomorrow we leave for Hawaii, I have to pick up my renew'd passport in a few minutes. Cutting it close eh? I thought it was still valid, but checked earlier on in the week(thank goodness I did) and saw it had expired in May, so I had to quickly head off to the Harry Hayes. I wasn't going to get my sized wedding band on time so we were just going to use the one they had and trade it for the sized one when it gets in, however they called yesterday and said they had it all ready for me. That was a nice surprise, we'll pick that up today too. Lisa's getting her nails done today, steaming or w/e the dress. We're not sure about traveling and not getting them creased, anyone have any ideas? Suit case ok? We really don't want to take them as carry on. I say worst case scenario we can get her dress steamed out there too. hmmmm what else do I gotta do, oh yeah report the attempted car thieft, and write a letter to Boardwalk about me firing my landlord, ha ha. Last month of rent October!! We went and took another look at the new house to show Lisa's Aunt. Anyways I may not write again, so cheers, wish me luck, break a leg, all that jazz, Over,

Darryl