On a sad note of my puppys departure via a hwy 42 smashed trailer, smoke and ashes, I left for Maui with my kite gear strapped and an old friend and guide, Rachel house sitting with her boyfriend Jesse, a local cook at the Bayside Tavern. Rachel, curently works at the Bead Bucket in Ephraim and Greens and Grains in Egg Harbor, she is the creative type with her ideas often elegant, simple from unique pieces of jewelry to magical inventiveness somethings. She has a etsy site where she sells her creative jewelry. Hopefully it helps to have her around for the winter, because my new house could use a womans touch. Jesse, is the quiet hard working type that is dreaming for more than dipping cheese curds in hot fryer oil. I kinda wish I could stick around to create with them. Hopefully I will get a chance in December.
Maui
Maui welcomed me with a 4-5 foot wave day and strong winds. I have been staying at the Northshore Hostel in Wailuku. It is a good spot to start from, but I doubt I will stay here long, too many travelers. I would like to end up hanging out and doing some yoga with some locals, or old friends, like my Evergreen State College soccer buddy Vanessa Charles, looks like she is hosting a big island yoga detox retreat in Feb. Doubt I will be here then, but wish I could join that, I could clean out some of the wisconsin cheese curd cholesterol sitting in my arteries with some fresh maui juices.
I have a some great friends in Oahu I would love to visit as well, Matt Joswick, who is my search engine optimization specialist for my outdoor adventure zip line, kayaking and kitesurfing, stand up paddle boarding websites. He also does some work for a local company in Kailua and Oahu, HI called Wind Ward Watersports that specializes in Kayak Rentals, Kiteboarding Lessons, SUP Rentals, and Surfing. So I hope to get some more time on the water touring the island in a few different vehicles and maybe hang out with a professional kiteboarder, Jeff Tobias.
Colorado
Looking ahead towards the fluffy white, picking up some backcountry gear for some sidecountry riding in east vail.
Oregon
Explore some Zip Line potential in the Alsea Mountains in Oregon at the ThymeGarden.com. They are secluded, majestic and the local area could use an eco-activity like zip lining.
All in all, it should be a beautiful winter with wind, sun, waves and snow, I just wish more of my friends could join me on the adventures ahead.
Had a fun weekend traveling down to my uncles place,
We took a midnight paddle on his pond.
Then traveled on down the coast past some clear cuts, how they get away with cutting down all the trees is beyond my imagination. They also spray pesticides to kill off any leftover vegetation so that they can replant only what trees they want after they clear cut. The pesticides end up running into the rivers and contaminating the local salmon population.
The tree houses were funny as each one had its own character. It was exciting to walk around 50 feet off the ground from house to house.
The best activities other than the horse swings made from old tires were zip lines that ran from tree to ground and from tree to tree.
We were lucky to end our drive home with a few full rainbows.
What a beautiful day on Mt. Hood, it has been snowing for the past 2 days straight. The overused word “Epic” comes to mind. So a good friend and I have come up with some creative nomenclature of the snow and experience, we ventured around with “Puffy McPillows aka. Down McPillows and Puffy McPuferson to his close friends”. We searched the mountain for this vagabond and his supplies of pillowy powder. At one point I had gotten lost myself in a pillow fight with Down McPillows.
After a hearty bag lunch, our renewed energy pushed us toward the double black McPillows. Jonah and I skated and goofed towards the outside of the mountain and luck would have it that the Private Reserve had just been opened, with Puffy showing his well kept face everywhere. Bombarded with more pillows than a trophy wive’s Vail condo, I got stuck. My excuse…The Private Reserve is vertically challenged between the 2 jaw Dropping faces. Coming up to the final steep face, Puffy would put up the strongest showing of the day. Getting stuck with Puffy McPufferson on a powder day is like running out of tp, it happens to the best of us. So there I was, just 10 feet away of full filing my gravitational requirement of the day. I rolled, I flailed, and I rolled some more. By the time I had reached the drop, I had become covered, feathered, puffed and fluffed, I had become Puffy McPillows.
Last weeks long snow drought may have added to this linguistic hysteria. Pay no heed to the little man laughing, follow your dreams and lay your soul down on a pile of pillows.
Skipped town down to Alsea, Oregon to visit my aunt Pauline and Uncle Allan for a little known weekend as easter weekend. Car pooled with my good friends Tim, Will. Tim, an architect and Will, a chef, we talked about what my new building design would entail. Tim was able to focus my ideas with design, function, and aesthetic questions. I really enjoyed our conversation and felt that much closer to coming up with a sketch, which will be the next phase. Tim, now my architectural consultant breathed creativity, open, aired, outdoor, geo/eco-dual layered, bio swaled, aritistic inspiration into my living/working space in my dreams. I am staying in a tree house this coming weekend for a camping trip, so, that will motivate some more visual ideas from up high.
As we worked around their organic farm, my uncle gave two large root balls of bamboo to a friend of his, which was a tractor process. Did some gardening, planting potatoes, onions, chicken manure, turning soil, talking story. Had a beautiful little soup lunch, made by my aunt pauline, she is such a unbelievable cook, and so humble, she reminds me of my grandmother, but, sorry grandma, a better cook. ouch, sorry dad! of coarse grandmas lemon merigue and ritz cracker pie, um, um. It is funny how holidays and food bring back fond memories. Taste and smell have that unmistakable power.
Lunch conversation was focused around my uncle’s 11 year business struggle of the invention of a new sawzall blades that has cutting teeth on every edge of the blade. The large tool corpocracy has a strangle hold on American innovation and I wish it would be easier for him to succeed. There is some hope with the European market, so I am teaching him about the power of the web and he will start an inventors blog tomorrow and start talking story about the ups and downs of from idea to market.
Obama was another topic, though my thoughts are that there is no significant difference between the republicans and democrats. I see no true value in a political system which can be so easily owned by the almighty $. But that is another post all together. Should I even mention politics on my Kayak Tours website? What do you think?
