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.

The day began by me shoveling out the last parking space in the employee lot. Who doesn’t like a little manual labor? In the end, I was just happy not to have to pay 30 buck for parking. I geared up and did some early runs, fresh powder, before Dave made it to the mountain. I guess driving two straight days can take its toll on the body.

We spent the afternoon reminiscing about days on Lake Michigan, kayaking and kiteboarding. I could tell by the smile on his face that he missed the mountains, heck who wouldn’t on an epic powder day. We zipped though the trees in Game Creek Bowl, dropped the cliffs under Chair 4 and ended the day with a sweet hike up above the gondola to West Vail Trees.

I cordially invite all you kayakers out there to join me anytime in Vail. If you want a guide or snowboard lessons in Colorado check out our site at http://www.VailSnowboardLessons.com

See you on water, or frozen water (snow) as it were.

Jonah and I made it up to the main snowkiting location, we were a day early, and there was only two other people up and riding around the grounds.

I gave Jonah a short introduction to the trainer kite, and walked him through setting up a 12meter leading edge inflatable kite(lei)  The following few days were a blast, I was worked!

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.

See you on the mountain. It is still snowing