home for the holidaze

greetings from orlando,
it's x-mas evening, what a wonderful journey i have had since i left the ice....
since i last wrote about hawaii i got to spend a few days in LA with Hank and other characters...
this was my reprieve; my culture shock. i was not prepared for the homeless population, especially in downtown LA where the population is so large that the shelters pass out tents to attempt to accommodate those that there is no space for.  the side walks were strewn with these makeshift shelters in the cold rain.  it's not that i forgot about homelessness or the effects of the downtrodden economy upon the masses, just hadn't fully realized it, i suppose.  thankfully, i had the solace of Hank and his home to gather myself, as well as hosting meals with old friends, perfect calm time.
SF was crazy from beginning to end! only being there for 3 days was of course difficult as i wanted to see so many people, but Melissa and Robert hosted a fine get together for me to visit with any and all who could attend.  my heart will always be in SF and i will venture back there sooner than later.

                          here's a photo interlude:

LA cityscape

downtown LA skyline

golden gate park-SF

Makiko-my west coast momma

me and Melissa

the bridge

Robert through marshmallow leftovers

some of the LA crew... Hank, Jen, Kathy and Kerri

Melissa and her Wedgewood stove x-mas cookies

a very merry monster x-mas

x-mas at Melissa and Robert's

kinetic sculpture at Boston-Logan airport

on the boat!

mere, the dudes and me, x-mas bliss

waking up with Gabe

amazing mv

early morning me+cooter brown

santa Karl

Sassy, our polydactyl kitty opening her gift... a head pelt from a NZ possum... she loves it!

SUNSHINE

the journey to MV was long but worth every second, Jennie hosted a grand gathering, Mere and Damon took care of me as well!  it was unseasonably warm, this was funny as i was hoping that new england would offer the temps i needed to get into the x-mas spirit.... not that i can complain about spending time outside and walks on the beach! 

at the end of this 2 month journey of AMAZING all i can do is to thank everyone who made it possible and hosted me along the way to my inward journey which is now upon me...
don't know how much i'll have to share here in the near future as my new adventure will be the introspective sort... not so much blogger fodder.
thanks for reading throughout my wild adventures, this is not the end-just a pause.
i hope this finds you all well and getting ready for 2012!
take care,
karengrace

the BIG island.

greetings from los angeles....
i once again am finding myself devoid of words to describe the week i had on the big island of Hawaii.  i will try... i was picked up at the Kona airport by shannon, skyler and kaija and we went straight to the beach after my 24 hours in transit from NZ.

it was wonderful to get in the water and then i headed up to weimeia with stephanie to her house in weimeia.  weimeia is at 3000ft on the north part of the island.  i played in her gardens and ate lots of POKE (pronounced po-key.... it is traditional hawaiian dish- raw ahi tuna with various sauces.... truly my absolute favorite preparation of fish on the planet) i proceeded to eat lots of poke and avocados and hung out with steph, we got to poach a sauna in a foreclosed house in her neighborhood twice, that was nice!  she has a friend who works at the canada/france telescope in the Mauna Kea Observatories and we were able to go on a private tour of the telescope.... so humbling.  the moon was bright so we didn't get to see any images from the telescope since it was taking infrared data, yet the sunset at 14, 000 ft more than made up for it!!!!

 i then went down to the southern part of the island to Kona where shan, sky and kai live.  i was able to watch the lunar eclipse from their front porch after watching the sunset from a hot tub under the stars*** they live on the side of the mountain where a group of paragliders has found to be one of the best launching spots in the islands due to the bay and the lack of tradewinds blocked from the volcaonoes.

on saturday i woke-up, had amazing kona coffee and then went PARAGLIDING!!! i have been skydiving before and really enjoyed it, but i knew that this is really what i have always been after... i was taken by this fellow named Scott, he is one of the owners of this launch spot and has jumped from here for almost 20 years now.  he is excited to get new folks up in the air and gave me a striaght forward breifing and then we sat and waited for the thermals to arrive.  we tried to launch once and it was such a rush... essentially while i was riding tandem my job is to RUN!!!  i did - and we reached the edge of the cliff and stopped abruptly... i never felt like i was in danger... i certainly felt like Scott was in control. we collected the kite and headed back up the hill.  then we got hooked back in and he saw a good thermal coming and then i was running for my life and we were OFF!!!!
the trick to paragliding is thermals on the sides of mountains and the ocean water cool air... always a picture perfect setting! the conditions were not typical for the day and he thought we may just head down and land.... instead we caught several serious thermals and got up to 3000 ft!!! he wore an altimeter and it beeps as we gain altitude... we were up for 30 mins and i think it beeped for most of our journey.... we cought one pocket that took us 700ft in 60 seconds.... AMAZING!!!
my legs are incredibly sore today because as a tandem rider you have to lean.... really lean with every cell of your exhistance to whichever way the thermals will catch you.... it was a wonderful experience in really becoming one with another person, like riding a motorcycle with someone - times 1 million!  we had a perfect landing-he told me i had 'courage' - i think it's not courage, just being an adrenaline junky!

needless to say, this has been a lifelong dream and i was able to do it for free with someone who just wanted to share their love of the sport.   then we went to the beach and i didn't try to catch any waves... was still so amped that i just floated and enjoyed being in the water and watching the other paragliders who were launching from the same spot - soar like birds..... priceless!

my time off the ice has been more than i could have ever dreamed for, i guess i had really been stocking up on the fun cards and now i am cashing them in!!

stephanie "spuddy" and me on our way to the top of mauna kea

tops!

4 of the 8 telescopes on mauna kea

mauna kea sunset at 14,000 feet

inside the canada/france telescope

kaitlyn and grimmy

amazing bouquet i collected from stephanie's yard = garden of eden

more grimmy and kaitlyn... i cuddled in bed with them every morning!!!

blurry sky, shan and me

yay ocean

checking out the wings

surveying the winds

RUN!!!!!

holy moleee!

get ready

lift off!!

up up and away!

paradise.

i hope this finds you well and enjoying a delicious december day!
take care, karengrace*

from the deep south to the westlands

hokitika sunset

fern texture

beautiful bark

terminus of fox glacier

milford panorama

one of the many views from the discovery center observatory at milford sound

i stood under the waterfall, it was like jumping all the way into the sound, the roar of the water was deafening! 

massive waterfall in milford sound

fur seals sunning in milford sound

beach stream

 ulva island tiny bamboo orchids-amazing.

view from beach on ulva island towards stewart

ulva island

silly kea looking for a snack

the crown fern waking up on ulva island

dinner next to the fire place on stewart island with mom and dad

greetings from fox glacier

we are just below mt. cook, the highest peak in australia and new zealand, this mountain is the generator of both the fox and franz josef, 2 magnificent glaciers.  we hiked the terminus of the fox yesterday and will do the same with the franz josef today, mom and dad aren't to keen on actually hiking on the ice, and i have certainly done my fair share.  we spent the previous night in wanaka, a quaint alpine lake town just north of queenstown, which is the tourist mecca of the south island-we totally bypassed it! on our way to wanaka we were able to see the kingston flyer, an old steam locomotive still in operation from the late 1800's.  we watched them load it with coal and turn it around on the turn-table, quite impressive for nerdy train enthusiasts like us! te aneu was where spent the 2 previous evenings, this is the gateway to the fjordlands region of the country.  we were able to go on a nature oriented cruise in milford sound and visit the discovery center which is where there is an observation tube 40 meters into the water so visitors can watch the wildlife that has been tricked into living at a much shallower depth than normal due to the unique conditions of the sound and the layering of the fresh and salt water.  the sound itself really doesn't lend itself to description, like much of the south islands scenes, it is breathtaking and awesome on such a scale that words can't possibly due it justice, but i will try! we took the boat from stewart island to bluff and then drove to te aneu on monday morning, this was quite a variance in scenery! we left stewart island in the rain, soaked on our walk to the boat, but considering the choice weather we were fortunate enough to experience on our ulva island tour the previous day so we couldn't complain! the ulva island flora and fauna tour was outstanding... our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and was so excited to be showing us the wonders of this rare and ancient island.  the island has never been altered, it has the potocarp-hardwood forest that has been allowed to evolve there for millions of years, again difficult to describe the beauty and the birds, we saw each one of the birds she was hoping we would encounter, we knew we probably wouldn't see the elusive kiwi as they are mainly a nocturnal bird.  yet... we did get to see 2 in captivity in hokitika.  again, the lagniappe we have experienced on this journey is second to none!  our cabin on stewart island was picture perfect with a view of horseshoe bay and the town of oban.  we had many birds visit us on our deck and got a real feel for the feathered locals.  our trip over on saturday morning was a vomit comet, the weather was still quite difficult to navigate, i enjoyed it but i also love skydiving and roller coasters! considering we did loose a night on stewart island, it worked out quite well in the end.  it is difficult to believe this trip is coming to a close, it's been a dream come true.  i hope this finds you enjoying a wonderful winter december day.
take care, karengrace