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!!
i hope this finds you well and enjoying a delicious december day!
take care, karengrace*
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!!
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| stephanie "spuddy" and me on our way to the top of mauna kea |
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| tops! |
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| 4 of the 8 telescopes on mauna kea |
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| mauna kea sunset at 14,000 feet |
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| inside the canada/france telescope |
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| kaitlyn and grimmy |
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| amazing bouquet i collected from stephanie's yard = garden of eden |
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| more grimmy and kaitlyn... i cuddled in bed with them every morning!!! |
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| blurry sky, shan and me |
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| yay ocean |
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| checking out the wings |
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| surveying the winds |
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| RUN!!!!! |
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| holy moleee! |
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| get ready |
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| lift off!! |
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| up up and away! |
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| paradise. |
take care, karengrace*
1 comment:
Love your blog, Grace, and you, too!!! I can't wait to read and see more. That little camera of yours takes amazingly good pictures!
It was tops having you here and i'm already looking forward to the next time we get to play--this time was WAY too short.
A hui hou, sistah! Not that i need to tell you, but be safe and have fun...and keep blogging!
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