Excursions around town

The beach at Kincaid

Brad (my brother) and I while hiking up flatop

Brad on top of Flatop

Thanksgiving at the Quinn-hurst's house

An intense game of mission risk

Megan and Mary

Megan's special hot chocolate topped off by an entire bottle of Bailys

Erin and Mat

First turns of the season

Berk and I headed up to Hatcher Pass on Sat. for a beautiful blue sky day of turns. We got in two good climbs and, in turn, two good powder lines. Our first decent was off the east facing side of Skyscraper and our second descent was on the west facing side of Marmot (the setting sun's shadow chased us up the mountain). All in all, the snow was stable, the coverage decent and my smile permenant. I thirst for more...

Berk enjoying the ceremonial beer on the peak of Skyscraper

All smiles on Skyscraper

Lunch time in the parking lot

Finding our line off the ridge of Marmot

The setting sun on our back

Hawaii

What better way to take a break from studying, paper writting and the general headache of school than to head to Hawaii for a long-weekend... especially if the long-weekend is free?!? A couple of years ago Chet won a free trip for two to Hawaii when he opened a Wells Fargo checking account (yes, apparently people do actually win these things). The trip had to be used before Dec. so we decided to pick a weekend and go! And a fantastic weekend it was...

A cool design in solidified lava

Our oasis campsite on the beach while backpacking Volcanoes National Park

The sign speaks for itself

(You'll note the hood of the car at the bottom of the screen. We had to do some manuevering to get our "camera stand" aligned.)

What great views!

Gotta love the sign

At the end of the hike

Chet "swimming" in the lava field

We visted a small 3 acre Kona coffee farm our last day there. The people, Wil and Toni, were extremely friendly, inviting us into their home and giving us the full tour. I enjoyed walking over the drying beans.

Definitely a good spot for a scenic point

If Honduras was spider therapy (which it was), this was my follow up consultation. While hiking we needed "spider sticks" the clear the many webs in our path.

Showing off the "spider stick"

A creature of the lava tube