I've Been Tagged

I finally finished the project I was working on for my sister, and decided it would be a good time to catch up with the blogs I read on a regular basis. Upon doing so I found that Roadtripper tagged me in a post she did last week, so here goes:

Four jobs I've had:
1. Care provider in an infant/toddler daycare.
2. Merchandiser (currently doing this)
3. German teacher
4. Student (yep, I really got paid to be there)

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Wall-E (or anything Pixar made)
2. The Saint
3. It's a Wonderful Life
4. Harry Potter (any of them)

Four places I have lived:
1. Grand Junction, Colorado
2. Seoul, Korea
3. Altenmarkt, Austria
4. Aiea, Hawaii

Four TV shows I love:
1. Two and a Half Men
2. Weeds
3. Coupling
4. Daily Show

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Maui
2. Boston
3. Los Angeles (going back tomorrow)
4. England

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Stroganof
2. Spaghetti
3. Sushi
4. French Toast

Four sites I visit daily:
1. Google
2. Hotmail
3. Facebook
4. Bookmarks - to see if anyone has posted new blogs

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. In bed
2. In a yarn store with no spending limit
3. At the beach (been too much rain to go lately)
4. Traveling the South Pacific

Four People I am tagging:
1. Ann
2. Red
3. Michelle
4. Anyone else who writes a blog and also reads mine

Toys for Tots

For the last few weeks, Doug has been looking forward to the Toys for Tots ride. It took place this past weekend, and we remembered to take my camera along to get a few shots. It was the most bikes I have seen all in one space, and it was really neat to me to see all the different types of bikes. Before when I had seen large groups of bikes together, they tended to all be sport bikes, or all Harley's, or all BMW's. Not here.

A sea of bikes

Doug's bike and Mark's bike, with toys strapped on.

Some bikes have had lots of work.

A sled packed full of toys.

Doug wants to decorate his bike next year.

Even dirt bikes came to participate.

And there is always room for the friendly biker dog.

The entire main drag of Waikiki was closed down for the bikers.

Kinda hard to see, but in this picture the lights are red. Notice how no one's feet are on the ground - it's because we are still moving.

Mark and Kyla on Mark's new bike.

Big street bike in the dirt - he had to stop to readjust his toy. No idea what made him leave the road though.

Bikes leaving the toy drop-off site - we are still waiting to get in.

There isn't enough snow for reindeer in Hawaii, so Santa comes on a motorcycle.

Another sleigh packed full of toys.

Maui + Motorcycle = Tons of Pics

For Doug's birthday we went on a trip to Maui, on the Superferry. Going on the ferry meant that we were able to take his bike, which was really exciting to him as he has grown tired of the roads on Oahu after living here for a year and a half.

Here are pictures from our trip (there are nearly 100, but I tried to make them small so they should load fast).

On the boat, ready to go.

Still a bit sleepy though, it is only 6am.

The Dramamine knocked me right out.

Awake just in time to watch Maui come into view.

We were on Maui and checked into our hostel by 10am, which gave us nearly the whole day to set out on a ride. We decided to head for Haleakala National Park.

Cool surfboard fence, found when we were lost.

Made a few wrong turns, but finally made it to Haleakala National Park.

Ready to head for the crater.

We managed to get above the clouds - looks like we found the top of the world.

The top of the world is cold.

Haleakala Crater

The highest point on Maui.

That is Big Island in the background.

Can you tell I am freezing?

Back beneath the clouds.

Waiting for a table for dinner.

Doug's reaction after hearing it is taking up to an hour for food to come out of the kitchen.

On the second day we set out for the road Doug was really looking forward to: the road to Hana. Outside the hostel a local stopped to talk to us as we were getting the bike ready for the ride. He was also a rider, and suggested that we take the back road to Hana, leaving the windy, though fully paved, road for the ride back. It seemed to be a good suggestion, so we followed his advice.

Just past the turn off for Haleakala we found the first sigh that said we were heading in the right direction.

The local mentioned before recommended getting gas here, as it would be scarce along the route.

Wooden porch people.

Out away from the towns.

The road is more like a patchwork of filled in potholes.

Warning signs along the windy road.

Bottom part of the Seven Sacred Pools.

Looking up from the Seven Sacred Pools.

A replacement bridge. The bridge that was here was destroyed during an earthquake in 2006. This part of the road just opened a few weeks ago, making it possible for us to do a loop around the Southern part of Maui, instead of a trip out to Hana and back.

Crossing the bridge, and it is starting to sprinkle.

Stopped for lunch at Hana Beach Park. For as much as I heard about "the road to Hana," I was surprised that there wasn't much of a town at Hana.

Doug excited about getting back on the road. Notice that he is dry.

Paia, the first big town after Hana. It is about 45 miles between here and Hana. We went over several bridges and around countless tight corners, all in the pouring rain. Doug is soaked through.

I was wearing a rain jacket, though it only kept my upper half dry.

And the bike is filthy. So much for washing it the day before we left.

After all that riding Doug needed a shirt to prove he made it.

Getting a quick breakfast Sunday morning before heading out to ride the West end of Maui.

A natural arch.

Another narrow winding road of Maui. This one is much more popular though.

And much more narrow.

A blow hole, surrounded by people interested in an ocean shower.

Adding to the stacked rocks that supposedly have no real significance.

Look, my rock is bigger than your rock!

I'll use it to squish your rock.

Ta Da!

A sinking boat in the harbor of Lahaina.

Stupid shark thing.

Bikers at the beach.

We managed to find another narrow road...

It goes out to the last place on Maui that lava flowed.

If you look closely, you can get an idea of the lava flow as it was.

The bike strapped down, ready for the ride back to Oahu.

The boat ride back started out with a lot of motion. Again I took Dramamine, but this time it hadn't kicked in by the time the boat set sail, and I started to feel quite sick before the drugs took over and put me to sleep again. Like the journey to Maui, most of the sailing took place in the dark so I didn't miss much by sleeping.