Paddle Log #18: Lake Winnipesaukee around Long Island

Monday morning was dark with heavy cloud cover and a light drizzle outside.  Those of you who know me well know that I have an aversion to sunlight, so this was PERFECT weather for a long paddle around the island. 

It was an AWESOME morning on the water.

I used my Kokotat paddling jacket, NRS pants, and my scuba dive booties.  With air temp in the high 60s and water temp in the low 70s, I didn't need a lot of warmth.  These jacket and pants are just a shell to keep the water off - protection against wind and rain.  I just wore a pair of swim trunks and a t-shirt underneath.

My eldest son graciously allowed me to use his waterproof North Face flop hat, and it worked great.

The winds were 8 mph out of the south-southwest when I got underway and turned south.  The wind created a little bit of a swell, and it was fun watching my bow crash through the swells.

I loved how each of the hills in the distance was a different shade of silhouette, and I loved the wispy rain falling from the clouds in the distance.  I had some light sprinkle on my head during the trip, but no steady rain.

There were three distinct phases of this trip difficulty and speed-wise.  During this first southbound leg of the trip, my average speed was about 2.8 mph paddling into the wind.  After I rounded the southern tip of the island and started paddling northeast, I was surfing on the swells coming from behind me and made it to a max speed of 4.5 mph.  When I rounded the easternmost point of the island and started paddling NW, I was in the lee of the island and it was glassy calm.

Mergus merganser americanus

 

Over on the leeward side of the island, I happened upon two families of common mergansers.  I couldn't get close enough to get any really good pictures of them though.  I think they're beautiful birds, and I've never seen them anywhere but in New Hampshire.  I don't know why all the local tourist shops sell wood decorative decoys of mallard ducks and loons but no mergansers. 

Also on the leeward side of the island, I spotted a beautiful blue jay flying along the shore.  My shutter speed wasn't fast enough to get a crisp picture of him, but I was surprised I was fast enough to get this blur of him flying past.

Here's where I could use some help from any bird experts in the audience.  This bird was teasing me.  He kept twittering away at me from a tree and each time I got close to him, he flew on ahead a hundred yards or so.  I never got a real clear look at him.  I thought he had a black head and wings with white spots at the end of his wings, a gray body and white under-body.  I was surprised in looking at this photo close up to see a splotch of brown in there, too.  I never noticed the brown with my naked eye.  Any ideas what type of bird this was?

Even though the pictures didn't turn out so great, I really enjoyed the paddle around the island and admiring the birds along the way.

Now, I use my handy digital camera on a philosophy of "electrons are free."  I take LOTS of pictures and hope that a few will come out nice.  As I returned to base, who should be waiting for me at my landing spot but another family of mergansers.  I said to myself, "Self, you're FINALLY going to get close enough to try an get a good picture of a merganser."  Right after I took this picture, my camera informed me, "MEMORY CARD FULL." 

Ahhhhhhhhh!

I tried to quickly flip back through the older pictures and delete some to make some room for new pictures, but they swam RIGHT by me and I missed it. 

This is my exasperated self-portrait back on shore looking back out to where the mergansers swam off.

Trip Stats from the 60CSx

Stats for the paddle log:

• Date: 16 August 2010
• Time In: 9:12 a.m.
  
• Time Out: 11:30 a.m.
  
• Elapsed: 2 hr 18 min
• Moving Time (GPS):  2 hrs 4 minutes 
• Stopped Time (GPS):  14 minutes
• Mileage: 6.55 miles by GPS
  
• Sea State: 1
• Winds: 5-8 mph SSW (from Intelicast)
• Air Temp: 66F climbing to 70F (from Intelicast)
• Water Temp: 73.8F digital / 72.3F IR
• Current:  None.
• Gauge Height:  ~503 feet (above sea level, not depth of water).  The lake level is about a foot or so below "full" right now (normal "full" level is just above 504 feet).
• Avg Speed (GPS):  3.2 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):  4.3 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazards?  None.
  
• Kit: Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL. My son's North Face flop hat, Kokotat paddling jacket, NRS pants, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve shirt, swim trunks, dive booties.
• Configuration: Both boys stayed home, so I paddled solo sitting in the middle seat.
• Route:  Put-in at Jonathon's Landing and paddled counter-clockwise around Long Island.    
• 
  
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): Mergansers, Blue Jay, Sea Gulls.

Paddle Log #17: Lake Winnipesaukee around Sandy Island

In order to get some exercise each morning here on vacation, I've been alternating jogging and kayaking. My goal has been to keep my heart rate elevated for an hour each morning.  Friday morning I jogged 5 miles around the neighborhood here by the lake shore.  Saturday morning I went kayaking down around Sandy Island and back.  Sunday morning I jogged 4.8 miles (up and down some hills inland instead of near the lake shore).  Monday I kayaked 6.7 miles around Long Island (that'll be paddle log #18).

Sandy Island shoreline

This paddle log entry is just for Saturday's trip down around Sandy Island and back. I was mainly focused on keeping a steady pace and keeping my heart rate up, but I do love the scenery on the lake.

Stats for the paddle log:

• Date: 14 August 2010
• Time In: 9:30 a.m.
  
• Time Out: 10:52 a.m.
  
• Elapsed: 1 hour 22 min
• Moving Time (GPS):  1 hr 18 minutes
  Stopped Time (GPS):  4 minutes
• Mileage: 4.32 miles by GPS
  
• Sea State: 0
• Winds: 0-5 knots - just an occasional light breeze
• Air Temp: 72 going up to 75 degrees.
• Water Temp: 75.7F digital / 73.5F IR
• Current:   None
• Gauge Height:   ~503 feet (above sea level, not depth of water).  

Level in the lake is a little low this summer.

• Avg Speed (GPS):   3.3 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):   4.4 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazards?  Occasional high speed motor boats and jet skis.
  
• Kit: Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL. Flop hat, sunglasses, NRS paddling gloves. Long sleeve shirt, swim trunks, Keen sandals.
• Configuration: Just me in the center seat of the kayak.  Both boys stayed home.
• Route:  Put-in at Jonathon's Landing on Long Island, paddled south around Sandy Island and back to Jonathon's Landing again.    
• 
  
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): None.

Travel Log: Sequoia National Park

We had a really good day today, although a bit longer on the road than we had anticipated. First we drove to Fresno and stopped to satisfy one of our favorite food cravings...

I took this picture just for you, LS. (Although I know you were just here a few weeks ago).

YB really liked the hat they gave him.

So much so that he continued to wear it for the rest of the day.

ES in his "paradise" (see previous post).

From Fresno, we headed east into the Sequoia National Park.

View out the sun roof of the car.

I was really glad we went to see the redwoods then came to see the sequoias. From the average human eye-level, you can't really tell that the redwoods are actually taller than the sequoias. The sequoias are just so much more massive than the redwoods, and I was much more in awe of these ginormous monsters than I was of the redwoods.

I mean, I'm glad we went to see the redwoods, but if you had to choose between driving off the beaten path to see the redwoods or to see the sequoias, GO SEE THE SEQUOIAS!!! The drive was truly remarkable.

That tree in the background is General Sherman - the LARGEST TREE IN THE WORLD! (Yes, there's a geocache there, too, hence the GPS receiver in my hand.)

LW & the boys on the trail to General Sherman

It was good for us to get out of the car and get some exercise. The walk from the parking lot to the General Sherman tree is nicely paved and only half a mile, but it's a pretty steep 200+ feet of elevation gain, and you're at 7,000 feet so the air is a little thin.

Another shot taken by me laying down on the ground. Yes, YB is still wearing his In-N-Out hat.

I also tried using the panorama feature on my new camera to try to get a picture of an entire sequoia tree (or three).

Sequoias have really thick bark that protects them from fires. The only real natural cause of sequoias dying is they grow too big and topple over because they have a weak root structure. At least, that's what the brochure told us.

I dunno, those roots look pretty strong to me.

We drove through another tree tunnel. This wasn't as exciting as yesterday though - not as tight a squeeze.

BTW - this is the picture ES drew after I reminded him of the "No Nintendo While We're in a National Park" rule. Other than that one minor point of discontent, the boys were overall VERY good in the car today. Not a single fist-fight!

Okay, so if you go into the park from the west (from Fresno), the road has some gentle curves, but you can generally proceed at 45 mph up into the park. We enjoyed the ride up and enjoyed seeing the magnificent trees.

Heading out the south side of the park though (heading toward Bakersfield), there are about three dozen of these...


and four dozen of these...


but there's also one or two of these...

Panorama view near the top as we started the drive down.

Panorama view about halfway down, looking back up the way we came.

Seriously. It took us FOREVER to come down out of those mountains. I can't copy and paste the image from Google Maps for you here, but I took a snapshot of my GPS display on the way down.

There are like 6 hairpin turns and dozens of sharp curves in this display alone, and this is only the tip of the iceberg.

As we came down the hill, I couldn't believe that we kept passing people headed UP the switchbacks at like 5 p.m. I think they were all nuts to be going up that late.

We finally found civilization and had some dinner in some po-dunk town that started with a T at 8 p.m. As we sat at the table mindlessly gnawing on our food, ES looked catatonic. I thought he was going to pass out and drop his face into his french toast.

Oh, one more observation to share with you from today:

So there I was, standing and admiring the splendid magnificence of the sequoias and contemplating my relative insignificance in the universe. There's nothing like a sudden panicked declaration from your four year old, "MooooOOOOOMMMMYYYYYY!!!! I have to go POOOOOOP!!!!" to shock you back into the here-and-now of life's reality.

Statistics from today:

4 Number of food items on the In-N-Out menu (hamburger, cheeseburger, double-double, fries).

24.3 Number of miles per gallon I got on our drive to Fresno (drafting off trucks). I think that's pretty good for an non-hybrid SUV. Luckily there was a Costco gas station right next to In-N-Out, so we gassed up there before heading up into the National Park. Tomorrow morning's fill-up mpg calculation will be a lot lower due to the switchbacks and using low gear to keep speed down on the 8% downgrade.

10 Number of hours on the road today. Actually, it was about 8 hours of driving and 2 hours of exploring, eating, or using the rest stops.

4.75 Number of years it took for YB to decide he's smarter than Daddy. Twice today he flipped me attitude and told me I was wrong and he was right. The first argument was over the pronunciation of the word "volcano," and the second argument was whether the moon is a planet or not. YB's response to the former was, "Blah blah blah, Daddy." WHAT did my almost-5-year old just say to me?!?!?!?! Man, I can't WAIT for the teenage years to see where THIS goes (just a wee bit of sarcasm there). At dinner when he told me the moon was a planet and I said no it wasn't. He said, "Yes, it is, Daddy. You're WRONG! It's a planet and ALIENS live there!" I need to find where he's been hiding the copies of National Enqu1rer.

Monday Night Food and Fitness - Favorite Recipes Recap

Food

I used to write a post on Monday nights called Monday Night Food and Fitness, but I fell out of the habit. It wasn't that LW wasn't making us awesome meals to eat, it's just that we got into sort of a rotation of eating mostly the same things over and over again because they were so good.

Tonight she tried something new though - chicken enchiladas, and they were AWESOME!!!! I wish I had more hands to give her more than two thumbs-up on this one. (How about two big toes?) The recipe was from our neighbor B across the street, and she got the recipe right off a can of Old El Paso green chilis. If you would like the recipe, here it is:

Creamy Chicken & Chile Enchiladas

1 lb uncooked chicken breast strips

1 package (8oz) cream cheese, cut into cubes

1 can (4.5oz) Old El Paso chopped green chiles

1 package (10.5oz) 6 inch flour tortillas

2 cans (10oz) green chili enchilada sauce***

¾ c shredded cheddar cheese

1. Heat oven to 400. Spray 9x13 glass baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In 10 inch skillet, cook chicken over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink in the middle. Stir in cream cheese and chilis; reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir until blended and cream cheese is melted.

3. Spoon chicken mixture into tortillas; roll up and place seam side down in pan. Pour enchilada sauce over the top, sprinkle cheese.

4. Bake 15-20 minutes until hot and cheese is melted.

*** All the enchilada sauce they had at the commissary had MSG in it, but LW found some Ortega salsa verde that was MSG-free, and she used that instead. It worked out like a champ.

As I had stated before, the main reason I was writing the Monday Night Food posts was to (a) give a shout-out of thanks and praise to LW for the awesome food she cooks, and (b) to keep track of the recipes that I really like. That way, the next time LW is preparing her grocery list and asks, "What do you want for dinner this week?" I can click on over to my blog and remind myself which things she's made that I REALLY liked.

Up until now though, it's been scattered through a bunch of my previous posts. So mostly to make it easier for myself in quickly providing input to LW's grocery list, I'm going to write a summary here listing my favorites and linking back to the previous posts for the recipies.

Smokey Sweet Potato Chicken Stoup

Tortilla Soup

Falafel Sandwiches

Chicken Parm Meatballs

Layered Mexican Chicken Casserole

Spicy Chicken Breasts with Carmelized Onion Relish

Spiedies

Cilantro Stuffed Tri-Tip

Crash Hot Potatoes

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Pots de Creme

Fitness

Falling out of the habit of writing my Monday Night Food and Fitness post also wasn't due to stopping PT. I just didn't have anything new to write about. Up until last week, we continued our routine of Command PT on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Mondays and Fridays, we did warmup calesthenics and stretching in Bloch Arena and then split up to do our own cardio-type workouts. I usually did a 3 mile run out to the waterfront and back along South Ave. Wednesdays, we had "The PT Nazi" personal trainer lead us through some interval training at Quick Field.

We're getting close to the end of the Mighty MSP's decom, and we're closing out sections of the barge like berthing and showers, so it's harder on the guys to have to go to Command PT and then shower at Bloch Arena or back at their barracks room and then have to trek their way into work in the shipyard. At the same time, most of the work on the boat is done and there's nothing keeping most of the crew on board past 1400, so it's easier for guys to just go to the gym and then go home to shower.

So we've declared an end to the Mighty MSP's Command PT Program. I will say it was a huge success though. On our final Command Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA), we increased the number of Excellent and Outstanding scores by 100% (from 21 to 42), and we reduced the number of PFA failures by 100% (from 10 to 0). Our crew lost a total of more than 300 pounds (I forget the exact number, but I'll look it up at work and correct this entry later). My hat's off to our previous COB, current COB, and our Command Fitness Leader for leading an excellent physical training program and really getting the crew to "embrace the culture of fitness."

Now, I'm riding my bike to and from work, so that is helping with the loss of the organized Command PT, but I'm still doing PT in the morning before I go to work on M-W-F.

Also, my left shoulder has hurt and had a limited range of motion ever since we tried doing that "combat fitness" routine with the PT Nazi on May 28th. Those wheelbarrows and crab walks and pushup-side steps really messed up my left shoulder. The Doc at the Makalapa Clinic said it's tendonitis in a tendon that's very hard to "get at" and that it won't be an easy process to recover. So now I'm going to physical therapy on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and doing specific exercises geared toward working that left shoulder.

Anyway, my main point being that I haven't been writing my Monday Night Food and Fitness posts because we fell into a routine on both fronts and I didn't have much new to write about.

Honolulu Historic Hike

Back a few months ago our Cub Scout pack did the Historic Honolulu Hike, but we were busy with some conflicting plans that day. So Saturday, I took ES and his friend E out with E's dad, and we did the Historic Honolulu Hike.

It's supposed to be a 5 mile hike, but we made one wrong turn along the way and it ended up being a 6 mile hike for us. Even so, it was a good hike and we got to see and learn a alot about the historic buildings of downtown Honolulu. The boys each had to answer questions about each of the 20 stops along the way to earn a patch for their cub scout uniform.

The hike starts out at the Maritime Center by the Aloha Tower.

I was amazed by the number and variety of tropical fish we could see just standing at the water's edge by the Maritime Center.

Traditional Blunoz Self-Portrait at Kawaiahao Church

"Kawaiaha'o, the first Christian Church in Hawaii, was built between 1836 and 1842 in New England style architecture. It is often referred to as the "Westminster Abbey of Hawaii". Fourteen thousand coral slabs, quarried by hand from reefs 10 to 20 feet under water, comprise the main structure. Each slab weighs more than 1000 pounds."

Washington Place

This house was built by some sea captain who married a Hawaiian princess. The princess later became Queen Lili`uokalani and was the last monarch of Hawaii. She is famous for composing the song Aloha Oe. After the captain and the queen were both dead and gone, they sold the property to Hawaii and made it the governor's residence in 1921.

State Capitol Building

The State Capitol Building was actually pretty cool. It's designed with three main elements to symbolize Hawaii. It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but if you look at the base you'll see the sloped sections, and the inside is open up to the sky like a volcano. The pillars are designed to look like palm trees. All around the outside of the building is a reflecting pool symbolizing the ocean surrounding the islands. It was pretty neat to see.

Father Damien Statue

The Iolani Barracks

Iolani Palace

Even if you don't have kids in scouting, I would say this Historic Honolulu Hike circuit was a really good walk around Honolulu. I would encourage others who want to see the historic sights to use the same route and question sheet. However, I can't find the route and question sheet anywhere on the internet. I checked the Aloha Council website, but no luck. I may scan it later on and post it here for others who want to give it a shot. If I forget, and you want it, drop me an email and I'll send it to you (and/or post it here).

Diamond Head round 2

Sunday while the ladies went to the spa, E and I took the boys to see the Mighty Mo. N didn't seem at all alarmed that it didn't look like a giant lawn mower (see previous post where he asked if we were going to see the Mighty Mower).

ES reads the plaque where the Japanese surrendered.

E and I had a good laugh when we walked through the gift shop at the Mighty Mo though. Even this isolated non-profit organization across the harbor from the NEX couldn't escape the long-arm of the RIMPAC merchandising agent...


In spite of my initially positive review of the New Balance 1062's I bought a while back, I quickly found them not to be as comfortable as I had initially thought. P & E both know a thing or two more about running shoes than I do, and E went with me to a honest-to-goodness running shoe store called Runners Hi. I had heard about brands like Brooks and Mizuno before from reading friends blogs, but I had never actually SEEN a pair of said shoes before setting foot in the Runners Hi store. Sure, I was aware that I could order some online at places like RoadRunner or Running Warehouse, but they usually don't honor the free shipping or return shipping thing to Hawaii.

The guys in the Runners Hi store were very friendly and knowledgeable. They shook my faith in New Balance though. They told me with the pronation of my feet, I need a stability shoe, and they couldn't believe the NB store people sold me a pair of 1062's.

I walked out of the Runners Hi store with
a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8.

Now, none of the shoes in this store had any price tags on them. Given the "specialty" nature of the store, I was cringing in anticipation of some serious sticker-shock when we went to the cash register. However (comma) I was very pleasantly surprised. The sticker price on the Brooks shoes were like $20 cheaper than the last pair of NB shoes I bought, and then the salesman asked if I was military and gave me a 10% discount. Cue Sports Announcer Sound Effect: He-Shoots-He-SCOOOOOOORES!!!

I took the new shoes out for a 2 mile run this morning to try them out and they were really comfortable. So far so good.

Diamond Head round 2

This afternoon I left work and ran home to meet up with my family and our visiting friends, and we headed off to try the Diamond Head hike again. We got to the parking lot about 4:30 p.m. and this time there were PLENTY of empty parking spaces.

This was my second time doing the Diamond Head hike, so if you want to know more details and logistics for planning your own trip, you can click here to see my previous blog post.

Our gang on the trail switchbacks

All four boys did a GREAT job on the hike. I was really pleased with how well it turned out. ES, YB, and 5 year old N all made it all the way to the top and all the way back down to the parking lot under their own propulsion. Little 3 year old A rode in the stroller on the paved portion of the path and had to be carried for a good portion of the trip.

ES was on point for most of the hike. Here he is, excited that he was the first member of our group to make it to the top of the steps.

These are the spiral staircase steps inside the old bunker / Army observation post near the top of Diamond Head.

Self portrait looking toward Hawaii Kai with the Koko Head crater and the ridge above Hanauma Bay in the background.

Daddy and ES Back at the Beginning of the Trail

I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about going this afternoon. The boys seemed cranky when I got home and it was hot as heck today. Plus, I was worried about the traffic. I was really pleased with how well the afternoon turned out. The late afternoon sun wasn't too bad and it wasn't too hot. The boys did great - the whining quotient was significantly below average. They seemed to have a good time and I really enjoyed the quality time with LW and them. Traffic-wise, we had a bit of congestion on the way driving home, but we still got home 30 minutes earlier than I had predicted when we started this adventure. In summary, I'm really glad we went!

Cue Sports Announcer Sound Effect: He-Shoots-He-SCOOOOOOORES!!!

Strike 3

Jinx...

As I wrote that last blog post last night, I said to myself, "Self... Bad things happen in threes. What's Strike 3 going to be???"

Our plan this morning was to go hike Diamond Head. We got all ready and packed up the cars and headed out there. As we were driving toward the state park in the center of Diamond Head, we saw a lot of people walking toward the crater from many blocks away OUTSIDE the crater (i.e. still a significant walk into the crater via the tunnel much less walking up to the top of the peak). I commented to E sitting next to me, "Dude, these people are CRAZY! Why on EARTH would they park way out HERE and WALK all that way into the crater?" We drove through the tunnel and ended up in the long line of cars being told to make a U-turn and go back out because the parking lot at the state park was full.

Woops. You mean all those people had a REASON why they were walking all that way??? They WEREN'T all just a bunch of stupid tourists???

So there you have it - Strike 3! Cancel the Diamond Head plans. There was no way we were going to park that far out and walk all that way with the kids.

Note to self: When planning on going to Diamond Head, have a contingency Plan B ready to implement.

Instead of Diamond Head, we drove over to the eastern tip of the island and did the Makapu'u Ridge Hike. For more details about this hike, please go back and read my first and second blog posts about our previous trips.

It was a spectacular, gorgeous day out, and the wind kept us from getting too overheated.

We carried our picnic basket cooler with us and had a picnic lunch on top of the ridge by the lookout.

ES wanted to hike up to the very top and see the WWII bunkers again. The rest of the family headed back down the trail to the parking lot while ES and I went up to the top. We also stopped to find one of the geocaches that I had not yet found on this ridge.

Daddy, ES, and his dog Lotis at the geocache with Koko Head crater in the background.

The view from up on top of the ridge, standing on top of the bunkers is absolutely amazing. It is my favorite view point in all of Hawaii. I took a short video panorama this time. It really doesn't do the view justice, but I will share it with you to get a feel for it.