Raible Designs

Mahalo Kauai

I've heard great things about Hawaii for most of my life. My Dad was stationed at Barbers Point when he was in the Navy. His sister, my Aunt Mary, was born there. My sister and I sent my parents to Hawaii for their 30th Wedding Anniversary. You can imagine my excitement when Trish sent me an email on January 25th:

It's only 40,000 miles for both of us to fly to Kauai!! I picked the week after Labor Day just for fun :)

My response:

WAHOOOOOO! BOOK IT!!

She booked it that night. For $10.

We left for Kuaui the morning after the disappointing Broncos home opener and a fun sports weekend with Abbie and Jack. Our trip started out great, sneaking into the Red Carpet Club for free at LAX and getting a slew of free drinks from a super-cool flight attendant (Anthony) on our flight from LAX to Kauai.

After landing and marveling at the open-air airport, we picked up our rental Jeep and drove to the north side of the island. A friend recommended we stay at the St. Regis Princeville Resort and we were very impressed when we checked into our room overlooking Hanalei Bay.

The next morning, we vowed to do nothing but relax by the pool. We enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast at the Mekana Terrace, complete with Bloody Mary's. We had to have Bloody's since the St. Regis in NYC claims to have invented them. We spent the rest of the day napping, swimming, sunbathing, snorkeling and sipping on Mai Tai's.

After enjoying a beautiful sunset ...

... we visited the concierge to book some activities for the rest of our trip. We wanted to take things up a notch and enjoy all the cool stuff Kuai had to offer. So we arranged for Stand Up Paddling and the Mailani Dinner Shown on Thursday, golf on Friday, a doorless helicopter ride on Saturday and a kayak trip along the Na Pali coast on Sunday.

We woke up Thursday refreshed and ready to go. Our view out the window was exceptional.

After a delicious room service breakfast in our room, we wandered down to the beach to meet our SUP guide. He warned us that girls were generally better than guys at SUP and we proceeded to prove him correct. Trish never got her hair wet and I had to abandon ship several times.

That afternoon, we headed to the The Kalalau Trail for a hike. Our SUP guide recommended it and said it was "so easy, your grandma could do it". His Grandma must be a lot younger than most, because the trail was not easy, but we certainly enjoyed the challenge.

We were rewarded with some spectular views at Kalalau Beach.

We made it back to the hotel just in time for the dinner show and another marvelous Hanalei sunset.

At the dinner show, we sat with honeymooners from Houston that worked at NASA. Since they both spoke Russian, we had fun discussing Russia, our trips there and how we learned the language. The dinner show was great and they featured quite a few of the top Hula dancers in Hawaii.

The next morning, we grabbed Huevos Rancheros in Princeville and headed to the Makai Golf Club for a one-of-a-kind experience. Not only did they let us bring our full-stocked cooler on the course, but they rented us some fantastic Callaway clubs. We golfed for hours with no one in front, and no one trailing behind.

Trish's photo of the Bougainvillia on the back nine is one of my favorites.

We enjoyed some Blue Hawaii's at the St. Regis afterward, in a cabana that's normally reserved for $1000/day. We snuck in and even got the honeymooner's discount from a hometown waiter.

On Saturday, I booked a tour at the Ahonui Botanical Gardens. The gardens where amazing, built by Bill and Lucinda Robertson. They converted a jungle of 8 acres into an elaborate garden with trees, flowers and plants from around the world. Since you can grow almost anything on The Garden Isle, they planted many exotic fruit trees that we had the pleasure of snacking on throughout our 3-hour tour. About halfway through, Lucinda treated us to an adventure in making and tasting delicious chocolates.

We rushed from the garden tour to the helicopter ride on the other side of the island. The concierge had booked us with Jack Harter Helicopters, because they were the only ones that flew without doors (for better pictures). As soon as we lifted off, I knew it was going to be an experience of a lifetime. We flew over the Waimea Canyon, along the Na Pali Coast, over Hanalei Bay and back into the mountains to the wettest place on earth. It felt like an amusement park ride combined with an IMAX movie. Our pilot was a Hawaii native that knew the whole island and gave us an excellent tour of its features. I cannot recommend this tour enough if you're ever in Kauai.

The next morning, we had to get up early for our kayak trip. We had a wakeup call at 4:30, breakfast via room service arrived at 5 and we were packed and checked out of the hotel at 5:30. We arrived at Na Pali Kayak at 6 and quickly realized we had our work cut out for us. Both Trish and I expected the kayak trip to be like paddling across a lake and didn't know we were in for the Everest of kayaking - a 17-mile journey that would take most of the day.

We borrowed some sea-sickness medication, bought some water from our hosts and got ready for a good challenge. Unfortunately, we couldn't take Trish's camera, and the waterproof camera she bought took mediocre pictures. However, we did get to see two schools of dolphins (one even jumped into the air for us) and a couple turtles along the way. Having to paddle in unison turned out to be great couples therapy too.

We enjoyed lunch on a beach along the coast around 1, took a nap and hopped back in the boats for the last 5 miles. We pulled out around 4 and were on the road by 5 for the 2.5 hour drive back to Hanalei Bay. It was country dark when we arrived. We hopped in the Jeep and drove an hour back across the island to stay at the Sheraton Kauai (the St. Regis was full) for our last night.

At the Sheraton, we had one of their best rooms and enjoyed awesome views and a final relaxing day before heading home.

The Tunnel of Trees on the way to the airport was one last reminder of how beautiful Kauai is.

Mahalo Kauai. You are one of the most breathtaking places I have ever been too. Your views, your waves, your rainbows - all spectacular. Trish and I will be back, you've made an impression on us that will last forever.

If you'd like to see many of the places we visited in a movie, check out Soul Surfer. It takes place in Hanalei Bay and we recognized many of the locations while watching it. For more pictures, see my Shareholders Meeting in Kauai or Trish's magnificent photos.

Labor Day Weekend in Grand County

Labor Day is a great time of year in Colorado. It marks a transition from summer to fall, and it's often the last weekend to get good deals on ski passes. This year, we did it up right and spent the weekend at our ski shack in Grand County. My parents and kids joined us, as well as two of Trish and I's best college friends and their families. Normally, I'd just post pictures of this adventure, but we ate such excellent food and had so much fun boating, I figured I'd elaborate to recommend some super-fun (and delicious) activities.

Friday night, we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner at The Cheeky Monk in Winter Park Village and I fell in love with their Pasta Gorgonzola entree. Afterward, we snuggled with hot chocolate and shivered watching Tangled outside at the Family Movie Night.

Saturday, my Dad and I woke up early and headed to the Highland Marina on Lake Granby to pick up a rented fishing boat. We were on the lake by 8 and trolled through the foggy glass-like water for the headwaters of the Colorado river. A few hours later, the girls and kids joined us in a pontoon boat. Jack caught a fish around noon and you couldn't wipe the smile off his face for the rest of the day.

On Sunday, we visited Devil's Thumb Ranch for an afternoon of BBQ, beers, Kids Camp and Hiking. We journeyed from there to Tabernash Tavern for one of the best meals I've had in my entire life. If you like spicy food, you'll love their Twice Cooked Salmon.

My favorite activity of the weekend was fishing on Lake Granby. It was amazing to see how still Jack would sit while fishing and how much he wanted to do it all weekend. I don't think we'll get many more sunny and warm weekends in the mountains this year. Especially since our ski shack is located in the "Icebox of the Nation". But that's OK - I'm ready for the leaves to change, the start of football/hockey season and the snow to fall. Ski season is right around the corner!

For more pictures, see my Labor Day in Grand County set on Flickr.

The Digital Diet

I don't remember the exact cause of my desire to throw the boy in the lake, but I remember the aftermath well. He did something that inspired me to rip off my shirt, empty my pockets and rush after him to give him a good solid dunking in the cold Montana water. It was obvious he deserved it and there was lots of laughs afterward that proved it was a good idea on my part. Shortly after getting dressed and refilling my pockets, I walked to my car to grab something out of the back. As I pulled my keys out to unlock it with the remote, I realized my keys were wet. This made me double-check the contents of my pockets and realize my iPhone was wet too. Apparently, when I emptied my pockets, all I'd removed was my wallet. The date was July 2nd, 2011.

It took me a couple days to confirm my iPhone was hosed. It was an iPhone 4 that I got on the day it was released, on the night before I left for my Montana Summer Vacation last year. It was also the night I met the lovely Trish McGinity. Since I knew the iPhone 5 was coming out in the next couple of months, I decided that if Apple wouldn't replace it, I'd go without a phone until the new iPhone came out. When I arrived back in Denver, I took it to the Apple Store and they confirmed it had "liquid damage." They said they'd replace it for $200. This was $200 less than I expected, but I decided to stay firm with my no-phone plan.

On that same trip in Montana, I decided to leave my car at The Cabin since I ride my bike to work everyday.

So I spent the last 2 months without a phone and without a car. I know, it's definitely a First World Problem. Poor me, I had to live without my Cadillac and iPhone for a whole 60 days. Regardless, I believe it was an interesting experiment and one that many technologists like myself might enjoy (or find it impossible to do).

It was interesting reverting to "old times" (the 90s) where you had to setup meeting times/places with friends and hope everyone met up on time. It was awesome that no one could contact me immediately and I could go about my day with little interruption. I found I had a lot more time because I wasn't constantly checking my Twitter or Facebook for updates. I found I had less stress because I never felt the urge to check for new emails.

Other than that, my life didn't change a whole lot. I rode my bike a lot more because of the no-car situation, logging 251 miles in July (with 2 weeks off for vacation) and 461 miles in August. I used Gmail to make phone calls, and checked my voice mail once a week to see if I was missing anything. I was able to plug in my water-logged phone and retrieve text messages every week or two (it'd stay on for about 30 seconds before dying again).

My parents arrived from Montana with my truck last night and I re-activated my iPhone 3G before driving to meet them in the mountains. I'm thankful for having my luxury items back, but I also realize that I shouldn't check my phone as much as I used to.

It wasn't until after I started this experiment that I discovered The Digital Diet and connected with the idea that Technology Is The New Smoking. I hope to stop being that guy that brings out his phone and checks for updates at family gatherings, when talking to my kids or when having lunch with friends. If you're addicted to your smart phone, I encourage you to try The Digital Diet. It's not that hard and there seems to be far more benefits than consequences.