Maui 5

Before I write anything about my birthday or recent adventures, I'd like to devote a little space to remembering Bob Boardman, Port Angeles musician and all-around great guy, who was gored to death by a mountain goat on Saturday. Bob had been a family friend for my entire life, and was very supportive of me when I first began performing solo, backing me on guitar in several performances. His loss is a tragedy for the community, and he will be dearly missed.

Now that the sad stuff's over with...it's my birthday! In most of the world I'm legally an adult! I have to say, my birthday morning wasn't that great. Since my last post, I hiked from the summit of Haleakala to the ocean (about 18 miles and 10,000 feet of elevation) over the course of 22 hours (including an overnight at an awesome cabin in the middle of an amazing moonscape crater), in new boots that, it turns out, don't fit. By the time I got to the bottom, my legs were phenomenally sore; when I woke up this morning, after a fitful night's sleep, it felt like I had gone to bed 17 and woke up 75. I could barely walk, and I'm still recovering from the hike, which was pretty spectacular in all other respects. I'll have photos of Hawai'i up soon on Facebook, so y'all can check out the amazing crater and cloud forest and all. In other news, my dad abruptly decided that he wanted a vacation and asked if he could come stay with me for the next week. He's out here now, bearing a rental car and the money to stay in hotel rooms, instead of hostels and campgrounds, which is pretty rad. He's really happy to be here, and, considering how much my plans have been messed up by the bike accident, it's nice having him here, if only to expedite my getting around. We stayed out at the Seven Sacred pools, drove back through Hana this morning, and are in Lahaina, where hopefully I can start surfing again tomorrow. Don't have any plans for tonight yet, but hopefully I'll be able to find some sort of debauchery.

Love you all, and thanks for the birthday wishes - getting all the Facebook happy birthdays really made my day!