What a drive!!! I decided to head up the Waimea Canyon today. That is an amazing drive up and down the canyon. The convertible definately was nice to have. The canyon is awe inspiring. You definately see why they call it the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It is amazing to look at this huge canyon and then you realize you are on an island in the Pacific. WOW.!!!! I went up a little farther and caught a small glimpse of the Na Pali coast of Kauai. I kept looking around for a T-Rex or one of those spitting dinos. I [View Full Entry]

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Last day on HI. I did not really have big plans just sort of chillin out my last day here. I have been here 4 days and had not been swimming yet. I went to a reconstructed ancient hawaiian site that was on the ocean. Pretty neat to learn about their ancient culture. I walked just down the beach and went snorkelling. It is amazing how brightly colored the fish are. The water was very clear and cooler than I was expecting. Did not spend a lot of time in the water, don't want to get burnt first time in the [View Full Entry]

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Thursday was my 35th birthday. I spent it on the island of HI. That is not a bad way to celebrate another year. I spent the morning walking around the town of Kona. Every Oct triathletes from around the world come to Kona to compete in the Kona Ironman. The ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and then a 26.2 mile run. The race starts and finishes oceanfront in Kona. It is a nice place to walk around and people watch. My big plans for the day was the Mauna Kea Summit tour. We were taken [View Full Entry]

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VOG what is that? It is volcanic fog. More about that in a bit. What a difference a day makes. I actually feel almost human today. Sleep is a great thing. After breakfast this morning decided to hthe road. I loaded up the Dodge Caliber and headed off to see Volcano National Park. It is only 85-90 miles away but what a drive. Reminds me of some of the highway 194 near Valle Crucis (except up there you can not see the Pacific Ocean). While driving, I saw a sign directing to a black sand beach. That was pretty neat to [View Full Entry]

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Aloha from the Big Island of Hawaii. Day one was an adventure to say the least. An extremely long day of travel. Left Charlotte at about 8 am eastern time. I arrived in kona about 2 hawaiil time. Got my rental car and found my bed and breakfast that i am staying in. The Rainbow Plantation is very ecclectic. Not to bad except the peacocks were pretty loud this morning. Went to bed and died for sleep Tuesday. [View Full Entry]

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After so many days of great weather, my luck ran out. It is raining steadily in Geneva today. I ran out for a quick bite of breakfast. About 1 pm, I noticed that the fountain in the lake was running. The fountain was not running Saturday. I put my fleece on (it is about 62 degrees and raining) and walked back down to the lake. The fountain shoots a stream of water really really high into the air. I am talking several hundred feet. I walked around some more bought a few things. CHOCOLATE. The swiss make some very good chocolate. [View Full Entry]

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I left France today to head into Geneva, Switzerland. The train ride over was interesting. I apparently was on the wrong section of train. The conductor did not speak English and I do not speak French. She knew one of the passengers and had him to explain what I needed to do. The train split in Ax-le-Ban. I was not on the correct section to go into Switzerland. The guy got of the train and showed me to the correct car. The people were very understanding and most seemed willing to help out. Merci to the french. The Hotel Warwick was [View Full Entry]

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Eight members of out group got up early and took the lift up to the top of le meije this morning. Le meije is the a mountain that tops out at 10,000 feet. The top of the mountain is covered by a glacier. WOW!!! The views from the top were amazing. If you are ever in La Grave spend the 22 euro to go to the top and go inside the ice cave. The cave was full of ice carvings. It is still hard to believe that in August there is that much ice somewhere. A huge difference from North Carolina. [View Full Entry]

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The day i have been waiting for has finally arrived. Today, I will attempt to ride the 21 switchbacks of the the tour's most famous climb. The entire group was very stoked and ready to beat Sheryl Crow's time (1 hour 30 min.) We started out with a 22 k downhill and 3 k of flat riding to the base of the mountain. It was time to shed the warm stuff and get down to business. The switchbacks are awesome; because they are flat they provide a little break. I felt really good and had to make up for the suffering [View Full Entry]

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We took it easy today. Most of the group went out and did a 22 k descent and shuttled to do a little valley riding. Stunning is the best word to describe the valley we rode through. The road was not very wide at times. We actually had to stop twice for a herd of sheep being moved along the road. We took a cable car up to Les 2 Alp. I will never forget the sight of snowboarders in full gear in august. I shuttled back to the hotel to get a massage in order to be ready for the [View Full Entry]

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