Spring Mountain Bike Adventure - Camping outside Moab

Klan Cooney will be heading back to Moab, the site of our 2008 Epic Summer Adventure, for some spring break slickrock biking, camping and overall epicity.  We'll start off with 4 days on the Virgin River in Zion National Park

After Zion, we'll west to the mountain biking mecca of the US.  Hopefully we can get a campground at Dead Horse; on the rim of the Colorado River, 14 miles from Moab, one of the most scenic campgrounds I've ever seen.

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Sharon swims with the fishes

OK, so they're not fish.  They're highly intelligent, sentient creatures that should not be in captivity. But this is a childhood dream for her, and it does raise awareness,  as once you've been in the water with them, there's no way to deny their superiority to other animals.  I must admit I was disappointed that DolphinQuest does not do a better job of using this as a platform to educate people to the plight of marine mammals; maybe they have not figured out how to do it without seeming hypocritical.  They are missing a tremendous opportunity.

Manta Ray Night Dive

We went with Big Island Divers out to the Manta Ray night dive site.  It's an amazing experience.  Dozens of boats cooperating to attract these giant graceful creatures.  Mantas feed on plankton, and plankton are attracted to light.  The dive companies set up high powered lamps at the bottom of the bay, and the divers all carry lights.  The more light the more rays.  We saw three rays this night.  The video below is from a professional who dives this site ever night.  Way better than what I could film.  Enjoy.

Yosemite next summer

Just booked 5 days at the Housekeeping Camp in Yosemite for next summer.  They have full day climbing lessons. I think the boys and I will take on Half Dome.

Parasail and Shark Sighting

Sharon and I have wanted to parasail since our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, where we savied it for the last day and ran out of money. This time instead of a sketchy operator and a beach landing, we went with the professionals at UFO Parasailing out of Kona.  They had a great rep on TripAdvisor, an awesome boat and professional crew.  I went with Delaney and Mom with the boys, to level out the weight a bit (yeah, I know, Delaney and I weigh at least as much as those three and most of that is me!).  We had a blast, as you can see.  Delaney and I saw a large shark (about 15 feet).  We thought it was a bull, but later found out it was a Tiger Shark.  Yikes.  You can see it around 1:00 into the video.

Kona Brewery

Filling the tank before the flight home.
Coco Loco coconut brown ale and pizza.

Epic tubes in Hawaii

Blogging live from inside a giant lava tube on my iPhone. Not the kind of tubes I was hoping for, but they're still cool. Lava tubes from the 1920 eruption of Mauna Loa.

Giant waterfall

This one is 400 feet.  Not crazy about the way they herd you into a viewing area a quarter mile away.  I like to get up close and personal with my waterfalls.  Fell their pounding force on top of my head.  But it was still cool.

She lava me, she lava me not...

The “lava viewing area” set up by the state was kind of a joke.  A few weeks ago the lava passed right by, but now it is down by the shore and you are a mile away.  Still got some good long exposure photos…glad I brought my tripod.  We figured out the best way to view the lava, and it is not in the guide books.  There’s a beach trail about a mile from the viewing area, and you can hike across the beach and lava for an hour+ each way and get within 30 yards.  But by the time we figured it out, it was 9:00 PM, and with a two+ hour round trip plus a 2 hour car ride back it was too late.  Maybe next time…

Sharon's new love interest

I must admit I’m a little jealous of all the affection he’s getting.  Plus he’s a way better surfer than I am.  She must have something for the color grey. 

Nerd fest

The Pokemon World Championships are at this hotel this weekend. Time to bail…

Our boat for the Manta Night Dive

New sandals

Purple monkey

Unfortunately you had to buy a purse to get it. :(

Kook

Picked this up at SFO after a mention in last month's Men' Journal. About halfway through already. It's about a guy who takes 6-months off to learn to surf. Obviously I can relate. He does a great job of describing the challenge and the rewards. Highly recommended if you've ever thought about really learning to surf, or if you learned later in life.

I think she's relaxed.

This hotel is sick!

Amazing colors

Everything here is just more colorful.

Hawaii on $50 a day

One of the deals I made with the family was that I was not going to spend a bunch if money on restaurants. Normally we rent a small house (more like a shack) on the North Shore of Oahu and cook all our meals. Since I was using Hilton HHonors points this time, we are in a normal hotel room. No stove, not even a microwave. So we had to improvise. A $16 BBQ at Walmart, some Big Island ribeye and NY steaks and fresh caught Blue Marlin on the patio watching the sunset. Couple of Kona Longboard Lagers to wash it down ($23 a case at (Costco in Kona) out of the $30 Coleman ice chest. Fresh blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Cheap, delicious and saves our money for more epic adventures, like parasailing tomorrow afternoon…

Upgrade to ocean view

It's rare to get an upgrade on points, but Hilton really hooked us up. View of the golf course and the ocean with Maui in the distance from the deck.

Teddy Tries to Hijack the Plane

OK kiddies. This is what too much alcohol leads to. Luckily the pilot had a sense of humor.

Six Flags More Fun

It took a little while for the Epic Meter to register, but by the end of the day, we were solidly in 7 territory. Not a bad way to spend day 2 before we take off for the Big Island.

Teddy's Epic Adventure

Teddy stowed away in our carry on. He's a lush and a rabble-rouser, which makes him damn fun to travel with.

Take Us to the Greek

Epic X ( the "X" stands for 10, as in 2010) started off with one of Sharon's favorite bands, the Silversun Pickups. As Devin describes them, "their music was a lot more aggressive in concert". Sharon was dancing through the entire set, causing Delaney to exclaim "she's soooooo cuuuuuute!" Opening for them was Gainesville, FL punk band Against Me! who were solid. It was a great start to an epic week.

UFO Parasail Adventures in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island.

I can hear myself screaming like a little girl now. I think this will beat the zipline from last year's Epic 09.

Manta Night Dive in Kona Hawaii

Can't wait to swim with these magnificent creatures. Gonna be EPIC!

Epic X in the Planning Stages

It's almost that time again for our now annual Epic Summer Adventure. This year's trip we have dubbed Epic X (for 2010), and it looks like we are going to crack the epic meter. We start out in LA for a smoking hot concert at The Greek Theater, then cool off at Hurricane Harbor at Six Flags, before we jet off to the Big Island of Hawaii. A short but amazingly epic list of stuff we'll be doing in Hawaii: Luau, beachcombing for shells, touring a pineapple plantation... NOT!!!!

How about a night dive with Manta Rays! And parasailing 1200 feet above the Pacific!

And swimming with dolphins! Or maybe hiking a 14,000 foot LIVE FRICKIN' VOLCANO! Or surfing a secret spot on a black sand beach!

Yep, we'll be doing all of it. It's gonna be epic...X