Travel photos of the day

Because I don't have time to sit down and do a whole photo journey of my Hawaii trip (and other trips that I still haven't updated on!), I decided that each time I post on here I'm just going to choose a couple photos from an experience I had on a trip and give the story behind those photos. At some point once I find a job and have free time again I will be able to do full travel journals. Right now, though, I'm consumed with trying to find a new job ASAP.

Travel photos of the day

Koko Head Crater Hike, Honolulu, Hawaii, May 2014

I was in Honolulu for work (sweet location for work I know!). I always feel the push to do something new, challenging, difficult, scary, thrilling, or just plain 'new' for new's sake. I told someone earlier this year that one of my hobbies is "doing new things". I thought it was obvious what I meant, but she didn't understand. The philosophy means that I do one new thing every single day of my life. Sometimes I do two new things on one day and none the next, but that still counts as long as there is one new thing per day of the year. I keep a list of the New Thing of the Day.

On this particular Saturday I chose to test my limits. After reading Yelp and TripAdvisor reviews about this hike I started to get a little worried that I couldn't make it! Everyone described it as a "death hike", "painful", "masochistic", and said that anyone with physical problems should not "attempt" this hike?? Even the fact that there was the possibility of not making it through the whole hike meant it was scary! I was mostly concerned about my knee giving out as I've been having problems with my right knee. And there was certainly no easy way down if you got injured at the top...you'd probably have to hobble down yourself as that would be the fastest way to get out of there.

Looks pretty, eh? I climbed to the top of that 1,200 foot crater. 

I drove to the trail head with my iPhone flashlight at 4:30 a.m. I had heard that it was hard to find the trail head because you had to walk a long while in order to get there. It was true. I parked in some parking lot and luckily I saw some other cars there. I kind of stalked a group of guys who sounded like native Hawaiians because I figured they must know where the trail head was if they were natives. They were talking about girls and other topics so I deduced that they must have been here before if they weren't pondering which way to go, so I continued following them in the pitch blackness.

After about a five-minute walk we reached the START of the trail. I think it's probably a good thing that I couldn't see very well because looking up the hill would have been daunting. It was about 4:45 when I started up the trail.

Here is the view from the starting location. (I couldn't take any pictures when I was climbing up because it was totally black at that time, so I took this after I had come back down and was looking up at what I had just accomplished).

View at the top overlooking Hanauma Bay

View coming down -- that ridge you see in the stairs is basically a near-vertical drop. Not easy to climb down after climbing up that mountain!

On the way back to my car after feeling really accomplished and proud that I made it through the hike without a medivac, I got really sad because I saw a poster for a missing dog near the trail head. It had a picture of a small dog and said that the dog was last seen on the trail. So sad. I wonder what happened to it...did it fall off a cliff? How would the owner not notice that?

In the end I climbed 1,048 steps to the top and 1,048 going back down. Ouch! I couldn't walk for 4 days because my legs were so torn up...I hobbled around like an old lady. I would do it again in a heartbeat. But next time I would stretch first, take at LEAST 32 oz. of water (I only took 8 oz. and was totally dehydrated), and do it on a day when you have enough time to enjoy the view. I spent 30 minutes up top but had to head down to go to a work event. Make sure you have time to see the sun touch everything in your view!

Quick highlights because I need to start studying for my interview.

• I started a Marvel.com account. I'm reading the Uncanny X-Men comics starting with issue #1, first published in 1963. I can't believe the series has gone on that long! I always wanted to read comics but as a girl, you're not really exposed to that growing up and you have to go WAY out of your way to see out that kind of stuff. I didn't have that access readily available, but now I do! I love it so far. 
• I am going to be Jean Grey (Dark Phoenix) at a costume party soon. Last year I was the Green Lantern. I plan to be Daenerys Targaryen sometime as well. This weekend I commissioned a gold dragon egg to be made for that future costume :). I plan to be some characters from Battlestar Galactica, Skyrim, and Emma Frost in the near future too. I love cosplay!

Last night I fell asleep thinking about the answer to the question, "What would you do if you inherited $100,000 right now?" My answer: Pay off my remaining $42,000 in student loans, put $25,000 into starting a retirement account, stash $5,000 for traveling in the next two years, stash $3,000 in my emergency savings fund, and put $25,000 toward down payment for a condo. It was nice to think about being able to get out of the situation I'm in. I usually dream about that as a I go to sleep. Getting out of this job and apartment and into a nice apartment in a bigger city in a bigger company with a healthy building.

I'm getting nervous for my interview. Mostly because I so desperately need to get out of this job that I am scared of it not working out. I NEED to get out of this physical environment ASAP. It's not like I just desire a new job, I need one physically.