Every summer we get on one of the many rivers either fly fishing, floating, boating or all of the above. We headed back early from the lake so we could join a group of friends and go “tubing” down the Blackfoot River. Over the years, we rarely ever had photos so I found this the perfect opportunity to use my new waterproof case for my digital camera.

Sadly enough, this is not an uncommon site on a hot day. College students find any means possible to enjoy the recreation around Missoula. I had to snap a photo as we got a chuckle seeing these guys cruise down the road heading downtown.

Our caravan of trucks filled with tubes and rafts was a little more P.C. - cruising along the Blackfoot heading towards Johnsrud Park.

Jamie starting off on her first Blackfoot float. We floated the Bitterroot river several times last year but she had never floated the Blackfoot - it was a great day. We had about a dozen strong and the river was filled with hundreds, if not thousands of kyakers, rafters, tubers all day long.

Scenery and friends and great weather make a good combination.

Our crew. Complete with some guys from So-Cal and Nor-Cal (Hyperion) and Seattle (Accenture/Microsoft) oh yeah, and a few locals.

Some rafters staging their own water battle.

Jamie’s raft was voted as the repository for people’s beer cans, unfortunately for her.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people enjoying the water on hot days - a common site.

While our shuttle took us back up to Whittaker Bridge to pick up several vehicles, we commented on how many people were out Sunday. We joked about how there had to be some vehicle accidents with that many people driving on the mountain roads while heading up to the bridge.

An SUV rolled over on the road - noone was hurt.

I continued on as so many people had pulled over. I later found that some of our crew pulled over and helped roll the truck back over towards the ditch to clear the road.

It was a fun day.

Jamie and I had some buddies in from Seattle this weekend, both former colleagues and currently working at Microsoft. We decided to go hang with friends for Saturday up Flathead Lake.

Beautiful views of the Mission Mountains while driving up to Flathead Lake, about an hour north of Missoula.

We played half dozen volleyball games to work up an appetite.

Trav’s cousin Laura and Travis preparing to dive.

I tested out my waterproof case for my digital camera. Here is a pic of Travis diving in while I was underwater.

View of cabin from the lake.

We had to let Jeff and Stephanie experience the jet boat… at between 40-50 you can crank the wheel and spin a 360-degree circle - it’s a rush.

One of our many 360s. That boat can turn on a dime at any speed. Last time I went out we hit a wave while mid-spin and nearly flew out, smacking into the steering column and bruising my side - crazily enough, I still go.

Jeff gives the experience 2 thumbs up. Thanks Trav!

Ula lena is that sideways rain on a certain section of Maui that mythically “cleanses” the island. We purchased the producer’s package the the show, Ula lena, in historic Lahaina at their amazing multi-million-dollar theater. It featured stadium seating, state of the art sound system and some audience interaction in making “rain” and experience the “lava”.

The story is the mythical history of Maui from emergence from the ocean to life, inhabitance, foreign settlers and then rejuvination. A great production and many of the cast boast credits of Cirque de Soleil, etc. You cannot take photos or film, but as our producer’s package allows us to mingle behind the scenes after the show, I snapped a couple photos as they demonstrated their props, etc.

Ula lena cast

One of the many “trees” in one of the scenes.

One of the most amazing things from this production has to be the sound. The combination of singing (in native language) and sound effects created by the cast and the “band” was amazing - a must see!

As my sunburn prevented further snorkeling or scuba diving, we decided on the next best thing or perhaps even better, the Maui Ocean Center Aquarium. Some of the exhibits were outdoors and a majority was indoors. Here are some cool photos of the underwater species to be found around Maui.

Marine life behind glass.

The shark tube was really cool. You can sit in this tube and the sharks, rays and fish are all around you.

We attended a luau this evening complete with pig roast and live entertainment plus drinks and meeting some cool people. At first after a long day I wasn’t sure if I wanted to attend but am glad I did afterwards - definitely a “to-do” if you visit Hawaii.

One of the hula girls dances to kick off the festivities.

Jamie and I sitting at our table.

Lifting of the pig prior to our feast.

Hula dancer at luau

Fire dance near end of the show. After this intro, the men came and dance and then the ladies donned the flames for a grand finale.

Leaving the luau.

If you wondered why I would possibly be at my computer while on holiday in Maui, take a look at the photo below. Every now and then between excursions and hanging out on the beach, I do escape from the sun and empty out my camera’s memory card to make room for more photos. I’ve found the terrace of our room has the best wireless reception so where better to do a little work online?

Roughing it!

Hanging with the locals in Maui, Jamie and I decided to have our own barbecue in one of the oceanside parks between Kaanapali and Lahaina. We had chips and pineapple salsa, roasted marshmallows and cooked our cheese dogs (hot dogs) over the grill. The weather continues to be beautiful and it was a nice relaxing setting - even spotting some cool wildlife.

Grilling hot dogs on oceanside park in Maui Hawaii.

Jamie and I are going to a Luau this evening as well so I may post photos in another entry for that affair. Tomorrow we will do a little more relaxing since the Atlantis submarine was booked and my sunburn is going to hinder my scuba activities - ouch. Below is photo of a friend helping out at the grill, a cardinal, which I had never seen in person before.

Wonder why he is red? Now you know.

We drove up to the Nakalele blow hole to witness another of earth’s great sites, similar to the geysers of Yellowstone which have still eluded my witness - odd given that I grew up in Montana but often the case when you are a native, you take some of the great beauties of your surroundings for granted. Nakalele Blowhole is the result of the ocean wearing away the shore below the lava shelf. Below are a few photos from afar and quite near.

Tourists braving the mist of the blow hole.

Standing in front of the blow hole.

Jamie and I thanks to some other tourists.

Photo credit, yours truly!

Just a quick note to let my San Francisco buddies know that the “brownie volcano” at Betelnut is nothing compared to the one served up at Roy’s, both in Maui and in San Franciso. Below are photos on how they should look.

before

exploded

Bon appetit!

Saturday evening we took a sunset cruise along the coast of Lahaina. We were spoiled with great weather and met some cool folks. Afterwards, we hung out in Lahaina and visited some shops/establishments and my aunt’s former gallery (Lahaina Galleries - they now opened a new one in Bend, OR). We booked a show for Tuesday night based on recommendations of others so I will report on that, plus the Luau on monday night.

Photo of our ship as we taxied out to it from the Lahaina shore.

Posing for the sunset photo opportunity.

A pic of Jamie with the water and sunset in background.

We also saw some dolphins while cruising along the coastline. The food and company was good - I liked this dinner cruise a lot better than the one we went on in Cozumel. We are debating on a helicopter tour around the islands as well but will post more as time permits.

Jamie and I are enjoying Maui and tonight we will be embarking on a sunset dinner cruise around the islands. We have visited several beaches and witnessed the lava flow into the Pacific Ocean south of Big Beach. Our first day the weather was gorgeous, Friday is was overcast up north around Lahaina so we ventured south to Wailea and Kihei, eating a nice Thai lunch.

Below are a few photos, enjoy!

Hotel beach at sunset.

Jamie and I about to head out for day.

Grand Wailea posing.

Jamie testing the water.

Lava flow into teal water.

More to come…

Sumit and I met up with some former colleagues working for PayByTouch, a payment processing and biometric services startup located in downtown San Francisco. I was impressed with the significant growth and acquisitions they have made in the past few years and also how many ex-Accenture colleagues they have snatched up.

Below is a photo of myself, Sabry and Sumit at Eddie Rickenbacker’s, a cool motorcycle-themed restaurant next to their office.

Yesterday, while meandering around San Francisco, we opted to take in a Giants baseball game versus the San Diego Padres. My buddy and accountant, Dan, was kind enough to offer his season tickets so Jamie could experience her first professional baseball game. The Giants didn’t do too well but it was a beautiful day and Pac Bel, oops I mean SBC, oops I mean AT&T Park was in tip-top shape.

Jamie and I posing for our mug-shots; thanks officer!

The stadium has shrunk since I was last there.

We have spent some wonderful evenings with our friends and had home-cooked meals, midwestern and even Indian. Today I meet up with a colleague and we visit some folks working with a biometric security and payments company downtown - should be some interesting stuff. Tomorrow Jamie and I are off to Maui for a week so posts will be sporadic at best.

Now exhausted, I will be recharging today and ready to go on Tuesday. My thanks to Alaskan/Horizon airlines for safely getting me back to Missoula at what I feel is a very fair price given the circumstances and same-day booking. Seattle-Tacoma airport should follow in PDX and LAS and provide free wi-fi. Portland TSA staff should be more courteous. Thanks to my buddy Travis for grabbing me at the airport this afternoon - we’ll go flying our own planes again soon.

Well I am pre-dating this post as Seattle-Tacoma (SEA-TAC) airport doesn’t offer free wi-fi internet access like Portland and Las Vegas do. I didn’t feel like signing up for a Cingular account so I took the opportunity to recharge a bit (6am - 9am) waiting for my last flight in this 24 hour trek from Las Vegas to Missoula.

We arrived here in Portland after 2am(pacific) and the TSA folks kicked us out of the gate, so we have to wait in the lobby area and go through security AGAIN sometime after 4am. As I’m without a phone (a.k.a. alarm clock) and people are paranoid these days, I have to stay awake until 4:30am (pacific) to get to the gate for the 5am flight to Seattle, Washington. Sleeping on these tiny planes is essentially not an option and now I cannot sleep at the gate to ensure I don’t miss yet another flight - they should fix that.

I arrive in Seattle, Washington at 6am (pacific) and board a flight to Missoula after 9am to arrive at noon. As it looks like the sleep option is out, I’ll probably be sleeping most of Monday if I don’t get too bogged down with work - thank goodness I have no meeting scheduled.

Some highlights of our last “set it off” event, partying at The Palms at a club called Rain. We had a VIP host walk us past the lines and got us in the club; had a few drinks and then I somehow convinced the hosts they needed to suck up to us. Soon they were actually fighting over who got to service our crew, which grew to include some other Montana buddies who I found were in town.

Darin, Dan and myself have no recollection of the end of the night or how we got back to our hotel, but all three of us missed our flights that next day. Here are a couple photos inside:

The pyrotechnics and sound system was amazing. The middle dance floor was surrounded by a “moat” and seating around that for an outer mingling area, then like a stadium, levels of VIP booths and private rooms.

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As I have to stay awake but cannot really “think” I figured I would take some time to post a few photos to share the Vegas experience. I’ll post some technology highlights soon but here are the folks with Montana ties (some live in California, Vegas or Missoula).

NOTE: to make chronological sense, I’ll be pre-dating some posts as I publish.

We got to attend some private parties hosted by Monster Cable and after party following the private Stevie Wonder concert. Some of the music stars hanging with Monster Cable group included Ludacris and M.C. Hammer. After a night out, we ran into Hammer at Fatburger and given some of the guys with us were from Monster, he agreed to my shameless photo request - usually I don’t ask when we hang out with stars (playing it cool).

Monster Cable hosted a private concert with Stevie Wonder and then an after party. During several evenings we hung out with some of their crew and were fortunate to gain invites to the private affairs.

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