Exhausted from the 10 hour flight from LAX I instantly fell asleep on the 2 and a half hour flight to Helsinki. Once we touched down, I immediately hit the bathroom, been holding it for a while. Going to the bathroom may have been a mistake because when I came out there was no one around from my flight. Thankfully the signs to baggage claim were in three different languages including english. I got to passport check and myself and four other people were the only in line. The manager and the statistics man were there to pick me up. The drive to the small town that may be my home was 3-4 hours drive. We got to the apartment around 4am. I was so tired but at the same time wide awake. Two movies later I was asleep. Woke up this morning to falling snow. From the beach to the snow of course, what else. Which apparently is weird weather for them at this time of year. Just my luck, some more weird unexpected weather.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Departing US of A, next stop...Finland
"Hey! You sound like your from London!"
Waiting at the gate in LAX, I am anxious to hear what seat I have for the 10 hour and 20 minute flight before me. Since I am flying stand by and am preferred business class, I am hoping for the best. I ask the guy at the desk how its looking, he tells me that everything is full in business but coach looks promising. I accept this turning away excited that I am even going to make the flight at all. I call my mom who is looking at the list of non-revs listed and sees that my name is now on the cleared list. As we talk continually, she suddenly stops our conversation to tell me that there are three seats left in business because one just upgraded to first, there might be a chance that I get into business. The women behind me on the list of non- revs is waiting for first, so we think nothing of it, until she is assigned a business class seat. My mom in an uproar, tells me to go to the desk right away, I do. I had to hang up on my irate mother in order to talk to the man at the gate. I ask him why the women below me on the list who was also waiting for first got a business class ticket when I was ahead of her and also waiting specifically for a business class ticket. All he could say was "oops", with some rapid typing in between and then a ticket handed to me that said business class and my seat number. I was in!! The woman behind me was then handed a coach ticket in the row directly behind the last row of business class. Victory! It feels like I have won the lottery with this seat. Now I can semi-relax, knowing that I will be fed and have access to a seat that lie almost flat so I can sleep. I board the plane and get settled in to a middle seat in the last row of business class, yesss!
The flight was bumpy, but I was able to get in at least 2 hours of sleep. The sleeping aide didn't help as much as I thought it was going to. I watched numerous episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (pretty damn good I thought). I began to watch Grown Ups but fell asleep less than half way through the movie. We were given Bose earphones for the flight and now I am convinced those earphones are the only way to go. They completely lock out the sound of the planes jet engines, people talking, coughing, snoring, or babies crying. It was amazing! We touched down in London town a little past schedule but not by that much. I got through security again, checked in on British Airways transfer gate and then headed out into the terminal. Heathrow is huge! I think I may have walked close to 1 mile from the flight gate to the transfer area. The shoes I was wearing, unfortunately were not the best walking attire in that airport. I ended my final steps to the transfer gate looking like I had gained a little hitch in my step.
I am glad to be back in Europe but my trip has not even begun. Once I arrive in Helsinki, I am to look for the team stats guy and the President (not of the country of the team) in Pislaploki jackets. My eyes are half open now, I can only imagine how I will look, feel, or respond to them when I get there. I just hope I don't get into the wrong car with some strangers and end up in the middle of nowhere. I have a feeling I might do a little bit of sleeping on the drive to the small town which is around 4 hours away from Helsinki, lovely. I am to stay in the team apartment in the small town. Luckily a friend and teammate will be around the corner from the apartment. Stomach is growling and I need to head to the gate soon, so until next time.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Puerto Rican Adventures 2010
I took the red-eye from LAX to San Juan, Puerto Rico on a saturday night. With maybe two hours of sleep I was restless and wide awake. Looking out the small airplane window, I saw a flash of light that I knew was not from the planes light system. Quickly realizing that what I had just seen was a lightning storm up ahead, I immediately hoped we were not going to be traveling through it. Luckily we were able to go around the aggressive storm, however I had the perfect seat for the show. Watching the flashes of light from above wondering how bad it really was on land, we were high above all the chaos while the moon was shinning on the tops of the dark ominous clouds. Up ahead I saw what looked like a city blanketed with light clouds. My eyes were playing tricks on me though, I then realized I was looking at the beginning of the sunrise through a window in the sky. Once again I had scored the best seat in the house for this particularly spectacular sunrise. I waited and watched as the sky on the horizon turned from deep dark blue to light powder blue. Five minutes later other colors began to appear. Different shades of orange and red were seeping into the picture perfect sunrise, this part of the world was waking up. I still couldn't see the actual sun, but I knew it was coming, with the way the colors changed in the sky, it was close. Huge rays of light were sprouting up on the blurred horizon. The anticipation was starting to get to me, every time I thought the sun was going to break up over the clouds, I was wrong. After five miss judged sun sightings, it finally rose above the clouds, forcing me to squint hard and shade my eyes in order to look in that direction. The way the suns rays danced on top of the clouds, I felt like what I was witnessing wasn't real, like I was looking at a painting. The day had finally arrived for American Airlines Flight 238.
I arrived in San Juan at 9:15 in the morning. I was exhausted but my adrenaline kicked in when I realized who I was going to see at the arrival gate. My best friend Scott is a USA national Coast Guard, stationed in Puerto Rico (one of a couple reasons as to why I decided to go). I made my way outside and was instantly hit with a breath of hot, wet air. First words out of my mouth to Scott "its hot as balls out here!" truth. It must have been about 85-90 degrees the day I got there. After an awesome hug from Scott, we jumped into his terrifically air conditioned truck and headed for the base and the beach. What I noticed while driving around in PR was the illusion of the not so smooth roads. It may look like they are nicely paved with little pot holes and cracks, but that is just because you are racing along at incredible speeds. Puerto Ricans are crazy drivers, yes, but not as crazy as German drivers. I would place them 2nd to the Germans. A friend told me that the law's in PR were more like suggestions or guidelines. They are there, but most people usually don't follow them, so you need to be on your game when driving at all time, especially during heavy traffic or late at night. The Coast Guard base was right in the middle of San Juan directly on the beach. We then immediately changed and headed to the beach close by. It was a sunday so people were out and about everywhere. The beach we went to was beautiful yet small, the water was like bath water, I loved it. While there I decided to call college friend Alejandro who is from Puerto Rico and lived close by. Since Scott had to go back to work, Alejandro took me to another beach away from the tourist trap that is San Juan, where we drank beers and updated each other on our lives. After about an hour on the beach we ended up at his friends place inland for some more beers and BBQ. It was great meeting his friends but as I sat there listening to them talk, I realized I had no idea what they were saying. They spoke so fast, it was very hard to keep up at all, so I gave up and opted to taking pictures. Later that night Alejandro took me to one of his favorite restaurants for dinner. I told him to order anything traditional to Puerto Rico. When our meal arrived, there was a baked whole fish (including the head, teeth, and eyeballs), rice, sausage in red wine sauce, beans, and chicken mofongo. The fish was crazy good, sausage in red wine was amazing, rice and beans were standard, and the mofongo was my favorite. Mofongo is mashed up plantains with chicken, beef, or seafood in the middle. I wish I could have eaten the whole thing but plantains are very filling. Alejandro was surprised and excited to see that I loved everything he ordered. I was happy and full when we left.
That night I stayed at Scotts house in Vega Alta, a nice suburb about 30 minutes from San Juan. We rolled up to a 4 bedroom two story house at the end of a coldasack. Since Scott had to work all the next day, I met up with three of his friends from the Coast Guard. They took me to a beach they go to often. It was partly sunny that day but extremely warm so getting right into the ocean was priority for all of us. Two of them started a hand stand contest that lasted for about 20 minutes and was highly entertaining and a bit dangerous at times since they were crashing into one another every so often. Lucky for Scott, his Chief let him off early so we were able to hang out that night. He decided to have a small party where I met some more of his friends and co-workers over a competitive game of beer pong, which we unfortunately lost by one cup. Slightly hung over and wondering where I was, Scott went to work around 5:30am. I decided to get up, feed the cat Scott was babysitting and clean his place in preparation for our three friends who were getting there that night and early the next morning. Once scott came home after work, we both decided to collapse on the local beach near Scotts house for the day. The ocean water was slightly cooler then the beach in San Juan but still like bath water. That night we picked up our 3rd member of the Puerto Rican crew, Kim. She told us that she will probably never come back to PR since she thought they were going to die on the flight coming in. The next morning the rest of our group arrived, Tom and Vince. They too commented on how the flight was a little rough, quoting Tom "The landing was rough, we hit the ground pretty hard. The man sitting next to me who said nothing through out the whole flight sort of screamed." Apparently this time of year, its difficult to fly because of all the weather, something I should have known but didn't.
The adventure began that day at the local beach near Scotts house. We were in and out of the water, snorkeling, and drinking Corona's. One of Scott's Coast Guard buddies had an underwater camera which I instantly fell in love with and took a few pictures. After the day at the beach we ended up going home and crashing on the couch with Guitar Hero and some good home made food. Earlier that day we went to Costco to buy the weeks food. That was a genius idea since going out to eat every night would add up financially. The next morning we got up early and headed to Charco Frio, a popular hiking trail that heads at a waterfall with a pool of deep water and two tree swings. Along the way we trudged through deep mud, slippery tree roots, and steep inclines. We finally made it to the pool under the waterfall. All was so beautiful, however there must have been some young juvies that had just been there because there was a huge mound of trash to the right as we walked past to the water. That was the hardest thing to see, was all the trash around such a beautiful area. knowing it probably wouldn't be picked up for a while or ever was disheartening. Disregarding the trash as much I could, we began to play in the water and on the tree swings. Tom jumped off the tall rock formation with a small yell on the way down. After we had had enough of the tree swings we headed a little further up the waterfall to another high cliff that Tom, Vince, and Scott all jumped from. Having a pretty big fear of heights, it looked way to scary and high for me so Kim and I both decided to bail on that idea. I decided to conquer my fear though and jump from the smaller rock formation by the pool, the one Tom jumped off of earlier. They had to do a count down for me to encourage my jump. I was scared but I did it, I couldn't believe it, but I guess you do more daring things when your around people you trust. The five of us trekked back not by trail but by river, weaving, slipping, and swimming our way back. Note of caution, go slow when walking on the river rocks and boulders, they are ridiculously slippery, we had a few nasty falls on the hike back. In total the hike took us around 35 minutes there and 45 minutes back. Driving home we were all exhausted but felt great after the long hike.
Friday was my favorite day in PR. We woke up early and started our drive to this spectacular cave. What was interesting about this particular cave was you started your hike at a gas station. Pass a stolen gutted car rolled on its side, and then around a corner to two caves, one is worth seeing and the other, not so much. We lowered ourselves down the rickety steps and slippery rocks into the first part of the cave. Note: wear shoes not sandals. Once inside you wind your way around a few turns and end up in an open cavern, the ceiling slightly covered with bats who fly and chirp all the time, especially when you flash your lights on them. Scared that one of them was going to swoop down onto my head and give me rabbis, we moved through quickly, ducked around a couple more rock pillars and into another large cavern. This time however, the cavern had an opening with a spectacular view of the valley below. If you walked to the mouth of the opening and looked out what you see is amazingly gorgeous and calming. It was a 200 to 300 foot drop to the valley floor. There was a river running through a small village, brown from the rain we kept receiving three or four times a day.The green on the mountains across from the cave was a deep green color and the sky was slightly cloudy, showing just enough sun through the opening to snap off some great silouetted shots. After sitting for a little looking out at the view of the valley before us, we packed up and left the same way we came in. We stopped for a minute in the bat cave and Vince took some cool pictures of us turning the flash lights on and off in the dark. With the long exposure, the pictures turned out really great, illuminating the spots where the light hit. Once back at the car, we headed to Crash Boats beach on the west coast of PR near Rincon. The beach was the more beautiful beaches we had been to while in PR. At this particular beach there used to be docks and piers for military boats a long time ago. Now the piers were in ruins and the docks were dry. We were told that there was a lot of snorkeling and diving to be had near the pilings. Unfortunately the sun was behind clouds so visibility was short, plus we were with out fins and the current was strong and a little on the dangerous side so we decided to not take any chances getting pushed up against the pilings. Still we enjoyed the water and the boats stacked on the sand to our right. Tom, Vince, and I decided to do a short but heavy work out on the beach that almost made me vomit but I finished right along side the two firefighters. We left the beach around 5pm, sleeping in the car on the way home. We needed a lot of rest because that night we were headed to La Placita, a local bar scene, like Hermosa Pier but with many more bars and rowdier people.
We headed out to La Placita around 9pm that night and met up with my PR friends and Scotts Coasties at a bar called El Rubi. The place was decorated with 1940's style pin up girls dressed like the Chikita Banana woman and tinker bell painted on the walls. There was a stripper pole placed right in the middle of the small dance floor and a big bar in the front with a patio area on the side. The reggae tone music blared and as the Don Q shots set in, we began to dance. The stripper pole was to be had by all of us. Tom attempted an upside down manouver a few times and unfortunately failed, he wasn't worried though, he knew we would be back and he would try again. The next destination was Fat Tuesdays around the corner. Once there we were ripping it up on the dance floor and on the bar. After we left Fat Tuesday, successful we headed back to El Rubi for some more dancing and attempts at the pole. We headed home around 2am and were all in bed by 4am, exhausted. Saturday was a lazy day filled with movies and sleeping. We decided to go to San Juan later to walk around and the boys bought cigars. Kim and I also went to a popular restaurant "Raices" for some amazing mofongo.
Sunday morning was upon us to fast. The airport was where we said our sad goodbyes to Scott. I wish I could have stayed longer to have gone island hopping and seen Rincon, but I have a feeling I will be back again some day in the future.
I arrived in San Juan at 9:15 in the morning. I was exhausted but my adrenaline kicked in when I realized who I was going to see at the arrival gate. My best friend Scott is a USA national Coast Guard, stationed in Puerto Rico (one of a couple reasons as to why I decided to go). I made my way outside and was instantly hit with a breath of hot, wet air. First words out of my mouth to Scott "its hot as balls out here!" truth. It must have been about 85-90 degrees the day I got there. After an awesome hug from Scott, we jumped into his terrifically air conditioned truck and headed for the base and the beach. What I noticed while driving around in PR was the illusion of the not so smooth roads. It may look like they are nicely paved with little pot holes and cracks, but that is just because you are racing along at incredible speeds. Puerto Ricans are crazy drivers, yes, but not as crazy as German drivers. I would place them 2nd to the Germans. A friend told me that the law's in PR were more like suggestions or guidelines. They are there, but most people usually don't follow them, so you need to be on your game when driving at all time, especially during heavy traffic or late at night. The Coast Guard base was right in the middle of San Juan directly on the beach. We then immediately changed and headed to the beach close by. It was a sunday so people were out and about everywhere. The beach we went to was beautiful yet small, the water was like bath water, I loved it. While there I decided to call college friend Alejandro who is from Puerto Rico and lived close by. Since Scott had to go back to work, Alejandro took me to another beach away from the tourist trap that is San Juan, where we drank beers and updated each other on our lives. After about an hour on the beach we ended up at his friends place inland for some more beers and BBQ. It was great meeting his friends but as I sat there listening to them talk, I realized I had no idea what they were saying. They spoke so fast, it was very hard to keep up at all, so I gave up and opted to taking pictures. Later that night Alejandro took me to one of his favorite restaurants for dinner. I told him to order anything traditional to Puerto Rico. When our meal arrived, there was a baked whole fish (including the head, teeth, and eyeballs), rice, sausage in red wine sauce, beans, and chicken mofongo. The fish was crazy good, sausage in red wine was amazing, rice and beans were standard, and the mofongo was my favorite. Mofongo is mashed up plantains with chicken, beef, or seafood in the middle. I wish I could have eaten the whole thing but plantains are very filling. Alejandro was surprised and excited to see that I loved everything he ordered. I was happy and full when we left. 
The adventure began that day at the local beach near Scotts house. We were in and out of the water, snorkeling, and drinking Corona's. One of Scott's Coast Guard buddies had an underwater camera which I instantly fell in love with and took a few pictures. After the day at the beach we ended up going home and crashing on the couch with Guitar Hero and some good home made food. Earlier that day we went to Costco to buy the weeks food. That was a genius idea since going out to eat every night would add up financially. The next morning we got up early and headed to Charco Frio, a popular hiking trail that heads at a waterfall with a pool of deep water and two tree swings. Along the way we trudged through deep mud, slippery tree roots, and steep inclines. We finally made it to the pool under the waterfall. All was so beautiful, however there must have been some young juvies that had just been there because there was a huge mound of trash to the right as we walked past to the water. That was the hardest thing to see, was all the trash around such a beautiful area. knowing it probably wouldn't be picked up for a while or ever was disheartening. Disregarding the trash as much I could, we began to play in the water and on the tree swings. Tom jumped off the tall rock formation with a small yell on the way down. After we had had enough of the tree swings we headed a little further up the waterfall to another high cliff that Tom, Vince, and Scott all jumped from. Having a pretty big fear of heights, it looked way to scary and high for me so Kim and I both decided to bail on that idea. I decided to conquer my fear though and jump from the smaller rock formation by the pool, the one Tom jumped off of earlier. They had to do a count down for me to encourage my jump. I was scared but I did it, I couldn't believe it, but I guess you do more daring things when your around people you trust. The five of us trekked back not by trail but by river, weaving, slipping, and swimming our way back. Note of caution, go slow when walking on the river rocks and boulders, they are ridiculously slippery, we had a few nasty falls on the hike back. In total the hike took us around 35 minutes there and 45 minutes back. Driving home we were all exhausted but felt great after the long hike.
Friday was my favorite day in PR. We woke up early and started our drive to this spectacular cave. What was interesting about this particular cave was you started your hike at a gas station. Pass a stolen gutted car rolled on its side, and then around a corner to two caves, one is worth seeing and the other, not so much. We lowered ourselves down the rickety steps and slippery rocks into the first part of the cave. Note: wear shoes not sandals. Once inside you wind your way around a few turns and end up in an open cavern, the ceiling slightly covered with bats who fly and chirp all the time, especially when you flash your lights on them. Scared that one of them was going to swoop down onto my head and give me rabbis, we moved through quickly, ducked around a couple more rock pillars and into another large cavern. This time however, the cavern had an opening with a spectacular view of the valley below. If you walked to the mouth of the opening and looked out what you see is amazingly gorgeous and calming. It was a 200 to 300 foot drop to the valley floor. There was a river running through a small village, brown from the rain we kept receiving three or four times a day.The green on the mountains across from the cave was a deep green color and the sky was slightly cloudy, showing just enough sun through the opening to snap off some great silouetted shots. After sitting for a little looking out at the view of the valley before us, we packed up and left the same way we came in. We stopped for a minute in the bat cave and Vince took some cool pictures of us turning the flash lights on and off in the dark. With the long exposure, the pictures turned out really great, illuminating the spots where the light hit. Once back at the car, we headed to Crash Boats beach on the west coast of PR near Rincon. The beach was the more beautiful beaches we had been to while in PR. At this particular beach there used to be docks and piers for military boats a long time ago. Now the piers were in ruins and the docks were dry. We were told that there was a lot of snorkeling and diving to be had near the pilings. Unfortunately the sun was behind clouds so visibility was short, plus we were with out fins and the current was strong and a little on the dangerous side so we decided to not take any chances getting pushed up against the pilings. Still we enjoyed the water and the boats stacked on the sand to our right. Tom, Vince, and I decided to do a short but heavy work out on the beach that almost made me vomit but I finished right along side the two firefighters. We left the beach around 5pm, sleeping in the car on the way home. We needed a lot of rest because that night we were headed to La Placita, a local bar scene, like Hermosa Pier but with many more bars and rowdier people. 
We headed out to La Placita around 9pm that night and met up with my PR friends and Scotts Coasties at a bar called El Rubi. The place was decorated with 1940's style pin up girls dressed like the Chikita Banana woman and tinker bell painted on the walls. There was a stripper pole placed right in the middle of the small dance floor and a big bar in the front with a patio area on the side. The reggae tone music blared and as the Don Q shots set in, we began to dance. The stripper pole was to be had by all of us. Tom attempted an upside down manouver a few times and unfortunately failed, he wasn't worried though, he knew we would be back and he would try again. The next destination was Fat Tuesdays around the corner. Once there we were ripping it up on the dance floor and on the bar. After we left Fat Tuesday, successful we headed back to El Rubi for some more dancing and attempts at the pole. We headed home around 2am and were all in bed by 4am, exhausted. Saturday was a lazy day filled with movies and sleeping. We decided to go to San Juan later to walk around and the boys bought cigars. Kim and I also went to a popular restaurant "Raices" for some amazing mofongo.
Sunday morning was upon us to fast. The airport was where we said our sad goodbyes to Scott. I wish I could have stayed longer to have gone island hopping and seen Rincon, but I have a feeling I will be back again some day in the future.
The Tables Have Turned...
After looking at an email from the manager of the Finland team, its official, I am scheduled to get on a flight Tuesday the 12th getting into Helsinki the next night. They want me to try out for up to 14 days. I told them that I would be able to get myself most of the way there (to London) and so they decided that would be great and paid for the rest of the way. This try out is a little different then some I have been on. They will be giving me a little pocket money every day and also lunch and dinner will be provided. I hope I am what they want in a player and a proper contract is negotiated. If all goes well, I will be there until April. I am excited but trying not to get overly excited since I am not even there yet. Once I board that plane here at LAX, I will be pumped and ready to go. I looked at the weather yesterday and the temperature is a chilly 45 degrees! Good bye California weather, hello Scandinavia. I think after living in weather like that for over 7 years now I am pretty used to it. We will see how freezing it gets, knowing me it will probably be the coldest winter they have had in 80 years!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Waiting Game is Not Done With Me Yet....
I got an email from my manager telling me that the Finland team doesn't have money right now to take me, so their answer is regretably, no at the moment. Yes, I am upset about it, I have been waiting for this answer for 3 weeks. I was very excited about it in the beginning because they were talking contract details and so on. This is how it goes, this is a business. I can only hope that they really didn't have the money and what they really think is that they don't like the way I play. Either way, its a huge bummer for me. I had a bad feeling about it after they could not get back to us after the 2nd week. Now I wait for another job to arise. Until then I will continue to train and stay in shape as much as I can, only drinking a 12 pack of beer right now seems like the only answer to this crappy day. Kidding of course.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tangoriro Alpine Crossing, New Zealand 2009
The North Island of New Zealand was the first place I had visited that I thought I could possibly create a permanent residence in the future, Sweden was the second. I arrived at the Auckland International airport to a barely rising sun at 4:30am. I couldn't believe that I was finally there after a grueling 12 and half hour flight over the pacific ocean, (terrifying for me and the woman with the oxogen mask on next to me) and not a wink of sleep. Exhausted and probably looking frazzled, I made my way through customs and the doors to the waiting area to see my then boyfriend standing there with a huge smile on his face. Out in the parking lot a surprise was waiting for me, our house on wheels for the next month. I couldn't wait to begin the adventure that was to be my life for the whole month of April. On our way to the first rest stop and napping location, I stared out the window, admiring everything that lay ahead of me. The entire island was waking up and I was there to witness its first look on the day. The islands main production of livestock, sheep, were calling out to their friends and family, beginning their day job of grazing bright and early. Cars flowed into the city as people filed into their respective buildings for the 9 to 5 grind. The slight cloud cover made the sunrise look exotic, I was definitely aware that I was not in Manhattan Beach anymore, that thought alone made me smile knowing I was on vacation, finally. I could already tell it was going to be a trip that I would never forget and be forever grateful of the experiences I would come across in the coming days.
Since we were only going drive/camp around the North Island and had only a month, we decided to stop at the most important and memorable areas of the island. One of my most memorable moments, mentally and physically, of the trip was the ever challenging 19 kilometer Tangariro Alpine Crossing in the Tongariro National Park. My boyfriend at the time warned me that this was going to be a challenging hike for the both of us, but anyone who knows me, knows I'm always up for a challenge when it comes to fitness, I always try to finish what I've started. I was ready, excited, it looked like a long hike but we had all day so what was there to stop us. We began the hike at the Mangatepopo car park. What is interesting about this 19 klick hike is the terrain changes from arid desert, over mountain tops, to damp thick forest climate at the end. We started the hike with sun protective clothing on, bottled water, and trail mix in tow. The beginning was steady and easy to tackle, the trail was previously cut out and not to steep. That all changed when we reached Soda Springs, the first rest stop on the trail map. Once we arrived there, all we saw in front of us was a rather steep incline. Perfect, was my only thought. Looking up at the top of the South Crater (which wasn't really the "top") we began our ascent. I would be lying to say that it was a piece of cake, it sure as hell was not. Luckily, there were steps put in by the DOC that helped…a little. I felt like I was on a never ending stair master. My knees, hip flexors, and toes were beginning their "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" stage.
After reaching the top of the South Crater, took a short rest, and snapped some pictures we soldier on to the top of the Red Crater (the top top). There really wasn't a clear path to take so I followed my boyfriend, who was racing up the hill at an incredible speed. I tried to take the steps he took, losing my way every once in a while, realizing I had taken a wrong turn and doubled back to try again. Seeing as there were steep cliff like drops on either side of the "trail", I had to maneuver myself up against a boulder or cling to the ground when other determined hikers passed going the opposite way, as to not accidentally lose my footing and go a tumbling down the mountain that I had struggled up thus far. The wind didn't help my nerves about how high we were getting either. Once I peaked, sweating and out of breath, I could start breathing easy again, everywhere I looked was beautiful. The peak looked down on the Red Crater, that was, wait for it, actually the color Red. I held my camera over the edge of the cliff over look and snapped away. I can be afraid of heights sometimes, especially when there is no protective railing to break a fall. I felt like we were on top of the world up there. It was a clarifying moment. Starting our descent, we came across an over look of the Emerald Lakes. The water in these lakes were so vibrant and eye poppingly beautiful. Each lake was 3 different shades of green, blue, and brown. After not seeing a lot of people on the trail it was odd to see so many on the peak, snapping pictures and eating lunch. Wasting little time after reaching the peak we headed back down with one final incline and then it was all down hill from there on out. As we started down, I realized we were no longer walking on solid ground. Sheet rock covered the trail, great. As I slide almost entirely on my ass, doing a half split just to entertain the on lookers around me, my partner was pretty much running/levitating down the steep hill to Central Crater which was our next destination on the map. He only fell once, looked like it hurt though.
Once We got to Central Crater, it flattened out for a nice walk to the next incline, another steep one, which I yet again had to cling to the mountain side while people passed going the other direction. The name of the next stop was Blue Lake after that it was home free and down hill…which was just as hard as up hill. I tried not to depend on my toes to brace myself but I couldn't help it. My thighs and hip flexers basically told me to go screw myself and my toes were starting to burn. We walked down through some gorgeous scenery, over looking the valley and the tail end of the hike which ended in the forest. We could also see and smell the steam seeping out of the hillside from sulfur vents. The next part of our hike was sort of a blur. We were supposed to be at the car park at the end of the hike at 4pm to get picked up and taken back to our car. We got to Ketetahi Hut, the last stop before the finish line at 3pm…it was supposed to take an hour and a half to get to the car park, we didn't have an hour and a half. Thats when we looked at one another and began to run. Side stepping and jogging down the steps embedded in the trail, we passed surprised hikers along the way. Once we hit the trail leading into the forest my legs were jello, I couldn't feel the pain anymore, I prayed that I didn't bite it and go flailing face first into the ground. It had taken us 30 minutes to get to the forest, we had 30 minutes left before our ride left. We stopped for a few seconds by the rushing creek side to snap a few pictures, that ended up coming out blurry, oh well. At this time, my steps were heavy and labored, my legs flailed, I had no control over the lower half of my body anymore. We broke free of the trees, frantically asking where Frank, our ride was. The man we asked pointed at a van that was fast on its way down the road towards the destination of our car. We missed it. After all that we missed our damn ride. All I could do was smile, we had made it and I was exhausted. We both collapsed on a picnic table and waited for Frank to come back an hour later. As I drifted in and out of consciousness, all I could think about was what an accomplishment it had been completing the trail, the fact that we ran the last part, and how good a beer would taste once we got home. It was a grueling hike and at that moment I was sure I didn't want to do it again for a while. However, now that I have had time to recover (a lot of time) I would definitely do the trail again with out hesitation.
I would have pictures for it but I need to find them, oops. Once I do I will gladly put them up!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The Waiting Game
Its been about 2 weeks since I first heard that there was a team in Finland who is interested in me coming to play for them. A friend of mine and fellow gingerette plays for them and was telling me one night how they were in need of a right side or attacker. They were most likely going to bring one on after Christmas. I told her that I have played right side before and was pretty good at it. She gave the coach my info, video, and then left everything else to chance. I wasn't thinking to much of it because of the luck I was having that entire summer with club teams so I sort of put the thought of playing in the back of my mind. A couple days later that same friend brought me good news, they were interested.
With in the same day I got in contact with the team manager and things started to get going. Informed my agent about what was happening and so from there contract details were beginning to take place. It was like everything happened over night. I was excited but tried to keep myself calm because nothing was signed or for certain. They decided they wanted me to come for a try out and were trying to figure out flight details and so on. Now I am waiting to hear when I will be flying out to Finland. Its been a bit of a waiting game to say the least, it always is. But they have repeatedly said they are sorry for the delays and that they would know shortly. I can only hope I find out soon because in my mind I am starting to worry they are going to change their minds. Well fingers crossed and hoping for the best.
With in the same day I got in contact with the team manager and things started to get going. Informed my agent about what was happening and so from there contract details were beginning to take place. It was like everything happened over night. I was excited but tried to keep myself calm because nothing was signed or for certain. They decided they wanted me to come for a try out and were trying to figure out flight details and so on. Now I am waiting to hear when I will be flying out to Finland. Its been a bit of a waiting game to say the least, it always is. But they have repeatedly said they are sorry for the delays and that they would know shortly. I can only hope I find out soon because in my mind I am starting to worry they are going to change their minds. Well fingers crossed and hoping for the best.
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