Spring Reign 2008

Having been to the country's biggest Ultimate Frisbee tournament for the last four years, I thought I had seen every kind of weather possible. At this huge sports field complex on the banks of the Skagit River in Burlington Washington there have been frigid north winds coming down from Canada, thunderstorms that would roll through like freight trains, gale-force winds, hail, and of course, rain. But after a pleasant first day of the event, which drew teams from as far away as central Canada and San Bernadino California, on Sunday, we were about to "make history" as long-time Ultimate Coach Ben Goldfarb predicted as the day began.

I woke up at about 630 this morning at the Cocusa Motel, where Savi and I had stayed Saturday night. With yesterday's prediction of good weather, I made a pot of coffee, not even thinking to check outside. I finally peaked outside as it was getting lighter and was shocked to see the motel grounds covered in white, with the tropical blue of the swimming pool glistening in the snowy courtyard. Wet snow was coming down hard and piling up at a somewhat alarming rate, at least as far as the tournament was concerned. I walked to the nearby grocery store in a near blizzard, not believing this most unusual weather for April 20. As everyone says whenever the weather is unusually cold, "Must be global warming."

A couple hours later, the snow let up and some blue sky showed, but the damage had been done. The fields had an easy 3-4 inches of snow and it wasn't long before all the consolation games had been cancelled. Indeed, just a few of the championship bracket games were played before the tournament was cut short. Conditions, as one could imagine, were horrible. Frozen fingers, treacherous footing, indistinct boundary lines. Still, as is the spirit of Ultimate, players remained upbeat and made the best of it. Dozens of snowmen were made, huge balls of snow were rolled behind cars as a prank, and when the sun came out, sunscreen was applied with winter gloves.

It was unfortunate for the hundreds of friends and family who had driven to Burlington, only to find most of the games cancelled, but for those of us already there, it was a wacky wonderful day that we'll remember for a long time to come.

From Kona with Love

BIG ISLAND VACATION, PART TWO: Entering our fourth day here in Kona, on the sunny side of the island. Nice, though somewhat cramped, one-bedroom condo right on the water, with the surf barely 20' away from our 3rd floor lanai. View is facing south over a craggy lava beach and immediately in front of our room is a little tidal pool where two sea turtles have been hanging out.

The town proper, or at least the crazy-busy, mile-long tourist strip (Ali'i Way) starts just a couple blocks to the north, so all the restaurants and shops are well within walking distance. The city of Kona, unlike Hilo on the other side of the island, is in a development frenzy, with condos, shopping centers and new roads coming in everywhere. The older part of town, especially the settled areas along the waterfront, are quite peaceful during the day, and very busy at night. There's a very nice farmer's market and interestingly, the oldest missionary church in the islands is located along the main drag, a surprisingly massive structure dating back to the 1820s.

We've been doing a lot of snorkeling and swimming. The air temperature has been getting into the low 80s and the water temperature has been right around 78 degrees. Yesterday was a fun day as we went out on a catamaran sailboat for a dive trip to a couple primo spots accessible only by boat. The boat was rated for 26 people, but there were only 5 others onboard and with a crew of 3, it made for a great day. We did some real sailing, got close to a humpback whale and even closer to a large hammerhead shark. We went to two snorkeling sites, including one right in front of the Captain Cook Memorial, where the famous explorer was killed by the natives when they discovered that he wasn't one of their long-lost gods. The captain of the charter boat was giving me a little history lesson and informed me that even to this day, the memorial site is actually sovereign British territory.

I think the girls have been more or less enjoying themselves, though finding some place we all want to eat is a challenge. Tiana likes the buzz on the main street and last night she actually ran into somebody from Ballard High School. Both girls have been doing a ton of snorkeling, which has been a great activity. Today I think that Savi and I are going to try to find a beach where we can do some body surfing. We have to be careful not to get too much sun. Tiana hasn't had any problem--she's getting a very nice, very dark, tan.

That's it for now!