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I’m hiking now too.  Hiking is one of those things that you’re pretty much required to do if you live in Portland, besides getting a tattoo and recycling.  The Portland area has so many great places to go on a hike.  There’s also some great sites to see if you don’t mind driving 2 or 3 hours.

I lived in Portland for a couple of years before I went on my first real hike, and it didn’t even take place in Portland.  The hike actually took place when I went to Hawaii last year.  I went to top of Diamondhead all by myself.  It’s not that long of a hike, but it gets really tough close to the top.  There are some really steep stairs and I was carrying a lot of weight on my back.  Also on that trip I hiked to Manoa Falls.

Fast forward to the next summer when I went on a couple of hikes in the Portland area. One was to Angel’s Rest and another to Horsetail Falls, both in the Columbia Gorge area. I even went on something of a hike in Washington during the Twin Peaks festival. I have a book which lists 50 hikes within 50 miles of Portland and maybe one day I’ll do them. I already have my next location picked out.

My friend Dan is trying to talk me into climbing to the top of Mt Rainier in 2017.  Since I moved to Portland, I’ve always said that I would never try to climb a real mountain (Diamondhead doesn’t count).  Every winter I heard stories about people getting lost or stranded on our local mountain, Mt. Hood.  I say that you have to be crazy to want to climb a mountain.  This does sound tempting, though.  I’ll have to think about it.

Hiking has been fun, especially when I’ve gone with friends.  I hope to be able to go more frequently.  A friend of mine goes hiking almost every weekend during the summer.  It’s good exercise and I get some great photos along the way.  Maybe I’ll do some winter hiking. Maybe I’ll get in good enough shape to climb Mt. Rainier.

The second part of my trip was better in some ways and worse in others.  After LOST 2014, I didn’t have a schedule of activities, which left me free to do whatever I wanted.  However, I was alone most of time and there were occasions when I had time to kill, but not really anything I could do.  Not having a car hampered me a little, because I couldn’t go to some places by bus before they closed.

On Tuesday, I did a lot of walking around to explore Honolulu.  I was still getting used to the bus system at this point.  Once I got on the something like the 9 bus, but it turned out to be the 9S bus, which went to a completely different place.  Each bus said the areas it was stopping by, so maybe if I knew the area better I wouldn’t have as many problems.  I only wasted a little money though.  I got to see the Christian academy where the last scene of LOST was filmed. I think other scenes were filmed there as well. I went to see another movie this night.  It was The Giver, which was much better than I thought it would be.  It seems like a lot of people don’t like to go see movies while on vacation, but I do.

On Wednesday, I went to Diamondhead and hiked all the way to the top.  I was so tired and sweaty by the time I got to the top. Afterwards, I took another trip to Waikiki Beach.  I had wanted to go to a non-touristy beach, but this one was more convenient.  I got dinner at a cheeseburger place.  I went to see another movie, A Walk Through the Tombstones.  It wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be, but it was still solid.

On Thursday, we found out that Bonnie Craft passed away.  Bonnie is a big time LOST fan.  I never met her in person. She was one of the LOST fans who friended me on social media leading up to LOST 2014.  I exchanged a few messages with her on Facebook.  I think she was the one behind the thank you video that was played at the final event because she asked for photos of us.  They told us then that she had pneumonia and wasn’t able to attend LOST 2014.  I don’t think I knew at the time that she was actually in Hawaii.  I heard this day that some met her at the check-in before the Jorge Garcia Q&A, but I don’t think I did. After  I found out that she had passed, I saw her last posts from Hawaii telling people to go on without her because she wasn’t feeling well.  I then saw tweets from earlier where her sister was trying to get an update on her condition from  and shortly after that the news broke.  Very sad.  That day I went on another hike, this time to Manoa Falls.  It rained on me a good bit of the hike, which was fine because it cooled things down.  I ate dinner at a Korean BBQ place and wondered the city until it was time for bed.

On Friday, I didn’t plan on doing much because I was tired.  People came over at 8 am to do an inspection on the apartment I was in and to fix something.  I did some podcast prep after they left.  It rained a good bit that day.  I didn’t get to see a friend like we  had planned this day because he was busy entertaining another firmed from Minnesota.  Maybe I’ll see him next time I’m in Hawaii.  It rained a good bit this day..  I ate dinner at a another burger place and went back to my room after that.

On Saturday morning I went to airport way early.  I was just ready to get out of that apartment and start making my way home.  Someone I met at the last LOST 2014 event was on my plane.  I tried to get his attention before we boarded, but I don’t think he saw me.  We landed in Portland a little after midnight and I made it home after midnight. It was so cold compared to Hawaii.

A few more observations:

• I saw a lot of military people, probably because of the nearby military base.
• So many places there were cash only.  I didn’t eat at some places because of that.
• I had shave ice almost every day.  It’s great!
• I think I became an expert at the bus system by the time I left.  But I was relying heavily on Google Maps, which tells you exactly which buses to take and where to transfer.
• I got to see a lot of crazies on the buses, but they weren’t that bad.
• I never felt like I was in any danger while I was wondering through unfamiliar neighborhoods late at night.

I had a great time in Hawaii.  It was expensive, but it was worth it.  I don’t want to go anywhere else for a while.  I am worn out.  I have a few trips already planned for 2015, but they are more spread out.  I’m pretty sure I’m not going on the one I have planned for January.  I just want to stay home.  In 2016, I think I’ll take fewer trips and dedicate more time and money to each one.

I’m so ready for Fall.