Where's Lott?

Whoops, been a while since I last posted. Things have been a bit busy so here's a quick recap:

After some super early season skiing at Mt. Baker I hopped on a plane for the East Coast.  My brother just moved to Brooklyn so I started there and squeezed in my monthly dose of culture with Evelyn at the Brooklyn Museum.  Then I started to head north.

Fall is my favorite season.  The crisp sunny mornings where you can see your breath.  The brilliant colors hanging from every tree.  Seattle's got some nice yellows, but my favorites are the reds of the eastern hardwoods. 

First stop was Franconia Notch in New Hampshire.  It was a bit chilly, especially with 50+ mph winds, but the amazing colors definitely were not done justice by my camera.

Also got to add yet another exciting warning sign to my collection:

Next up was Bar Harbor, Maine for some cycling through Acadia National Park.  The colors here were also spectacular!

And even better, they had lobster!  Lots of lobster.  This guy weighted in at 4.5 pounds (and $80, I ate his 2.5 lb cousin instead).

After a quick stop in Boston to heckle Northeast Regionals, I headed back down to Brooklyn.  Mom had just retired so Joe reasoned that she and Dad would be overjoyed to drive up from Maryland and take us out to dinner in the middle of the week.

And they did which I'm quite grateful for because five days after I returned to Seattle, Dad passed away suddenly.  Friends and family came from all over to celebrate his life and share stories.  Mom, Joe and I are really lucky to have such a loving and supportive community and I hope that some day I'll have touched half as many people's lives.

After the whirlwind of the funeral and spending some time starting to get Dad's estate in order I headed back to Seattle for a whole 68 hours before embarking on my previously scheduled trip to Hopu, a tournament in Hawaii.

A bunch of us rented a sweet house, wined and dined, played in the surf, and went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

There was some frisbee played too.  It was my first tournament in seven months so I was a bit out shape.  But had a lot of fun with various sideline antics.

After the tournament several of us flew to the big island for some diving.  Thanks Rob and Henry for ponying up for waterproof camera housings so I can steal your pictures!

White tipped reef shark.  Probably 10-12 feet.

A huge moray eel swimming - usually they hide in the coral and all you see is their head.

And the highlight of the trip, manta rays!

Driving around the Big Island is interesting.  In about an hour you can go from the beach to 9,000 ft on Mauna Kea where they warn you about falling ice!

Hawaii is one of the Polynesian Islands, so like New Zealand they are quite protective of their flightless fowl.

As well as donkeys?

And the most important sign we saw all trip:

Some guy was barreling towards the 5th tee and had to slam on his brakes to avoid being run over by our mini van.   I'm sure he got an earful from his wife as she was riding shotgun and almost flew over the hood!

After a week and a half of fun in the sun, I've returned to rainy Seattle for a bit.  Next trip, back to Maryland for Thanksgiving.