Dana and Ryan arrived today! I was up at 4:15am to drive to the airport to pick them up - driving keeps getting easier, though I was a little thrown off by some construction detours on the way. Also funny - as I was pulling up to the airport and into the parking lot I was thinking "how am I going to get the parking ticket out of the little machine when I'm on this side of the car?!" ... but of course, the machines are on the right so you can reach them from the driver's window.
Once we gathered up the Bohlens and their belongings, we headed back to the Chalet and took a little snooze (all of us piled into my tiny room and slept wherever we could find space) and then Kelly made us breakfast. We then made a quick stop at the library to send an email to let everyone know they'd arrived safely, then started the walk into town to catch the ferry to Rangitoto Island to hike up the volcano.
Rangitoto, en route via ferry:
Off the ferry, ready to hike! It rained on us almost the whole day we were out there:
Once we gathered up the Bohlens and their belongings, we headed back to the Chalet and took a little snooze (all of us piled into my tiny room and slept wherever we could find space) and then Kelly made us breakfast. We then made a quick stop at the library to send an email to let everyone know they'd arrived safely, then started the walk into town to catch the ferry to Rangitoto Island to hike up the volcano.
Rangitoto, en route via ferry:
Off the ferry, ready to hike! It rained on us almost the whole day we were out there:
Walking through the lava fields:
At the top! The views were less than impressive since it was so overcast and foggy:
Showing my (blurry) Marquette spirit; MU v. Syracuse was happening as we were hiking (I would find out the next day we won!).
Once we got to the top we had our lunch (found some shelter from the rain in a leaky hut built as a lookout during the wars), then hiked down a different way so we could see the lava caves:
Nearing the bottom, Mr Bohlen shows us how high we hiked:
By the time the ferry came back for us we were tired and cold and ready for a snack! We caught a bus back up the hill into Parnell and visited The Chocolate Boutique, where they had gluten free waffles topped with ice cream - yum! For dinner we went to La Porchetta, a very American-ized Italian restaurant. Ryan was excited to get a "jug" (pitcher) of soda and pizza!
At the top! The views were less than impressive since it was so overcast and foggy:
Showing my (blurry) Marquette spirit; MU v. Syracuse was happening as we were hiking (I would find out the next day we won!).
Once we got to the top we had our lunch (found some shelter from the rain in a leaky hut built as a lookout during the wars), then hiked down a different way so we could see the lava caves:
Nearing the bottom, Mr Bohlen shows us how high we hiked:
By the time the ferry came back for us we were tired and cold and ready for a snack! We caught a bus back up the hill into Parnell and visited The Chocolate Boutique, where they had gluten free waffles topped with ice cream - yum! For dinner we went to La Porchetta, a very American-ized Italian restaurant. Ryan was excited to get a "jug" (pitcher) of soda and pizza!
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