Shibuya Panorama

Another panorama from Tokyo. This time in the trendy area of Shibuya. This corner is the Time Square of Japan making it probably the second most over photographed spot next to Mt Fuji. But for good reason becuase it is so cool. Never the less it's one of my favorite places and deserving of a place in my blog. This was another set of photos that I had forgotten about and had never assembled until now.

Here is a google map of the area. The blue marker is where I was standing.


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Tokyo Panorama

I've been spending some time reviewing and cleaning out my digital photos. With Lightroom it's a pleasure not a chore. I discovered some shots from Tokyo that I never got around to assembling into a panorama. Worked out anyway because now I have good software to do it.

This shot was from the top of the Mori Building in Roppongi. A beautiful new tower. Just to the left of center is the Tokyo Tower. A well know Tokyo landmark that, yes, is a ripoff of the Eiffel Tower. In the distance is Tokyo bay. You can just make out the Raindow Bridge that crosses over to Odaiba.

As you can see it was a hazy day which always leads to dull low contrast photographs. Yet with Lightroom I was able to easily extract enough contrast to make a decent, thou not great, shot. To give you an idea of where I started, here is what the center shot looked like unprocessed.

Japanese Food in St Paul

Seems like Sushi resturants are popping up everywhere in the Twin Cities. Recently a new one named Giapponese opened in Woodbury near our home and I'm told another one named Akita Sushi and Hibachi is on the way. These two join Sushi Tango which opened last Summer in Woodbury. What is going on?

For the last year Linda and I have been very happy with Murasaki in Stillwater, MN or would make the trip into downtown St Paul to Sakura or the St Paul location of the long time favorite, Fujiya. I don't really consider myself a huge sushi lover. I'd rather have a bowl Japanese noodles or Tempura if given the choice. But I will also happily eat sushi from Target for a fast lunch so I'm no sushi snob.

We've already eliminated Sushi Tango from our list. The service was terrible 2 of the 3 times we've been there. There was nothing spectacular about the sushi or the courses like tempura to over come the apathy of the wait staff. Too bad as it's the closest to our house.

As I said before we really like Murasaki. It's a no thrills restaurant with a good selection of Japanese dishes and good sushi. It reminds me a lot of typical family owned restaurants in Japan. Although I'm pretty sure no one there is Japanese. Hey, that's ok.

The new kid on the block is Giapponese. We went there a week ago and have already been back. I love this place already! It's a hip place with a mod decor. They don't have a big selection of Japanese hot dishes (not as in Minnesota hotdish silly!) but the sushi is excellent. Monday we sat at the sushi bar which is something we never do. I guess we like to look at each other when we eat. Well this time we sat at the bar and got to interact with the sushi chef who, yes, is actually Japanese! But the best part about Giapponese is that they serve Japanese beers on tap! I've never seen that anywhere in North America let alone Minnesota. BTW they also have Fat Tire on tap which is also something you don't find around here. I'm really pulling for Giapponese to make it.

Although technically in Minneapolis there is also a new sushi spot just north of the U of M campus called Obento ya. I met a few friends there for dinner. The unagi was cold and they had no beer license. That place is dead to me.

If you haven't been to a sushi resturant you may want to learn a little from this video before you go. If you've every been to a real Japanese restaurant you will find it very funny.

Haleakala Panorama

Another panorama on top of the volcano. The last one I swear. Panoramas seem to always be horizontal so I decided to try a vertical along the valley bottom. When taking pano photos it's important to shot in fully manual mode so that the exposures will be the same across all photos. With this shot I had to balance between the bright sky and background with the dark foreground. That is another reason why shooting in RAW is great because I can play around with the exposures once I get back home instead of trying to get it right on the spot.

Haleakala Summit

After my epic climb up the mountain, I pulled out the camera equipment to record the strange and beautiful landscape. It's hard to believe I'm on the same island. It's more like being on the Moon.

On the extreme right edge in the far background you can begin to see the sloop of Moana Kea on the big island.

This panorama is facing north into Haleakala valley. According to the pamphlet the volcano crater has long since eroded away. What we now see is a valley dug into what used to be the top.

Biking up Haleakala

After a few days of biking around the west side of Maui I was finally ready for my ascent of the volcano, Haleakala. This was one of the reasons I rented the bike in the first place. I had read a few ride reports and decided that I would give it a try. Worst case I just turn around and coast down. The plan was for Linda to meet me at the top with the car. I wanted to spend time on top of the volcano instead of riding down. It's not the interesting.

Haleakala is the largest mountain on the island at a towering 10,000 feet above sea level. It is not uncommon to get snow up there. The neat think about climbing Haleakala is that you can do just that, go from the sea to the top. It's a total of 35 miles to the top at an average 5-6% grade with a few up to 8-10% just to keep you awake. The road has a nice shoulder most of the time up to the national park. Inside the park is a little bit more challenging.

I arrived in Paia (same town where I met Laird) at about 8am. I was running a little late so I skipped sticking my foot in the ocean as many do before going up. Besides I didn't want to deal with the sand between the toes for the next 5 hours. I had my camera along with 2 water bottles, 4 pop tarts (couldn't find any powerbars), dried mangos, cell phone, ID (to identify the body, just in case) and some money for the entry fee to the national park at the top. Like every day in Hawaii, the day was sunny and warm - with little wind, which was a bonus as it's always blowing on that side.


For the first hour I wound through pineapple groves that were being harvested. Then it was into the ranching area with lots of fields with cattle and horses. It took a while to get used to pedaling along in a very low gear and crawling along at 10mphs. But I was comfortable and I knew this was about patiences.

Along the way I saw that someone had spray painted the vertical distance on the shoulder. Soon I was starting to see 1500 ft, 2500 ft, and so on which really made me feel good. I was wearing my GPS which also measures altitude. It was only off by about 50 feet. Amazing! In hindsight I was watching the vertical more then the distance in miles. I guess that was the hurdle for me. My neighbor Jeff can testify to my no-love for climbing hills.


At around 3000 feet this is a well know market. It's a good place to take a break off the bike to fill the water bottles and maybe buy a snack. I spent about 10 minutes here.

After the market the terrain started to get more mountain like. The foliage was changing and beginning to thin out till it started to look like Ireland. At this point I was also getting into the cloud layer which added to the moores feel.


I had now been pedaling for 3 hours and was half way up the mountain at 5000 ft. Surprising to me was that my legs felt great. It was my lower back that was starting to stiffen. I was taking more 'photo breaks' all the time. I decided that the park entrance at 7000 ft would be a good place to finish as I just didn't see myself riding for another 3 hours. I called Linda on my cell to tell her my revised plan. It turned out that they were already on their way and only 3 miles behind me. Perfect. They soon passed me on the road and 15 minutes later met me at the park entrance with beer and Doritoes. I love my family. We loaded up the bike, I changed into some clothes, then we spent the rest of the afternoon at the top. It was a clear day at the summit of the volcano. We could clearly see the snowcapped tops of Moana Kea and Moana Loa on the big island of Hawaii. I took loads of photos.




I didn't reach the top, on bike anyway, but I'm still thrilled and proud. 3:40 total time, 25 miles, 7000 vertical feet. Given that I had done only a couple 3 hour rides all year and only 1 hour trainer workouts for the last 3 months, I thought I did great. There were long stretches where I was all alone along the road. The Maui countryside was so peaceful and beautiful. It's something I will always remember. I highly encourage any bike ride to give it a try when they get to Maui. Don't make it about getting to the summit, make it about the ride!

Here is the route in Google.

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Hawaii 08: Biking Kapalua

While on Maui I was able to rent a great road bike for the week from West Maui Cycles in Lahaina. I highly recommend them. I picked up the bike, strapped on my helmet and headed right out the door. There is really only one road to ride any distance on the west side of the island so I headed north. The road had a nice wide shoulder but was fairly busy with cars and trucks through the resort areas.

It didn't take long to get out into the jungle. The road followed along the ocean through fields of sugarcane and pineapples - and gorgeous golf course grounds. There were plenty of turn out to stop and take in the views. It's Hawaii - I took my time.

On the guardrail of one hairpin curve were these 4 strange furs. They caught my eye so I doubled back for a look. I couldn't decide what animal they were - possibly boars? They were still wet so since there had been no rain that day, they must have been tended to by someone.

Just past the weird furs I was faced with an impassible road. Impassible in that I didn't think I could climb the 22% grade of the road! After crossing the steam, a sharp left turn planted me smack in front of this huge long climb. I figured I would put my head down and give it a go. You can make out the road on the far side of the bay in this photo.

I was doing well until about 3/4 of the way up I looked back to check for any cars. The angle of the hill I'd already climbed scared the hell out of me. Not because of what I had yet to climb. No, I was frightened by the idea of having to go down it later on! So I stopped right there figuring I didn't want to coast/fall any farther then I had to. The road was so steep that when I put my foot down it started to slip down hill. I composed myself, let my heart rate come down from 196 (I'm not kidding. I have the data), then started to walk down the hill. Yes, I wimped out and walked. I wasn't going to risk a fall way out there while on vacation. When I got closer to the bottom I mounted up and coasted to the bottom near the truck pictured above. There, I found another biker waiting for there companion. We joked about that hill for a while then I headed back south to my condo in Kahana. A great first day ride in paradise.

Only 23 miles round trip but about 2000 feet of climbing according to my GPS. It was only a taste of the climbing to come later in the week.

Hawaii 08: Laird Hamilton

I continue to meet legends of fringe sports like my ride with Andy Hampsten last April. This one tops Andy thou and may go to the top of my met one of my heroes list. You can keep your Brett Fauvre and Dale Earnhart Jr, I met Laird.

Laird Hamilton is a legend among surfers. He is the modern king of big wave surfing - and I mean scary big. We were sitting in a coffee shop in Paia, Maui - a lazy hippy town on the north shore, - when all of a sudden Linda nudges me and says "Hey, that's Laird Hamilton!" If you've ever seen him in the American Express commercials or the cover of various sport magazines, there is no missing his 6-2 physic, or tousled blond brown hair.

Go rent 'Riding Giants' if you want to see Hamilton in action. I'll be re watching my copy when I get home. Or better yet, rent the 80's classic surf movie 'North Shore' where Laird played the arrogant bad guy, Lance Burkhart. Yes, I own that as well. I love that movie.

Hawaii 08: Musubi

Linda and I just spent the last week on the island of Maui in Hawaii with her sister and family. I will be posting various adventures in the coming weeks.

When in Hawaii I have always made a point of having spam musubi. It is a local food that I stop short of calling a delicacy. As you can probably make out it's a pad of rice with a slab of spam and finally wrapped up in nori like a sushi roll. It's served warm - as in heatlamp warmed. I can usually find them simmering next to the hot dogs at the 7-11 stores.

Musubi is also the name of a Japanese food but what makes this a uniquely Hawaiian treat is the Spam which the Hawaiians have loved every since WWII. There are lots of Japanese influences in Hawaii.

Sutro Bath Lilly

Linda and I spotted these lilies while exploring the Sutro Bath ruins in San Francisco. They didn't seem all that remarkable until I got home and worked the photo over in Lightroom. I tried a few different looks including black and white but this one looked the best. There is something about the yellow that really draws me in. And the leaves are also intriguing without being the center of attention. I struggled with the background blossom. At first I wanted a vertical orientation on just the foreground but the white of the background flower felt distracting. So I decided to simply include it completely with a horizontal. luckily the leaves on the left create a nice diagonal up through the main flower and saves the composition.

Got Scurvy?

This plant was everywhere along the coast of California. It's called an ice plant and was planted along Californian highways to avert erosion. According to Wikipedia it's extremely pervasive and it's now a bit of a problem. It looks rather alien and the big mats of it make it seem like it's invading. Maybe it is? Anyway I loved the vivid colors, in particular the buds that were turning yellow and red. Our seal guide, Ed, told us that sailors, in a pinch, would eat them to avoid scurvy.