Hello everyone and welcome back. This month marked the beginning and the end of my summer. My trip to the island of Maui was definitely the highlight. Also, football is back, and so is school.

My trip to Hawaii was amazing. My family went with my aunt, uncle and cousins. We stayed at a resort in Kaanapali. It was perfect for us. The resort is right on the ocean, but if we weren’t feeling up for the Pacific, we could have a blast in any of the three pools. At some point each day we went down and either swam in the pools, slid down the water slide, or played water football. Or we went to the ocean to snorkel, body surf or boogie board. Some days we did both. The best thing was that it never got old.

There is so much to do in Maui. We drove the famous Road to Hana. This road is miles of “hair pin” turns and one-way bridges, which did make me a little queasy at times. However, all around us was scenic rainforest that you don’t see anywhere else. I am convinced that Disneyland got their rainforest ideas from the Road to Hana. The best part are all the swimming holes that we stopped at along the way. They had beautiful waterfalls and crystal clear waters. This made for some great cliff jumping and swimming. It was a little crazy to watch the locals in action at some of the spots. They would jump from as high as 75 feet.

I have been to Maui a few times, but we never adventured as much as we did this trip. Since my youngest sister is 10, it allowed for more daring ventures. We went to new beaches to snorkel and cliff jump. One day we went to Black Rock and had a lot of fun swimming and jumping off from about 30 feet. That was super fun – almost as fun was watching people accidentally belly-flop. We also went on a snorkeling tour to Molokini Crater. It was the clearest water I have ever seen in my life. We saw many colorful fish and sea turtles that day. Another day we got to swim with more turtles at Honolua Bay with another clear and beautiful reef. So clear, in fact, that I had a bad scare when I saw a huge eel swim under us.

A couple of other fun things we did, we have done before. We went to another Luau. I think it is pretty cool to see the ancient Hawaiian legends reenacted while eating from an all-you-can-eat buffet filled with local foods. It was a great night and something I recommend if you go. We also hit Lahaina town again. We did shop a little, which isn’t my favorite, but we also went to Ululani’s. You can get the best shaved ice at Ululani’s. This definitely makes up for the shopping and is a must-have in Hawaii. The famous banyon tree in Lahaina is always on our visit list as well. It is pretty incredible.

Once our plane landed back in Portland, we were back to reality. Literally the next day I had fitness testing for football. In a two-day span we maxed on bench, squats, cleans and incline. We also ran our 40s, did our vertical and finally an eye test. It was a tough two days and I was pretty sore, so you can imagine the two-a-days for the next two weeks were extremely grueling. Every other day was a two-a-day, and on our first Saturday of practice we had the annual event of Thunder. It was a great turn-out and there were some big hits.

As I get further along in practice, we have gotten our Bulldog Gold cards and I have been out selling them. If anyone would like to get one from me and help the program out, I would love to deliver one to you. Thank you to those who already have. We also had our jamboree which was a huge success for both varsity and JV. I will be on the sidelines for the varsity games and play if we get big leads, which will be exciting. Most of my playing time however, will likely be on JV where I am expecting to have a big year.

Finally, school is in session. I have a lot on my plate, but I am looking forward to a great Sophomore year!

Braden Dohrmann is a sophomore at Montesano High School. He writes about what it’s like growing up in Montesano. He participates in many school sports and activities, works hard in class and enjoys taking vacations with his family.