Tonight was the night for the Super Moon....the moon is suppose to be really close to Earth....I played quite a bit with my camera and think I got some pretty good shots.
My Crazy Happy Life
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Kauai - Day 2 continued
After the amazing plane ride we still had a few hours to kill...so we headed to Duke's to have some lunch and have some of the Hula Pie that we had heard so much about. The food did not disappoint...the view was pretty good as well since it sits right on a beach and oh my word...the Hula Pie....YUM!
Now doesn't that just look like heaven on a plate...seriously...macadamia nut ice cream on a chocolate crust...with whipped cream...hot fudge and macadamia nuts sprinkled on top...and the only place you can get it as far as I know is at Duke's in Hawaii.....this alone is a reason to go back. Oh and I'm sure that there are no calories involved at all.
We had to back on the ship by 1:30 since the ending to this awesome trip is a sail-by the Na'Pali Coastline and with having the aft balcony - we could hardly wait. We had a couple of whales that decided to see us off which just put the cherry on top of a perfect trip. We even had one breach right off the back of the ship...I didn't get him in the air but here he is hitting the water.
Then we reached the Na'Pali Coast....I would love to be able to take a smaller boat ride to this area the size of these cliffs is just without words
Kauai - Day 2
Just realized that I never finished my Hawaii trip.....oops....our last day on Kauai was met with lots of clouds and it had rained through the night....not looking good for a flight over the Na'Pali Coastline and the Island itself....we made our way to the Anchor Mall to wait for pick-up from Wings Over Kauai and while waiting we received a phone call from them telling us that they were trying to decide if it was safe enough to go up. Pretty soon they showed up for our pick-up and told us that we had the choice of making the decision to go up or not - it was safe enough but that they had no idea what we would actually be able to see....after debating back and forth we decided to go for it....I don't think it was a mistake at all - the other couple that was suppose to go with us had decided against going....oh darn...you mean we have the entire plane to ourselves.....we boarded and I was lucky enough to get the front seat....our pilot was awesome and explained everything that he was doing while we lifted off and then was extremely knowledgable about the area...wish I would of taken notes or recorded him or something because I sure couldn't remember everything that he told us about.....
This has to be the most beautiful island of all of the ones that we visited. We loved every island that we were on so much that we couldn't pick a favorite. I think what are plans are is to visit each island in the next few years. We are starting by going back next year to Oahu! Spending a week on each will give us more time to explore what makes each one special.
Day Trip
We decided last week that we wanted to go check out Meteor Crater - neither of us had been there or could remember being there so we decided that today would be the day. Then on Thursday we were watching the news and they showed pictures and talked about a place called Grand Falls that is up on the Navajo Indian Reservation just East of Flagstaff - so we decided to head there since it stated that it was only flowing from about April-June....we after 10 miles of washboard dirt road.....this is what we saw
See all that water...what you don't - "oh come on...something that was on the news wasn't leading me astray....didn't tell us that the segment could of been taped a month ago to get the awesome shots that they had.....here is the "waterfall" yes a little drizzle down to land on that rock and make a little trickle sound...it was a tad disappointing but we had a good time on the ride in and there were beautiful rock formations so the trip was worth it...besides I got to talk to these lovely ladies on our way out and they posed so nicely for a few shots.
We also had the fortune of seeing the backside of the San Francisco Peaks and they were just gorgeous today
We then headed to Meteor Crater....and it was a fascinating place.....
If you live here and haven't been...go and if you don't live here and are planning a trip...add this...
This was a sign into the crater...just thought it was pretty funny.....we finished off the trip with a drive through Sedona....which it never seems to disappoint...
A perfect way to end a wonderful day! Next up...I'm thinking Antelope Canyon....need to do some research first though
Friday, March 9, 2012
Kauai
Kauai – Day 1
We arrived in Kauai right on schedule and we were off the
ship and at Thrifty to get our car in no time flat. Our first stop was going to be Waimea Canyon –
we headed there and instead of taking the turn off that the road signs suggest
we took the Waimea Canyon Road – which at first you think that you have taken a
wrong turn and have ended up in a residential area…just give it a few and you
will find yourself seeing some gorgeous scenery. We soon came along the red rocks with
waterfalls – these to us were just gorgeous…they just kind of mesmerized me….not
really sure why but it may have been the white rushing water falling over the
deep red rocks.
We then headed up to the first look-out….quite fascinating..we
live in the “Grand Canyon State” and have visited it quite often and Waimea was
so gorgeous..it definitely is worth the visit.
The greens mixed with the reds and then the blue skies…such a
magnificent place. We stopped at several
of the areas on the way up to the top and went all the way to Pu’u o Kila
Look-out – it is a pretty steep incline to the top but it is a ramp not stairs
that lead the way. Views are beyond
awesome….the clouds were pretty good to us while we were there…it wasn’t
completely clear but enough to be able to see the ocean down below. I completely forgot about the Koke’e Museum
as we left…so can’t comment on that. We
left via the Koke’e Road so we had completely different views on the way down –
that didn’t disappoint either.
We then headed North from here to Polihale State Park –
which we had to drive on I believe it was 5 miles of dirt road – not all that
rough but you definitely knew that you weren’t on pavement any longer….it was a
beautiful beach and the sand dunes of average height here…the water was very
nice…didn’t go all the way in but standing at the edge the surf came up and hit
me about mid thigh….refreshing to say the least. You could see the start of the Na’Pali coast
line from here…again a gorgeous view.
We decided that we were hungry and we headed towards Island
Tacos but once we got there we veered off and ate at Shrimp Station – ordered the
garlic shrimp since at the time we didn’t know that they are known for their
coconut shrimp….the plate was good but didn’t come close to measuring up to the
garlic shrimp that we had at Giovanni’s on Oahu. We decided then that since we had heard good
things about Island Tacos that we needed to try one of those as well…we shared
a taco…very good and very friendly people here.
We have red dirt shirts here in AZ from our Sedona dirt so
we definitely needed to have red dirt shirts from Hawaii….so we made a stop at
the Red Dirt Shirt Warehouse – had a hard time choosing just one shirt so we
ended up with two – one red dirt a piece and I had to get a purple one with all
the islands on it and DH got a black one that says “Bite Me” on it with a big
lizard.
We still had about 4 hours before we needed to be back at
Thrifty to catch the last shuttle to the ship so we headed to Wailua Falls….the
falls were raging since there had been quite a bit of rain in the last week and
it was pretty red as well. We left here
and decided to hit another waterfall – Opaeka’a Falls….this was just as
beautiful but not flowing quite as much as Wailua.
At this point we had a decision to make….we were trying to
decide to drive the rest of the way to Princeville or turn around and head to
Duke’s to get a Hula Pie….we decided to head to Duke’s…this became an issue
since we knew it was in the Marriott but didn’t know exactly where…we drove
through the entire Marriott area – which is very pretty and was a really nice
drive…we got to the end – turned around and headed towards Anchor Cove and that
is when we spotted Duke’s – we parked in a handicap spot to walk over to Duke’s
and we were told that we had to leave because it was parking for another restaurant
(didn’t know that they could do this with handicap spots). We decided at this point to just take the car
back and head back to the ship – it was about 6:30 or so at this point.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Hilo Day 4
We woke up to rain and it was pretty solid the entire day and from my
weather reports it had been raining earlier in the week and was still raining
when we left Hawai’i on Saturday. I know
that some people let this keep them from their plans but we headed out since we
love the rain to begin with and besides we were in Hawai'i how bad can it
get.
We headed towards Volcanoes National Park and went to the Visitor's
Center and then to the museum. It was
still raining pretty well but we made our way down the Chain of Craters Road -
this is just unbelievable and the feeling that you get walking around pretty
much on an active volcano is pretty surreal.
We made it clear to the end and then I walked the additional what 1/2
mile or so to where the lava came across the road...I figured I hadn't come
this far to not make that trek and lo and behold the rain subsided long enough
for me to get there and get back before it started up again. The seas were pretty rough that day so the
waves crashing into the side were spectacular and the Hole'i Arch was
beautiful.
We also made a stop at the Orchid Farm - which there is not much to say
except that those flowers are just beautiful....we didn't see the $20,000
dollar one but we did see the sister to it and I have to say with beauty and
all...still can't see spending that kind of money for a flower...especially one
that you have to handle with kid gloves to get them to live at least here in
Arizona.
We
then headed to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory...oh this was a BIG
mistake...my wallet took a direct hit. I
am a huge macadamia nut fan and to be surrounded by them in every possible form
I had a hard time deciding what I wanted.
We ended up with our selection and checked out. Found out later that our favorite so far has
been the Onion and Garlic ones – ended up picking up more of these later in the
trip. We headed out back of the store
and had some macadamia nut ice cream....yum!
It was a great end to a very nice day.Madame Pele' |
Holei Arch |
Sister of the $20,000 Orchid |
Friday, March 2, 2012
Maui - Day 2
Maui Day 2
Today we rented a car with Thrifty again and it was again
pretty painless. We drove to Lahiana to
go whale watching, everyone says that this trip takes about 45 minutes but it
didn’t seem to take nearly that long.
Parking is a bear here...we arrived about 9:30 if I remember correctly
and the free lot was already full. We
did find close parking to the Banyan Park but had to pay $16 for 4-6 hours.
We chose the Pacific Whale Company because not only do
they do great tours but also some of the money goes to the conservation of
whales which is important to us. We
arrived quite early for the tour so we had some time to check out the Banyan
Tree and they were having a art show under it - so wish that we would of had a
way to get some of the photos back...just awesome photography. We boarded the boat and no sooner did we get
out of the harbor that we were seeing whales.
They were everywhere. I
understand that a couple breached but I wasn't at the front of the boat to see
this happen. We must of seen at least 40
whales...doing everything but the breaching part for the rest of the trip. The guide actually at one point counted over
10 whales all swimming together. We saw
them fighting, fin slapping, diving and blowing. It was amazing watching all the
activity. There were babies all around
as well. This made the entire trip at
this point. I had unfortunately
forgotten to pack my larger lens so the whale photos aren’t as close as I would
of wanted them to be. We finished up the
tour and headed down Front Street - we were going to eat at Bubba Gump's but
ended up going to the Aloha Mixed Plate - very good food and with it sitting
almost right on the beach it was a perfect setting. We then headed back towards the ship and on
the way back there was a big traffic back-up and realized as we got closer that
there was a seal laying on the beach.
All in all it was a very successful day.
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