Maui, Day 3 and 4

This post is Day 3 and 4, Wed and Thur, from La Perouse Bay (2nd time) to Pacific 'O for dinner.  Click here to see all the pictures (or scroll down for the slideshow)

We woke up Wed morning, early again and had a nice breakfast on the beach.  It was cool and fairly cloudy (Julie in fact, wore a long sleeved fleece jacket most of the morning).  We left at about 8:00ish, AM, and went straight to the aquarium; the "snorkel spot" (not an actual "aquarium").  We sat for about 30 minutes waiting for a sunbreak before we finally plunged in.  The snorkeling was beautiful, as always, although with the wind and chop and lack of sun, the water wasn't quite as clear as it could have been.  Still, it was a memorable snorkel.


We then jumped in the car and drove on down, back to La Perouse Bay.  We watched many people get in to snorkel in the "very blue" water and asked one couple how it was.  They said it was, in fact, not clear and you couldn't really see anything.  They pointed us south and said that any of the little coves would make better snorkeling.  We took their advice and hiked along the south trail again, stopping at a cove that looked promising...and it was.  The best part of the snorkel was having the place to ourselves.

We dried out a bit, hiked back to the car, and proceeded to have some Jaws tacos again, followed by a scrumptious banana desert from a roadside vendor...Tonyhawks favorite place.  In between the two food stops we made a quick jaunt to Big Beach, though we didn't stay there.  Made it back to our hotel later, and went to a Mexican place for dinner in Kihei.


Day 4: Woke up Thursday morning, "swing day" (the day we transition from Kihei to Kaanapali) - the first thing we noticed this morning was Mike (I) was definitely sick.  I felt it coming on Wednesday night (partly due to the fact that I was tired by about 7:30 PM and in bed by 8:15), but by Thurs AM it was a full-fledged head-cold.  Still, we didn't let it stop us.  We did our morning routine of Breakfast on the beach (cold cereal, if you're wondering), and checked out/hit the road by 10:00.  We drove up to the North Coast (past Kahului) stopping at various places to see the beaches/waves/surfers.  We tried to make it to "Jaws" - the famed beach with the huge waves, but weren't able to due to a really rough road.  Mike got the best "Pork" Taco ever at a small stand in the town of Haiku.  After that, we continued on the road to...

Twin Falls - this is the first major stop on the road to Hana.  It turned out to be more than just 2 falls, and also turned out to be one of our favorite stops.  We hiked around and scrambled until we found the Falls...we actually saw about 3 different Falls.  They were great.  If the weather had been better we would have jumped in the water for sure!  On the hike, besides the waterfalls, we were treated to beautiful bamboo forests, trees with amazing roots, and numerous other "rainforest" type views...it reminded us both of our trip to Austraila.

We ended this day by heading back to Kannapali to check into our new digs - we got cleaned up and made it into Lahaina for a really nice dinner at Pacific 'O - this was our favorite restaurant on our honeymoon and they continue to rank high on our list, although they haven't changed the menu in over 6 years.  All in all, a great couple of days.

Click here to see all the pictures (or see below for the slideshow)

Maui, Day 1 and 2

Click here to link to all of the pictures...OR just scroll down and watch the slide show.

Here's the long awaited blogging/pictures from our recent trip to Maui...ok, maybe not so long awaited.  Make sure you read the captions on the photos (when you click the link) as they tell more of the story.

First, our flight down was super quick - we landed about 12:15 and by 2:00 we were on the beach...and that includes getting luggage, stopping at JAWS for Tacos (which we ate there), stopping at Snorkel Bob's to rent boogie boards, and touching base at our hotel lobby.  Little did we know, this would be one of the few sunny times we would enjoy on the beach.

We hung out on the beach that afternoon interrupted only by checking into our hotel.  The room was small, but did come with a tempurpedic mattress (very nice).  We were tired after a long day of travel so we ended up eating dinner at a place called "Wokstar" (or something like that).



Day 2: We were up early and did a couple of snorkels that morning in front of our hotel (did see a sea turtle).  For lunch we drove south to the JAWS stand and then proceded to the end of the road, to La Perouse Bay.  The Bay is BEAUTIFUL with perfect blue water...however, we were there for a short hike.  Our "short" hike turned into a slightly longer hike that saw us hugging the southwestern shore and eventually turning the corner around the southern tip of the island.  It was extremely windy and our destination, a supposed "charm" of a black-sand beach turned out to be only a "so-so" beach.  However we enjoyed the hike immensely as it winds through some lava fields, and also put us onto the "King's Highway" (our trail was the Hoapili trail).  It was cool to think we were walking on such an ancient pathway.  We were also extremely thankful we had brought our shoes as most of the trail is through a somewhat "treacherous" lava field, with very sharp rocks.  A couple of trail highlights were 1) seeing a beautiful red cardinal, 2) spotting a herd of wild goats, 3) hiking through a really beautiful forest and listening to the "night walkers" (the natives, in earlier times, believed this part of the forest was plagued by spirits that would come out at night - we heard them...the wind blowing trees together which created an erie sound.


On the way back we noticed a group of people standing and staring into a little inlet in the water - a place where the waves crashed into a narrow gulley.  We had to stop to see what they were doing and amazingly, they were watching a group of sea turtles eating on some stuff that grew just at the waters edge.  The turtles would ride the waves in, pretty strong waves at that, and take a few quick bites before the waves carried them back out.  It was pretty amazing to watch, and one of our big highlights of the trip.

We made our way back and had some 1/2 price "happy hour" appetizers back at a hotel close to ours...Julie, who was facing the beach for dinner, also witnessed a cute but small wedding that night.  We felt bad for the couple as it was an "overcast, windy no-sunset, somewhat cold" evening - probably not the idyllic wedding they had pictured.

Ran into town after that for a quick ice cream...that's it for Day 2! 
Click here to link to all of the pictures...OR just scroll down and watch the slide show.

February Snow

Who would have thunk it?  Snow in February!  See the pictures here... 

AUS Day 11 - Last Day

Ugh.  The last day was sad and depressing.  We spent the morning checking out the Wharf, which turned out to be dramatically different from what the past folks remembered.  We then discovered we had a flat tire on our van which required Scott to spend a long time waiting for a repairman to come meet us.  I honestly can't remember much else we did on the last day; one last time at the market, getting my last "Kebab" sandwich (the best)!


Enjoy the pictures (click here).

AUS Day 10: The Tablelands

Straight to the pictures here


Day 10 was a day devoted to the Atherton Table-lands.  Due to the nature of the trip, lots of driving on winding roads, Kyle decided to stay back in town with Scott so the rest of us piled in the car and started the trip.  The drive was as advertised, very much a winding road.  We had to stop a couple of times along the way as a couple folks were feeling a little woozy.  However, we did make it to the Yungaburra market which was our first main destination.

The market was huge and from my perspective, disappointing.  It was diappointing because I was expecting a market of Australian type things; crafts and other items.  However, it was really nothing like that.  There was some food stuff but mostly, it seemed like a huge market where people were trying to sell their junk to other people.  I'm also sure that others who went there, namely the women (Traci, Julie, and Terri) enjoyed the market more than I did.  The one thing I did buy there, besides food, was a book written by Sean Astin ("Samwise" in the Lord of the Rings).


We did also take some time to walk around the town a little before we piled back in the car.  Other stops were at the amazing "Curtain Fig Tree" - you really must read this sign about how the tree was formed and then look at the pictures.  It is/was amazing.  Beyond that, we visited coffee world, and The Peanut Place (my favorite stop).  We drove through towns like Yungaburra, Mareeba, Tolga, and Atherton; some kind of sleepy, others a little more hoppin'. 

My brain fails me on other details of the day, but I believe there was an attempt to try and find some emergency pastry of some kind for Julie, who hadn't eaten enough, and we also stopped to try and see some platypus', along with a few other stops.  We ended up getting back to Cairns in time to hit the Night Market yet again.  All in all, a good day together.


Click here for all the pictures

Just a quick post

Straight to the pictures...

Dad, Julie and I with a day in Fairhaven. I took more city/architecture type shots...plus me, dinking around.

 

Again, click here to see all the pics

Our Fair City

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I love Bellingham; today's pictures show a couple of the reasons why;

1) Nature: No matter where you are in Bellingham, you are only minutes, sometimes seconds away from stepping foot into a beautiful natural paradise.  Today's nature pictures are courtesy of Stimpson Reserve, where the lake has frozen over producing a number of cool effects.  And note: that's not snow on the ground; it's frost and ice.

2) Downtown: I love downtown for alot of reasons, one of which are all the cool and colorful buildings to look at.  I have shot a few of them and you can see them in this other blog post.  Here's a few more...


Our area also has a number of micro-climates which help to contribute to the interesting variety of pictures you'll see. For example, the official readings for B'ham are always taken at the airport. However, the airport is right in the path of the Fraser River outflow which means it's always windier and colder there. Sudden Valley has it's own climate (which is where Stimpson is) and then there's the Chukanut's which also have their own. Makes for a lot of variety. Today it was bitterly cold at Stimpson (Sudden Valley) as witnessed by the large amount of frost and ice.

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AUS Day 9: Fitzroy Island

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This turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip for me, even though it could have been so much more!  Fitzroy island is one of the best snorkeling places I've ever experienced; however, we happened to catch it on the coldest day of the year, literally, and it rained/drizzled on and off most of the day.  Still, it was a highlight.

As you can see, we were all a little tired by this time in the trip and Nathan spent the ride over catching up on some Z's.

The day started with about a 1 hour boat ride out to the island.  Part way out, our boat slowed down and were informed that one of the engines was over-heating and as a result, we'd be going out there under about 75% power which simply meant a slightly longer boat ride.  Not much to tell about the trip over.

The island was something I'd never experienced before.  The entire beach is made of coral and everytime a wave receded it made a sound like wind-chimes.  Literally, if you look at the pictures carefully, the whole beach is coral.  This picture of Kyle shows the coral really well.

Once we got over the cold, we all got in the water.  Due to the rain and clouds the water was not clear or calm; still, the snorkeling was amazing.  I could only imagine what it would be like on a clear, warm, sunny day.  If I ever make it back to the Cairns area, I definitely will be getting back to Fitzroy.


Another memory was this huge school of bait-fish that was next to the boat dock.  We were told that the school was actually much smaller than what it was earlier in the year.  We were also told that we could snorkel right into the middle of this school and possibly see some "predator" fish; so we followed that advice and went snorkeling.  I managed to spot a lion-fish; very beautiful (and poisonous) which turned out to be a highlight for me.

Other highlights were watching the nephews learn how to snorkel for the very first time...even Andrew figured it out.  Speaking of which, those boys, especially Nathan and Andrew managed to stay in the water for hours!  The rest of us could only handle the cold for so long; and since we were on an island there really wasn't a good way to warm up.

Finally the weather really caught up with us and about 45 minutes before our departure it started raining for real.  This forced us all under the cover of the local "restaraunt" which, by this time, wasn't really serving anything.  Still, a highlight for me for sure.

Straight to all the pictures

Up to Artist Ridge

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First, a couple of pictures showing Whatcom Falls, which is still running very high (the flood gates are still open I believe).

Now, on to today - which was a perfect day for snow-shoeing...the only complaints being 1) I over-dressed (it was HOT - like 60+ in the sun) and 2) since there was no new snow, it was very icy.

We started off thinking we'd just bum around for an hour or two but once we fought through the crowds and got our gear on, it was just to darn nice to stop...so we made it all the way up to Artist Ridge.  The weather was amazing - we saw many skiers and snow-boarders in t-shirts and a few even in shorts.  It took us both about 100' to shed some layers of our own; no gloves, hat or jacket needed.  (For you weather geeks, it's called an inversion layer which simply means it's colder at low elevations and hotter at high elevations; which is why it was still icy at our house when we got back, and much colder).The views were as amazing as ever.  Literally, there was not a single cloud anywhere to be seen.  The highlight for Julie was feeding the birds up at the top; the camp-robbers always seem like they haven't eaten in a long time.

The drive up was interesting too as we saw first-hand some of the destruction the recent floods have caused.  It was very frightening in a way to see how much damage was done just off of the Mt. Baker Highway; as the mud line came way up in a few spots.  The crew was repairing the damage; all of it caused by what, at the moment, is an ankle deep creek about 5' wide.  I could jump across it at its current level.

All in all, a great day spent.  Don't forget to check out the rest of the photos.

January Flooding - Pictures and Video

All I can say is, wow.  The latest from Bellingham?  Lake Whatcom is getting too high so they opened the flood gates at 2:00 PM today; that means that Whatcom Creek and Whatcom Falls are running extremely high.  I managed a few pictures.

First: Look carefully at the two pictures of Whatcom Falls.  One was taken 3 weeks ago, the other today.  Click on the pictures to see them full frame.  Notice on the snow picture, the rocks to the left of the Falls - in the 2nd photo, completely gone.  Also quite a bit more spray!

Second, after you do that, visit my website (click here) and see the video I took for the full effect of Whatcom Falls.  Turn the volume up.  It's a LOT of water.