Goodbye Kauai...

We have had a wonderful week here and perfect weather every day. We took the first few days of the week to just stay around the resort and relax. Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday we took some day/half-day trips around the island to see the sights. Two of those evenings we packed a picnic dinner at found a beach to eat at and watch the sunset. Incredible times! Then the past few days we have just chilled out here, especially out at the beach.

The picture of Kilauea Lighthouse is from last year; it was under renovation this year and not very "photogenic..."

Craig and I fly back to the mainland and home in about 14 hours...

I leave you with a slide show of some of the beauty we saw this week...

Kauai Marriott Beach Club Resort

We spent the mornings here in the open air area overlooking the pool. The ultimate in relaxation.


We saw three cruise ships come into port and sail away during our week here. I like this shot with the two different types of "boats."


We ate several times at Duke's right next to the resort. Friday night they had live entertainment.


A sailboat with a beautiful backdrop of the mountains.


A mother hen and her chicks stayed right beside us all afternoon; might have been the tortilla chips we fed them...


Loved watching these kids play on the rocks and jump into the surf.


The most incredible pool you'll ever see (this is only about a quarter of it). And the beach & ocean just beyond. We enjoyed sitting at both.


Two stray cats hung out at our patio all week.


Bird of paradise plant right near the resort.


Watching sunsets from our lounge chairs at the beach.


The pool and hot tubs were enjoyed at night as well. Great way to end each day.


Some guys trying to look cool as they bask in the sun!


Early morning; everything is peaceful and still.


View from our patio on the first floor; just a short walk to the open air area, pool and beach.


Pattons patio to the left; ours to the right. So convenient!

We have so enjoyed our week here, as always. While we have taken in all the beauty this island has to offer, some of our best memories will be of our time just relaxing here at the resort. The pictures in this post are of this wonderful place and how we spent our days...

Our favorite place on Kauai...

Without a doubt, for Craig and I, every trip to Kauai must include a visit to this little church over in Hanalei. It holds special memories for us, as it was a favorite of Craig's mother when she visited it a few years ago with us. We always have to go here even though we have now seen and walked through it about five times. The front doors are always opened; the smell of flowers and aged wood permeates the place. The light explodes through the stained glass and shadows of the palm trees outside dance on the windows. One of these days, we will attend a church service here on a Sunday morning. So I wanted to include a slide show of what makes this little place, one where few tourists probably venture to, so special to us...

Kauai with the Pattons

Right after picking them up at the airport we headed to Costco for shopping and dinner; turns out they like the hot dog & soda combo like we do!


By the first day here they were already into the relaxing mode here at the Kauai Marriott Beach Club Resort...


Dinner out on Monday night at Duke's and their famous Hula Pie!


Mike & Martha at Wailua Falls (famous from the Fantasy Island show of the 70's).


Shadows of the four of us at Waimea Canyon overlook on Wednesday.


On the rocks for a photo at sunset...


Sorry to my readers/followers on the lack of posts this week now that we are on Kauai. Last week on Maui it was just me and Craig and he was working alot of the time. This week, our good friends from home, Mike & Martha Patton are here on Kauai with us. This year marks their 20th wedding anniversary and it was a desire of theirs to come to Hawaii to celebrate so we invited them to come with us. We have been planning this for 6 months and now that we are enjoying the time together, it is so much fun! We like to do the same things (basically just chill out with some short trips to see the beauty of this place), eat the same way (Hawaii on a budget with a few dinners out to splurge) and lots of the same hobbies and interests, some of which we only discovered by spending lots of time together each day (it's cozy here in our condo).

Pictures today are of our dear friends enjoying the island...

Kahana Beach Resort

For my final blog post for this week and this island, I did another slide show of a variety of pictures from the week of the resort and its surroundings, what we saw, memories made and all we enjoyed. We've had a wonderful time indeed... See you next week over on Kauai...

Long and winding road...

Today I learned how to create a slideshow! We took the morning to drive around to the north side of the island. At times we were on a one lane, barely paved road, meant to fit two vehicles traveling either way! I took so many pictures, I figures this was the best way to enjoy them all! I don't think they need an explanation. The beauty of this place will speak for itself...

Just click below on "View All Images"...

Lahaina

Beautiful sunsets from the Lahaina waterfront.


A steak dinner at Ruths Chris is the best!


The block-long park with the banyan tree. That is only one central tree whose branches have dropped and started new plantings. Amazing!


We had to visit the Harley store, and no, we didn't buy a thing!


Walking along Front Street full of eclectic shops and restaurants.


The nearest town to us here on Maui is Lahaina, right on the water and where the cruise ships tender when they have a port stop here. We are about 10 minutes away, and with all its shops and restaurants, it is the place to go. It's got a certain charm and character about it; hard to describe. Not like any place I can compare it to. Here's a link to read more about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahaina,_Hawaii

We have made several trips there over the week we have been here. To "Moose's" for dinner one night for their burgers; to walk along the waterfront and visit the many shops, to stroll under the famous Banyan tree planted in 1873 which takes up an entire city block; to dine at Ruths Chris Steakhouse as our special treat; and to take in the sunset as it bids another day farewell behind the island of Lanai.

Full moon

The moon rising from the east last night over the Maui mountains.


When we awoke early this morning it was suspended over the water in the west.


By sunrise, it was slipping lower onto the horizon.


Going, going...almost gone. The clouds hovering over Molokai made for a picturesque moment.

I guess one benefit of being 5 hours behind the time at home (and with the marvels of Facebook where you can know anything about anything at any given time) we were alerted to the fact that last night would be a full moon, and that it was spectacular. Well, it was. We were able to witness its rising in the east last night, and then its setting, so to speak, in the west this morning. The scripture says, "From the rising of the sun, to its setting, the Lord's name be praised." Guess that goes for the moon too...

Morning

Just a quick post... I wanted to capture this morning... So many people who come to Hawaii make it a daily part of their routine to watch the beautiful sunsets here; and they are well worth planning your schedule around, believe me. If you are sitting by a beach anywhere on any given evening, you will actually see folks not only gaze, set up chairs, take pictures, but often applaud when the sun finally sets over the horizon. Like saying , Well done, Lord... let's do it again tomorrow."

Being here on the west side of Maui we do get to witness those sunsets but because the island of Lanai is to the southwest of us, the full effect is obscured. And we really don't even get to witness the sunrise; or so I thought. God's wonder in creation was on full display this morning and I wanted to capture it as best I could.

These three pictures show what the sky displayed this morning as I stood on our balcony looking northwest, west and southwest... Magnificent!

Whale watching

Taken from our balcony; love it when you can see their tails like this or when they do a side fin slap on the water.


Often the only evidence you see of the whale is the plume of water coming up as they "breathe."


Next two photos taken last year by our friend; perfect shot of the tail.


Whale tail slap; their way of saying "Gimme five!"

Our second full day in Maui and not much news to report. Guess that's what a vacation is for; don't do much and enjoying it. Reading, napping, sunning, looking at the beauty around you and, well if you're Craig, working. We both were up at 4 am this morning so guess we are still on east coast time. Of course, we went to bed at 8 pm last night so that might explain things...

The whales have been very active today, putting on a show. That's why we love coming this time of the year and the location here in Maui (and being on the 11th floor sure helps) so we can watch them to our heart's content.

I only have a few pictures from today and it might be hard to make out so I've cheated and also included some photos taken by our friend, Matt Slack with his REALLY nice camera last year when we were in Hawaii.

Hawaii 2011

Finally here! Sunrise on 1/17 and view from our balcony.


Driving to Kahana on the west side of the island at sunset.


Flying into Maui - that little winding road down there is the one we'll be on shortly...


Maui at last! We love those white windmills going up the mountain.


Honolulu and Waikiki Beach. Diamondhead is to the right.


Pearl Harbor. The Arizona Memorial is in the center of the picture below the bridge.


An overhead view of Diamondhead.


Flying over the east coast of Oahu. Nothing like seeing land after you have been flying over the ocean for hours!



Craig & I enjoy delivery pizza at our hotel in Phoenix, and unexpected layover!


Flying over Arizona and the Rocky Mountains.

Greetings! For those who follow our travel blog when we do land-based vacations, I hope we can provide you with some enjoyment about our comings and goings over the next two weeks. Mainly, we use this blog as a way to communicate with my 93 year old mom back home, who loves the pictures especially.

To describe the past 48 hours it took to get here to Maui would take a book! When our originating flight in DC was delayed several hours due to mechanical issues (that never leaves one feeling too comfortable) we knew we were in trouble. Like a stack of dominoes toppling over, the delay had ramifications about the rest of our travel that day and the next. The delay arriving in Phoenix on Saturday meant we missed our connection to Honolulu, which means we missed our hotel reservation for that night, which means we missed out inter-island flight to Maui on Sunday morning. While there were also minor financial losses we would have to deal with as well (we assumed), the biggest loss to us was a day delayed getting to where we both so wanted to be.

US Airways, to their credit was very helpful throughout the process and an agent was able to rebook us and keep our first class seats which we had "paid" for with Craig's precious mileage miles. They also put us up for the night in Phoenix at a Courtyard (Marriott - our favorite) and supplied us with some meal vouchers. And, upon arriving in Honolulu, Hawaiian Air even waived the re-ticketing charge when we told then why we had missed our flight with them that morning. So, we literally were in Honolulu for an hour which is amazing when you think we de-planed, retrieved our luggage, commuted over to another terminal, checked in again, went through security and as stand-by status travelers, we actually made it onto the 4:08 pm plane to Maui. I would love to have a video of Craig running like a sprinter through the airport with two duffel bags of luggage. See, I went on ahead of him to negotiate with Hawaiian Air so I missed all the action. We landed in time to go to Costco to load up on provisions for the week and even had a traditional hot dog and soda for dinner.

By the time we got to our unit here at Kahana Beach Resort (which has the best location and view of any place we have ever stayed), we were exhausted. I slept wonderful; Craig was up at 2:45 am (our time) since his internal clock has not yet adjusted. He is connected with work this week so I have time to blog and such. We each have our work "stations" positioned where we have the balcony doors opened to hear the sound of the crashing waves, and where we can watch surfers and whales as we type. Not a bad set up at all.

Enjoy some pictures from our first two days of vacation. Now the real vacation begins!