a snapshot of our Hawaiian experience

Aloha! I have been back from Hawaii for a couple weeks now, seems that being gone for 2 weeks it takes another 2 weeks to catch up on things. I wanted to share some photos of our trip. We have been to Hawaii many times. It is an affordable trip if you live on the west coast as we do. It is a chance to get away and immerse ourselves in the Hawaiian traditions.

Morning walk on the beach

We are not much into going to Honolulu as it really is such a big city and a tourist trap. Many folks start there for the first trip. But I always try to recommend visiting one of the outer islands as the experience is much more laid back and certainly more "Hawaiian style". We have visited all the larger islands, each one offers its own uniqueness so I cannot be the expert to tell you really which in is the best. It really depends on what activities and lifestyle you enjoy.

Usually our Hawaii vacations take us to the Big Island of Hawaii (Kona) since it is our favorite island. But this trip we were invited by friends to join them on Maui. We couldn't bear to miss our favorite island, so we tacked on a few days at the end of this trip to visit Kona:). We visited Maui about 20 years ago when we took our school aged kids to enjoy the beaches, so this was a rediscovering of Maui for us.

morning sunrise on Maui

Upon the recommendation of a friend, we chose to stay in Maalaea which is located centrally between Kihei and Lahania. this was a nice quiet harbor area with sugar cane fields behind us and the ocean in front of us.
We were thrilled to be able to watch the humpback whales and green sea turtles right from our lanai!

We were also close to the Maui Aquarium. I got lots of good pics of the native fish of Hawaii without going snorkeling!

and those sandy beaches of Maui are abundant..this was Kamaole Beach #2 in Kihei
we put our toes in the sand and swam in the surf

A visit to the Iao valley and Iao needle, beautiful scenery

We also made a trip to some upcountry towns that had some great shopping. For some reason, I did not take pictures that day...

this is a bit of a funky pic of Jim and I--we were lucky to celebrate our 35th anniversary while in Maui. We went on a sunset dinner cruise. While I am not big on this touristy stuff, I did a bit of research on this particular one, and it was worth it...all inclusive prime rib, chicken or fish plus drinks---and they were very generous with the food plus live music and a great crew.

(the blue bracelets were touristy tho signaling our dinner choice)

Sunset wasn't great on this particular night, but everything else made up for it.

!0 days in Maui has ended and we hopped a puddle jumper plane to the Big Island of Hawaii. I knw the plane was smaller--but this plane only held 8 passengers! It was an Indiana Jones type of experience, but really I was surprised how smooth the ride was.

The pilot told us we could take pics so I snapped away. the best part was we flew lower than the jets do so the view was awesome. The bay you see in the above picture is Maalaea Bay were we stayed.

Below pic is over Kihei and Wailiea, some of Maui's best beaches

After landing on the Big Island (our fave) there are a few things that are must do right away after getting settled in our condo.

Local mangos from the farmers market. These are "golden globes" and once you have tasted one, you will be forever spoiled. The little apple bananas and local pineapple are must haves too:)

First stop for Jim is happy hour at his fave hangout in Kailua village. Birds nest view of what's going on below.

a few pics from our lanai in Kona

The beaches are mostly rocky here, but there are some white sand swimming beaches too.

ahhh  yes, a Kona sunset

 there is nothing better than having liquid aloha at the Kona brew co. 

 Kailua-Kona has lots of waterfront restaurants. this is one of our faves too

Bubba Gumps. 

It was our last night in Hawaii and we were able to meet up with my cousin who lives there for a wonderful farewell evening. Our dream is someday to be able to live on the Big island at least half of the year, maybe even full time. We love the islands.

Aloha

a hui hou!

Vintage Aloha

Okay, I will have to admit that I am getting in the vacation mode....our trip to Maui for 10 days and then 4 days on to the Big Island of Hawaii is just days away....and I am in need of some sun and lots of Aloha...my desktop wallpaper is a picture of a bay in Hawaii, I have been listening to Hawaiian music on Pandora. And adding the music here to my blog....

Since I love vintage cottage treasures, I also love vintage Hawaiiana. Every trip I scout for vintage treasures there too...I can't help it! I thought before my departure I would share a couple of my favorite old Hawaiian  postcard images!

Malama pono

(take care)

A hui hou 

(until we meet again)

time for reflection..literally

A short trip in the motorhome this weekend offered a wonderful rest, relax and regroup  for me. I schedule these short excursions months in advance just so we will actually go. If they are not planned and reserved we will find a reason not to go. So for the second time this summer we lucked out with awesome weather for our mini getaway. So up the canyon we headed to Detroit lake, located on the western slopes of the Cascade mountains in Oregon. No TV and no internet service, a nice get away from it all.

click on the pics to see full size

The first morning I walked down to the edge of the water...amazed at how calm it was. Now when I was younger and was really into waterskiing, this smooth water was a skiier's dream. Didn't matter too much how cold the water or the air was, this was the ultimate scenario for me. We sold our boat a few years ago when the kids grew up and we started having to force ourselves to ski....but this scene made me think..hummm I think I could enjoy a ski at the moment....okay snapping back to reality, I took sometime to just simply watch nature here. The crowds are gone after labor day, so I could immerse myself in thought and reflection.

I watched with wonder this flock of Canadian Geese as they meandered down to the water for a bath I am assuming. I had never seen this ritual, but they almost went into a frenzy, then they all went under water at the same time time for about 5-10 seconds, then all popped up the same time. Then they took turns rolling over on their backs flopping their wings. After 15 minutes or so, they paraded back up to the shore. Interesting....

Later in the day my daughter and son in law showed up with my 2 sweet little granddaughters, and of course nana had to take some photos. They stayed for a lovely BBQ of juicy burgers on a perfect evening!

Lilian 

Lynsie

The next day we returned home, and of course I had a ton of email to take care of, but I am recharged and so glad I got to rest!

Our adventure in the Caribbean Day 7

Port of call for Day 7--Barbados! Ahhh, now this is truly the beautiful ocean and white sand beaches I have seen in the magazines! Now I will say that they drive on the "other side" and not the "wrong side" of the road on these islands. I would catch myself several times thinking--hey get over! You are gonna hit head on that car!

We started our day out on Barbados with a snorkel trip. We were taken to a bay of sunken shipwrecks, which we found out many were placed there simply to enhance the snorkel adventure. The water was warm and lots to see underwater. Although I do have to say that it still doesn't top the snorkeling in Hawaii.

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Not the big mountains that you usually see on islands, but rolling hills, and so beautiful. A bit of trivia here--there are 365 churches on this small island! 

I hope you enjoyed Barbados! Next I will bring you the next two ports of call Antiqua and St. Lucia

Cruisin....Bon Voyage!

I found these wonderful old postcards depicting cruising in the tropics, and guess what!

That is exactly where I am headed:)

We will stay in Key West, Florida for 3 days then fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico where will board our ship for an 8 night cruise of the southern Caribbean

Ports of call include Barbados, St. Maartan, St. Croix, and St. Lucia.

You won't see me back here until at least May 18th! I vowed I would take a break from my computer. I will have my lap top with me, but it will only be to check email for my website and local destinations I am visiting for information. I will take lots of pics too!

Bon Voyage my friends!

I will miss Kona this year

Usually after Valentines Day I start to really get excited about our spring tropics vacation which we take almost every year sometime in April or May. But things just did not work out for 2009, so home bound we are and I am blue, not being able to look forward to spending time on my favorite Hawaiian island--Kona or more properly named The Big Island. This is one of my favorite pictures (I even have it on my as my computer wallpaper most of the time). It overlooks a small bay near Keauhou. That is a Sherton Resort in the distance. We rented a condo there one year and this was our breathtaking view from the lanai.

This is one of my favorite sunset pics--everything was so pink that evening

And this is my fave flower--the plumeria! In fact to make myself feel better, I ordered myself some Plumeria bodywash and lotion direct from Hawaii (and its made in Hawaii too)

So it's just dreaming of the warm humid climate of Hawaii this year for me! We are planning a Southern Carribean cruise with friends for 2010, so Kona will wait until 2011.