Ahh...Hawaii, one of our favorite spots on Earth. To us, Maui is especially a real vacation paradise. In a very fun way, I searched all week to find the opening photo to best represent this beautiful island. Maybe this is it.
This is a long blog since it contains about 40 pics. I started with over 2,500 pics and was pleased to get down to the best 175! From there, I really struggled to get down to only 40. These are not the 40 that most people would choose, but I like 'em.
Everything about going to Maui is fun; everything about returning is not. On the plane to Maui, everyone is very happy. I dose off and sense someone staring. I awake to this. Here is the only person on the plane who doesn't really care where he is going. (C'mon now...you want this or a crummy sunset picture?)
My favorite time is when, after five hours of flying, you look down and see this.
Our condo at the
Hale Pau Hana is perfect! Check out the webcam on their site. We face the ocean and are 25 yards from the water. That's the good news; the bad news was that we never wanted to leave.
This is the view from our porch looking west. Sitting on the lawn chairs staring at the beach was a common activity among the guests.
There is lots to do on Maui, as shown here, but sitting on the lawn chairs staring at the beach took up most of our time. Sometimes I would move to a different lawn chair for a change of scenery. That was exhausting.
The grounds of the Hale Pau Hana are beautiful and well kept. I found this growing on the side of the building. I always forget that
bananas grow upside down.
Even more common are these little
Zebra Doves. These guys are so cute and gentle, bobbing their heads as they walk and bum food. Toss out a few crumbs of bread, and we have a small flock land on our table.
Sunsets in Hawaii? This was the fun part. The sunset is at 7pm sharp, every night without fail. Right on time. Everyone pointed their cameras west and began clicking. Check your camera five minutes later and see what you got. Any fool can get a great sunset shot in Hawaii. Here's mine.
The other thing that is easy to get are the tropical flowers. I have dozens of great flower shots since the colors and sky were so cooperative.
It's almost too easy to get a great photo. All around the place were the very fragrant
Plumeria flowers. Sometimes called the "Lei Flower" for obvious reasons.
One of the high points during our week, were the weddings we attended. "Attended" is a bit of a exaggeration, and actually" crashed" may be more accurate. Here we are minding our own business when a wedding ceremony starts on the beach. I decide to leave my chair, wine, and snacks to get some pictures.
Although I tried to keep my distance and be respectful of the ceremony, the wedding photographer politely asked me to, well... basically..... "get the f%#@ out of the way." The embracing couple turned to see what was going on, and I captured that look that every newlywed wants in their wedding photos: "Who's that dumbass over there?"
We later hung out with Kurt and Diane, who were great sports about it and very nice people. In exchange for a photo disc of their wedding and some wine, they agreed to drop all charges.
We found everything fun and beautiful. Walking on the beach was the real highpoint of the day and I couldn't get enough. The sky was blue and the water was warm. I was trying to get a good ocean shot here, when this woman walked in front of the camera. Some people! "Hey! Move it, Chickie! I'm trying to shoot the seaweed on the rock!"
Time to shake the beach scene and go somewhere else. We drive halfway up
Haleakala toward the
Eco-Tours Zipline. Cruising along, taking pics, and listening to great Hawaiian music was fun.
KPOA (check it out) if you like Hawaiian tunes, is a great local station. I listen to it at home on Internet radio. (I'm listening to it now.)
The zipline is our number one activity on Maui. We love it. You strap in, step off a ramp, glide across a canyon, and try to land on the ramp on the other side. Terrifying.
Some people make it look easy and appear to be enjoying it...
While others are only smiling to hide their real fright.
You get five "zips" during the hour or so, with the final one being the longest and scariest. It's nearly 800 feet across with a 100 foot drop when you first step off the ramp. I got up to 40 mph since I "weighed a little more" than the others. You can see the landing ramp at the end of Lisa's line. It's a blast.
After the zipline, it was time to head back to the condo for refreshments... The perfect meal; vegetables, juice, and ice.
and a walk on the beach. Plenty of room to stretch out since the beach by our place was never really crowded.
After the beach walk, we usually showered off and then jumped into the pool. I loved having a pool right near the beach. I decided to show Lisa some of my best pool moves. Do not try this at home. Don't run with scissors. Cover your mouth when you cough.
This guy and his 5,000 friends were so noisy the whole time. This is a
Common Mynah. Like the Zebra Doves, these guys like to nest in Hawaiian palm trees. But, unlike the doves, the mynah's never shut up. Given the grumpy face they were given, I'd be bugged too.
OK, it's 7 PM; Do you know where your sunsets are?
Hawaii is so peaceful. Listening to the
Hawaiian Slack Key music is so soothing while hanging around the beach or condo. We played it 24/7 as it always "feels" like Hawaii. Taking pictures, walking on the beach, and listening to music was a big part of our trip.
Ready for the next wedding? We crashed another one that was held near the end of the property. Lisa and I, again, took pics and gave the grateful bride and groom a photo disc. I tried to catch the bouquet, but Lisa pushed me out of the way.
Speaking of my lovely wife, she looked very cute in her Hawaiian wraps. No surprise, she was mistaken for a local, or
Kama Aina, often.
Dinner with a view? Here's the reason we rarely left our joint. BBQ up some steaks, grill some corn, open a bottle of wine, garnish and serve!
After dinner, look up to see the show on the beach.
...and as always,
Just so that you do not think that we were total slugs just sitting on a beach drinking Bloody Marys, here's proof that we actually went to the Maui Crafts Fair. Lisa tried on this double wrap thingy.
Mornings in Maui were wonderful for soft light. Everything looked good. Everyone enjoyed just hanging out on the porch.
I made some new friends as well. These girls were part of a
Hula show at the Hale Pau Hana. I left my coconuts in the condo; otherwise I would have fit in better.
Lisa captured the whole dance on video. At the end, the girls go into the audience and coax guys to come up and dance the hula with them. They know it comes off as funny if the guy is older, fat, and dorky. Lemme tell you, knowing this from previous shows, I beat feet after their last number to avoid the "selection process." Sure enough, you should have seen the guy they picked. Glad I bailed.
Another common bird we saw often was the
Cattle Egret. They follow cattle, other livestock, and even farm equipment to get the insects that are stirred up.
Maui sunsets are easy to photo, but moonsets are more difficult. Since the moon gives off no light, and only reflects light from the sun, you don't get the pretty colors associated with a sunset.
Lisa and I often woke at 2am to go outside and take pics of the moon. I told her it was a contest to see who could get the better shot. After she beat me several times, I told her it was silly to compete.
Here's a rare one with the moon doing that same "spread-out" illusion that the sun does when it hits the water. This might be the real first moonset I've seen.
Maybe not as pretty as a sunset, but challenging and pretty in it's own way.
Our favorite beach at 7pm. We ended up moving to the living room sofabed in our condo so we could look out and see scenes like this.
So much for Hawaii and our wonderful time together in this romantic place. Yes, we have already booked our trip for next year: same place.
I'm back in the saddle again. 
Haven't been hiking for a couple of weeks, so it was great to get back on the trail with Yanni. Yanni is funny, has good perspective, and is very smart. The local college gives me three credits for just hanging around him.
Now, we are in Tilden Regional Park on this specific hike. (Photos and description are within.) For our 6.3 miles, we hit Jewell Lake after a mile or two and stop to check out the wildlife. Surprisingly, this little "lake" gets an abundance of various animals, fish, and birds. I have some shots of the egrets and herons in a previous blog on Tilden.
We're cruising along and see these - get this - "Red-Eared Slider Turtles." (Remember them as pets?) They are about 8 - 10 inches across and can live to 30 years in the wild. There's a few sliders on the log in the previous pic.
Kids were playing in the water trying to catch these guys.
Check out the Wood Rose. On all the hikes we've been on, we had not seen one. Very exciting.
And of course the Teasel. Despite the bum rap this plant gets, I think it looks cool and like a pineapple. This one has a flower skirt and reminds me of Hawaii!
We hiked past this cool flower and upon looking at it, immediately stopped talking about Sports, Guns, and Chicks. We loved it's soft pedals and pretty color. It is a Chaparral Pea.
I should point out that this is a very strenuous hike with a 1,000 foot elevation gain. Only the fittest hikers could make it through this difficult trail.
Yanni likes to keep hiking even after we've reached our destination. In this case it's the top of the hill to the Rotary Club's Peace Grove. 
Good views abound, but it was hazy on our day.
Bull Thistles are everywhere and every single one is required to have a bumblebee on it. And every photo of a Bull Thistle must include the bee. It's the law.
We work our way back through the 95 degree heat for our ultimate destination.
Great to be hiking again and to get out among real nature with exotic and rare creatures.
