Tag Archives: vacation

Oahu…

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We are staying in Waikiki. Let me just say that this is a place that is about shopping. Lots of it. If you don’t have shopping where you live, and if you like to shop, this is Nirvana. If that’s not your thing, Waikiki is sort of like hell.

I can love it, in small doses. Let me just mention that Steve and I went to the Apple store and I had a sincerely great time. My wrist is happier than I thought it could be. I know, I said I would resist. Dammit. I could not. More about that in a future post.

The four of us went to Kailua Beach today. This is one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet, depending on when you go. In our experience, it’s better in the summer than it is in the winter. I mostly took people pictures for this post but if you check my instagram or facebook feeds, you’ll find more.

The Japanese kids are so very cute! And their parents are cute too!

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This mom pulled her kids going…beckygoldsmith-Oahu-37-1

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And this woman may be the selfie queen. Later, I offered to take a photo of her with her phone but she was all about doing her own thing.beckygoldsmith-Oahu-26-1

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Let me admit that I take pictures. More than I used to. But I am not going to fall into selfie-land. Just how much documentation do we need? I know that the photos I took on this trip are largely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. They are not going to be famous, or noteworthy, or… you get the idea. They are fun! And I enjoy sharing them. But tomorrow, when we hike up Diamondhead at a very early hour, I am not carrying the big camera. And Steve says he isn’t either. Watch for instagram photos :-).

We fly home tomorrow. This has been a lovely trip, shared with good friends. I hope to get back to Hawaii in the future. If you have never been, don’t miss this place. It is truly special.

Aloha!

Tunnels Beach, north shore of Kauai…

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We chilled today, at Tunnels beach. All of us are feeling the tug of work that is piling up at home but we are on vacation, dammit! Enough with the tugging!

My current photo challenge assignment is ‘silhouette’. I woke up as dawn was breaking and everyone else was in bed and took several photos. This is the best one and it’s not really doing it for me. Too much color, too much light. But I do like the image.

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I also realized that we an see the mountains that surround Hanalei Bay from close to our back door. I took several photos as the sun came up…

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At Tunnels Beach we mostly sat. Keith snorkeled. Amanda and I swam once. The water was murkier than we are used to and this is an area where there have been shark attacks. We got over loving being in the water in short order and went back to our shady spot and read. There was not that much going on in front of us, either. Most folks went down the beach.

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I found puka shells which are shells with a naturally occurring hole (I learned that today on google). I am old enough to think of surfer dudes in puka shell necklaces when I hear about ‘pukas’.

I always look for round shells with holes and was amazed to find 20-40 of them today. Mine are now soaking in water to get the sand out. Not all are perfect—in fact most are not. But I promise to share a photo in another post. Tonight I have my camera already in the bag.

I don’t know exactly how I will string them, but I am excited and happy and not going to work on quilt class supply lists tonight. I’m going to read my book and maybe start the next one in the series because, dammit, I’M ON VACATION!!!!!

FYI: The Informationist is a dandy beach/summer read. As is The Martian. They start fast and move along. No deep thinking. I’m enjoying shallow thoughts :-).

 

Kauai and the Napali Coast…

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We are staying in Princeville for a few nights. Today we did a 4 mile hike on the Napali Coast—2 mile in, 2 out. This is not an extreme hike but it gets your attention. There are ups and downs aplenty. The views are spectacular.

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We stopped at the stream. There are rocks, big and small and we did the mountain goat thing and got to where we could see the beach. I took pictures, and so did Amanda. Can you tell that there was sweating involved?

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Some (stupid) people swam here. It is not advised. If you get swept out, you are just gone. In fact, we passed this sign that most people probably ignore, along with the rest of the other warning signs.

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We knew we weren’t going to swim so we didn’t wear swimsuits. That is not necessarily a deterrent.

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This nice, older (than me, by several years) lady proceeded to take off, and a little later put on, her attire. She was joined by two other ladies who were maybe about my age who did the same thing. No fuss, no muss, just enjoying the day. I gotta say, they were completely comfortable in their bodies and I celebrated that from afar.

Keith crossed the stream to check out a cave.

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And then we hiked out. The same ups and downs, but in the other direction. Then we swam for a while at Ke’e Beach. The surf was up enough that we didn’t go out far. Nice swimming. Amazing views of the cliffs. Steve and I took each others’ picture.

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And then we left for happy hour and MaiTais in Hanalei and dinner back in the condo. Life is very good.

I am now going to shut down and read my book. Amanda recommended The Informationist and I am loving it. Keith recommended The Martian and I plowed through that last week. Both are great beach reads!

Maui, last day(s)…

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On our last full day on Maui, we went birding. The guys are enthusiastic birders as is to be expected because they are biologists after all.

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Even though I am not even close to being a birder, I did take a very few nice bird pictures.

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Personally, I enjoyed the shape of this tree as much as I enjoyed the birds.

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We went to Makena Beach Park after birding where there were dangerous shore breaks. Enough so that we did not stay in the water long. Amanda is saying hello there, not asking for rescue :-).

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I was happy to catch some wave action in focus—manually!

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I took a few more “story” pictures. Please do tell me what you think. I have to turn in my homework tomorrow.

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PS—While walking down an alley to our hotel one night we saw this mailbox…

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I stopped, and stood in front, and contemplated the message and button…

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The ‘Oh try it, it won’t shock you’ pulled me in. Seriously, I’ll fall for just about anything, just ask my sons.

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I got a little wet. Luckily the camera was spared a drenching. Next time I see something like this, I’ll stand to the side when I press the button :-).

Kahekili Beach, Maui…

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We sat on the beach today. We read—I’m reading The Martian and it is a terrific beach read! We swam and/or snorkeled. We sat and looked at the waves and the people. It was a really nice day!

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I’m working on this week’s Photo Challenge which is to take a photo that tells a story. Here are some of the one’s I have accumulated… What do you see?

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Maui, days 1 and 2…

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We landed yesterday in Kahului, Maui, and had some time to kill before checking into the hotel so we visited the Iao Valley and Needle. Let me just say that you can miss this and not feel bad. It is a lovely view but there were too many people and a serious shortage of parking spaces.

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We drove to Paia and had the good fortune to find nice lunch, fabulous gelato, and the Cesere Brothers gallery. We were lucky enough to have time to visit with John who told us about their (marine/nature) photography. It’s really amazing and before too long one of their prints will be hanging in our house!

We are staying in Lahaina which was a whaling town. There are many lovely beaches nearby—today we went to Kahekili Beach Park to snorkel and sit on the beach. The people watching was as good as the fish watching.

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We also snorkeled off of the Mala boat ramp. This was a little more challenging. The way in and out of the water was shallow and rocky, with some coral. We had to be careful.

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The boats were on the other side of the boat ramp so that wasn’t a problem. Steve almost had a problem…

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But then the shark spit him out. [Really, not to worry. No sharks, that we’ve seen. That’s the Snorkel Bob shark that I photoshopped into the the photo. Our mom’s can now stop worrying :-).]

Amanda and I have been snapping lots of photos, sometimes of each other!

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Tomorrow we are hiking on Haleakala. It will be a long, but satisfying day. I’ll take pictures to prove it!