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Tomifobia Bike & Nature Trail

2009-07-01T21:49:00.008-04:00

We drove down to Stanstead, QC to do the first section of the Tomifobia bike trail today...what the heck is Tomifobia...the fear of Tommy?

The Tomifobia Nature Trail (TNT) is a 19-km rail-trail in the Tomifobia River Valley, between Rte. 141 in Ayers's Cliff, Quebec and Rte. 247 in Beebe (Stanstead), Quebec. Sentiers Massawippi, a non-profit charitable organization, purchased this property in 1993 from Canadian Pacific.

Commonly known as Sentiers Massawippi and running all the way to the U.S. border, the Tomifobia Nature Trail offers a ride through the heart of the Eastern Townships’ natural and architectural heritage. Running along a former rail bed, this trail offers cyclists a gentle excursion to Stanstead, where you’ll find the Colby-Curtis Museum, the Haskell Opera House and famous Canusa Street, with one side in Canada, the other in the United States.

The week before we started the search for the perfect nature trail in Ayers Cliff where we did a half dozen km's through the nature preserve...it was awesome! The first leg of the trip, from the information center to km 7 to be more specific, was lovely and flat and the sun shone as we drove along the Tomifobia river through forests and saw cows, ponds and flowers... it was so beautiful DD almost had a collision with another rider coming in the opposite direction. The second leg, from Stanstead to km 15 we had bike problems and I thought DD was going to rip a telephone pole in two pieces because her brakes jammed and the kick-stand was rubbing her tire!

Growwwwwl!!!

Next time we ride from Stanstead we will start at the head of the trail at km 19 instead of winding through town although we did get to see the locals and the houses for sale!

I think I liked the first section best but all in all it is a real nice bike ride on unpaved hard packed trails...no worry about roller bladers or high speed racers here...it's all about the beauty of nature!

Walt Disney World Rides - Hollywood Studios

2009-06-11T13:05:00.003-04:00

On my last Trip to Walt Disney World I visited Hollywood Studios on my third day. I was there at 8:30 am and I'd say it's worth it to get there early because you get to see a little show. In this one it wasn't Mickey and friends but a crazy Director and we all said "Lights, Camera, Action!" and off we all went to our rides. I wanted to go to the Indiana Jones show but it was only starting at 11:30.

I went to " Star Tours", a thrilling Start Wars flight simulator. This was a very bad decision on my part. Not that the ride is a bad one but because I have motion sickness. I had to keep my eyes shut almost the entire ride so it was almost a waste of time for me. Thanks to this YouTube user I can now catch up and watch it at home!

My second ride was in the Streets of America Muppet Vision 3D, a 25 minute hilarious 3D film starring The Muppets. As a child I really liked muppets, especially Miss Piggy with her outfits and hats and makeup and Kermit. It was very funny and very good. There was an orchestra under the stage with musician penguins! I especially enjoyed the Live Monster who walked in front of the stage, the rabbit on the left side balcony, and the bubbles!

My third ride was The Streets of America "Studio backlot Tour", A 35 minute walking/tram tour of movie-making magic. they took people from the audience to perform a simulation of boat being attacked then showed us the montage. The train brought us to Catastrophe Canyon. I was sitting on the left side and stayed dry despite what said the person who shot this YouTube Video.

I was looking for "Sounds Dangerous with Drew carey" but couldn't find it because they closed it. I'm glad I wasn't able to go cause it looked like it was boring from what people say. I ended up doing "The Great Movie ride", a 22 minute travel through classic film scenes and Hollywood moments. That ride was awesome! I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the chic entrance decor with the carpet and the costumes.

I wanted to go to the Indiana Jones show but no Fast Pass were available and I woul've had to wait 45 minutes standin, and the show was 30 minutes. So I turned around and went back and left the Park. It was getting too hot and with all the cement retaining the heat it must be a baking oven in the summer!

Instead of taking the bus back to Epcot I took a boat shuttle that goes to the resort hotels. It was one of my favorite rides. It was refreshing and relaxing.

Walt Disney World Rides - Epcot Center

2009-05-11T20:22:00.014-04:00

I hope you get the chance to go one day. It is a great experience. I recommend going in the low season, using the fast pass system and maybe getting a book to plan your stay. Pack light, have sunglasses for when you come outside in the bright sun from a dark movie ride. Bring a vest or something you can put on your shoulders when inside if the airconditioning's on high. Bring snacks, a bottle of water, sunblock, and some $$.

At the end of Day 1, after Animal Kingdom, I still had time before I took my shuttle back to the hotel so I decided to take a ride in the monorail. I was hoping I could sit down, my feet needed a deserved rest but no, I felt like riding in a full rushhour subway. I did get a seat once we arrived to Magic Kingdom. I enjoyed the ride back to Epcot.

And I did this ride, Spaceship Earth in the Future World. At the end of the ride they take a picture of you and ask you to fill in a questionaire on a screen in the car, and then they make a mini montage according to your answers. At the exit, like in the Dinosaur ride, they have big screens with pictures of everyone on the rides. They are numbered and they have computers where you can email the animation they made with your picture and answers. I enjoyed this free extra.

On day 2 the first ride I did was "Soarin". I believe it is the best ride that Disney has. I had tears in my eyes as it was so beautiful. It was worth my 3 day ticket with the park hopper option. If you ever go to Disney, this ride is a must. Oh, and they even lift your seat up so your feet are dangling. I'm not sure if they tilt you forward a bit but for sure I remember vividly that they spray you with scents of pine above a pine tree forest, and with the scents of orange above an orange tree grove. I felt like it was the most wonderful moment of my life.

My second ride was "Living With The Land", a boat voyage through amazing greenhouses with baby bok choi, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, lettuce and a fish farm. The rides in small cars are my favorites, after walking and waiting in lines for hours.

The next ride was "Journey Into Imagination with Figment": A Journey that will engage the imagination and the senses. The only thing I remembered after the ride was at the end we got sprayed with the smell of a skunk!

"Honey I Shrunk The Audience"In-your face 3D adventure film where I met a friendly woman from Lasalle or Lachine on the island of Montreal. Her boyish skinny daugter was so cute, asking while we waited sitting on the carpeted floor, if there would be monsters jumping on us. That woman kicked me in the legs a few times when the air shots coming out of the benches made you believe mice were running between your legs.

Canada: "O Canada", Circle-Vision 360 film. Hosted by Canadian actor martin Short. 14 minute shows. I liked this movie exept when Martin spoke a bit of french when he introduced the province of Quebec - in Part II of the YouTube video - and said "La Belle Provence" while what he meant to say was "La Belle Province". These are similar words but have totally different meanings. Provence is a region in the south of France, and Province, well, is a Province. I thought Martin should have made a bit more of an effort, being an actor he should have been able to rehearse and practice to pronounce Province right. But then maybe that was the Director's job to tell him . But I still thought he was a good host!

In the France pavillion, I saw "Impressions de France", a film celebrating the beautiful French country side.

I had lunch in Morroco, at the Tangierine Cafe, outside at a table in the shade, priceless! I had a Falafel Pita sandwich with lentil salad and couscous salad with a Dasani bottled water. I enjoyed the music and the setting.

In the Japanese shop, I saw the most exotic things. I got some paperclips in the shape of Penguins and some stickers.

In The USA Pavillion, I saw The American Adventure, a 30 minute show and inspirational story of America and its people. It felt like you were walking in the white house. It was something big and epic. The characters and their settings came out from the floor and I was wondering how much space it took to keep all of them, and how frequently they had to dust them. It was nice but I found it hard to stay awake and my eyes were shutting, it was so serious. One part they didn't show us about the hitory of America though is how the British and French killed the natives with their guns, their alcohol, and their diseases... I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them but I wouldn't know! And I would be somewhere else! Maybe somewhere in the south of France... with no snow! Yeah! On my way out the first thing I saw was the Espresso Coffee Sign!

In Italy and Germany it was mostly shops and restaurants.

In China there was the 360 Movie "Reflexions of China" with beijing, the Wall of China, the Yang-Tse and the weird mountains.

In Norway, there was "Maelstrom", A Viking boat voyage through dark places.

In Mexico, it was the "Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros. Donald Duck, Panchito and Jose Carioca host a musical boat tour. At the beginning of the ride, on the right there is the restaurant and it smells so good! You can see the people seated and eating in a setting simulating an evening in Mexico in a small village with outdoors shops and lanterns and lots of people. To the left, the is the Mayan Pyramids. It was very colorful.

These last two rides were not a good choice for somebody having motion sickness... But I just wanted to do all the rides! Back in Future World, I went to Test Track... In the single person lane. I was supposed to wait 20 minutes instead of 50 and waited only 5 minutes but I hated it! I shoul've known, I get sick in a regular car, imagine in a test drive car!I regreted I was on it but once the car had left there was nothing I could do but swear in my head ?%$#@!!

So the last ride had ruined this one because I was more vulnerable to feeling naucious. At Mission Space I chose the green team for a mild journey with everything but the spinning. There was an actor from the movie Mission to Mars. We were all assigned a role and tasks. I was the commendant. It's not so bad now just watching the video because my seat doesn't move and there's no bumps... I had to shut my eyes quite a few times.

As soon as I was out, my watch said 5:15 and I decided I was tired and wanted to catch the 5:30 shuttle back to the hotel. I ran to C-11 and made it on time! The same people as yesterday were there waiting, a familly from Scotland: a mother with her 2 kids and her parents. When I got to the hotel it was goolash night, a sort of macaroni with a meaty tomato sauce (which tasted like they had used the leftover breakfast pork patties), brought it upstairs, put my bikini and went for a quick swim. Thee was a Germany Movie Special on TV and it went well with all my memories of the day. At 10:00 I went to bed... tossed and turned.. that free goolash ended up costing me some rest!

At the end of the third day I went back to Epcot to do some rides I hadn't been on. I went to "The Seas with Nemo and friends" where we boarded a clamobile and did an inside ride.

Then it was Turtle Talk With crush. I didn't know what to expect in this interactive show and I was impressed! My question is how can they do that?! So there's Crush, the turtle with a British accent who says "Dude", "Toaaatally", "Awesome", "Right" all the time. The kids were very cooperative and it seemed like everybody enjoyed and had a good time. There was this little boy who was too shy to tell Crush his name "I understand totally dude, I wouldn't know what to say if a turtle spoke to me". So Crush asked the girl next to him and she said he was her brother, so crush said: "Oh, you're kinda like his representative right?" and later he called her the Rep. Crush is very quick and always has a good and funny answer. It's interesting to watch all the different Videos on YouTube with the different Crush versions... I mean all the versions are different because it's interactive, Crush doesn't always have the same voice.. he mutates!

My last ride of all was The Ellen's Energy Adventure, a 45 minute show where Ellen brings us to the Dinosaur era. I thought I was in for a movie only... So I had a big surprise when we started moving! I had seen the rails on the floor but I thought maybe we would just ride a bit forward or backword or in circle. The whole croud turned, the cars were all seperated we were riding like a train inside the dino era! It was awesome! I was so glad I came back to Epcot after Hollywood.

I had lunch at the Land, a ginger beef Thai chicken with stir fried vegetables and rice. I wanted to do Soaring again but I didn't have enought ime for the wait so I did Living with the land another time and saw "The Circle of Life", a short film with the Lion King.

I hope you get the chance to go one day. It is a great experience. I recommend going in the low season, using the fast pass system and maybe getting a book to plan your stay. Pack light, have sunglasses for when you come outside in the bright sun from a dark movie ride. bring snacks, a bottle of water, sunblock, and some $$ and voila!

Walt Disney World Rides - Animal Kingdom

2009-05-11T13:51:00.005-04:00

I was at the Walt Disney World Parks for only 3 days. I didn't have enough time to visit all of the parks, but I went to Animal Kingdom, Epcot Center and Holliwood Studios. I saw Magic Kingdom 22 years ago and all I can remember is the Caroussel of Time. Here is an interactive map of Animal Kingdom, thanks to this YouTube user. I must say when I was on the rides, I thought, what part don't they understand in no cameras and no filming? But now that I am back home, I must say I'm glad these people went against the rules... It isn't that big of a crime because there's nothing like being there in person and I believe this can also help people in planning their visit to Disney.

I hope you get the chance to go one day. It is a great experience. I recommend going in the low season, using the Fast Pass system and maybe getting a book to plan your stay. Pack light, have sunglasses for when you come outside in the bright sun from a dark movie ride. Bring a vest or something you can put on your shoulders when inside if the airconditioning's on high. Bring snacks, a bottle of water, sunblock, and some $$.

It's Tough to Be A Bug! 3D Show housed in the root system of the Tree of Life. Features Flik and Hopper, inspired by Disney-Pixar's "A Bug's Life". Some creepy-crawly moments in the dark.

This is the first ride I did Tuesday morning when I got to Animal Kingdom. I was wondering if I was at the right place cause I was the only one there, but soon enough some people started to walk in the line. I waited about 5 minutes to get in.

This is one of the videos of the movie I found. It's not the best quality but it runs til the end when they ask the audience to remain seated and you feel the maggots running underneath the seat!

The next ride I took was the Kali River Rapids, in the Asia section of Animal Kingdom. I think I was the one who got the wettest.

Since I was too wet to eat at the Yak & Yeti restaurant, I sat down on a bench in the sun and relaxed a bit. This woman next to me asked on what ride I had been on to be this wet? Yeah. I got a fast pass to The Kilimanjaro's Safaris, then rode the Express Train to Rafiki's Planet Watch but stayed in the train to return to Africa. The Safari reminded me of a PC Adventure game we played called Paradise, which is set in Africa.

The last ride I took in Animal Kingdom was Dinosaur. They take a picture of you inside the ride, at a scary cornier and they sell it at the exit. I thought for 20$ it wasn't worth it. I thought they show everybody in the car and one woman's picture was way funnier than mine. She looked really scared and her mouth was open, you could tell she was screeming.

DD's Flight from Burlington, Vermont to Orlando, Florida

2009-05-11T13:06:00.003-04:00

April is low season at my work so I was only working one day which was Friday April 24. It was Sunday April 19, Dami and I were having our morning coffee and I told him I thought it was too bad he had to work because we could take advantage of my time off and both go on a short trip somewhere. He said: "Why Don't you go by yourself to Orlando in Florida!" Hm... It wasn't a bad idea but it was a bit crazy to just leave like that on my own! So I phoned my mother and she was silent until I finished explaining and then she said "Why Not?" So I thought yeah! Why Not! We found a deal on Expedia.com and booked it!

I like flying from Burlington because it's a small airport. The only negative point is that it is rarely a direct flight. This time, I was flying with U.S Airways with a transfer in Washington. While I waited, I bought myself some magazines with a bottled water and recharged my new VirginMobile cellphone Dami bought me. In the small plane, I was sitting in the front row which I thought was usully reserved for First Class Passengers. The transfer went smoothly, and my flights were on schedule. I felt very fortunate because other travellers didn't have my luck and had their flights cancelled because of bad weather. There was thunderstorms all the way down to Florida.

The view from my window seat was amazing and for the first time I was able to see lightning under puffy white clouds to the east. I must say U.S. Airways is not my favorite airline. The planes are old and dirty and there was no snacks that I could buy and I starved and got a stomach ache because of that. But the staff was nice and all went well.

A Trip To The Granby Zoo

2009-01-09T11:10:00.001-05:00

Went to the Granby Zoo today. Nothing like visiting a Zoo in January when it’s 20 below zero. The Granby Zoo has a winter program until February and since they have a few animals that can stay outside even in the cold we thought we’d drive out to enjoy the Zoo; we had gone in the summer time but since DD and I both had the day off together she thought it would be fun to go to the zoo!

We first stopped to see the Elephants. They were in their indoor shelter due to the extreme cold. It resembled a surreal prison with large wide white bars caging in the two Elephants; one is named Doudoune and the younger one is Sarah. When we got there it was feeding time and the keeper stretched what looked like a slinky between the elephants. This is an electric fence to keep the elephants from grabbing the other ones bale of hay.

They both looked kind of bored which makes sense since they were inside and they looked much happier when we saw them in the summer outside. The Granby Zoo has an awesome outdoor area for the elephants and giraffes so the winter must be hard on them.

The keeper told us how they try and give the elephants things to do to keep them stimulated; they tie apparatus to the ceiling, bring in new toys for the elephants and give them special snacks of carrots and at Halloween they get pumpkins! Those lucky buddies!!

We went upstairs to see the giraffes. There was a new baby giraffe born at the Granby Zoo and he was just a tiny thing compared to the three adult giraffes in the pen. We were on a second floor viewing platform so we had a nice face level view of the giraffes as they chewed their cuds and checked us out! Again, they looked kind of lethargic but they only have a few more monthes before tthey can be out on the savannah!

They zoo is having a name the baby giraffe contest so DD and I both submitted a name; I chose Jasper after our brown Burmese cat and DD chose Kirikoo after that animated movie we saw about the little African boy. We found out later that the choice of names will be a random draw and when we checked on the Granby Zoo website they had a list of names submitted so far and so the poor giraffe could end up with a name like Ti’Claude or Stretch!

Outside we walked through Africa and saw the Zebras in the snow which was quite odd to see! The last place I’d expect to see a herd of zebras would be galloping through snowbanks! It was fun to stroll the the zoo with no crowds, it was like walking in a deserted theme park like an episode of The Twilight Zone. We saw the Flamingoes in their mirrored hot house all shiny so the flamingoes think they are in a big crowd to encourage reproduction and the formation of couples! Quack!

The little meerkats were in their heated winter shelter and so we could really get up close to the glass to see them; they are so cute! We went to Asia after that and saw the bears and then the Tigers; we got there just in time to see snack-time and so there were twenty of us right beside the tiger, on the other side of the dence naturally, and the tiger keeper had a bowl of meat and was tossing little tiger meatballs into the cage.

The tiger was growling and meowing like only a big pussy-cat can and it was impressive to be so close to the tiger. When we were there in the summer it was so hot and the tigers were just sprawled out in the shade sleeping but in this wintery wonderland they were walking around striking with their orange and brown coats against the snowy background!

The best moment was in the Hippopotamus tank. There is a dark cavernous room with a giant hippopotamus aquarium and glass walls so we can see the huge grey beasts, looking much like Manatees, swimming. If you stand on one of the bleachers you can just peek over the surface of the tank and see the huge heads, eyes and nostrils poking out of the water. They were blowing bubbles under water and opening their gaping mouths at each other and it was quite thrilling.

In the summer the viewing area was too crowded and the hippos didn’t move about too much or maybe they were outside but today we had the whole viewing cave to ourselves and the huge animals were quite active. At one point I walked to the corner of the tank and there was a huge hippos staring at me sitting there behind the glass and I had a primitive shiver of fear run through me being so close to such a dangerous animal!

Even though we had the glass between us it was crazy to see the fangs and face of that whiskered brute so close. The hippo just sat there on the massive rock shelf in the corner and DD came for a peek and we were both wide-eyed in amazement!

Then the big hippo swam away and DD walked down to the middle of the tank and the hippo came to her and started circling in the tank against the glass with DD walking in synchronicity with the hippo.

He looked at her and swam close to the glass and gently rolled over and went to the corner and then swam back to the middle pane of glass where DD was waiting and they did their little hippo dance again and again! The hippos was really having fun and DD was quite excited to be playing a game of hide-and-seek or peek-a-boo with a hippopotamus!

That was the highlight of the day but the whole walk was is so nice and the winter trip was so different! The zoo had little firepits all over the place with gently fires burning so we could stop and warm up; that was so nice, I can see why the Granby Zoo is one of the best zoos in North America! Next year we will buy seasons passes so we can just go to the Zoo anytime because there is always things new going on and it’s so nice to be in a place where animals are given such respect...I just hope the giraffe is not named Spunky Winterbean!!

Jasper & Alaska : Burmese Babies

2009-01-07T21:03:00.000-05:00

Have you met Alaska & Jasper? Maybe not but they are the newest additions to our family! We love being surrounded by creatures and when we lost our dear pussy cat Pauline we went through an emptiness and mourning that only cat lovers can comprehend.

With the loss of Pauline, who had been with DD for over a decade we decided that we wanted to adopt a pair of kittens and we found a lovely pair from a breeder here in Quebec. More pictures of our Burmese Cats

I'm not sure why we were drawn towards the Burmese breed but after much research we decided that we wanted to have two Burmese kittens as we felt that their charachter attributes well-matched our own ideals and we were drawn to them.

Naturally, when our cat Pauline passed away we were heartbroken. As we mourned and grieved, and began living without our pet who had spent so many years with us in our country retirement home, we realized that we wanted to adopt some pussy-cats to fill the gaping void Pauline, our sweetie, had left with her passing.

We were attracted to the Burmese breed due to their characteristics and sheer beauty. We were lucky enough to find a local breeder after much searching and once we began correspondence with the breeder it became clear that this was the right thing to do...there were so many odd connections that tied us to these kittens and brought us full circle with our mourning of dear Pauline.

Jasper and Alaska were both born on the 29th of February 2008 which was interesting because they both had different mothers yet they were both born on the same day! Not only that but they were born on the exact same day as Pauline was cremated. Our new kittens came in to the world the same day our Pauline, who was 15 years old, was cremated. On top of that the mother of Alaska, Sally, was born on the same date as DAMI, April 20th. All these connections created an incredible happiness within us!

Meet the Burmese Babies! If you need a theme song then just think of Brittney singing: Burmalizer Burmilzer Burmalizer!

2009-01-05T22:27:00.000-05:00

On The Road!

TripSister.com is the website of DD and DAMI; partners and friends who both love to travel! We decided to start this website to help document our camping trips, vacations and holidays.

We find that the more we travel the more pictures we have and the more pages of diaries we fill. Each trip we take, whether it is a camping trip to the Florida Keys or a stay in a luxury resort hotel in Hawaii, we end up with hundreds of stories to tell and twice as many pictures to show!

It is tough to share our stories and photos with our families and friends, who are spread around the world, so we decided to start this website so people we knew and friends we met on our travels could come to one website to read and see new pictures when it was convenient.

Visit our travel photo collection

TripSister.com is the name we chose for our website to share our stories and pictures from our travels, holidays and vacations; we chose the name because...well...we like to trip! We're not sisters but at times we can fight like sisters! No...we just liked the name because it's casual, like us!

We love doing everything from backpacking to car-camping to staying in luxury hotels. Every trip we take we try and make different...something new and exciting to a different destination so we can learn more about the world...and ourselves!

DD is a great diary enthusiast and keeps detailed notes on our trips including budgets, sights, special moments and other details that, if they hadn't been written down, would be lost! Both DD and myself, DAMI take pictures, and while neither of us are professional photographers, we sometimes are very happy with the results!

We both like to write and take pictures so we started this website to share our adventures, pictures, hotel reviews or whatever leaves an impression on us with our friends and family.

If you have come to our website by accident we welcome you! If you want to send your comments we'd love to hear your voice! You can post a comment on most pages or send an email to us at dd@tripsister.com.

Our Hawaiian Trip : 3 Islands in 2 Weeks

2009-01-02T22:37:00.000-05:00

Our trip to the Hawaiian Islands was a fantastic vacation where we spent just over two weeks visiting Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island! We spent time in Waikiki but wanted to explore the oldest Hawaiian Island which is Kauai and the island named Hawaii which is the biggest island of the island group which is often aptly referred to as The Big Island, so we quickly flew to Kauai, The Garden Island, and after a week there flew to The Big Island to explore the newest and still growing volcanic big island of Hawaii!

Coming from Canada we found everything about the trip was “Big”! Wow...it was our first trip so far away from home and it was unbelievable!

We had discovered that instead of flying out of Montreal, which was closer to our home in Knowlton, Quebec, it would be much cheaper to fly out of Burlington, Vermont which is only a short drive over the border between Canada and the USA. From Burlington we took a quick flight to Newark, New Jersey where we transferred onto a direct flight into Honolulu. We flew Continental Airlines and, while they weren't the cheapest, they did have the direct flight we were looking for as we didn't want to take chances with flights into hubs like Chicago or Seattle or Los Angeles. Continental Airlines also had great service and friendly staff.

We used TripAdvisor.com to help us choose our accommodations. We reserved in advance but sometimes had to find new places to stay because the reserved hotel or bed and breakfast didn't quite measure up. Most places we stayed at on our trip to Hawaii were awesome and left us wanting to stay longer and linger in the peace and luxury of the friendly Aloha State!

Some of the places we stayed in are the Aqua Aloha Surf & Spa in Waikiki, The Plantation Hale on Kauai, The Resort Quest Islander on the Beach in Kauai, The Volcano Cottages on The Big Island, Aaaah The Views Bed & Breakfast in Waimea, and The Jacaranda Inn also in Waimea on the Big Island. We wrote reviews and took pictures at each place and also promised to put some reviews on TripAdvisor.com since we used them to make our decisions and want to share our experiences...you know...give back to the travel community!

We visited the beaches of Kona and Kapaa, snorkelled with Green Sea Turtles and Butterflyfish, saw the volcanoes and craters of Kilohana and the Calderas of Kilaua, hiked the canyons of Waimea and the trails of the beautiful Na Pali Coast...there was so much to do and see in this vast ecosystem and we absolutely loved it all!

We flew Hawaiian Airlines on our inter-island flights and with Continental Airlines for our long flight to Hawaii and then home again. Both carriers were great!

Both DD and myself wrote diaries on our Hawaiian vacation and took a lot of pictures so you can find all of our favourite places and sights described in more detail here on the website. You can also use the site search to find hotel reviews or specifics on towns and places we visited or any topics of interest including any pictures you may want to see.

DAMI WRITES:
Burlington Vermont - On The Road To Hawaii
Newark New Jersey - The Stepping Stone
Waikiki - A Day On Oahu
Honolulu Airport - Bound For Kauai
Kauai Arrival - From Heaven To Hell
Kauai Day 2 - Changing Hotels for Resort Quest and Seeking Poipu Beach
Kauai Adventures - Beyond the Na`Poli Coast

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

Destination Florida: Ultimate Road Trip

2009-01-01T09:08:00.000-05:00

There's nothing like a three week road trip to change your outlook and when we drove to Florida for an escape from the winter in Canada we had the time of our lives! The best thing about driving instead of flying is you get a chance to see the changing scenery and as we drove South on I-95, passing through New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, The Carolina's and Georgia we were better able to appreciate the size and beauty of the area.

Of course the highway doesn't always have the best views for sight-seeing but since we only had three weeks for the trip we decided to take the main road and get to Florida where we were planning to do our car-camping and exploring.

When we saw our first palm tree it was really exciting! The temperatures had been steadily rising as we drove South and by the time we hit the free orange juice stand at the Florida Visitors Center we were bathed in sunshine under blue skies and a warm wind we rarely feel up in Quebec in January!

We stayed in hotels on the drive down but once we hit Florida we started the camping! Our Salsa Vibe had all of our belongings and the comforts of home that made this car-camping so different from our backpacking trips. We had our camping gear and coolers and hiking gear and even our beloved espresso machine so we could have a morning Cappuccino at the campsite picnic tables!

We did a basic counter-clockwise route through the entire state, stopping first at Fernandina Beach then driving West to Lake City and the Osceola State Park on our way to Apalachicola on the Gulf of Mexico. We camped and explored, hiked and swam and saw so many different birds and creatures along the way that we were constantly stopping to take pictures. In the evenings, as we sat around the campfire or watched the sunsets we could talk about all the sights we had seen that day before we tucked ourselves into our small tent for the night.

We then made our way back East across the Suwannee River towards Bald Point on Ochlocknee Bay and Manatee Springs State Park before crossing Central Florida and driving down the East Coast towards the Canaveral National Seashore. The drive down highway 95 between West Palm Beach and Miami was a bit crazy and while it was neat to pass the colorful homes, surf shops, golf courses, beaches and typical Florida retirement villas in Boynton Beach, Boca Raton, Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale, it was also the most stressful part of the trip due to the traffic and when we got a bit lost in Miami we felt like we could have used the help of Horatio Kane and the CSI team for protection in some of the rough neighbourhoods we accidentally found! Gulp!!

We drove to the Keys and made a short trip to Key West but found it a bit touristy and preferred the snorkeling and laid-back areas near Key Largo where we saw some awesome corals at Pennekamp State Park before heading into Everglades National Park and the Shark Valley Slough where we came face to face with alligators, huge birds,
and incredible lush swampland and open fields!

Our last night of camping the temperatures were unseasonably cold and approaching the freezing level so we were actually a bit glad to know that it was time leave Rainbow Springs to start the drive home to Canada. After that cold night we were glad to spend the last few nights of our return trip in hotels where we could have hot showers and sleep on fluffy mattresses and pillows instead of lying on a thin inflatable mattress and brushing our teeth with pond water!

The drive from Florida to Quebec took us about three days so we enjoyed two nights of hotel continental breakfasts and take-out suppers instead camp cooking and as we got further North we started seeing more and more snow reminding us that even though it's hot and sunny back on the beach, February is approaching and we enter Canada where it is certainly winter and we were back to the land of tuques and mittens!

What a great 21 days we had! The driving was fun and DD and I really bonded as we got to spend a lot of time in the car chatting, listening to the local radio stations and only occasionally coming to blows over map directions!!

Pictures of Northern Florida
Fort Clinch State Park, Ocean Pond Campground, The Big Gum Swamp and Ochlockonee State Park

Pictures of The Gulf Coast and The Panhandle of Florida
Bald Point, The Forgotten Coast Line and Manatee Springs

Pictures of Southern Florida
The Everglades and the Keys

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from the Sunshine State
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Florida that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip!

Kauai Adventures > Beyond The Napali Coast

2008-06-02T18:27:00.014-04:00

Waking up in the soft beds of the Resort Quest Islander on The Beach was like slipping out of the warm Pacific ocean waves of a starfish dream. I looked over at the Hula-Dancer lamp on the bedside table. After the whirlwind in our heads from our Lanai evening of my extra-ounces of my Kauai Kaboom coconut and rum drinks we were due for a sleep in despite the best efforts of those Kauai Roosters!

I was up first and, ouch, I had a bit of a headache and sore legs and it’s no wonder we we’re extra tired after our hike up Kailua Ridge where we passed a group of hunters wearing camouflage carrying rifles with a pack of dogs who were sniffing at the trail as they hunted for wild boar. They had two four-by-four vehicles parked at the trail head, the hunters not the dogs, with homemade cages attached in to the truck beds. We asked one of the hunters, a young Hawaiian girl af about 22 years old what they were hunting and she told us pigs. Maybe they sell them to the large resorts for their Luau’s?

We didn’t do the entire loop of the trail which starts near the end of Highway 580 West of Wailua. We thought of heading down the Moalepe Trail or the Kuamo’ o NaNou Trail but decided to just stop at the top of the ridge and admire The Sleeping Giant to the East. The Sleeping Giant is a delicate and subtle mountain formation than when you look at from a distance it appears to be the silhouette of a large sleeping giant, you can spot his chin, his forehead, chest, arms and feet. It’s like looking at a constellation in the sky which suddenly becomes a Bull or a Lion but this Sleeping Giant, from atop the Kailua Ridge was spectacular, being on the ridge was amazing also because you can look behind you and seen an incredible lush green Kauai Valley and mountains and then turn around again and you see the Sleeping Giant in the distance with the clear blue sky and the Royal Coconut Coast!

After hiking back down the ridge we drove to the end of route 580 to the Keahua Arboretum. There is a small creek at the end of the road where people can park but since we had a 4 x 4 Dodge Nitro and since the water level was low we decided to venture across the river. There was a cement bridge that was submerged by the fairly smooth current and the water was only 9 inches deep so we drove across the bridge, it felt like we were on some military adventure seeing the river beneath us.

Instead of stopping right away we decided to follow the road beyond the river crossing. It was likely a fork of the Wailua River but maybe was just a stream, anyway, we continued up a rough dirt road and the road got steeper and bumpier and narrower and after about 20 minutes we decided to turn back...it looked more like an off-road 4 x 4 trail probably used by boar hunters so we turned around and parked near the river crossing to check out the Keahua Arboretum.

So let me say I’m not a tree maniac, I don’t hug trees, I mean I like trees but I don’t have a special interest in naming or classifications of trees. I like trees and this peaceful little site with picnic table and clean public pavilions in the shade of the forest which was home to monkeypod trees, mango trees and eucalyptus trees. Don’t ask me to pick one out of a line-up though...but there were these crazy multi-colored trees that looked like they had no bark! They were red and green skinned trees that looked like rubber skinned toys, we couldn’t believe it! And they weren’t all clumped in bunches either but just spread out here and there...huge tower trees with trunks without bark and this multi-colored smooth skin! We strolled along an open field beside the river and I chased a rooster who wanted to play a game of tag with me!

We left for Wailua along highway 580 and we stopped at the Lookout over Opaekaa Falls and the winding Wailua River with the small sight-seeing cruise-boats chugging along through the State Park. It was windy but probably always is at that height, the falls were a bit sparse but it was a nice stop but we didn’t have time to chat with the many tourists who had parked for a snapshot since we were getting hungry and needed to get some groceries for the kitchen back at the hotel.

We stopped at the Wapouli Plaza, OMG we loved Longs Drugs with everything from books to plastic crowns and post cards to cheap booze, and grabbed some Mini Mai Tais and a book on what is the meaning of Aloha. We hit the Safeway, signed up for a Safeway Card to save a bit of money on purchases, and bought some roast beef and cheese so we could have a comfort food meal at the hotel on the Lanai and learn about Aloha and of course have a Mai Tai which is likely less strong than the mean rhum drink I mixed last night which held about 3 ounces of dark rum per glass!!

Back at the hotel, we have a private parking spot because we are renting a suite at the Resort Quest which is a good thing because the parking lot is full with guests and shoppers at the Coconut Marketplace; we had our lunch overlooking the pool and then had a nap. Ahhh...nothing better than having a nap after a hike and a Mai Tai!

When we got up we strolled across to the Coconut Marketplace. It’s really cool, like a board walk with shops, boutiques and restaurants in a nice little village. The perfect spot to shop, have a snack and just check things out. We took our time and went into cool little nick-nack stores and expensive jewellery store...they had everything and it was a warm evening so we took our time and so did a lot of other tourists! I bought a red flowered Hawaiian shirt and a sharks tooth necklace and some funky ukelele and palm tree key chains. DD bought an awesome, and rather sexy Hawaiian dress, black with red flowers and two straps, along with a necklace and some flowers to put in her hair. We went back to the hotel and took some pictures on the Lanai with candles and the moonlight! How romantic it was...if only it had been our Honeymoon we would have said it was perfect. But even though we were only on holiday it WAS perfect!!! We had a mini MaiTai and Safeway Sushi for supper and with the sounds of crashing waves in the distance we went to bed early, rocked to sleep in the arms of the Aloha Islands.

The next day we got up relatively early as we wanted to take full advantage of the day, another sunny day on Kauai, and after the stress of the trip from Canada and the initial hotel shock we had finally reached a point of comfort and were ready to get up and take on the island! There is so much to see and do and in only a few hours we have to be prepped and have a written itinerary!

I was up first, making coffee with our portable espresso machine that we brought with us, oh it’s great to have a kitchenette in the room! Cool tiles on the floor beneath my bare feet and the sun coming through the main windows off the Ocean outside. Having the large suite at the hotel is perfect because I can get up early and download my pictures to the laptop and have a cup of coffee while keeping the door closed so DD can sleep. When she did wake up I had been sunning on the Lanai watching the cat prance about the grounds and the guests heading to their rooms with fluffy towels wrapped under their arms or shopping bags in their hands. When DD woke up I made us a roast beef and egg breakfast that we enjoyed with some fresh juice, no rum this morning peeps, on the Lanai.

The wind was rustling the palm trees and a cruise ship passed in the distance. After a relaxing breakfast we grabbed our snorkel gear and the days supplies of power bars, snacks and water and sun screen for an awesome day of come what may!! The wind and sounds of birds from the Lanai was magical! We love staying at the Resort Quest Islander on The Beach... dum dee dum...as we go downstairs from our suite which is right above the lobby and closest to the main entrance we find our rental car in our private parking spot! Sweeeeeeet!!

We drove south on Highway 56, which is the main road that circles the island of Kauai along with Highway 50, to do some snorkelling. We drove the Kaumaulii Highway which had fairly steady traffic, we started to recognize the locals from the tourists because the locals all had beads or shells or flowers hanging from their rear-view mirrors and the tourists all had late model clean vehicles. Two weeks later, as we left back to Canada, we bought some shell necklaces at Hilo Hatties and we’ve had those hanging in our Salsa Vibe ever since we returned...sometimes I grab the shells and rub them between my fingers and it sounds like the surf wrapping her warm arms around the driftwood of a sunlit Kapaa Beach! The traffic is pretty bad in Kauai but we were there in the off season so it wasn't too bad but apparently 5 people miss their connecting flights every day because of the snarled island traffic...maybe the island should only allow Smart Cars and not big bad Dodge Nitros!

Turning south onto highway 520 towards Koloa and Poipu we passed under the Eucalyptus Trees Tunnel which was an incredible canopy of tall trees fencing the road and hanging their leaves over the road; it was like really driving through a shady tunnel! We got a bit lost as we tried to find Poipu Beach Park. There seemed to be a lot of roads with condos and hotels and we turned in to the Marriott Waiohai Beach Club parking lot, the Hyatt Regency Kauai parking lot, the Sheraton Kauai Resort and the Poipu Bay Golf Club before we actually found the Poipu Beach Park so we could do some snorkelling.

We parked the Nitro right beside the outdoor change rooms and grabbed our gear and got changed. The beach was across the street and quite full because it was a hot sunny day. It was nice to get on to the warm sand and as we walked west on the beach we passed a group of people performing Baptisms! Maybe people come Piopu for religious ceremonies or there is a regular Baptism service here...it wouldn’t surprise me since even we came to the islands with my Gramma’s ashes to spread some of them in the sea here since this was here favorite place...well she loved Maui but my point is that I understand seeing 30 people in the green waters off the Kauai Channel getting Baptised...it was GR8!!!

We found a spot of sand, oiled up with some SPF 30 Salt Water Sunblock and I got my camera ready for some underwater filming. I had bought the Canon G7 and the Canon WP-DC11 WaterProof Case to allow me to film and take pictures underwater. When we went to Florida we only had those cheap disposable 35mm underwater cameras and we were disappointed with the results.

We got our flippers on and headed in to the sea, not sure what to expect, the area is very shallow and protected but with so many people we thought it would be barren with all the choral trampled and all the fish running scraed but no! There were all kinds of fish, mostly Lemon Butterfly Fish, but a few others as well dodging the flapping feet of the swimmers. After about 20 minutes the cool waters and current were getting the best of us and we crawled back on shore, dried off, enjoyed a bit of sun and then left. We drove back under the Eucalyptus Tree Tunnel towards the hotel, excited after our first trip in to the ocean...it always leaves us wanting more after we come out from snorkelling!!

The next day we decided to head North towards Hanalei as we wanted to do some canoeing on the Hanalei River which winds in to the Hanalei National Wildlife Reserve. It was a nice drive along the Kuhio Highway winding along the coast of the island, reminded me of The Sunshine Coast in British Columbia with the lush growing forests and winding roads often single lane. We got to the kayak and canoe rental off of Hanalei Bay and rented a canoe and paddled inland towards the bird sanctuary instead of heading North towards the bay which they said is better to visit only in a kayak which we didn’t want to do.

We took about two hours return-trip to go up the river and back which was a calm river which got interesting when we got further into the preserve and were in thick mangroves on the banks and could here natural springs but couldn’t see them through the mangrove shadows. More than half of the canoe-trip was parallel to the busy 560 Highway so it was rare wheen we paddled without seeing power lines or hearing the vehicles passing on the road. Despite that, the reflections of the palm trees around us and the flower petals drifting around our canoe and the birds nesting in the thick mangrove walls made it a worthwhile trip.

We continued West from Hanalei and past Wainiha Bay where there were cars parked along the narrow winding road at beach access points and surfers in the waves since it was fairly windy up on this North side of Kauai island. We stopped at the Maninihalo Dry Cave; a mouth-like opening in a huge towering rock face where we could go inside! It was quite freaky to see so much rock overhead and everyone is so small as they enter the huge wide opening into the cave!

In the caves it was dark and spooky with only the sunlight from behind us to illuminate the floor and distant walls. There was liquid oozing from the ceiling overhead and as you get deep inside the cave and turn around I felt like a little mouse looking out through a hole in the wall! We took a few pictures and then went back to the beach parking lot; there was an avocado tree right beside our car! How cool! We could have made homemade guacamole if we had the time but the day was wearing on and we wanted to get to the Napali Coast State Park which was only two miles from the cave!

It was so exciting to arrive at the parking of the Na Pali Coast Park! We got our hiking boots on, grabbed our backpacks and hiking poles and headed towards the trail-head. As we stood at the brown wooden trail map we couldn’t really believe the people who were venturing on to the rugged trail without being properly prepared! There were people wearing flip-flops, untied running shoes and we even saw one guy with bare feet! There were ladies in un-sensible shoes and without any water bottles!

We couldn’t believe our eyes and as we started up the initial climb of the trail, which was knotted with roots and uneven stones we couldn’t understand how people could even contemplate hiking the Napali Coast Trail without understanding what was involved! We saw one poor fellow lying on the rocks at the side of the trail with a group of hikers and he had slipped and broken his leg or ankle because he had a bone sticking out of his leg and he was wearing sandals! Uh Oh! Hotdog! They were waiting for a helicopter rescue. We were saddened to think that the resources of the search and rescue teams would be wasted on a hiker who wasn’t prepared.

With our hiking boots and poles we were like Hawaiian Mountain Goats leaping and charging up and down the trail. The trail was totally spectacular with the green turquoise ocean to the North and whitecaps and endless horizon while we headed up into the coastal mountains....it was so exciting. Every turn off the trail opened up a new panorama, the mountains receding into the distance, huge flowing trees shaped like sculptures with the coastal winds, red rocks and formations on both sides! We didn’t have time to do more than a two hour return walk, we didn’t get to see Hanakaa Falls or pass through the Kalalau Valley, but that was fine...it was dry at first but as we got further down the trail there were some muddy spots so we were happy to turn back. The views were unforgettable and when we got back to the beach we felt as if we had been to see a most incredible magic show and had a hypnotic glow in our hearts!

On the way back to Kapaa we stopped at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge but it was closed for the day so we just took a look at the Kilauea Point Lighthouse. There is an awesome lookout where you cn see this bright white lighthouse perched on the craggily cliffs and thousands of birds are swarming overhead and the wind is enough to make Steve McGarrets hair move!

In the distance, there were humpback whales...well...that’s what the sign said although we don’t think we saw any...there were too many whitecaps to be able to tell if it was a whale coming up for air or just a big Hawaii-Five-0 sized wave!

On the way home we had to detour because a car had flipped on the road and the police had closed off the road. It looked like two vehicles involved in a mash-up and they looked like rentals. The roads are fairly good on the island but there are many turns and curves and if you’re not a local and used to the road it could be dangerous...we tried to always stay within the speed limits!

We picked up a nice piece of fish at the market and we bought some cajun spice from the girl behind the counter who said it was a traditional cooking spice for such fish so we gave it a try. The hotel room filled with an acrid cajun smoke as we cooked the fish and we were both coughing and had to dash out on to the Lanai for fresh air! It was funny! So we had our fish and then some cookies and ice cream and after the day we were just exhausted and so we climbed in to bed early and drifted off to dreamland with the distant crowing of roosters reminding us of the sounds of paradise!

The next day we decided to hit the hot tub first thing because DD was homesick, probably thinking about our cat Pauline being home alone! The hot tub was nice once we finally figured out how it worked; there were already people in the hotel courtyard reading and sunning themselves! Ahhhhh nice way to start the day with tea and magazines under a thatched roof!

We drove to town to buy a Ukelele but the music store in Kapaa wasn’t very nice and we weren’t exactly welcomed warmly...I guess we looked like tourists...DD had been looking forward to buying a real Ukelele on the vacation but in the end we just bought a couple of wooden flutes, which, by the way, ended up cracking from the humidity or lack of humidity when we got back to Canada.

We headed back to Poipu for some more snorkelling and then to see the Spouting Horn. The spouting horn is an interesting coastal formation where underwater tunnels allow sea water to be forced out of the shore so the appearance is like a whale exhaling water from a blowhole. The tides and waves were not very active when we were there so it was hard to capture the spray as it hung in the air.

We got back to the hotel for some burgers and beers and then went back to the Coconut Market for some last minute shopping. I got a very funky shirt, a long sleeved blue shirt with a funky turtle design on it! My new favorite shirt! We started packing because tomorrow we flying to The Big Island and we are so excited!

Being in Kauai has been great but it is a small island and we sometimes felt that the tourists here were a bit of a burden on the locals...they growth and population seemed to be growing faster than the poor little island could handle and most of the expansion was due to the tourism trade.

We dropped off the Silver Nitro at the Dollar Rental stall and boarded our Hawaiian Airlines inter-island flight. Taking off we could see the coastline disappearing behind us and both were smiling because we are having a great time we both couldn’t help but feel a little sad to be leaving but at the same time we are looking forward to feeling the Aloha of The Big Island!!

Both DD and myself wrote diaries on our Hawaiian vacation and took a lot of pictures so you can find all of our favourite places and sights described in more detail here on the website. You can also use the site search to find hotel reviews or specifics on towns and places we visited or any topics of interest including any pictures you may want to see.

DAMI WRITES ABOUT OUR TRIP TO HAWAII:
Burlington Vermont - On The Road To Hawaii
Newark New Jersey - The Stepping Stone
Waikiki - A Day On Oahu
Honolulu Airport - Bound For Kauai
Kauai Arrival - From Heaven To Hell
Kauai Day 2 - Changing Hotels for Resort Quest and Seeking Poipu Beach

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

Waimea Canyon: Dark Rum on The Lanai

2008-06-01T16:42:00.010-04:00

Had a good night sleep after DD’s awesome seafood and sticky rice supper and the room is very quiet and I woke up early after having some Montreal Cinema Rialto dreams of the Marquis de Sade and his powdered poisons from the Cocoa roots and I hear lamentations and protests and old ghosts from my past and their smoky damned DuMaurier dragons. Crazy dreams even for a Tropical Island! Must have been the rum-induced atmosphere that increased the depth of my sleep that manifested such visions. Anyway the Kauai roosters were crowing this morning again and I switched on the Hula Girl bedside lamp and saw that the colourful feathered cretins had woken me up at the at the most Un-Aloha hour of 7:30!

Goodness gracious Pele! Well the sun was beaming and we could see the waves crashing on the beach from over top of the pool. Our lanai was awesome with sculpted railings and below us like our miniature Hawaiian kingdom the tourists strolled with their coffees or beach towels.

I made a stove top coffee....it’s so great to have the stove top...it’s one of those flat panel jobs with no burners just little circles as to where the pots should be placed. Had some coffee and took the photos off my disc so there wouldn’t be a disc full message today as we want to go to the Waimea Canyon and do some hiking although the sky is a bit cloudy and it looks like it could rain. Rain in Kauai in January isn’t as bad as say rain back in Vancouver at this time of year! The views from the trails of the Waimea canyon are supposed to be incredible and getting ready for the hike is already filling me with excitement! Come on DD wake up! Can’t you hear the roosters calling you!?

Last night we met little Sassy! Sassy the Cat! We couldn’t believe our eyes and ears when we saw this little white mottled kitty-cat lounging on the wood floors of the lush, open lobby of the ResortQuest Islander on the Beach, Kapaa and when we asked the desk-attendant if it was the hotel cat she said yes and said her name was Sassy! Now this may not seem like a big deal but for us it was incredible because in the house we live in back in Knowlton, Quebec we have a neighbour cat called Sassy and the resemblance is startling! We thought that this was proof of magic and that wasn’t the rum-induced slurry talking either! The Sassy here has a tiny little voice...it barely meows...nothing like the Knowlton Sassy Pants who can be heard over the sound of lawn mowers!!

We finished a leisurely breakfast on the Lanai watching the birds in the palm trees and the sparkles off the waters. I made some turkey sausages lightly fried in golden buttah and we had over easy eggs and some orange juice with pineapple slices...mmmmm the pineapples have a cocount flavor in them....sourdough English muffins capped off the morning and we talked about wanting to maybe look at some sort of employment opportunity that would allow us to travel more and not be working 50 weeks out of the years.

Travelling is so great; you're always living in the moment and while it can often be overwhelming it was nice to sit back on the wicker backed chairs and dream about doing more travelling...but we have to get back to reality! Grab the boots and poles and knapsacks because the day is moving on now and we have to get ready for the hike in Wimea Canyon.

We drove from Kapa’a to the main Koke’e Park and Museum where the trail maps are handed out. It was very busy as the tourists came to get maps and find out the best trails throughout the Canyon which is knownas the Grand Canyon of the Pacific....well...I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon up close and personal so I’ll have to take Mark Twains word for it but the little 3D miniature map of the canyon made out of papier-mache was quite stunning. It was very cloudy and grey at this altitude so we weren’t sure what sort of view we would have from the overlooks and lookouts and as we looked at the large three dimensional map under the plexiglass which had the hiking trails marked with pins and stretched rubber we were quite excited. The trail maps were rather vague and compared to Florida or British Columbia. We asked the woman at the checkout, a rather thin and tall thin-lipped blonde woman who repeated my questions as if I had just asked the most stupid inquiry she had heard!

We were directed to a trail near the NASA station and first we were recommended to continue a few miles up towards the lookouts at the end of the trail and we got there and put on our rain gear and hiking boots and promptly ran up to the lookout and it was like we were crawling up into a big cloud...there was the railing and the foreground and then just empty greyness where the view should have been.

But once we drove down to the trails in to the Waimea Canyon we were not disappointed! OMG! Wow! That is like some sort of red boiled descent into the deep slices of a sweet cake! We drove the winding highway 562 up and saw the lost island in the distance as we stopped at the beach and the huge waves crashed on the black rocks.

So we drove this incredibly winding road up towards the canyon and the red earth hugged her arms around us and we wound and slithered up higher and higher from sea level up to 3500 feet within a few miles. There were some roadside vistas that we’re simply breathtaking! Hundreds if not thousands of feet dropping off from the road edge into nothingness!

The first section of the hike was a descent down a 4 by 4 road, even though we had the Dodge Nitro and could have driven the first mile or two to the trail head we decided to just walk. Even though it was cloudy and misty up at the overlooks it was a great temperature for hiking; not too hot! It was a nice walk with some mossy covered sheer walls but it was a road. It was only when we got off the main road and started on to Canyon Trail that it got interesting.

The soil is very red, like a rusting iron dark blood and we found the clay somewhat more slippery than we would find back home. The trail was well marked and even though it was marked as strenuous I didn’t find it too difficult...of course!

As with all of our hiking adventures we passed some folks who were a bit out of shape and seemed unprepared for the trail but our weeks on the cross trainer in the Gym back home paid off as I found the walk easy.

When we got to the vistas it was freaking mind blowing! The deep gorges were deep and lined with green mossy trees and it was beautiful. The red earth and seemingly volcanic boulders that lined the trail were incredible and we stood on steep edges that really made you feel alive because that feeling that if you took three steps then death was awaiting with a golden Laei. The steep cliffs were wild and we came to one part where there was logs built into the red earth overlooking the canyon and it looked like something direct out of the Video Game “Myst”!

There were some sections down towards the waterfall where DD felt a bit uncomfortable but there was a couple packing up after a picnic, or a sweet love interlude by the small waterfall. I followed a trail down towards the big waterfall and came to a trail area where DD didn’t feel comfortable coming down even with the walking poles. I came to a small ledge where I could just see the waterfalls and certainly hear them but it was sheer drop into the gorge and that was heart pounding! I went on another little leg off the main trail and DD didn’t want to follow as the round red rocks were a bit too steep for her.

It was an eerie sight to be on that precipice and wanting to go further bu the element of danger was there beckoning...I crawled up to another point and DD started getting panicked and froze in one spot not wanting to move, calling my name and just looking uncomfortable even though I was standing in an area where there was a big rock with carved graffiti saying “Bon Jovi We Love You” so it couldn’t have been that dangerous if it had been accessible by a knife wielding Bon Jovi fan!!

We climbed back up to the main trail as it is only near the gorge that it is really exciting the rest is like a walk in the park but it was nice to get some exercise. We passed a few people who were just entering the trail and it was already after 3pm and I found it odd that anyone would start down a 2 mile trail at that hour...there was one man, not sure how old but was greying beard with a khaki hat and orange earplugs and rather thin with a young, maybe 8 year old Asian looking boy...they were sitting on the edge of some tree branches and as I approached I smiled and said “Oh are you waiting for the bus?” because they we’re sitting down right? Ya you get it! The youngster had a wooden walking stick and DD commented to him that it was a very nice walking stick and the young boy asked DD as she passed why she had two poles? Unfortunately DD didn’t hear the young guy and continued up the trail but I saw his face as he asked the question and he looked a little sad that he didn’t get an answer...for a young boy DD must have looked like a real adventure person with her big red boots and knapsack and poles...he probably thought she was a Hawaiian Goddess climbing up from the canyon!

We drove back down the hill on a wild winding road that headed back to the main road that circles the entire island anxious to see more of the Walmea canyon.
In the Nitro we drove the 520 route instead and stopped at the Kauai coffee plantation the largest or second largest coffee plantation in the USA. The wind was blowing hard and it was getting cool and it was almost closing time but they had these little eyepiece things that had different scenes of the islands...we sampled some coffee out of those large pump style coffee urns and checked out the gift shop...the price of the coffee we liked the best The Blue Mountain Bean was like 20 dollars for a pound so we passed.

We took some Maui sugar packs as a souvenir as this was about all we could afford, and just moved on down the road avoiding the little sideways sidecar drive that always gets me! Darn it all...then we got back and DD is doing some laundry I am having another beer, natch and typing on the laptop out on the Lanai listening to Chicago...it’s a lot of songs that DD had on her compilation albums and it’s so cool that they are playing it on the radio! It’s cool listening to the radio stations on Hawaii because they often seem to have a playlist that is from another planet!
Back on the Lanai having a Fire Rock pale ale listening to, you guessed it, the roosters crowing! Huh, doesn’t that rooster know that it is 6:15 in the evening? The torches are glowing over by the pool and The Sand Bar has a few patrons having some fruity girlie drinks...the wind must be from the North because it is blowing through the palm trees and it’s not exactly warm out...well that is relative. DD is having the last of the Kauia Kaboom...she is starting to talk funny so it must be working! There are people strolling up the walkway and the torch lights are starting to take prominence as the sunlight drops below and out of sight. Across the lawn I see the white shadowy furriness of Sassy The Cat, and we close the lanai door and head in for hotdogs and to watch a slide-show of the pictures we took at the canyon today!

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

The Laundry Room Episode

2008-04-08T08:44:00.008-04:00

We had a nice relaxing breakfast on the lanai. Dami cooked some eggs with sausage. We also had cheese, strawberry jam and peanut butter. We had our orange juice with pineapple wedges on our glasses! The pineapple was so sweet and tasty!

We had breakfast with pigeons and doves and another kind of bird that looked like a plump sparrow. I can't believe the low price we're paying for this place. The regular price for this suite is 325$usd, three times the Plantation Hell Worst Western and we got it for 208$, the same number as the room!

Today we went for a hike at the Waimea Canyon. I was so glad I had my poles! It was a 4 miles hike with some easy, moderate and strenuous sections. WOW! That was amazing! The red dirt and the big rocks were awesome. I panicked at the end though because I'm afraid of heights and the Canyon is so gigantic. Near the falls, we were so close to the edge with nothing to stop you if you fall. It looked like some scene taken out of the Adventure PC game Myst.

Back at the hotel the evening was so cool and windy. Sassie, the resident cat was following some guests. She actually followed us to our room last night. She can't meow very well which is a good thing. We didn't want her meowing at the door all the time!

We had hot dogs, potato salad and a green salad for dinner. The radio was playing all my favorite hits, it was perfect!

I had some laundry to do and as I went to the laundry room, I noticed a dryer with the door open with a pair of sneakers by itself and another one with 47 minutes remaining on the machine... hmmm I thought, this is very strange. It looked like somebody had its clothes stollen but the shoes didn't fit so the theif left them there. I didn't want to leave my clothes unattended since I hadn't brought enough clothes and everything I had to wear was in that pile of lundry. I wasn't going to take any chances. I put my clothes in a washing machine and went back to the room quickly to get a beer with something to read and told Dami about the whole fishy thing. Just outside the laundry room there was a plastic white chair that I sat on. I took a sip of my beer and put the bottle on the ground next to the chair and watched the action that could have came out of a Hawaii Five-0 episode! There was a guy coming out of a white van, calling his cats out to feed them. Three black cats, about a few months old and very afraid. He bent down in a bush to my left, in front of me, calling the cats to feed them wet food that I could smell from where I was sitting. Did he think I couldn't see him? So he stayed there probably waiting for me to leave but there was no way I was going to. So he waited, and waited and then lost patience and got out of the bush, put the food someplace else and left the cats there and drove his white van out of the parking lot. One cat remained in the bush, to my left, while the second one was ahead of me behind the bar, and the other one to my right, under the stairs of the hotel suites. I was surrounded. This was a very weird experience. I was wondering if there were homeless people in Kauai. I think that guy was. The night was chilly and I was looking forward going back to the room and tell Dami about the whole thing.

DD

Burlington Vermont - Hitting The Road

2008-03-16T17:30:00.002-04:00

Leaving home is like a dream. There has been months of preparation and anticipation for the vacation and when the morning finally comes and it's time to leave we're literally vibrating with excitement. We kept wondering if we had forgotten anything...but as long as we have our passports and credit cards we should be fine!!

The Holiday Inn in Burlington Vermont was our first hotel as we travelled from Quebec to the Hawaiian Islands. We chose the Holiday Inn because they had a Park and Fly...there might be a Comfort Inn Park and Fly as well but we liked the location of the Holiday Inn right off the highway. It was an easy drive from Knowlton.

Day one of the holiday started after not enough sleep visiting with long lost half brother and family for the last two nights in a beery almost heady smokey-gray fog of anticipation of Hawaii and disillusion in the winter and time, the thief of moments... and as I stepped into the front yard with the Salsa Vibe packed and ready for our holiday to Hawaii and ready to take this moment and run into the distance where snow piled in white nylon drifts against the fence.

It was sad to leave our black cat Pauline this morning and we both woke up slightly under the fighting fog of a warm rainy grey morning and little Pauline, if a 16 year old cat can be considered little, was meow meowing all morning not making the state of my membrane any better.

We left around 10 in the morning after a sweet Continental Breakfast or as close as to it that we could muster with the bare fridge and slim toastries available for our morning crunch. As we drove south to Burlington the fog was rolling over the green hills as the snow has melted away in warm weather which had been above 10 degrees Celsius for the last few days.

Finally...even though it's January...we get some warm winds like a Chinook over the Rockies as we prepared for our holiday on the Hawaiian Islands. We drove into the sunshines of beautiful Vermont and had to stop for Tums for the Tummy because DD had stomach acid from the freshly squeezed OJ we drank at home...we had a bag of fresh oranges in the fridge and before we left we squeezed em' all!

Got to the Hotel in Burlington and checked into room 220...now normally checking in to room 220 wouldn't mean much but that hotel room had the same number as our street address in Knowlton, Quebec, Canada so we took that as a sign that this was meant to be...it was like The Secret...it was all happening for a reason!

Hmmm..after 5 minutes being in the room we realized that maybe there was no sign...no meaning...except that we were in a dump of a hotel! The noise and the smell created a cocktail of nausea as we rode the elevator up to the 2nd floor...if there had been more than five floors I swear I would have thrown myself out to the street below!

The room, the infamous room 220, is right beside the ice machine and it was just vibrating from that old Detroit Diesel freon contraption and the room is loud but now not so bad as right now DD and I are watching the weather channel and getting ready for a 7:30 supper which is destined to be some microwave tv dinners or something similar to a Hungry Man Meal but since we've been working out at the Gym it will likely be a low carb Panini!!

We went to the mall, whatever that mall in Burlington is called, and shopped for our suitcases. We had no suitcases and looked around in Granby and Montreal and online a bit but decided it would be easier to buy all our suitcases right in Burlington before we took the flight to Newark.

DD got some undies and I got some sneakers on special for only $11! I love doing this cross border shopping! We had a lovely romantic pre-holiday picnic and we had both had a Subway snack in the mall and you notice a lot of soldiers and military folks here...well not a lot...but more than back home in Knowlton.

After we spent more than an hour at JC Penny going through their luggage and opening and closing so many pieces and brans as if we had a Russian Doll complex we finally chose a Cobalt blue large suitcae for me and a smaller set for DD! As we went to pay there was a wonderful Indian teller at the JC Penny checkout who got us to sign up for a card to save 10% and then we went to the store for some microwave popcorn and those famous boil in the box dinners and now, as I sit on the bed at the Park n' Fry Holiday Inn waiting for the snacks to finish cooking and thingking about Johnny mentioning the Popcorn lungd, DD is having a shower and we’ll likely eat the boxed Space Food and then just take it easy and likely go to bed early.

I’d like to go down to the pool and take some test underwater shots with the camera but may not but maybe tomorrow. I bought a high end underwater lens for my Canon G7 to take underwater photos in Hawaii and was thinking of jumping into the pool to test it...but whew...we are so tired!

Anyway, I checked my emails on the new laptop as we drifted off into a carbohydrate-high due to our microwave din-dins and we’ll likely watch another episode of Hawaii 5-0, since before we left Canada we bought and watch a lot of, the full DVD series of Hawaii Five-O! Tonight, in the stinky noisy Holiday Inn, as we eat our frozen microwaveable dinners and then finish off with some peach pie! Now as we sit on the bed of the Holiday Inn in Burlington with the thick crepe draperies closed and billowing slightly over the grinding and noisy air-conditioner... it’s nine o clock and after watching the Hawaiian Plague visit McGarrett I may need to have at least a small piece of that Peach Pie!

We have to wake up early to catch the plane at 10 am to Newark and then on to Honolulu! There is nothing better than the first day of a holiday...the excitement is incredible!

DAMI

Newark New Jersey - The Stepping Stone

2008-03-15T21:32:00.002-04:00

Just settling down at the Newark airport looking through sunny tall windows out at the blue and golden globe tail fin of a Continental jet and the Empire State Building beyond the trains in the blue grey sky distant and a red white and blue flag tussling in the brisk wind. The flight was rough due to the high winds so no in flight coffee service as the poor stewardess in her plump black sweetness wouldn’t have been able to make it down the aisles as we were jumping up and down on the flight. We flew from Burlington Vermont as we could catch a non-stop flight to Hawaii instead of stopping in Chicago or LA.

It was an early morning leaving the hotel in Burlington with the alarm sounding at 5:50 AM and then the wake up call recording and I was az bit sleepy after the melatonin and the large supper we ate. Still the room was noisy and too hot even with DD trying to turn down the thermostat it never really got cool enough so both of us tossed and turned a lot and the ice machine grinding and so when we went downstairs in the stinking elevator we called this place the Park & Fry because of the heat...oh well...there was no continental breakfast included which sucked so instead of staying there we took the shuttle to the Airport with the Sheriff and had a breakfast at the One Flight Up I had sunny siders with English muffs and DD had some poached eggs as we watched the radar dish rotating in the distance.

There wasn’t much passenger traffic at the Vermont airport, which is what we wanted, but some guy with a beard who looked somewhat like, pardon any inference of political incorrectness, a cross between a Hippie and a strict Muslim, who first sat down with his older Hippie chick but suddenly didn’t want a table near anyone else so they moved to the “closed” dining room and a minute later the waitress kindly asked them to sit where everyone else was sitting.

He got all upset...huffing and grumpin’ on about the “Population Density” being too high in the restaurant. “Population Density”?....ummm...ok dude this is Burlington, Vermont at 8 am so just chill out and maybe grab a coffee and don’t freak out at the airport!

We finished breakfast and made our way through security to the boarding area. Of course Mr. Population Density has to be on our flight! D’oh!

The flight was rough but at least now it’s sunny and DD had her head on my lap the whole 60 minute flight because of her tummy was not appreciating the bumps. The turbulence was aweful and being in the small Continental charter was like some sort of carnival ride! DD was turning paler as we bumped and swayed over the snowy New Jersey landscape below us but she’s having a ginger ale now and feeling slowly better. You Can Do It!

DAMI

Waikiki - A Day on Oahu

2008-03-14T16:51:00.006-04:00

The birds gathered in the incredible canopy trees below our 8th storey Lanai are chirping and singing for us! A nice change from the symphony of garbage trucks taking out the trash but I guess it is what to expect with the hotels plunked down here between the trees with only a slight view of the hills and maybe if I strain my eyeballs with a telescope between the hotel towers blocking Waikiki Beach I can maybe see the sea. When they say “Partial Ocean View” in the hotel description they really leave a lot of wiggle room on their definition of “View”.

No matter! We are finally on the Hawaiian Islands! After leaving Quebec and driving to Vermont and then flying to New Jersey for a non-stop flight to Honolulu we are bushed, bagged, bent and baked...but the warm humid air perfumed with flowers and sweet ocean surf is intoxicating!!

The flight yesterday was quite a ride that really pressed our asses into pancakes. The flight was an hour and a half late so we were even later in the air but I set my watch immediately to Hawaii time and we settled in....I thought we had booked seats on the window side but we were in the very back row beside a lovely lady from the Philippines who was going to stay in Honolulu for only two days.

The flight was pretty uneventful with no obnoxious people and I played a bit of peekaboo with the little cutie-patootie ahead of me and all the kids on the flight we’re well behaved. There was video games in the seats and we watched some Hawaii Five-O (The episode was “Six Kilos” featuring “Big Chicken” where Steve is undercover...just like us!) And we had some food and basically got stiff legs and finally arrived at around 10 pm at the airport and it was awesome...so many people and we’re walking on this concourse and there are palm trees and the what I thought was the original Honolulu sign I had seen on the original Hawaii Five-O series!

As we walked like kids in a candy store through the open concourse at the Honolulu Airport we were in a sweet cloud that smelled of leis around the necks and happy people coming to the islands! Welcome to Fantasy Island it seemed to say to us with the humidity and the flowers or what we could see of them as it was dark. I had romantically thought that a young Hawaiian girl would bound up to me in the airport and place a Lei around my neck and kiss me on both cheeks and say Aloha but I guess that is only happening in the movies! Isn’t this a movie? It sure feels like it!

DD and I boarded the airport shuttle with a large group and we had to stop at 15 hotels...luckily our Aloha Surf & Spa Hotel wasn’t the last but the driver was fun and we had a nice tour of the Waikiki area...so many people strolling and shopping and even though it was late it was full of activity~!

It was about 11 by the time we got to the hotel Aqua Aloha with the open lobby of lush blue tiles and comfortable furniture and we’re greeted by Angie. She is a big Hawaiian lady with a big smile just as you’d expect...we went up to the room and DD sniffed the pillows to ensure the room was clean, if it fails the sniff test then we have to find another hotel, and we fired up the Air Conditioner and went out to buy some snack s as we were very hungry!

We grabbed some sushi and chips and some Wasabi Macadamia nuts and came back to the room...had a bite and watched some Polynesian Foot Volley Ball game (it looked like a faster and more competitive version of Hake Sack that is played at the Tam Tam Jam in Parc Mt. Royal in Montreal on Sundays) on TV and then drifted off to sleep....we thought we’d sleep past the continental breakfast but the sounds woke us up and so it is now 7 am and DD has had her shower and applied her self-tanning lotion and I’m going to have a shower after my coffee on the lanai and we’ll go and explore the greens bursting into daylight!

Whew it is 7:30 and we’re back at the Aloha Surf and Spa after a gruelling day in Waikiki. We started by heading out into the sunlight after a few sticky buns for our continental...the lobby was full and we had to sit there because all the seats at the breakfast, if you can call it that, we’re taken...we then walked out to the main streets hat were already bustling with people getting an early start to the day.

DD mentioned about having a map so we decided to step into the ABC Store and asked for a map of Waikiki and paid 6.49 plus tax and then half a block later saw a tourist information kiosk where the maps we’re free...D’OH! Anyway we walked along the beach past the Waikiki Zoo and through a small garden area and to some cactus plantation and then up towards the Diamond Head crater park where we wanted to hike up to the top.

A rundown old limo with a scruffy skinny looking biker type asked something likely wanted to get us to take his cab we said no no no and just kept walking then some overly steroid- pumped Gorilla in a 4 x 4 SUV taxi is yelling out the window “Hey you going to Diamond Head?” and I’m like “Yes That’s nice...yeah...we’re going there”... because I didn’t hear exactly the question and anyway prefer not to be asked for a ride from some Taxi driver...back home we like to ask for a ride not to have some “Dude” ask if we want a lift....sheesh I’ll ask you if I want a ride little taxi boy!

Anyway so he drives by hollering that “it was a yes or no questions and I would have given you a free ride to the park!” and so yeah whatever you say freak! It was a lovely day and walking to Diamond Head isn’t a big long walk and we wanted to see everything! I just couldn’t believe this guy...like harassing tourists on Hawaii can’t be a good business practice.

We walk to the park and through this massive tunnel that goes through the rim of the volcano and then we’re literally walking on the volcano floor and to the park where a lot of tourists are preparing to make the trip up the hill to the top the trail was built in 1908. It was about an hour return trip and we were like ants going on trails the view was cool looking up from below. So many people with no water bottles or heaving or walking in bad shoes...the tunnels and stairs we’re quite tough actually and I’m glad I had been to the gym as my legs enabled me to want to take two steps at a time. One woman was stopped at the edge of the spiral staircase and she was suffering from claustrophobia and asked if it got better...it likely was not the best place for a claustrophobic but anyway at the top after we crawled out the gun turret sights from 1908 we made it to the top and the view was nice but there were too many little bugs the size of “No see-ums” but not biting but just covering us so we stayed about 5 minutes before we came back down.

We had some Wasabi Macadamia nuts and the chips and a Pepsi we had left-over from last night at the hotel...sitting under the bus shelter on the floor of the Volcano. We walked through the tunnel and took the city bus (as if we’d take a taxi now) from the park entrance and came back home..we ate the left over sushi that was in the hotel mini-fridge and laid down for a nap...nothing like a nap after such a long flight and so much walking in the sun!

We slept like baby turtles for an hour at least deep in a rock solid sleep and then woke up a bit dizzy from the long walk we’d taken so we had a coffee and went to buy postcards and do some shopping...so many shops and people trying to sell you stuff...not their fault...they just have to make a living but sometimes the whole downtown Waikiki scene was a little too aggressive for my sensibilities. We bought our postcards and found the post office and visited some clothing stores and a Ukelele store and then went for supper at the Waikiki Cheeseburger place called “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and we had a window seat and spread out the 25 postcards and ordered a burger with Maui pineapple and a guacamole burgers and there were birds at our feet right in the restaurant and then as we sat writing our postcards home we watched a beautiful sunset and we took pictures and then walked over to the hula show and live music and singing at the Waikiki beach.

I got sprayed by a big wave and then we strolled back to buy a dessert piece at the food mart and now we’re finishing the postcards and just relaxing ready for desert and an early night because we have to catch the shuttle to the airport at 9:45.

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

Honolulo Airport - Bound For Kauai

2008-03-13T16:43:00.008-04:00

Here is a picture of DD singing with pleasure at the taste of a hot apple sticky bun because In Hawaii everything tastes so much better! We opened the sliding door of the Lanai and stood out breathing in the warm moist air watching the palm trees across from the canal. There were birds singing in the air and it was a perfect time for a morning coffee. Oh No! There was no coffee in the hotel room!

There was only one of those small packets of decaf coffee that hotels supply with the tiny machine left in the hotel room so I had to use a little ingenuity to make a morning coffee. I removed the gauze circular coffee pocket, made a small slit with my pocket-knife, carefully dumped out the offensive decaffeinated evilness and then surgically stuffed the filter with some of our fresh ground coffee. I then ran the mini-machine with my custom filter bag and while it still isn’t as good as right now as we sit here in the Airport waiting for our flight to Kauai.

Finally having a good cuppa coffee at the Starbucks in the airport. We were up early at around 6am with the chorus of “beep beep beep” from the backing up garbage trucks that seem to descend on Waikiki and wind between the hotels every morning. At least we were high up in the Aqua Aloha Spa that it wasn’t too bad but no matter....we were in Hawaii and still had a fairly good sleep after our busy day of hiking up to Diamond Head and getting used to time change.

It was 10 bucks for these 2 coffee and a bottled water but since I had to surrender my two Pepsis and my water that I had in my carry-on as they are not allowed through the airport security. Ahh we now could sit down and watch the tourists come and go and watch the planes land and takeoff from the observation gallery of the Honolulu airport. I had time to open my laptop and write more in this diary and could think back to this morning as we had our continental breakfast on the lanai with the little red headed birdies who wanted to get at my apple buns. The continental breakfast is served down near the pool of the hotel and was mostly sweets with fruits and juices but the little apple puffy buns were a nice treat and those birds sure seemed ready to do tricks for them!

The pineapple juice was tasty and as we puttered about the hotel packing we watched a bit of the Hawaiian visitor TV channel which gives a nice presentation of the sights and sounds of Waikiki. In the morning newpaper we read about the lava flows that had been progressing over a mile and a half towards two lone residents who have stayed in their deserted subdivision on the big island. Apparently this entire neighbourhood had been abandoned several years now except for a few hold-outs who preferred to stay in the danger zone confronting the risk of a lava eruption instead of moving out. One guy ran a bed and breakfast from his home and he said that now people only fly in by helicopter and stay for lunch! Since every night the sky is glowing red from the encroaching lava flows it’s no wonder! Cool!

This picture is DD and some happy tourists smiling away during the early morning continental breakfast. The lobby had no real walls and we were all sitting in the comfortable warmth of a beautiful Hawaiian morning! Anyway,back upstairs we had a shower and then DD told me how some of the toiletries in the hotel smelled a little foul! Hmmm...like "poo" I wondered? Well, I don’t have the same sensitive odour detecting abilities as DD but when it comes to determining the cleanliness of a hotel; she is one of the best so, if there was any chance that there was some yucky bumster juice clinging to any surfaces then she would be the first to spot it!

I admit that I didn’t see or smell anything but I am so excited about being in Hawaii and thought the hotel was fairly clean given the steady stream of tourists who must pour into Waikiki every year. But I wasn’t going to investigate any further as I wanted to enjoy this fleeting moment and not pin-point the bad parts of the hotel, so I went back to the lanai with the birds. Oh well, I thought...this room has a non-stop heavy flow of tourists and I’m sure many of them are not as clean as us...I mean DD found an old receipt under the bed which verified beyond a reasonable doubt the receipt had been there since December 29th and so there was likely no vacuum under the bed since then! She would be a good CSI Agent!! Watch out Horatio!

We got a phone call from the front desk because our Airport Shuttle was actually early so we had to hustle down to the lobby and check out in a hurry. We didn’t have much time to take a final look around the lobby and the open air seating area and rich blue tiles behind the wooden front desk. There is a flat screen tv above the eleavators and they keep playing this same old surfer movie not exactly sure what it was but it was vintage surfers and huge curling surf! So the airport bus ride was like a mini tour past the shops we had visited and the marina and it was bustling with people early as usual. It was great to see everyone from the vantage of the bus...we had been walking everywhere so it was nice to have this "roral" tour of Waikiki! The return trip from the airport cost about $15 per person return so it was much cheaper than a taxi! We got to the airport and made our checkout relatively easy since even the airport staff are working with the Aloha Spirit!

The airport security folks are much friendlier here than on the continent: The Hawaiian Security Agent wanted me to tell him when all my belongs had entered into the x-ray machine so I didn’t suffer any separation anxiety! At least they have a sense of humour! I guess I was still a bit anxious about my two Pepsis that had been confiscated because now I have a half bag of last nights microwave popcorn that we brought from Newark, New Jersey and nothing to wash it down with!

As we sit here waiting for our flight to board there was just an announcement on the Public Address system because someone had forgotten there shoes at the security check-through! They forgot their shoes?!I mean you can tell it`s Hawaii when someone goes through security and is so darned comfortable she forgets that they had taken their shoes off! Aaahh... the easy life in Hawaii, where even shoes are just a second thought! Five minutes later there was another announcement that one poor fellow had forgot his fishing rod!

They just announced our flight is ready to board...so we pack up our stuff and slowly make our way to our Hawaiian Airlines flight to the Island of Kauai.

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

Kauai Arrival - From Heaven to Hell

2008-03-12T17:46:00.011-04:00

Approaching the Lihue Airport on the Island of Kauai we were given a spectacular view of the East Shoreline with lush green covered hills and reddish craggily peaks. It was breathtaking as our plane slowly descended and we could see the whitecaps pounding against the beaches of Kuahona Point and Kuwai Point. We saw a large sleek cruise ship sitting in Nawiliwili Harbour which is the cruise ship destination of Kauai.

We got off the aeroplane and by the time we walked from the plane to the main baggage area our bags we’re already waiting for us beside the carousel! Never in my life had I seen baggage get to the carousel before passengers...ahhh...more of the magic of the Hawaiian Islands! There were Leis around some people’s necks and the smell of sweet blossoming flowers everywhere and we made our way outside seeing the palm trees and mountains cradling the horizon to the West of the Lihue Airport.

I am still reliving the flight from Honolulu and seeing the turquoise blue waters below us through the fluffy white clouds and then when we saw the coastline of Kauai it was unforgettable and my head was in a bit of a rosy pink daze as we made our way with our bags over to the car rental area to pick up our vehicle. We checked in at Dollar Car Rentals; we had reserved the SUV vehicle about four weeks before coming on vacation. They were very nice at the kiosk and we signed the papers amongst all the dozen or so others who were getting rental cars from various companies. It felt like something out of that TV show “The Amazing Race” as people checked in for their cars and then made their way to the parking lot trying to find their vehicles.

The sun was beating down and we wheeled out brand new suitcases into the parking lot looking for our vehicle...it was supposed to be a Jeep Liberty, according to the website when I reserved the car, but instead it was a silver Dodge Nitro! Whoa! That is one bad boy!! I took pictures of all the scratches in the exterior just in case we got any extra charges for having scratched it. It was a 2007 Model Dodge Nitro so was in great shape. After having only driven our own car for the last few years it was neat to suddenly be behind the wheel of an SUV which was much much larger than our little Pontiac Vibe...not that I don’t like my little Salsa colored car but this big-wheeled silver bullet was something else!

We got on board, did a few high fives, and merged into the traffic along the palm lined highway 56 North towards Kapaa and our hotel we had reserved which was the Best WesternPlantation Hale which is about two miles South of Kapa’a at a little marketplace called the Coconut Marketplace. Actually we drove right past the turn-off at first because it came so quickly...we had been using a map but we had forgotten that even though the map was big the size of the island was small so we were not used to three inches of a map equalling only five minutes of driving time! Anyway we were glad that the hotel we had reserved, the Plantation Hale, was close to the Airport....we wanted to get checked in as soon as possible and not waste a lot of time driving on our first day.

We pulled into the parking lot and it felt totally like some tropical vacation resort...the lobby was open concept with the chairs and tables under umbrellas and the main check-in office was right outside with no windows or doors. It was hot and sunny and we were very excited!

We checked in with a lovely woman named Elsie; an elderly Hawaiian sweetheart in a blue MouMou. She welcomed us and made us feel very welcome and told us we had a very nice room with a view of the ocean. She said seen away from work because her husband had passed away and she had been working at the Plantation for 30 years. She said we must have been special because we got a good room and DD told her how nice everyone had been to us. She gave us the key to the pool and it was a guitar shaped key chain and I said that DD was a musician and Elsie said her husband was too and then we talked about Anna Milligan, my grandmother who had passed away in 2006 and I told her that I had some of my Grammas ashes with me to spread in Hawaii and she told us about how a lot of her relatives had been scattered here in the Islands. It was a nice welcome indeed...but that was about the last nice moment we had at the Plantation Hale Best Western...in fact...after that the day turned into a nightmare!

We got to the room number 13 at the Best Western Plantation Hale and DD freaked out because it was so dirty. There were cockroaches on the kitchen floor, the carpet in the living room was sticky, there were pubic hairs in the bathroom, crumbs under the cushions of the sofa, cockroach corpses on the bookshelf....the list went on and on.

Of course for me, being just a knuckle dragging guy, at first I thought the place was good enough because I was so excited to see the ocean view from the lanai but as DD started pointing out things that were dirty like a pubic hair on the bathroom floor and stains on the floors and mammoth dust bunnies on the wall and a the dead cockroaches I began to think that maybe this was a dump! It looked exactly like we saw on the website but I recall reading reviews on TripAdvisor and don’t remember anyone saying this place was a dump but we were standing there with our luggage with a bad feeling in our stomachs because we had booked the room for five nights and by the look on DD’s face she didn’t even want to stay one night!

At that moment, as we stood there in shock, Elsie from front desk called to ask how everything was and DD told her it wasn’t as clean as she would like and Elsie said that wasn’t acceptable and apologized and sent up 4 cleaning ladies to the room to make things right. I sat on the Lanai watching happy couples wander towards the beach and was feeling a little queasy as I heard DD and the cleaning ladies in the room...I mean...this is no way to start a holiday! When they left I went back in the room and DD told me the cleaning crew was like a gang of complete nincompoops...they were like “What’s the problem?” as if they couldn’t see anything wrong! They actually sprayed cleaning fluid on the carpet and were mopping up the floor with a rag they dropped on the floor! They did such a half-assed job and we were like having a nervous breakdown because we didn’t know what to do!

Elsie called again and DD was very upset saying the cleaning crew was inept and didn’t really help and the room was still a mess and Elsie said she’s send them back but we didn’t want the cleaning people here so Elsie said she would send the head of cleaning and so Debbie came up to the room with her cleaning products and she seemed very nice and agreed that the room was a mess. Since both DD and I were like practically in tears of fury I decided to go and get some groceries because we did have a full kitchen and stove so maybe once they finished cleaning the room we could have a nice meal.

At the food store in Kapaa I bought a frozen pizza, some ice cream, some fruits, cereals, English muffins, peanut butter...all the essentials for starting a holiday but then I was like buying Mr. Clean, J-Cloths, Bleach and other cleaning products! Something isn’t right with this picture! Why should we be buying cleaning products? I mean, I just wanted to get the room up to standards and then go snorkelling and to the beach and all that fun stuff...from what we saw on the website the Plantation Hale Best Western had everything we needed, a big lanai, a fully stocked kitchen, a separate bedroom with two beds and a large floor plan that was over 600 square feet but the place was so filthy that none of that seemed to matter!

I got back to the room and DD said Debbie had been very nice and had agreed that she had no reason to apolgize to me or to anyone for the place being dirty and for her not accepting a hotel room that was below standards. I unloaded the groceries and went for a walk on the beach because my head was spinning, my hyper-tension was at an all-time high, and I was trying to come to grips on how our vacation suddenly seemed to be going in to the toilet!

I came back to our room from my short walk and had a beer and some Maui chips to take the edge off. DD was still busy cleaning up with the products I had bought. We cooked the pizza but the stove was dirty and we had to pre-wash the dishes and cutlery because they didn’t look clean. We ate at the table but the carpet was still sticky and there were finger prints on the lamps and smudges on the windows! It was horrible! We didn’t spend $6000 and come all this distance to be in Hawaii only to have to scrub our hotel toilets and do housework and then watch CSI on TV because we were too upset to talk to each other!

It must have been at that point we decided to rename this place the Worst Western Plantation Hell! Even the bedroom, while it was big and likely was nice 20 years ago when it was new, was gross and the two beds weren’t exactly conducive to romantic evenings. We slept very poorly with a big space between us...both of us sad and almost thinking we should cancel our trip! Yep it was that bad! I guess we learned after that when we are confronted with an un-clean, pig-sty of a hotel room that we need to leave immediately and not try and be so nice and saying it will all be ok! It’s not OK and the fact they were nice to us at check-in doesn’t take away from the fact that the dingy complex of the hotel reminded us of a rundown ghetto and not the vacation resort our first impression had revealed.

Although we were treated to a wonderful sunset and tried to make the best out of a walk from the hotel to the beach which was very close and did see some wonderful surf and nice mountains and things we still felt cheated and can’t understand how there were so many favourable reviews for this hotel on TripAdvisor because we hated it and will never stay there again. We checked out the next day and were glad we did because we found something much better than this grungy old run-down roach motel! Ack! I wouldn’t recommend this hotel to anyone! Maybe the number 13 is cursed because room number 13 at that Worst Western Plantation Hell almost sent us into a voodoo death trance!

The next day...even though we were given the choice of other rooms...we looked at some others and while they were marginally cleaner we still had enough and wanted out of the grunge!DAMI

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

Kauai Roosters - A New Day in Hawaii

2008-03-11T20:46:00.017-04:00

The new day rises with the sounds of the roosters of Kauai! These little feathered fiends are everywhere like the pigeons we’d find back in our big cities but somehow they remind me of being down on the farm! So after our night of Hell at the Plantation Hale we woke up and DD and I decided that the best thing we could do was to look for another hotel because we just weren’t happy there and every day on our vacation was precious. Both DD and I work all year on very different schedules, her days-off start on Monday and mine on Friday or Saturday, so we never really have days off together!

So DD and I really, really really look forward to the few weeks in January when our day jobs enter the "slow season" and we can both take our vacations together. So with that in our minds we realized that when we spent all year planning our Hawaiian Vacation there was no chance we would waste one moment! Yesterday, staying in a dirty hotel room, ruined our day!

So we woke up and basically decided like good troopers that we had to pack and find other accommodations. Since we had literally spent a night in the dirty ole' dog house we were somewhat amused as we left the hotel in search of proper accomodation and saw this little fluffer strolling on the sidewalk...his face seemed to say to me "You can do better!" Sheeesh...we had booked our hotel rooms for the entire two week three island vacation online and had checked other hotels on Kauai and either they were all booked or they were too expensive.

It was sunny in the morning and we went to the front desk and told them we hated our room; that it was really disgusting, and that we could not stay another day at the Plantation Hale. We hopped into the Silver Dodge Nitro, our Bad-Boy, and drove along the Coconut Grove to the closest Hotel...we had no intention of circling the Island of Kauai to find a good, inexpensive hotel since there were a few right in the area.

Se started by visiting the Courtyard by Marriott Kauai. WOW! This was about 10 steps above the Hale! Of course it wasn’t the same sort of accomodation; the Courtyard Hotel was a classic hotel with a lovely high lobby with great flowers and plants and deep rich lush decor and furniture compared to the more rustic and vintage old-style run-downess of the Best Western we had ran screaming from.

We asked to visit a room and were escorted to a choice of rooms on the third floor; one overlooking the parking lot facing inland and one facing the water and mainly overlooking the pool of the Courtyard. The rooms were brand new with thick clean royal blue carpets and dark cherry wood furniture. The rooms were small with small balconies but still they looked very clean and even the price was higher by about $80 per night we still looked at each other and felt much better here than in the roach motel we stayed in last night!

We then went to the Resort Quest Islander on The Beach at the other end of the Coconut Grove and asked to visit a few rooms to see the difference. Now this is what I’m talking about! We had looked at this place online and had read good reviews of the hotel on TripAdvisor.com but it appeared booked solid and over our budget so we never looked further. But speaking with the front desk we learned we could have a better rate because there were a few rooms available with walk-in rates.

The room we finally took was one of the suites! A large lanai overlooking the pool and pool-bar, a full kitchen and fridge with all pots and pans, a reserved parking spot and one of the best decorated hotel rooms we’ve been in! The room was about $100 more than the Plantation Hell but it was so lovely and perfect that we had to stay...after all this was our one holiday of the year and we deserved the best!

So after a fairly exhausting day we are now in the new hotel room and DD is making supper, a delicious stir-fry of fresh seafood and fresh fruits and it smells great! I made a fruity rum drink that I called a Kauai Kaboom full of fresh Pineapple, Cocounut Milk, Papaya Juice, Ice and dark rum and we sat outside in the sun on the Lanai feeling like royalty overlooking the people splashing in the hot tub and sitting at the thatched roof of the poolside bar! Ahhhhh! Finally some good time Hawaiian relaxation!

Yepper! As we sit here sipping our rum delights we look back on the day where we moved out of the Plantation Hale due to irreconcilable differences and it feels good even though we sort of wasted a whole day by being uncomfortable in the last place and then spending the morning looking at hotels and packing and moving. This morning it just wasn’t working out with the dirty fingerprints and the crusty crumpets on the carpet so we had breakfast and then DD and I were just like to opposite poles and last night she had said shew wanted to go home...so if it is that bad then I guess she finds it somewhat of a problem.

I admit now, after checking in to this room that it is much much nicer but it also close to a hundred dollars per night more isn’t it? But hey it is a suite with nice tiled floors and all new furnishings and a stereo system with dual airconditioners and two awesome TVs and wireless Internet connection so it is definitely a step up!

Anyway...as the rhum finds it’s way into the sunshine of our minds, we look back on the nice sunny day we had driving South on Kauai to Poipu which is a short drive, about 12 miles from Kapaa...we went to Poipu Beach for some free snorkelling...there was a big crowd on the sand bar near the rocks and crashing waves and we thought it must be some sort of guided beach tour but as we approached and heard the voices singing and saw the foreheads being dipped into the Pacific we realized it was a baptism ceremony going on!

There were also hundreds of sunbathers, surfers, snorkellers and so we went for some snorkelling in the rather strong currents...we didn’t expect to see any fish since there was such big waves and so many people but we were surprised to see a lot of fish...nothing like off of the Keys in Florida but still it was nice to see them. I tried my underwater waterproof camera housing for my new Canon G7. I had wanted to do some underwater filming on this trip since our Florida trip I only had bought those disposable underwater cameras and wasn’t too impressed with the quality. I bought the G7 with the underwater camera case that is waterproof down to 100 feet and it was great! As I walked on the beach everyone was like saying "Oh hey! What kind of camera is that!" They were all impressed but since it was my new camera I was a bit unfamiliar and as I went into the water and started splashing with the fish after about 10 pictures the disc told me it was full...ARGH!

I had to fiddle with the camera for ten minutes under water breathing through the snorkel until I had deleted enough pictures to carry on! It must be from those videos I filmed on the air plane as we landed in Kauai that take up so much space!

Sitting on the lanai now...laughing about the fun at Poipu Beach I decide that I am going to transfer the pictures to my laptop now! We are listening to a local Hawaii Radio Station that is playing fun music that is right out of the best hits of the 80's and 90's...it’s great to hear the music coming from behind us through the screen door as we watch the palm trees swaying and people carrying their evening drinks as they settle near the flaming lanterns around the pool! Room 208 at the Resort Quest Islander on The Beach is our Paradise! This night is turning out to be spectacular! We’ve gone from Hell back to Heaven in a few hours!

After chatting on the Lanai for a while we watched the sun set and went to bed hearing a gentle breeze in the palm trees and the occasional Kauai rooster singing the joys of living on the Island of Kauai! There is such a difference when you fall asleep in a clean room with nice new furniture and we drift off into dreams of Pineapple Fields and Sandy Beaches and Bright Yellow Fishies knowing that the Kona Coffee in the morning on the Lanai will be simply amazing! DAMI

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

Jasper & Alaska : Burmese Babies

2008-03-06T19:52:00.000-05:00