Kitesurfing in Maui

Sadly, I didn't take my kite gear with me to Maui. But we did make a visit to the North shore to watch the kiters. The water was
amazing, the wind constant, and some pretty amazing kiters...made me really wish that I had a kite and could go out and flounder in the water with everyone...
This was my first attempt at photographing kiters. It's actually really difficult to get a shot that looks decent.

More Maui

I'm finally ready for some sunny weather in the northwest. The snow is great, but after I've had my fill of winter sports, I'm ready for a change. Looking back through the photos of our glorious time in Maui has really put the itch in me for some nice weather...Until the northwest climate chooses to cooperate, I think looking at pictures will have to do...

This first photo was taken near mile post 14...one of our favorite snorkel spots. Amanda and I were on our way to a relaxing time in Lahaina and we decided to stop and watch some whales playing in the bay...




One of the best drives on Maui is the "back" way to Hana. This is a little bay that we found on our trip.


Having fun at night at the rental house. The light spots on the bottom right are from me walking by with a flashlight. It's not the most amazing photo, but it was fun experimenting for sure!


The Banyon trees in Maui are pretty incredible. This one was dead center on the trail to the falls by Hana.


Halfway up that same trail, there is the most amazing bamboo forest.

Maui!

Amanda and I have spent the last week in Maui. It has been gloriously relaxing and amazingly fun. We rent a beat-up old jeep from a little place off the beaten path in downtown Kahului. The place is like a junk yard from an old TV show--broken down jeeps everywhere and guard dogs behind a fence. We've been trying to keep ourselves off the grid for the past week from driving the back way to Hana to 4 wheeling up Polipoli. Snorkeling has been great and we have finally gotten our fill of turtles. We finally had the courage to take our little digital point and shoot into the water. We've had a great time as many pictures as possible. We also had a great time diving Molokini and the St. Anthony's Shipwreck...

The first picture is a small and well hidden Eel that we spotted this morning while snorkeling at Turtle town. The following four pictures are turtles from this morning as well.

Plenty more pictures to come!

Florida

So this post is a long time in coming. It's been over a month since I was actually in Florida. I was there on a business trip, but was able to spend a day with a good friend--Steve Shapiro. The pictures are from our canoeing adventure in search of alligators. Sadly, we didn't see any. The highlights of the trip were when we ended up "low-centered" on a tree and almost capsized the canoe--perhaps we would have seen some gators at that point. A little chumming never hurts. We canoed up a river to an old cabin that was built by Trapper Nelson. He been there since the early 1900's and mysteriously disappeared a few years back. On the way back, Steve decided to pick some of the local flora for our sustenance--he ended up getting what was first thought to be a pineapple but turned out to be a ball of spikes.

Mt. Hood

I still take it for granted that I grew up so close to Mt. Hood, literally in the foothills. When Mt. Hood is your backyard it's hard not to take it's amazing-ness for granted. On Sunday, the weather was still looking nice so I headed out to Mt Hood/Hood River for the day. I was hoping to hike to some falls, but ended up hiking some other trails with some friends from Hood River. They were on skis and unfortunately, I wasn't equipped to keep up with them so I took some pictures of them and we went our separate ways. It was such a beautiful hike though. I'm always amazed at the stillness and beauty in nature...it was truly refreshing to get outside and enjoy the activity and the stillness.

Columbia River Gorge

It's so amazing to be living in the Pacific Northwest again. To be 30 minutes from amazing beauty and wildness...Southern California seems like years ago after living here for a a half a year.
Today I was feeling stir crazy while Amanda was at work. The weather was beautiful (i.e. no rain and clear skies), so I decided to take a drive into the gorge. After driving around and looking for some fun places to hike around, I found a little trail next to the Columbia. It was super quiet (no wind), ice still floating in the water, and the sunset was beautiful. These pictures were actually taken after sunset with longer shutter speeds. They came out pretty good in my opinion...

Hood River

Hood River has to be one of the most beautiful cities in Oregon. Of course I'm partial because I grew up there. I took a little drive out to Hood River last night and took a couple more photos. The new tripod has been a blast--the next thing on the list is a "cable release" since it really stinks standing in one place trying to hold the shutter button for 15 minutes. With the wind of Hood River, it's really cold too...