Back to Reality

We returned from another great two week vacation in Hawaii last Sunday. It was rough work week -- lack of sleep and no Hawaii will do that -- but we made it to the weekend.

I haven't loaded all of our photos from the trip yet (they are organized on Brandon's computer and he is still sleeping), but I'll post them to to Shutterfly soon if you are interested in seeming them. We take A LOT of pictures, though, and the digital camera really took that to a new level. (Thanks, Jane!)

We did about 40 miles of hiking between Poli Poli State Park (redwood forrest), Haleakala State Park (volcano), Hana and West Maui Mountain. I loved it all. Tito also rented a car for part of the trip, so we were able to do two shuttle hikes. The first started at the Haleakala Summit (10,000 ft up) and we down to the crater floor then up the other side. We saw Nenes, the Hawaiian goose, and tons of gorgeous scenary. I'll post photos later. West Maui Mountain gave us sweeping views of the island. Poli Poli was an unusual scene for Hawaii. It's a redwood forrest like you would see in California. Here's a picture of me doing what I love to do: HUG TREES!



We also did a fair amount of sunning on the beach, playing in the water, snorkeling, TONS of greate whale watching (including a boat trip with Brandon's grandparents with the Pacific Whale Foundation) and a day trip to the island of Lanai exploring four-wheel drive roads around the island.

I'll post more later. Right now, I need coffee stat.

ALOHA

Fall and Key West

It's official: winter is on it's way. Yesterday was the first day I would truly call "cold" in Cincinati. It alwasy amazes me just how cold that first cold day feels. In the fall, everyone breaks out the wool coats on 60 degree days. In the spring, Ohioans are practically ready to jump in the pool. Ah, bye bye summer. Now we can look forward to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas!

I spent the first week of October in Key West with Jane. (I had my entire blog entry--minus a few pictures-written earlier this week and I accidently erased it. I'll try to recreate.)

It's always good to catch up with Jane in person; it's just never the same on the phone. I'll never forget the first time we spoke. We hit it off right away, talking a mile a minute on the phone without ever having met each other in person. I came out of my bedroom and my parents were trying not to laugh. I said, "what?" They said: "Gee, did you hit it off?" Yes, we did. She's the closest friend I've ever had, and I'm very thankful for our friendship. I wish she lived closer!

Anyway...

Brandon and I fell in love with Key West during a spring break trip in college. We made the 24-hour drive with two friends from the band. It was the first real beach vacation I'd ever had and I was hooked. We returned for a day during our honeymoon and again a year later with Ben and Carrie Feldmeyer.

This, however, was Jane's first trip. As far as I could tell, she loved it, too--except for the walk to Ft. Zachary Taylor beach. (I should have told her to bring a backpack vs. a beach bag.)

We did all the things you must do in Key West except eat at Blue Heaven, a well-known and wonderful restaurant. It was closed for the off season. We did try another historic place--Pepe's Cafe--and it was fabulous. It looked pretty dingy from the outside, but they had a great outdoor patio and wonderful, homemade food. Here's a picture:


THINGS YOU MUST DO IN KEY WEST:

1. Enjoy the local attractions, including the Custom House Museum, Key West Aquarium and the newly opened Butterfly Conservatory. The Custom House in particular is incredible--it is a beautiful historic, renovated building. It has a permenant exhibit of Cuban art my Mario Sanchez, which I always enjoy, and a rotating display. This time it was "Icons Revisited," an exhibit of American icons created in 3D. To promote the exhibit they had a massive statue of American Gothic outside. It was crazy! The first time we noticed it was at night when it was underlit...pretty creepy.

Here are a few pictures from the museum and the butterfly show:













2) Visit Mallory Square to see the street performers. This is also a great place to meet some of the local cat population. I told Jane I needed to move to Key West and start a trap-and-release program to slow the pet population. They all look so skinny! I fed a cats my leftover cuban food, including the cute guy below.





3) Walk all over Old Town enjoying the quaint houses, beautiful flowers and touristy things, like the Southernmost Point:



4)You must also watch the sunset from many places. That meant a sunset sail, the beach and the top of our hotel.

5) You must also spend lots of time at the beach, preferably in a noodle chair.

My laptop battery is about to die, so I'll have to post those photos later.