27 April 2009

Another day, I guess I need to finish this trip but it will take this one and one more post to get it done.

Saturday, we all went to Kihea, for a swim meet. Both Britt and Anna were swimming with their swim club. I don't remember ever going to a swim meet, so this was a new experience for us. The girls both swam the 50 meter free style and the 50 meter back stroke. They both did well, and the back stroke they both we in the same race, Britt won the heat and Anna was second...The ole Rogers one,two punch. The was the end for them, there were many other races but that was the only two they were in. After the meet Nancy and I went exploring the area around Kihea. It was going well until I got to basically the end of the road, at least a passable road. What fun, great beaches, lush vegetation....

When we got home Andrew and I went a played golf on the Bay Course at Kapalua, this is the course that the LPGA plays on and I was going to work last fall, but that is when I spent time in the hospital. The course was very nice, not to hard as I had a smooth 39 on the front. We only played a couple holes on the back due to crowding and we needed to get home to go out for supper on the beach.

Sunday morning Andrew and I went to play the Plantation Course. this the one that they hold the Mercedes in January. This is something that I had been waiting for since Andrew moved to Maui. I was a real treat to play a course that I have seen on TV many times. Wow, what a course, up hill, down hill, blind tee shots and spectacular views of the ocean and very expensive homes. My goal was to break 90, and after the front of 44, I thought it was possible, but the back seemed to be a bit harder and I finished with a 49 for a total of 93. Enough though it wasn't a good round, score wise, it was the finest courseI have ever played .

I guess I should say that Andrew shot 78, not bad for a guy who doesn't have time to play much, good round Bub, and thanks for the chance to play with you, it was great.

Next time I will tell you about the scary day Monday.

25 April 2009

As I start this edition I am trying to remember what we did next and I guess next, we rested. Yes the jet lag was catching up with us so some time off and get ready to go on our next big adventure which was going on a whale watch.
The area around Maui is the largest area for whales to come and have their babies and enjoy the warm waters. I am not a whale expert but have learned a lot about the humpback whale. Our day started at the Ritz Carlton Center, where we were given a great introduction to the whales and their life cycle. The whales that winter in Maui spend the rest of the year in Alaska where there is food for them to eat, the time they spend in Maui they do not eat(8-12 weeks). After our briefing it was off to the beach to board a 50ft catamaran for the trip to look for whales. On the way out we had lunch and as Nancy was eating her salad the wind came up and blew most of her lettuce all over my shirt, great way to start the trip. After that ,the trip got much better, for 2 1/2 hours we watched as whales popped up all around us, this was very unusual as our trip was the last of the year as most of the whales had left for the trip back to Alaska. We saw many tail slaps, a couple breaches, and many mother/calf pairs. This was a great afternoon. We also saw whales from Andrew house many times.



After the whales watch we meet Andrew and he took us on a tour of the hotel and surrounding grounds. Very nice,and a bit more than I could afford. We had told the girls(Britt & Anna) that we would take them out shopping, so they were waiting when we got home and off we went. We had a good time looking at all the fun things to look at. The girls knew all the good places to go.

We also visited the girls school as both were competing in their class championship of Jeopardy, what fun we had, Anna won the second grade, but Britt did not, final Jeopardy got her, she bet it all and wasn't able to come up with the correct answer, Anna didn't get final question either but did not bet all of her money. What an honor to be able to watch our grandchildren at their school.

We also spent a lot of time at the beach, watching the people and enjoying the wonderful weather. It was sunny and breezy while we were there, making for great time to do nothing.

We also took the girls out for supper and shopping again, this time we went to Front St which is on the ocean and is where all the "fun" shops are. We ate at Kool Cats, a great place with great cheeseburgers, which the girls and I enjoyed, Nancy ate healthy(fish). The also have a game room and Anna found out the Grampy is a good air hockey player.....We hit almost every store in town that night. What fun shopping with the grandchildren..I needed a rest after a night on the town.

More later...

MAUI 2009

Where to begin, the last 10 days have been awesome and I need to spend some time writing about "our" trip to visit Andrew and Family.

I guess the place to start is the beginning, that would be the long flight to Maui, with a quick stop in LA. Good flight and when we got there Andrew, Britt and Anna were there to meet us and take us home.

The Maui Welcome

Got there on Monday, Tuesday morning we flew to Honolulu to visit Pearl Harbor and the rest of the Island. Pearl Harbor was a very interesting time. It is such a solum place yet fascinating. Its hard to express the whole concept of what happened there and even today see the results of that horrible day that all Americans will always remember. A place that should be on your list of places to visit.

After Pearl we headed north to the North Shore, stopping at the Dole Pineapple Plantation, interesting but a tourist trap. Everything you can think of made out of pineapple or nik naks with a pineapple theme. We had pineapple ice cream with pineapple topping....A bit much, but good. The NS is where all the surfers go for the Big Waves, beautiful area, we stopped at several beaches, didn't surf, but saw huge turtles at one, they get out of the water to rest and warm up...the highlight of the NS trip was lunch. Nancy had wanted to have lunch at Turtle Bay, a high end resort where the Champions Tour plays, will we drove in but it looked a bit pricey for me, so I told Nancy I would find a nice place to eat and did I ever. Several miles down the road we stopped at a road side Shrimp vendor. Wonderful place, an old bus, gutted out and a stove and not much else for cooking, not the most sanitary place I have ever seen. We were given a plastic menu and everything was $12.00, ok ,seemed a bit high for the surroundings but we went ahead and ordered. We have a great lunch, garlic shrimp, and coconut shrimp. I highly recommend the road side eateries, they actually raise their own shrimp in ponds behind the bus. Pictures follow.
The other great stop on this day was the Veteran Cemetery of the Pacific, something we did not know was there, but we were told by a young couple that we visited with at the roadside gourmet stop. This is located on a high hill overlooking downtown Honolulu. This is a beautiful piece of ground that pays tribute to many falling heroes of this great country. Another place to visit without fail.

This completes day one, I will not do a post on each day, but there are days that need a full post, I will keep this up daily until the trip is over.