Travel – Page 7 – Travel with Jane & Jeff

It is Super Bowl Sunday!

Yes, it is Super Bowl Sunday and the six of us (Trish’s daughter arrived last night, so now we are six) are having our own little fiesta tonight. But first we’ll enjoy the day.

Without plan we all end up at the small continental breakfast area at the same time, early like 9:15. Toast, yogurt, juice, fruit and coffee are set up on two small tables in a narrow hallway. Lots of “pardon me’s” and “Sorries” as we and the other guests maneuver about. I don’t think we are the demographic for this hotel as all of the folks I see are young Europeans.
We carry our breakfasts outside to the veranda where it is a little chilly but not bad. It is certainly much warmer than at home. As we eat and people watch we see folks walking by bundled up and even wearing gloves – I’m wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt!

The Odyssey, our hotel, 1 block from beach
Eve and Leroy’s windows on the left; Trish and Angela’s windows on the right

After breakfast Jeff and I walk a block over to the Beach Walk.

We walk for just over five miles dodging bicyclists, runners, skateboarders and people like us who are simply strolling. Pokey and Gumby enjoyed the outing as well.

The walk is clearly marked.

We’ve been to South Beach before and enjoy looking at the classic buildings and refamiliarizing ourselves with the Art Deco style. Art Deco buildings usually have porthole style windows and other features that appear in “3s” such as window panes or decorative designs. They often will resemble ships.

The Beach Patrol Building looks like a ship!

Example of Art Deco architecture. See the port holes and the windows divided by 3?

If you need to be rescued, be sure it from a stylish lifeguard station like this one!

Eventually we make our way back to the Odyssey and I’m writing this as we relax on the comfy wicker sofa. Trish and Angela have gone to find some lunch; Eve and Leroy are heading off to the Museum of Erotic Art. Hope they bring back photos! LOL

Jeff and I retire to our room where he takes a short nap and I review my Spanish. (I am taking a Spanish class this semester and am going to try to keep up with my schoolwork.)
When done relaxing and reviewing we set out to explore the “Art Deco District.” What a nice walk. When we walk back we return down a residential street and wonder what it would be like to snowbird here.

Back at the hotel I jump in the shower for a quick clean-up – we need to get ready for the game! Jeff and I stop at Leroy and Eve’s room (aka ‘party central’) and we all go out to get Subway sandwiches. Trish and Angela are just going to snack.

Jeff holding the Bronco’s sign, Eve and Leroy lounging on the bed, and Angela standing behind her mum, TrishGame time!! 2 six packs of beer, wine, champagne, chips, popcorn, vegie sticks…Eve and Leroy have gotten beach chairs from reception; Jeff carries the chair from our room down to theirs. We are set and the BRONCOS WIN THE SUPER BOWL!!!!! So exciting!!!

After the game, we tidy up the room and head our separate ways. Jeff and I are going to try and get on a city tour that Eve and Leroy have signed up for tomorrow. It is an all-day affair and sounds fun. Frankly, pretty much anything with those two is fun. But it is about midnight here and we need to get over to the tour place when they open at 9am to see if they have seats available.
Trish and Angela are going to skip the tour and head over to the Marriott by Miami International Airport where tomorrow night we will meet the rest of our Cuba companeros.

Since we are very limited on space/weight, the prizes for my contests will be quite small – just little tokens. So, will you be the first to respond to this question??
The movie The Birdcage was filmed in South Beach – who starred opposite Robin Williams as his partner? No fair googling the answer!

Good night!

Our bags are packed

My suitcase is zippered shut, my passport is in my back pocket…ready to go!

After spending the night at the Denver Marriott Airport hotel, Jeff and I met our wonderful traveling companions, Eve and Leroy Measner in the hotel lobby at 5:55 a.m. for our shuttle to the airport. We stayed in Denver overnight because we have an early flight and in Colorado you just never know what the weather is going to be. So, rather than risk a snowy or icy drive, we decided to spend the night in Denver. Happily I had enough points for a free hotel room and since our personal chauffeur (hahaha!) Tom Delaney delivered us to our hotel, we don’t even have to pay parking. Thanks, Tom!

Denver International Airport is all decked out in blue and orange in honor of the Denver Broncos being in Super Bowl 50 tomorrow. All the gate staff are clad in Bronco attire and even the departures board is festive.

At our gate we meet up with Eve’s sister, Trish. In all our party will number seven as two more friends are meeting us in Miami.

Our flight today is to Miami, FL. We are going to spend today, tomorrow and part of Monday in South Beach. Tuesday we start our nine day adventure in Cuba.

The flight is completely uneventful, we land, retrieve our luggage and head for our reserved Super Shuttle. Since there are 5 of us I’ve arranged for a non-stop private shuttle.

The drive to the hotel doesn’t take very long and we all enjoy the warm weather and seeing the palm trees. We’ve left about a foot of snow back in Colorado! I can’t wait to put on my shorts and short sleeved blouse.

We’re staying at the Odyssey South Beach Hotel. A small boutique hotel one block from the ocean. Turns out our reservations include free breakfast, a free happy hour drink (red wine, white wine or champagne) and snacks, and beach chairs and umbrellas to carry over to the beach. Very nice.

After checking in, dumping our luggage and changing into tropical attire the five of us convene in the hotel lobby. We had agreed that if any of us were to lay down we’d fall asleep and that would be that – so we go for a walk and to find a bite to eat.

First things first – the beach! Off come our sandals or sneakers and socks and into the cool, wonderful sand go our toes. Aaahhh…
Eve, Leroy and I can’t resist wading into the water a little.

Eve gets a wee bit further in and pays for it by getting wet pant’s cuffs. Brrr! Well, as Jeff points out, it IS February here, too!

Our shuttle driver had told us that good food for reasonable prices was on a street a block behind our hotel, and since we’re getting hungry, we dry and desand our feet and head to Washington Street. From Washington we arrive at Espanola Way, a pedestrian friendly historic Spanish village, now home to art galleries, boutique shops and restaurants. We are delighted to learn that lunch menus are good until 5pm, and choose to eat at Hosteria Roma, a local Italian place. YUM! Great food!! A relaxing dinner, wonderful company – vacation!

Back at the hotel we get our complimentary drinks and snacks (as though we need more food) and go outside to sit on the veranda. Jeff and Leroy rearrange the wicker sofas and chairs so they form a semi circle where we sit, people watch and chat. Finally the long day catches up to us and we all head for our rooms. It IS 8pm after all!

What will tomorrow bring?

Return to the 2016 Adventures Page Super Bowl Sunday!

Chillin’

Today is our one of our down days – a day to sleep in (we did) and relax – which we did big time! Seriously, I don’t have much to write about. Let’s see, I went to the Activity Center to get a book from their yellow shelf library because I want something to read while laying by the pool.

Jeff went to the workout room while I swam a bit. I went to the pool in the early afternoon because I knew it would be less crowded with families still at the theme parks. It was so relaxing!

We went over to Walmart to pick up wine and more salmon and postcards. If I’m in the U.S. there is no excuse not to be able to figure out the postage. LOL

After dinner we read for a while and then turned in. We didn’t have a lot planned for today, but that was because we thought we’d have other down days and we may not… Stay tuned!

2015 Adventures Back

Expecto Patronum!

I have screamed myself hoarse.

We set our alarm clock for 7:15 this morning, and got up, after several snooze button slaps, at 8am. So much for our early start.
A quick breakfast, several minutes fussing with the car’s Bluetooth connection and we were off to Universal.

We have 3-day 2-park passes for Universal Studios and Universal’s Island of Adventure. After a 20 minute drive we park in “Spider-Man 453.” Last night we both downloaded the free Universal app to our phones. This app tells us the wait times for the rides we choose, we can set an alert to tell us stuff like “the wait time for the Simpson ride is 20 minutes” instead of 30 minutes. It also has a “Guide Me” feature to help you find the ride or area you are looking for; shows you where the bathrooms are and provides a screen to record your parking space. It is also a huge battery drain! But useful…

The park entrance was a 20 minute walk from the parking garage which is no big deal unless when you get to the gate you realize that your wallet and hence your photo ID are back in the car (Jeff!). But, being Jeff, he has a photo of his photo ID (driver’s license AND passport) on his phone; but would they be accepted? Yes! In fact, neither of us was asked for an ID. It’s a darn good thing we didn’t walk all the way back to the car.

Before leaving Colorado Jeff had been monitoring the weather forecasts for Orlando. Rain every day – like 60-80% chance every afternoon; we made sure to pack ponchos and umbrellas. Today we have the ponchos in our pack, and, ever the optimist, I also threw in the sunscreen. Darn good thing. The weather was gorgeous! Sunny, hot (and humid, of course). No rain at all! Around 3, some cloud cover appeared and there was a nice breeze. Perfect!

I won’t tell you about all the rides and walking we did or the WONDERFUL Diagon Alley area, the Night bus, seeing Celestina Warbeck perform,

the displays by the Durmstrang and Beaubaton students, the Leaky Cauldron, Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes and the Hogshead.

We rode the Hogwart’s Express from Platform 9-3/4 and saw the countryside whiz by the train windows.

I won’t describe the dark and sinister shops down Knockturn Alley, seeing the hand of glory or cursed necklace. You’ll just have to imagine the taste of cold butterbeer and the feel of a Pygmy puff in your hand…

One of the fun things we saw involved interactive wands. You can buy a wand at Olivander’s (you can also buy a Gregorovich wand – but who would?!).

The interactive wands come with a map of places where you can “do” magic. For example, on the sidewalk in front of a water fountain there is a small round metal disc showing the wand movement needed for the spell. Children (teens and adults as well!) wave their wands in that motion, and in the case of the water fountain, water comes out of the toads’ mouths. We asked a little girl to do some magic for us so we could fill up our water bottles. She was very proud of her abilities, though I did have to remind her to say the spell, “aquamente.”

Our hummus wraps, apples and carrots were an excellent cooling lunch. We saved the Clif bars for a late afternoon pick-me-up.

Oh, it was the new “Escape from Gringotts” ride that had me screaming. It had great effects and was definitely worth the 45 minute wait to experience. That 45 minutes was the longest wait we had. Jeff had checked for information about park crowds and wait times online and discovered that today is a historically “moderate” day crowd-wise and the rest of the week is “slow.” As there weren’t big crowds today we think we may not see any long lines on our remaining two days.

We got to the park about 9:30 this morning and left at 6pm…tired but happy with our experiences.

Back at the condo we’ve finished some very good rotini with steamed carrots, leftover steamed broccoli and onions in the canned spaghetti sauce. Time to wash off the sunscreen and relax.

2015 Adventures Back Chillin’

Wyndham and Walmart

Oh good heavens! Is it really time to get up?? We don’t want to miss our free breakfast so we drag ourselves out of bed and go down to the lobby. For me, it is totally worth it because there are packages of instant grits. Yum!! (In case you are wondering, or are horrified, my family is from the South and I love grits (and ‘fatback’ but we won’t go there)).

After breakfast we go back to our room, and I call reception to ask for a late checkout – 1pm? Perfect. We go back to sleep. Seriously. Next thing we know it’s 12:30 and we’re getting ready to head out.

We have a timeshare in Kissimmee for the week. Oh, was that a gasp I heard? Are you wondering how two super frugal people got sucked into a timeshare? We didn’t; we purchased a foreclosed upon timeshare many years ago for probably less than you spend on groceries in a month.

We’ve only stayed in our unit (on Daytona Beach) once and use the timeshare for trading – to take advantage of getting a condo while on vacation. We’ve traded for a great place in San Diego, a castle in England, a ginormous lodge in Big Sky, Montana and most recently two weeks in Hawaii. Having these apartments is nicer, and less impact on the wallet, than hotel accommodations. With the timeshare we’ll have a full kitchen, washer/dryer, basically a good sized condo. We’ll cook 90% of our meals and will pack simple lunches for the days’ adventures. Because we pack so lightly having the washer/dryer will be more convenient than our usual routine of hand washing our socks and such in the sink.

Having (almost) figured out how to sync the car’s Bluetooth to my phone, we drive the 30 minutes to Kissimmee. First stop? WalMart. Flowers for the condo, salmon to grill, fresh broccoli, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, cauliflower, carrots and 2 potatoes. Bagels, tortillas and hummus -> we’re going to make yummy wraps for our portable lunches. Vegan baloney and soy yogurt (for me); ‘normal’ yogurt, Swiss cheese and sliced turkey for Jeff, almond milk, granola, beer, wine and finally, a little box of Milk Duds for Jeff and a small bag of 72% cacao chocolates for me.

The condo complex is nice and we’re pleased with our unit. It doesn’t take long to unpack. We sit, have a cup of coffee and chat, planning our week.
Here’s a tip for you timeshare novices, do what we do and you’ll have a nice relaxing stay. The minute you get to your condo, unplug the phones!! Otherwise you’ll be getting calls from the timeshare people inviting you to a free breakfast or lunch to learn all about the joys of timeshare ownership.

Eventually we take a nice long walk – it’s humid here! The complex has pots of plants around – herbs! We surreptitiously pick several rosemary sprigs and a chive onion, pop some fresh parsley in our mouths and head back home.
We dice the rosemary and chives, mix them with a little olive oil spread and rub that mixture onto the salmon.

Our grilled salmon, with its fancy and fresh herb butter, along with steamed broccoli and brown rice made for a delicious dinner.
After dinner we diced a little tomato and cucumber, washed some lettuce, bagged up a bunch of carrots, spooned hummus into a ziplock bag (messy!), basically got all of our lunch ready for tomorrow.

Looking forward to seeing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
But now it’s late and time for bed…

2015 Adventures Back Expecto Patronum!

And we’ve arrived.

Our flight to Chicago was a little bumpy but otherwise uneventful. The man who sat next to Jeff was fun and interesting to talk with – and we bonded by helping him with his Fitbit and Fitbit app. Hahaha!

We have less than an hour to change plans in O’Hare and are hoping to be able to grab a bite to eat. Of course we pack snacks, but the carrot sticks are almost gone and we’ve put a dent into our bag of peanuts.

When we deplaned we found an arrivals/departure board and discovered that the plane we had just gotten off was the same plane we would take to Orlando – and we have the same seats! How weird is that?
Well, there was no time for food, just a quick bathroom stop and off we went. We definitely needed something to eat so each of us got a hummus and crackers snack on the plane and finished off our carrots with the hummus. Dessert was apples that we brought from home. This flight was a little longer than the first one, but soon we were touching down in Orlando.

Got our rental car and drove about 5 minutes to the Holiday Inn Express at the airport. Actually, it was a little more dramatic than that because we were relying solely on my phone’s GPS for directions and had no connectivity until out of the parking garage and actually driving who knows where. This led to a wee bit of snarling as we struggled to figure out how to sync the stupid phone to the car’s Bluetooth as we drove wherever the road was going. All eventually worked and we were soon on track. We knew the flight was scheduled to arrive late in the evening so made reservations close to the airport. I’m so glad we did because we are tired.

If you’ve read any of my other blogs you’ll remember that we almost always stay at Holiday Inn Express properties. Free breakfast, free wi-fi, and I am a “platinum” member so sometimes the rooms are free! In all of our stays, we’ve never had a room like this one. There was the normal king sized bed and little couch/sitting area –

but, around the corner was a small but full kitchen! Of course, I had to take a photo…

We haven’t bother to unpack because we’re staying just one night and it is 1am. Time for bed!

2015 Adventures Back Wyndam and Walmart

Are broomsticks faster than airplanes?

It is 36 degrees and snowing – hard. Raise your hand if you care.

Jeff and I don’t care! We are driving to DIA (Denver International Airport) to go first to Chicago and then on to Orlando, FL for a week.

For those of you who don’t know, I am a huge, huge Harry Potter fan. Ummmm…it actually borders on obsession to be honest.

My birthday is next week and what an awesome birthday present from my wonderful husband – 3 day tickets to the “Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter” theme parks at Universal Studios. We have been to one of the parks, but a new one opened earlier this year; and the Hogwart’s Express connects the two.
Grab your broomstick and come along!

If you prefer not to come on this adventure with us, please let me know by sending me an email to: jane.smith@colostate.edu and I’ll not send you a link with each new post. (My feelings won’t be hurt.)

2015 Adventures And we’ve arrived…

Organic, non GMO

Lihue, HI

They are really big on Farmer’s Markets here on Kauai. When we checked in yesterday we were given a list of them – one for every day of the week. Holy mackerel.

After a quick breakfast of cereal and coffee, we set out. This farmer’s market is in the parking lot of Kauai Community Colleges, and not only are there a lot of people selling, there are a lot of people buying. Happily I remembered to bring a reusable bag with us from Colorado and have it today.

There are fruits, flowers, veggies, local coffee, food trucks and a humane society tent. There are handmade jewelry tents, a woman weaving palm fronds into gorgeous baskets, local honey and eggs. Organic, non GMO and “picked this morning”

Do you know what the fruit below is?

If you are the first person to comment with the correct answer, I will bring you some Kauai Kookies (the cookies are very good – I’ve already eaten two bags of them!).
Need more of a clue? Here is a photo of this fruit, sliced open.

We spent a lot of time at the farmer’s market.Here is a photo of our flowers ($2!) and some of the fruit we bought.

After loading all our goodies back into the car we drove around the island for a couple of hours. The scenery is beautiful…. Oh, and we found a WalMart – I’m excited as they usually have postcards and souvenirs less expensively than the tourist shops. We’ll stop there another time. Eventually we made our way back home, unpacked our treasures and headed out for a walk on the beach.

The water is so rough on this side, but it makes for spectacular scenery. We walk quite a long way and back again.

We make a nice salad with lots of fresh ingredients and eat out on the lanai listening to the surf and the birds.

Heading to bed early because we have a big day planned for tomorrow and have to get an early start. Until then…

Home Back

Island hopping

Lihue, HI

Today we are leaving Maui and heading for a week on Kauai. Our flight to Kauai isn’t until to 2:30 so we have a leisurely morning. Packing, eating up the few groceries we have left, saying goodbye to our cute little condo right on the beach.

We stop to top off the tank before returning the rental car and arrive at the airport in good time. We check in and need to find a secluded spot as the only thing that we didn’t finish yet is 2 cans of beer! Jeff asks me, “Where are my glasses?” Hmmmm…. He remembers having his prescription reading glasses when we got gas. He heads back outside the airport to get BACK on the Budget rental car shuttle to go back and see if his glasses are still in the rental car. I wander into a semi-secluded spot, smiling cheerfully (and, I hope, innocently) at the passing TSA person as I chug my beer. Jeff returns glasses-less. I hand him his beer and he downs it. Wish we had a couple more! We sit at our gate for about 90 minutes waiting for a flight that will take far less time. We are on the jet way to board. Jeff looks at me and says “Where’s my hat?” Seriously???
He hurries back off the jetway to where we were sitting, eventually returning, hat in hand. It had fallen off the seat onto the floor and he’s very lucky to have found it.The flight is too short to order booze!

Picking up the rental car on Kauai was speedy and since this condo is only 4 miles from the airport we’re here in a flash. We are staying at the Wyndham Kaua’i Beach Villas in a one bedroom condo with a full kitchen AND a washer and dryer (yippee!). We check in, beg off the timeshare “welcome” – you have to talk to them to get your parking pass. I didn’t even sit down and Jeff told them we just wanted to go take a nap (they thought we had flown in from Colorado) so, timeshare rigamarole averted.
The condo is very nice and if you stand in a certain spot and look diagonally you can see the ocean. LOL

We get unpacked and head out for groceries – the usual, except we did not buy any fruit or flowers thinking we can probably get those at the local farmer’s market tomorrow. When we return it has gotten dark but we walk around the complex which has a very nice swimming area and outdoor barbecues. The surf here is high and rough – Kauai is not known for it’s snorkeling but for big wave surfing. We can hear the waves pounding the shore and decide to leave that bit of exploring until we can see what we’re doing!
Until tomorrow….

2014 Adventures Back Organic, non-GMO

Close Encounter

Lahaina, HI
August 28, 2014

I am a good swimmer….mmmm, let me rephrase that. I am a very good swimmer. A strong swimmer, I am also a scuba instructor and have taken diver rescue training. In my dive career I have saved 2 people from drowning – one at the surface and one 40 feet down. So, when Jeff gasped out to me “I’m really in trouble” and he disappeared under the waves, my mind seemed to hit overdrive. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Today we are heading for Malu’aka Beach, one of the best beaches on south Maui and the beach to see turtles. Our book says: “Green turtles here, green turtles there, at Turtle Beach these graceful giants are everywhere.”
For some reason we have taken to calling it “Turtle Town” and we’re hoping to see several. Jeff teases me that since we’ve seen turtles everywhere else we’ve used up our quota and won’t see any today. HAH!

We have a quick breakfast and head out. We’re leaving early because the water is calmer in the morning and the turtles are more likely to be feeding.

You’d think that a spot that is listed as one of the best beaches would be easy to find, but NO! We drive and drive ending up on a dirt road that is cut through a lava field. It is beautiful in an eerie way, but definitely not what we are looking for. Turns out we are at the ‘Ahihi-Kina’u Natural Area Reserve – several miles past where we want to be. Turn around, backtrack, go too far in the opposite direction, turn around again, backtrack. Aha! The book says go behind this resort and there it is. Finally! We’ve spent about 45 minutes or so driving back and forth the same 7-8 miles. So much for an early start.

This is a really nice beach area. There are showers for rinsing off, real bathrooms, pretty grounds with picnic tables and the water looks wonderful. I get in to rinse off our masks and come back to tell Jeff how clear and warm the water is. This is great! We get in and start snorkeling. The water clarity is the best we’ve had as you can see from this photo.

But in a split second (it seems) everything has changed. We are snorkeling in an underwater sandstorm. The wind has picked up and the waves have gotten BIG! Not only big, but nearly constant and they seem to be breaking right over us. They ARE breaking right over us. We head back to shore only to feel the current pulling and the waves are truly swamping us both. I’m frightened. Jeff looks at me wide-eyed, says “I’m really in trouble” and the next wave crashes over him and he goes under. I reach out and yank him back to the surface, a wave batters us and we both go under. This is serious. Jeff gasps out “What do you want me to do??” The response I want to make, “Don’t drown”, is inappropriate. I just shake my head, grab his arm to help keep us together and say “You’re all right. You’re going to be okay.” I was sure I was right because he wasn’t in a full- blown panic. I looked under myself and saw a coral outcropping about 5 feet away. I shoved Jeff that way, “What should I do??” He asked. “Stand UP!” I said with as much authority as I could put into my voice.
He did and the next wave knocked him over and under again; I got him back up and on the coral. We are too far out for him to swim for shore, so we head for a big rock outcropping. Not sure we can get from those rocks to shore, but if we can get there and get on them without getting too badly bashed we can make a plan. Maybe someone will see us and help.

We get to the rocks. I see Jeff get slammed into the rocks and he is holding on. I get swept past and finally get my hand onto something solid. I look back at Jeff and I can see a new set of waves cresting. (Waves come in sets.) I shout at him, “Wait….wait….” I know he is getting ready to try and climb those rocks but he needs to wait until the set lulls. Finally, 3 massive waves try to tear us from our handholds. I yell ” Now! Climb!” and see Jeff climbing, but my rock is too steep. I shout out to him that I need to let go and try to get carried a little further in – I do and am able to grab hold again. I see Jeff on top of the rocks, blood running down both legs. A wave slams me sideways – man, THAT is going to leave a bruise. Jeff is working his way across the rocks still wearing his fins. We are in a safe though precarious place. I am finally able to climb up. I reach out and grasp a sea urchin. ****! That hurts and now I know I have spines in a couple of fingers. We get to the top of the rocks…yes, if we are very careful we can get to shore from here and then walk back to the beach. My legs are shaking so badly…adrenaline, fear, tiredness? All of the above. I have an almost overwhelming urge to just sob…great relief.

Jeff looks at me and says, “You know, the problem with all this healthy eating is that the only thing I have to celebrate not dying with is carrot sticks!” I laugh almost hysterically.

As we get back on shore a man and woman come over to us. They had been watching and weren’t sure we were going to make it. He was ready to help but when they saw us heading for the rocks knew we had a better chance than if we had tried to swim for shore. She said they were much closer in when the current and waves picked up and it was very difficult for them to get back.

We didn’t see a single turtle.

Once we were back to our towels, I was DONE! We had planned to snorkel here, walk the wide sandy beach at Big Beach and then hike at a state park. Jeff was still game. It took awhile for my heart rate to get back to normal. We rinsed off, packed up and headed for the car.

Don’t these people believed in signposts??? We did find Big Beach with just one backtrack. Getting out of the car, I reached for the camera, went through my bag. No camera. “I can’t find the camera.” We take everything out of the car…no camera. I’m back to feeling hysterical.
We go back to Turtle Town, to where we had left our towels and stuff. And AMAZINGLY Jeff finds the camera in some very tall grass. I can’t believe it!

Okay, onto Big Beach. It is beautiful, but I think I am in a little shock.

Every time the waves come ashore my stomach clinches. The waves are very high and rough here as well. We walk the beach, holding hands. Neither of us are big on public displays of affection, but I can’t let go.

Before we head to the state park, we go BACK to Turtle Town to use the nice restrooms to change our clothes. Out of swimsuits and into shorts for hiking. I get back in the car…where are my sunglasses?? I say a few words my mother would not approve of and walk back to the restrooms hoping my prescription sunglasses are in there. As I walk away, Jeff blows the horn- he found them in the car.
I could use a handful of Valium!

One of the most photographed sites on Maui is the ” ‘Iao Needle” located in ‘Iao Valley State Park. This is where we are headed and it is a gorgeous drive to the park.

The ‘Iao Needle rises straight up 2,250 feet. It is actually part of a ridge but it was not eroded like the ridge around it. It stands alone. The backdrop of the West Maui mountains makes it stand out beautifully.

There are two walking paths here. We don’t need our hiking boots as both of these little trails are paved and take about 10 minutes each to walk. The smell of fallen guava is wonderful and there are some nice photo places. I’m so happy we came here. It is green and calming…the fragrances are better than any aromatherapy “session.”

If you are interested in hearing about the legend associated with the ‘Iao Needle, let me know and I’ll describe it.
It is time to go home. We return to the car (making sure we have all of our belongings!) and drive back down the valley.

When we get back to the condo, we pour glasses of wine and stand out on the lanai to watch the sunset. Jeff thanks me for helping him today and I thank him for not drowning.

It took me a really, really long time to fall asleep.

2014 Adventures Back Island Hopping