Kona and Maui, April 2009

Gary and I are off for our first TWO week vacation in a very long time. We started out on this small plane in Carlsbad. If you haven't flown out of Carlsbad, you should. We were the only ones there when we arrived.
We spent our first week in Kona, the Big Island, at the Kona Beach Resort. This is our balcony. We did a lot of sight seeing while in Kona. We drove all around the island. We went to Hilo where we saw rainforests, desert, and volcanoes--all in the same day.

This is Gary with the Kona Coast in the background.

We drove to one of the snorkleing beaches, Hapuna. It looks a little rocky!
A beautiful Kona sunset outside our resort.
Gary is in the National Park near Kilauea summit. There is an 11 mile drive that circles the summit caldera and craters. There are trails and stops along the way.

One of the stops was the Thurston Lava Tube. We are standing outside the opening of the tube inside the rainforest.
A little flashback, but Gary is inside the lava tube.
We took a half day snorkeling tour and this is one of the lava tubes we saw along the shoreline.

There were many blow holes and other lava tubes along the way. Someone actually saw a whale.
This is the boat we took for our half day trip. Can you believe there were 12 of us on this boat!
We snorkeled near the Captain Cook Monument in Kealakekua Bay. Captain Cook met an unfortunate end in 1779 at the hands of the native Hawaiians.
Just another Kona sunset.
Here are the tourists. This is a very popular swimming and snorkeling beach. We met a couple from Hilo spending their day here.
We didn't take many pictures in Maui but this is a sunset out our 9th floor balcony. You can see Lanai and Molokai. Our week is Maui was one of relaxation and eating! Aloha

Grand Cayman

December, 2008

We left December 5th to Grand Cayman to have some fun. We snorkeled in the beautiful

waters of the Carribbean, fed squid to stingrays, and enjoyed our condo on the famous

Seven Mile Beach. These first two pictures are of George Town and where all the cruise

ships come. Lots of jewelry stores and banks.

We took a half day city tour that took us to Turtle Bay where they raise turtles and eventually

release them into the ocean. We also went to Hell and the Tortuga Rum Cake store. Lots of tasting of the different kinds of rum cake!

That's Hell behind us--Volcanic rock formations


Seven Mile Beach just outside our condo.

Lake Tahoe and Yosemite

Lake Tahoe and Yosemite, October 2008

First time the Miata saw snow!

Gary and I had our first official retirement trip together. We drove to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite in the Miata the week of October 11th. Upon going to bed on the 10th, we heard on the news it was snowing in Tahoe. We quickly added some warmer clothes and jackets and left the next morning. We kept the top up on the car--too cold all the way. We stopped in Bishop the first night and saw snow in the mountains.

We arrived at Lake Tahoe on Sunday afternoon and checked into our time share at the Mariott.

Can you see the buck? There is a family of four.

Emerald Bay

Yosemite

Convict Lake