Check it out

More like, we're checking out.

This is it! Our last day on honeymoon. The Lost Tour from KOS was a good time. We've got to wrap things up here in our hotel room and get out, or else I'd post some more pictures and tell you more about the trip. I've got some plans for all the pictures and things that we took - hopefully it turns out well - and we'll be able to give you a better idea of how surreal the last few weeks have been. We left Peterborough exactly two weeks ago today to start prepping for our wedding - and life hasn't fallen back into a routine since. I can almost see how rockstars can get a bit crazy while they're on the road for long stretches.

Our flight isn't until quarter after eight o'clock tonight, which is like two in the morning in the EST zone - then we get into Dallas/Fort Worth again (around 7:45 in the morning Dallas time). Then we leave Dallas around 10:45 a.m. and fly back to Toronto (getting in around 2 p.m. EST). So - 2 a.m. Friday morning to get home

That's a long trip of flying around, esp. doing most of it overnight. I hope that we're able to sleep on the plane, or else things might get really uncomfortable for us later on.

Besides that - after we check out, because our flight isn't until much later on this evening, we're going to visit the zoo for a while. I doubt we'll get to see everything, but it should help eat up someof the day while we wait for our flight.

We'll be back soon. Take care.

Sunset Cruise

We took a nice sunset cruise this evening with a buffet dinner, some dessert with plenty of entertainment all evening. It was very nice - and here are some pictures of it.

First off, the boat was very nice - its name meant "Royalty" which basically boiled down to King of the Sea, or something like that.







Jeez, the guy in this picture sure got allot of sun today.












There was some Polynesian dancing that was displayed for us after dinner.











Our event host was named "Cousin Big Mac," and I have no idea what his honest Christian Name was, but I was considered "Cousin Rya'an" even if my nametag said otherwise. We had a very nice time on the sunset cruise, and there was a very nice couple from Pennsylvania who shared our table.

Oahu Day: 02

Well, we're staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village - and we think it's in Honolulu, but it also appears to be in Waikiki - we're still not entirely clear on where we are. But that all being said, we're in a much more urban area than we were before while we were in Ka'anapali.

From yesterday during our travels to Oahu from Maui:

- Before we left Maui, there was a neat shot of Molokai (I think that's how you spell it) where a rainbow is basically only at water level, so it's not quite a rainbow, but rather a rainbubble, or something like that.









- Here is a hula gorilla













- After checking in (which was a bit rude, to be honest) we toured around a little and found a pond with both turtles and penguins in it, which my wife loves.








Here are a couple of neat shots from our tour today.
- Some crabs while we were crossing a little bridge.














- A neat view while we're crossing another bridge.













- On the other side of the bridge there was road work, but ... there was also this really excellent view of a neat hotel that was basically standing alone, with the backdrop of some fantastic green hills.









- Here is a neat row of hotels as seen from behind a golf course, which is neat.












- Another shot of stuff through a fence by the golf course. I think this is in the direction of something called "Diamond Head National Park."











- Here's the view from our hotel room, showing the Waikiki skyline, which is very neat. The hotels and shops around here are all very classy. It's kind of like walking the strip in Vegas, or what imagine Rodeo Drive would be like in Hollywood. Pretty neat.








- Finally, I had never seen a pineapple that's still growing. I didn't know that grew out of the ground, and have no idea how they work. Here is what they look like when they're growing, and it looks weird. Never seen anything like this.

West Maui Day: 07

Sorry we missed an update yesterday, but frankly, we didn't take any pictures of anything. We didn't do a whole lot more than lay low, read by the pool and eat dinner. It was great - we even watched a Stephen King movie called "Sometimes they Come Back," which wasn't great, but it was a nice restful way to wrap up an evening.

Anyhow - all of that aside, or adventures in Maui will conclude tomorrow as we check out of the Westin and return our rental car, heading over to Honolulu on Oahu (where we've got the Lost Tour and a Dinner Cruise to look forward to.)

As for today - wait till you see what we got up to! First off, you can see that we were just standing around a beach out by the hotel when ....

we wound up on a li'l boat that ferried us out to another boat called the UFO Parasailer - which, as it names suggests, actually dragged you behind it while you're harnessed into a parachute, and then they drive you along and yank you 600 feet up into the air!

It was totally calm and peaceful at the other end of the line. We didn't have our camera up the parachute with us, but the view was cool. And it wasn't noisy, it wasn't jerky, it was just this quiet and relaxing trip around the bay between Molokai and Lana off the west coast of Maui. Very cool.

We may not have pictures up of what we get up to tomorrow - but we'll be on a new island, in a new hotel, and exploring a new resort, so we may have some cool updates.

I hope you're liking the updates!

Flying over Maui in a helicopter today

Hi - today we flew over Maui in a helicopter, and it was very cool. We actually took 100 pictures - far too many to post up on the blog; so I'll put a few highlights and ... some videos of the flight!

We flew with Sunshine Helicopters at the Kahului Heliport, located on the backside of the main airport just off Highway 37 (Haleakala Hwy). They were really great. We flew in something called a Whisper Star, and it was really great. We even upgraded to "First class" so we could ride up front right beside the pilot and get some really great photos out the front of the chopper.




Pretty cool, eh?



Toward the middle of this video you can see where it's a bit drier and there are some windmills. That's out in the direction of Ka'anapali, where our resort is. This was right at the beginning of the flight - we later went on to the other side of Maui and got some really excellent pictures.


In order of appearance:

1) A 500' waterfall;


2) The Haleakala Crater of the Haleakala National Park;

3) Jurassic Rock (from 1993's Jurassic Park - when the helicopter is approaching the Isla Nublar, this is the rock formation that you see); and

4) the Lahaina windfarm that's not too far from our hotel. Hope you enjoy the shots. I'll try and put all this stuff into a movie of some sort to show you - again, there's about 100 shots - far too many to post all at once. I hope you're enjoying everything so far.

West Maui Day: 05

So this morning we had ambitions (after our wonderful buffet breakfast - it's awesome) to go to the Maui Ocean Center where there's a great aquarium. It was a really great visit - but there are some truths that must be told before you go for yourself. But before we get there - I'll walk you through our visit and share our photos. ... I must warn you, however, that I do some awful, perverted things in the pictures to follow - so beware.

We saw some great stuff and actually learned allot about the local wildlife. Most of what you see at the aquarium is local wildlife - they haven't imported things you wouldn't expect to see - but rather showcase the many fish and aquatic animals that you'd find snorkeling and scuba diving around the islands.

I especially liked the seahorses and the crabs - those things are definitely weird and wonderful. But, to be honest, I did some terrible, terrible things that aren't acceptable. First off - I was totally peeping at the seahorses. Peeping is not cool - and I apologize. Also, not long after peeping at the seahorses, who were awesome, I also molested a starfish. To the starfish I harmed and to all starfish, I apologize. I take full responsibility. But for the record, the starfish was asking for it.


I had no idea that pineapples were grown in the ground. Then again, I didn't think they grew on trees or anything. Here's a shot of some pineapples that are growing - my wife says that the fruit will emerge in the middle of the green shoots, not underground, like a potato.

NOTICE:
So here are some of the things that you should know before you head out to the Maui Ocean Center. Their website indicates that there are many animals at the exhibit, but in some instances they get a bit liberally with the term "home" when they say "Maui Ocean Ceneter is home to hundreds of marine life in over 60 exhibits!...." and then list a variety of animals with drop-down bars. Basically, it would lead you to believe that all of the animals that are on this list would consider the Center "home." Read it for yourself and see if you come to the same conclusion.

So when you can see which animals consider the Center "home" and scroll down to see Humpback Whales, Female Humpback Whales, Hawiian Monk Seal, Spinner Dolphins, Bottlenose Dolphins, and Blue Whales. Now - I was as doubtful as could be that there was a Blue Whale on location at the Maui Ocean Center - seriously, the largest mammal to ever live probably isn't in captivity in an aquarium. But then again, if this place contained all of these animals - maybe a Blue Whale isn't out of the question.

Turns out - NONE of these animals are there. There are some informational plaques on these animals - and most of them are mentioned on one of thost plaques, but that certainly does not mean that those animals call the Center "home." So, that was a disappointment, although it would have been an unbelievable surprise if they actually had all of that stuff. There were supposed to be three species of seaturtles as well - which they did not have.

Great discoveries

It's important to know where you are when you're hiking through the badlands of Hawaii - you'd be surprised that much of West Maui is like a desert - it's very dry and there isn't a lot of grass or anything. But, then again, at some of the resorts and golf courses the yard-keepers have done a super job hydrating everything and keeping the grounds looking healthy.

We travelled the island a little bit today, and we made some great discoveries. In these first two photos you can see my wife traversing through uncharted undergrowth - to discover a boisterous civilization. She was a real trooper - she wanted these shots to work out - so I had her get in position and stand the right way and hold the bushes to the side, and smile, etc, etc. She actually got bit by a bad-ass bug and we actually went into Walgreen's to get something to keep the swelling down. A good time to discover a Walgreens.