Another side of Maui

We found a really great deal on airfare to Hawaii. so we decided to take a little break from winter.  I had forgotten that February is the highest of high seasons in Hawaii and we had to scramble to find housing. We did get a free upgrade in our rental car to a Mustang GT.  It brought back memories of the old Mustang we used to drive, but this one was a little spiffier

   We ended up staying in Napili, which is called West Maui in the guide books but seems a little more like north to me.  Anyway, it is a beautiful part of the island, slightly removed from the tourist crowd.  We spent a lot of time just hanging out on the beaches.

 We visited DT Fleming beach several times

It connects to a lovely 3 mile coastal walk through Kapalua

Where we discovered a new favorite beach at Oneloa Bay.  This is a long sandy beach in the middle of a resort, but while Kapalua Beach was always crowded, this beach was almost deserted except for a few surfers.

With a a great view of Molokai across the channel and plenty of whale activity in between.

Calvin road his bike on his favorite ride in the west Maui Mountains wearing the "Big Kahuna" bike jersey he got for Father's Day in 1997. (And no, he doesn't just wear it in Hawaii, he wears it all the time)

And we usually made it home in time to catch a beautiful Maui sunset from our condo balcony

We took the ferry to Lanai for a day on a different beach and because the entrance was gentle I actually got in the water for a little snorkeling.  And just to prove I actually did I took a picture of a fish that I followed around for a while.

Sometimes it is nice to take a vacation doing not really anything at all.

A Capitola Weekend

We took a break from winter last week and spent a few days in Capitola, California.  It wasn't a lot warmer than Reno, but it was a LOT greener.
The first day we visited Henry Cowell State Park and took a drizzly walk through the redwoods.

The coastal redwoods are the tallest trees in the world. Calvin standing by the tree gives a little perspective on their size

A story is told that John Fremont once slept in the burned out base of this tree where Calvin is peaking in the entrance.

It looks like you could almost keep dry in here on a rainy day.

The next day we took an elephant seal tour at Año Nuevo State park. It is a pretty location with an abandoned light house on Año Nuevo Island just off shore.

A great place for a walk

 Elephant seals were nearly hunted to extinction, but they seem to be making a pretty good revival, coming back from less than 100 in 1910 to a population of 150,000 today.  January is their birthing and breeding season so they come ashore in great numbers.

The small black pups sometimes get run over by adult seals who are just passing by.

The males are big and very territorial. They weigh as much as an SUV.

Now for a National Geographic moment:

This male is warning others off his turf.

And these males are fighting it out.

We finished the day walking through Capitola and out onto the pier.  A great place to spend a winter weekend.