Monday, July 06, 2009

Aloha from Maui!!

Wow, its hard to believe that it has been 3 1/2 weeks since we left San Diego. Our trip has come to a close, and this will be the last post that i do from the islands.........but it wont be the last i do about our vacation. So this was the 1st time that we have been on Maui and my emotions about it are definitely mixed. The is land certainly has its charm and beauty but it is defitnitely very "touristy". I found myself really kind of frustrated with the mix of people here on the island and how there are resorts EVERYWHERE!! Still, there are some very beautiful places to see the Aiao Valley is gorgeous, the north side of the island has some spectacular views, Honolua Bay offered some INCREDIBLE snorkeling, the Road to Hana was an incredibly windy drive but also very beautiful. The 1st time on the island is always the most difficult for us as it takes a lot of time to figure out what you want to see and do and you quickly realize that there just isnt enough time to see it all. On top of it all this was our last stop on our trip, and after over 2 weeks of nonstop driving and shooting you eventually hit a wall and its hard to find the energy to do anything. Overall Maui has a lot to offer but you have to like all the touristy type stuff and everything here is incredibly overpriced, Jen and i are used to going to farmers markets and buying tons of local fruit and finding lots of hole in the wall places with cheap good food. Maui had very little to offer of both, we still had an amazing time though and this island i went a little panorama crazy. This is the 1st time that i have really tried to do any serious panoramas and while i think i came away with some good ones its still a process that i am definitely refining and i still have a lot to learn. Stay tuned for more from our trip.......Aloha for now!!



















Sunday, June 28, 2009

Aloha from the Big Island!!!

We are currently enjoying our final night here on the Big Island, right now we are in Kona quietly enjoying some coffee at Lava Java (mmmmmm). Our time has come and gone and as always there is SO MUCH that we were not able to see and yet we leave with a very satisfying feeling know that we saw some incredible things. Here we enjoyed visiting the north shore (kona has been covered by vog) driving on the Hilo side of the island (talk about green!), eating tons of delicious fruits including guavas picked right off of the tree, farmers markets (weird i know but they are kinda fun) offroading (so glad we got a jeep)........waterfalls, snorkeling, going to the southern most point in the U.S., food food food!!! The list could go on and on, suffice it to say we have had an absolute blast, the Big Island is a daunting task not only to see but to even try to photograph in 9 day. It is absolutely gorgeous here, the diversity in climate and wildlife is just staggering at times. We hope to coma back someday soon, for now here are some of my favorites from this leg of our trip, there is a significantly lower number of photos on this post compared to the last, this is not due to lack of content but because i have not been spending to much time in front of the computer editing. Now we are off to Maui for the final leg of our journey. Aloha for now.......




























Friday, June 19, 2009

The Adventure Continues....

Well our week on Kauai has now come and gone, while it is always very sad to leave we look forward to the next time that we can come and visit. Our trip this year was absolutely fantastic! We got to enjoy driving the island in a convertible, explored some new beaches and areas of the island that we had not been to before, eat fresh food, chat it up with the locals and met a new friend! I was a little bummed though since i was really looking forward to hanging out with my buddy Thad but it just never happened. The Lord blesses though and HE blessed us with a new friend on the island, her name is Maya and she is such a wonderful and giving person. Just being around her makes life contagious, you just cant help but smile and enjoy life hanging out with her. Anywho, we had man many experiences and memories that we will treasure for years to come, we are now on the Big Island with Jens family and are looking forward to exploring this island some more and having some sweet adventures. Stay tuned as i now have wifi and will try to keep you updated regularly. Theres tons of pitures to work on but heres some of my faves so far......Enjoy!!











































Sunday, June 14, 2009

Who could ask for more?!

I sure cant!!! Well our adventure has officially began, we are now in Hawaii for 3/12 weeks. Its incredible to even think about and humbling to see how much God has blessed us with just being able to do this. So we have had our 1st full day in Kauai, the scenery is beautiful as always, and our time here has been awesome. Seems like theres a couple storms passing through here so the water is a little choppy and murky, snorkeling today was kind of a bust as far as shooting turtles or fish goes. So i shifted to shooting water instead, sounds weird but youll see in a minute. I did manage to get a few turtle shots when we 1st arrived though! Today i went out and shot some sunset stuff which was as always incredible fun! Well thats all for now and i know youre just here for pictures plus were getting up in a few hours to catch sunrise at the North Shore. So here you go....Enjoy!!