Visit with Michael! 

This is one of the two beaches that we swam at on leward side of island. It is so different up there from Waikiki Beach. No crowds, very quiet, beautiful beaches. It was nice up there. We swam right in front of Michelle Pfieffers house. A local also told us that Robbin Williams has a house of this beach.Anyway it was a fun day. Tomorrow we take a day trip to Kauai (the garden island) and then Sunday nite we fly home.  

Spent today up on the windward (east)coast. Went to this Budist Temple and saw this 10 foot budda. Then went to a couple of local beaches and swam.  

This is us riding one of the waves in. It is right in front of our hotel with Diamond Head in background. 

This pic is out of order, but, we took a ride in an outrigger canoe the other day. You paddle out until you can turn around and catch a wave back in. It's sort of like a water rollercoaster. You catch 3 waves and then paddle back in. 

Pic of Red Creasted Cardinal. One of the birds there have here that we don't have at home. These somehow came here from South America and became established here. 

This is island just off shore known as Chinaman's Hat. One of most photographed small islands off Oahu. 

After the Diamond Head hike yesterday (Wed) we drove up the windward (eastern) side of the island. This is pic of some of the mountains there. It is so different on that side of island. Less populated and really beautiful with a sometimes rocky and sometimes sandy shore and many mountains just inland. We are going to go back up there tomorrow (Fri) to one of the beaches. Also, met up with Michael, Linda's cousin Nita's son who came here 6 years ago to go to college and never left.  

Us at top of Diamond Head crater.
Yesterday morning we did the hike up Diamond Head crater. This is pic of us at top with Waikiki Beach hotels in background. The hike took about an hour to go up but was well worth the view when you got to the top.

Looking down inside crater from top.
This is pic of inside crater from the highest part of crater wall where the hike ends. The park admin buildings etc. and in the crater.

At top of Diamond Head crater.
pic of Waikiki Beach from top of Diamond Head crater. The hotel to the right of the pink hotel as you look at pic is our hotel. Right on the beach. It is great. Weather now for last few days has been great. We are having a really great time. Hardest thing is picking what things to do, there is so much.

Finally back!!!
This pic is from Sunday. We drove up to North Shore and happened upon a Excel suffing competion. There were losts of world class suffers there. We stopped and took some pics and watched for a while. It was pretty cool.

Lava Field covers miles and miles from old eruptions.
This is pic from Big Island. This is part of the lava field from previous eruptions. It covers the road so you need to get off the bus and walk on it . We went for about 3/4 mile. You need to really watch your step as this stuff looks smooth but it is like glass and if you fall you could get cut. The stop where the live lava was flowing in to the sea was too far for us to go to, you would need to walk 3-4 miles on this lava field to get there. We could see the plum of steam where it was flowing over the cliffs and in to the water and will post pic of it later.
Anyway, just wanted to get a couple of posts up and will post more tonite. We are just leaving to go on hike of Diamond Head. Write more tonite.

Sorry no posts the last couple of days. Corey, I understand now how it is hard to get the time to post. Anyway, we are getting ready to leave for Diamond Head hike. Will post some of the Big Island trip when we get back. 

Change of Plans for Today

Didn't go on Diamond Head hike today because it was raining when I got up and we had wanted to do that early before it gets hot.
Rain cleared up early and we drove up to North Shore where they have a lot of surfing because of the big waves (Bonzai Pipeline) and other beaches.;
We came across a surfing contest and we stopped to watch and got some good pics of surfers (some world class).
Haven't had a chance to prepare pics for posting and tomorrow we are going on a one day trip to Hawaii, (the Big Island) where Volcanos National Park is located (only active vocanos in Hawaiian Islands.).
Hope to see some lava flows. We get picked up at 5:30AM at our hotel and go to airport and fly out to Hawaii about 55min flight. Come back around 8:30 tomorrow nite.
Will have more pics from today and tomorrow to post either tomorrow nite or Tues sometime.
Corey - haven't been able to check fantasy league as I need to download Java stuff and haven't done that yet on Mom's laptop.
How am I doing. I saw that Steelers beat the Eagles!
Post more tomorrow or Tues.

Linda with Gecko.
When we were in Eugene to visit Corey they had big ducks around the streets, in Saratoga, Ny they have the different color and designs horses and here they have these Gecko statues. This one is painted like Spiderman.
Sue your comments are attached to the post. Also, got Corey's, Micky's , and Carol's.
Like I said it was a beautiful day today, but rained tonite. That's ok it's about 10:20 on Saturday nite and the rain has stopped. Hopefully will be a nice day tomorrow for our hike.
On Monday we are going on a day trip to the Big Island (Hawaii) . Leave our hotel aty 5:00AM and get back about 8:00 at night so will probably post pics on Tues. This is the island where the live volcanos are and we just heard on the news that lava is flowing in to the ocean again so maybe we will get to see it on the tour.
Anyway will post some more tomorrow.

Sunset Sail

Sunset from Catamaran sunset cruise.
Took a catamaran sunset cruise (sail) today. This is pic as sun set. This one and last one were Linda's pics. Had a couple of Mitais on sail. Had a good time. Pretty relaxing day. Swam in ocean and pool, took a couple of walks and did the catamaran sail. Was in mid 80's but sun felt real hot. Linda is getting a good tan and it's really only one day of sun so far.
I think I have this set to our time here but will check again. We are 5 hours ahead of east coast and 2 hours ahead of west coast.
Tomorrow we are going to do a hike up Diamond Head. Will have some pics from there. It takes about an hour to hike up and about half hour or 45 min to come back down, views at top are supposed to be great.

Rain Update
We had heard last night that it was going to be rainy today (Saturday) also, but, it was a very nice sunshine day. Temps in mid 80's and no rain until tonight when we got ready to go out for dinner.
This is a pic from our hotel balcony looking left.
We had a great day today.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Sorry, no pics to post yet as it rained almost all day today. Who would have known, come to Hawaii and it is raining. Rained especially hard this afternoon and tonite, guess an unusual storm is passing thru according to folks we have talked to. They say it will probably rain most of tomorrow and then get better. So I guess tomorrow will be a shopping day. Have to get my Hawaiian shirt anyway!!!! We are going to do 2 side trips to other islands, but, are looking for the weather to clear before we decide when.
Wanted to have some pics by now but have not been carrying my camera today because of the rain. Anyway, will write more tomorrow and hopefully some pics by Sunday.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Sorry, no pics to post yet as it rained almost all day today. Who would have known, come to Hawaii and it is raining. Rained especially hard this afternoon and tonite, guess an unusual storm is passing thru according to folks we have talked to. They say it will probably rain most of tomorrow and then get better. So I guess tomorrow will be a shopping day. Have to get my Hawaiian shirt anyway!!!! We are going to do 2 side trips to other islands, but, are looking for the weather to clear before we decide when.
Wanted to have some pics by now but have not been carrying my camera today because of the rain. Anyway, will write more tomorrow and hopefully some pics by Sunday.

We are here in Hawaii

Hi folks. We got here last nite. long flight. We got to out hotel about 6:30PM and checked in then went and got something to eat. By the time we got back to hotel it was about 9:30PM and with the 5 hour time difference here that meant we had been up for about 24-25 hours and were pretty beat.
No pics yet, but will be taking some today and will post a couple tonite or tomorrow.
Right now it is raining pretty hard so hope that doesn't keep up.
Will write more later and hopefully it will be more interesting.