reverie

Friday, August 15, 2008

Haleakala National Park, part three

View from the summit

Colorful crater and rocks

Crater

More of the crater landscape

Pete and Chris in front of the crater

Haleakala National Park, part two

Pete walking up rocky steps

Pete on top of a rocky hill

Chris in front of the crater

Rocky ledge and crater

Crater and clouds

Haleakala National Park, part one

Misty lands

Pete observing the edge

Soft green leaves

Pete heading down road to pathway

Pete climbing rocky ledge near crater

"I'm on the top of the world, looking down on creation..."

The top of the world—or Maui, anyhow

I'm not feeling too great tonight, so I'm just posting this one picture. I have TONS of pictures I took of our trip to the crater, but I want to do it up right. I'll see how I feel in the morning and do a little travelogue if I can.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

5:15 p.m. to 8:25 p.m.

Gorge near Haleakala National Park

Horses grazing in Hana

Pete swimming beneath a gorgeous waterfall

Chris sitting in front of the gorgeous waterfall, waiting for Pete to finish swimming

Stray cats hanging out under a car at the McDonald's near the Kahului Airport

4:45 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.

Friendly dog peeking into church

Lindbergh's grave—FINALLY!

Pete standing in a giant twisted and tangled tree

Fallen flower among the grave site rocks

Pete gettin' some lovin' from the friendly church-going dog

3:05 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.

Pete at the black sand beach

Black sand (and gravel) beach

Pete and a few others enter the lava tube

Chris in the lava tube

Cute mongoose near our rental car...they were everywhere, and they were darn cute!

12:30 p.m. to 3:05 p.m.

Pete walking along old lock

Pete posing on old lock

Chris in front of gorge

Pretty waterfall visited during a downpour

Enjoying our fish taco and Kahlua pig taco—yum!

9:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Portuguese sausage, eggs, and rice breakfast meal (with mini packet of soy sauce) from McDonald's

Weird but beautiful American West–looking landscape in west Maui

Pete touching a huge spiky plant

Pete swinging from rope at the swimming hole at Twin Falls

Pete and Chris at Twin Falls (now seemingly only one waterfall)

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

My sick little Kodak

Something's wrong with my little V550 from Kodak. It's been a real trouper during our entire honeymoon, traveling with me on the beach in the hot sun, getting sprayed by the salty surf, enduring the never-ending sandy grit that assaults its lens and view screen, and being tossed unceremoniously in my beach bag almost daily. But last night I decided to take it with us to our dinner at the Sea House restaurant here at the hotel. It's a restaurant that is EXTREMELY expensive, by the way, but we didn't get to go on the Sugar Cane Train or the Kauai Boat Tour, so it all balances out in the end. But I digress....

Anyhow, I had my V550 at the table and was going to discretely take a shot of Pete eating his Crab and Tiki Steak dinner (yum) when the camera refused to turn on. Oh, the lights and the jingle would start, and the lens would begin to pop out, but then the lens would immediately retreat within its camera body shell and everything would shut down. I tried several times to get it started up, to no avail. And I had fully charged it, so that wasn't the problem.

When we got back to our hotel room I put the V550 back on its charger and tried starting it again, and nothing. The lens would mock me and pop up briefly, as if to say, "Ha! You thought I would work THIS time, eh? Sucker!" and then immediately disappear. I tried taking the battery out and blowing on it. Nothing. I tried plugging the camera directly into the wall with the AC cord. Nothing. I even fiddled with the settings (some of which it still lets me access). Nothing. What's strange is it seems to want to activate, but can't quite turn itself on all the way.

So now I'm very sad. While I adore my Sony Alpha 100 SLR and it's the star of my little traveling photography show, my V550 is the undercover worker bee. It's the behind-the-scenes, hiding-in-a-purse-kind-of-camera that I prefer to have with me in situations like the one last night: eating at restaurants, shopping in stores, laying on the beach, events at work, etc. I'm certainly not dragging my Alpha out on the beach to take pictures, and risk the chance of getting sand or water in its inner workings. But I'm still very, very saddened and perplexed by this sudden turn of events.

When we get home I'm going to see if I can have the V550 checked out and fixed relatively inexpensively. If not, I know what I'll be putting on my list for my birthday wishes in a few weeks....

Frito Lay Maui-Style Onion Flavored Potato Chips

I'm addicted to these damn potato chips. And I've heard you can't buy them anywhere else but Hawaii, too. They're delicious! They taste like Funyuns, but they have a kettle chip shape and crunch to them. Check out the little surfing onion on the bag, too.

I don't recommend eating 500 of them in one sitting (like I have) because you might get a little queasy after a while. But they are soooooo good it's hard to resist. I may have to buy a bag to take home with us.