Well folks, as sad as it may seem, today was our last full day in paradise!  Started off in the morning driving north around Diamond Head and Coco Head to see the Kalona Blow Hole.  It was a bit pathetic today as the windward side of the island was remakably calm.  Then off we went past Big Sandy beach to Makapu'u point.  Wow, what a view towards the Kanaohe Peninsula and Waiamanolo Beach as well as Bellows Beach.  Here's that view:

On we went to Bellows beach and Waiamanolo Beach.  They comprise the longest continuous beach on Oahu at 17 miles long.  We visited the Bellows AFB site and saw the cottages and other dwellings that can be rented by military personnel.  This is one of the prettiest beaches on the island for sure.  From there we headed up Wahiawa to visit the house Vanessa lived in when she was born.  46 Kukui St!!  The little old Japanese man who lives there now got a little spooked by a bunch of white people taking pictures of his house!!  Funny stuff.  Onwards to Hickam AFB for a nice lunch and then home to do some swimming before dinner.  Our last nght dinner was great as we visited Benihanna's of Tokyo.  Awesome dinner.  A walk around Waikiki and back tot he room to polish off our last bottle of wine.  Tomorrow afternoon we will take the rental car back and head tot he airport for the long, sad flightg home.  This has been a great vacation and one we will never forget.  I think Kevin and Irma feel the same.  I'll make one more post after we get home. 

Thanks for following us on our first blogging vacation.

Love, Kenn and Karen

Aloha!!! We had a wonderful day today.  After breakfast in the room, we all headed out to Hunama Bay for some snorkeling.  Saw many beautiful fish but I think Kevin and Irma liked Tunnels beach in Kauai better.  Water clarity wasn't reall good even though we got there early.  Aftwards, we hit the huge flea market at the Aloha Bowl to get all our trinkets.  Now on our way for some Italian food!!  No pic's today folks as Neither of us wanted to take our camera's out to the beach.  Suffice it to say it is a gorgeous spot.  This is agreat beginners spot and if you are a first timer here to Oahu, this is the place to go.  Tomorrow we are off to Shark Cove on the North Shore for some more snorkeling.  Then, who knows.  Getting quite the tan!!

Hope all our family is doing well.  Glad to hear John and Rhonda got home safely.  But they talk of thie "work" thing!!   What is that pray tell!  hehehhe

Love, Kenn & Karen

Dateline Monday, 7 May.  A wonderful day was had by all.  Started off this morning at the Punchbowl.  Better known as the National Cemetary of the Pacific.  Saw Lt Col Onizuka's grave (Astonaut on Challenger) and Ernie Pyle (if you have to ask, you're too young or not a person who like history).  Then it was on the Arizona Memorial.  This is a moving place everytime we come here and I firmly believe it should be mandatory viewing for every person in uniform.  This is an artsy pic I took of the flag waving in the breeze above this sacred shrine:

Tonight is a Luau at the Hale Koa so it should be fun.  Tomororw off to the North Shore to visit the Dole Plantation and see the Bonzai Pipeline and Sunset Beach as well as some snorkeling.

Aloha !!

Paradise Part deux!!  we have arrived safely on Oahau and are in our room at the Hale Koa,  Walked down the beach a bit before dinner.  We found a good place with cheap Mai Tai's so we had to sample them.  Yum!!!  After dinner we watched the sunset on Waikiki beach.  As usual it was incredible. Here's a picture:

I'm pooped so more tomorrow.  We are headed out to Peral harbor and the Punchbowl, the National Cemetary of the Pacific.

Love, Kenn

Dateline:  Last full day in paradise (At least the Kauai version).  All 7 of us left at a reasonable hour this morning and headed out to Waimea Canyon.  It's about 60 miles from our hotel and certainly a beautiful drive.  Finally, we got a really nice day today with plenty of Hawaii sunshine!!  Did I mention it rains a lot here on Kauai.  But we got to the canyon dry and happy.  Here is a picture of the canyon:

On the way up we saw a neat little waterfall in a rather odd area.  Like in a dry volcanic wash.  Here it is:

After the canyon we headed out to see the Spouting Horn near Poi'Pu beach.  In fact there were two of them.  Here's a picture of the Spouting Horn:

From there we went to Poi'pu beach for a nice swim.  No pic's there as we didn't want to take our cameras to the  beach.  Poi'puis a gorgeous beach with a breakwater which protects it from the huge swells.

One last picture.  A rare one at that this is one of me for a change at the Canyon:

As I mentioned, it's off to Oahu for us tomorrow and we reluctantly say goodbye to John and Rhona.  We've had a wonderful time with them and will miss them the last 5 days we are on the road.

That's it for tonight folks.  More tomorrow night from downtown Honolulu at the Hale Koa.

Cheers, Kenn







Dateline Friday May 4th in paradise (I'm lying, it's actually Saturday morning).  Spent the day ATVing in the land of Jurassic Park!!  Seriously, we started out in the valley where the dinosaurs ran over them while they hid behind the fallen log.  What a magnificent view.  Proceeded from there through the jungle and fields and mountains for 4 hours.  We took a break at a river in the exact spot where Harrison OFrd slid down the hill into the river in the very first Raiders of the Lost Ark.  The scene where he jumps on the seaplane and then discovers snakes in the cockpit.  We had a wonderful day there.  Got plenty wet and muddy too.  Afterwards we all went to see the Menhune Fish pond supposedly built by the Menehune, the first "little people" to inhabit the islands.  It wasn't much but it was on the list of things to see.  Stopped at the local Harley dealership and bought myself a nice T shirt from the westernmost Harley dealer in the world.  We came back to the hotel and John and Rhonda made a fabulous dinner for everyone.

Today we are all headed to Waimea Canyon and then to do some swimming and snorkeling at Poi'Pu beach on the south side of the island.  It should be another fun day.  We are looking for another really nice restaurant for our final dinner here in Kauai.  We have eaten at some great places including the Bull Shed Thursday evening where we sat right beside the sea and watched the almost full moon rise over the ocean.

That's about it for today.  Sorry about no pictures but the networks here are terrible.  In fact it's the only complaint I would have about our rooms and the resort.  Tomorrow we check out around 10 and head to the airport wher we will say good bye to John and Rhonda as they are flying home.  We are headed over to Oahu for another 5 nights in a different flavor of paradise.  There we will see the USS Arizona, and tour the North Shore as well as Honolulu.  From what I can see the weather is supposed to be wonderful.  It rains a bit here on the garden isle!!  Guess that's why it's so green here.

Peace, out!

Good afternoon from paradise, part 2.  Just got back from snorkeling at Tunnels Beach.  Incredible!!  We saw many turtles and one even crawled out of the sea at our feet as we were watching two others frolic in the surf.  There is a beautiful reef at Tunnels and we saw many colorful fish.  Look up the Christmas Wrasse.  We saw tons of these and they looked like rainbow fish to us.  Had some passing rain showers but all in all a wonderful day.  I am enjoying a cheapie Mai Tai on the balcony as I write this!!  Dinner tonight is at the Tahiti Nui that you all saw in the Descendants!! I think a Coconut Shrimp or two may make it on my plate (Again).  No pictures today  as I smartly left both my iPhone and camera home.  In the morning we head over to Lihue to go on a 4 hour ATVing ride that includes stopping at 2 waterfalls and even some swimming in one.  Will also visit the road view of the Waiamea Canyon.  Then Saturday we plan on some more snorkeling at some new beach.  Easy to do as there are so many to choose from.

Miss everyone but we're not coming home early.  Having too much fun.

Love Kenn

PS I know I screwed up the blog badly in the last two days but I now have it all figured out

A good Thursday morning from Paradise.  After last night's debacle trying to load pic's on the wireless, I have switched to direct link.  Yesterday we took a 90 minute flight around the entire island.  To say it was gorgeous doesn't do it justice.  Waiamea Canyon and the Napali coast are incredible.  Here is a pic of the bird we flew and the the crew on-board.

Here are a couple of pics from around the island.

This one is the Napali coast.  The arch is the one Capt. Jack Sparrow stood in in the movie Pirates of the Carribean.

And here is a shot of Hanalei Bay, one of the prettiest places on the island.

Our resort from the air.

In the afternoon we saw the Fren Grotto on the Wailua river.  There everyone basically renewed their vows as the group of musicians played the Hawaiin Wedding Song.  Here's the Fern Grotto with Kevin and Family

And here's one of Wailua Falls where Tatoo uttered the famous words "da Plane, Da Plane!!"

Well folks that's for last night.  We are now headed out to go snorkeling!!  Tomorrow we will go ATV'ing with Kevin and his family!!  A fun day ahead today and tomorrow.  Love to all

Kenn











A good Thursday morning from paradise.  After last night's debacle on Wi Fi trying to get pictures loaded (unsucessfully as you have seen), this morning I hooked up to direct access and we'll see how this goes.  Yesterday

Greetings from Paradise.  Well, here's the rub.  We love everything about the Westin but the Wif Fi is slower than molasses in January.  I have tried twice to post pictures tonight and timed out both times.  I'm tired and mad at the network so I am gonna go to bed!  We flew over the island today and it was incredible.  If the speed is better in the morning, I will try again to post some pic's.  Here's one of us awaiting our flight.  (Fingers Crossed!!!)

OK, so that worked, so I'll try one more.

The arch you see is the one Capt Jack Sparrow stood in in the movie Pirates of the Carribean.  This is part of the Napali coast.





Another day in paradise!!  This morning we took a 90 minute flight with Air Ventures out of Lihue airport. I know I've said it before but this is one beautiful island.  Our pilot, Paul, took us completely around the island.  Saw Pierce Brosnan's house and Julia Robert's house.  And more waterfalls than could be counted.  Here is a group photo taken at the airport before our flight:

Here are some pictures from our air travel today:

This is part of the Napali Coast and the arch you see on the beach is one that Johnny Depp stood in as Capt. Jack Sparrow.

Dateline 01 May 2012.  Folks today was a gas.  We went Zip Lining at Princeville Ranch!!  9 differnt zip lines that took over 3 hours to complete!!  What a fun day that was.  Got rained on just a little and it really just refreshed us.  Karen, Irma and Konner went to the beach at the St Regis and played in the ocean there.  Tonight we had grilled Terryaki Chicken with fresh, homemade Mango salsa.  Yummy.  Had lunch to today at the famous Bubba's Burgers in Hanalei.  I opted for a salad so I'm still being good!  No pictures today as I decided it was safer to leave the DSLR at home and we used Karen's little digital camera to take pic's while Zip Lining.  Of course I didn't bring her connection cable so I can't download pictures off that camera until we get home.

Tomorrow we are taking our 90 minute plane ride around the island and then a trip to the beautiful Fern Grotto.  Our dinner tomorrow night will be Coconut Shrimp!!!

Until later, I think we will go hit the Hot Tub!!

Cheers, Kenn

Good morning from Paradise.  Well, I have finally solved the conversion problem.  The answer was to use my memory card which had the pic's in JPEG format rather than Kevin's card with RAW files!!  Here are a couple of pic's from yesterday: 

Monday, 30 April 2012.  Dateline Kauai!!   Our first day has been a good one both weather wise and sightseeing.  Today we spent the day concentrating on the North Shore and the communites of Princeville, Kilauea and Hanalei.  We started the day by visitng the St Regis Resort which is the big resort you saw in the movie the Descendant's with George Clooney!  What a place that is.  Stunning.  Since we are staying at the Westin, we get privileges at the St Regis as well.  From there we went to the Kiluaea lighthuse and then on to Hanalei Beach.  Then on to Lumahai Beach which is where South Pacific and many other films wer made.  Finished the day at Tunnels Beach.  Wow, another gem.  Here are a couple of pictures to share the beauty of Kauai with all of you.  Wellllll Nuts!!  having conversion problems from RAW to JPEG.  Stay tuned tomorrow.  We are off to Zip Line !!

Cheers, Kenn

We're here!!!  In beautiful Kauai!!  Bt Iv'e had some network problems.  Hopefully they're all fixed now and we can blog tour heart's content.  We just got back from visiting some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  Places like Tunnels beach and Lumahai Beach where South Pacific was filmed.  We went through the St Regis and and viewed andn played on their beach just like George Clooney did in the Descendants.  Wow beyond words.  Ayhow, headed down to the pool to keep Konner a happy camper.  We will post more later tonight along wit pictures

Aloha for now

Kenn

Well folks, we leave on Sunday and we are ready to go!!  We'll probably post for the first time on Monday.  I can taste the Chi Chi's now!!!

Well, folks, one month from today we will be in Kauai.  Everyone has their tickets and are ready to go  I just wanted to "wake up the blog" in anticipation o the upcoming trip!!  300 days and a wake up!!

Cheers, Kenn & Karen

Our first Post!!

Hi to everyone!!  Just getting started in this blogging business.  As you know, we love to travel.  So in the next few months you will be able to follow aong with us as we travel first to Hawaii and, later in the year, on our 19 day Venice to Fort Lauderdale Trans Atlantic cruise.  There will be pictures and commentary too!

Cheeers, Kenn & Karen