Kauai Marriott Beach Resort

For the second half of our vacation we stayed at the Kauai Marriott Beach Resort for five days. This is the view from our lanai. They have the biggest single-level pool in all of Hawaii and we sure spent a lot of time in it.

Codey and Chris went ocean kayaking (or Clay Aiken, as they called it) twice. They were dumped out of the kayak once while trying to ride the waves. Here they are returning to the beach.

They were into trying ALL of the water activities they could. Here they are trying stand-up paddle board surfing.

And here they are body boarding.

One day we took a trip on a catamaran, here's Chris and Codey riding the trampoline of the catamaran and looking for fish in the ocean.

At the hotel pool, there was a bridge out to an island. One time, Chris tried to push Codey in but he didn't quite succeed.

Codey tried returning the favor but he didn't succeed either. Neither one ended up in the water. Isn't it crazy that Codey is getting almost as tall as Chris?

And still more teasing. Chris trying to dump Codey from one of the hammocks on the hotel grounds.

This is on the drive to the end of the road on the north shore of Kauai. There are quite a few one-lane bridges. I thought it was cool that there was a sign that tells drivers that the local custom is for 5 - 7 cars from each side to cross the bridge before you stop and let some cars from the other side go. Chris HATES these winding Hawaiian roads with one-lane bridges, just ask him about the road to Hana someday.

Sadly, Codey had to do homework while in paradise.

Helicopter Tour of Kauai

We decided to do a helicopter tour on Kauai. Something like 70% of the island is only viewable by air or boat so it's really the only way to see all of the island.

Note the very hip yellow thing that Chris is wearing around his waist? That's the emergency life preserver that you have to wear in "the unlikely event of a crash in the water." I'm wearing one, too; you just can't see it because I'm not as tall as Chris.

We also really like that our helicopter pilot, Kevin, is smiling and posing for our photo in the background.



This is a view of our hotel from the helicopter. We tried to wave to Codey as we flew over but we're not sure he saw us. He opted out of the helicopter ride and chose to stay at the hotel and wait for us.



This is the gorgeous Na Pali coast, only accessible by boat or foot - there are no roads over there.



I think they said some of these cliffs are 3000 feet high.




This is a whale that we saw from the helicopter. The photo doesn't do it justice, it was so much easier to see in real life.

Oahu's North Shore

This is a picture of Shark's Cove on the north shore of Oahu where we love to snorkel in the summer.



Clearly, we wouldn't be snorkeling there during this winter trip.



This picture cracks me up. The sign says not to go beyond this point and yet there are two people out there. This was taken at Waimea beach on the north shore and the waves were big.



While at Waimea, we happened upon the film set for the movie Soul Surfer starring Carrie Underwood as that girl who lost her arm in a shark attack while surfing. We also saw that girl, although none of us can remember her name. We took a photo of Codey standing in front of the movie set so I guess now he can say he's been in the movies.




This is one of the big waves on the north shore and there is a surfer in the photo. Do you see that small speck out there? I think it puts in perspective just how big the waves were. The surfer's in the white, about a 1/4 of the way in from the left.

Reef and Ray Adventure

The JW Marriott Ihilani has some lagoons surrounding the hotel that are filled with fish, sting rays and hammer head sharks.




They offer a program where you can get in the water and feed the sharks and rays. We had such a fun time doing this and it was well worth the $25 fee to particpate in the hour-long program. This is a picture of Codey handing Chris a spongey starfish.




And here I am holding a sea urchin. It would suction itself to your hand and you actually had to pull pretty hard to get it off. It was definitely sharp so I can see why you wouldn't want to step on one in the ocean.



I thought this starfish was just beautiful.

After getting our feet wet playing with such innocent sea creatures, we moved on to the hammer head sharks!

We stood in the water behind some lava rocks that you can see in the lower left of the photos and threw fish out to the sharks, which they quickly swam to and ate.

It was pretty cool to be so close to them. I'll take my shark sightings in such a protected area any day. Hopefully this will be the only way I see sharks and that I'll never encounter one in the ocean

We had a great host/teacher named Tracy who has lived in Hawaii his entire life. He was very patient with all of our shark-related questions and answered all of them. We learned a lot. Apparently, Tracy just goes over to Kanehoe Bay and catches these sharks for the hotel lagoon; and when they get too big or aggressive toward him, he catches them again and lets them go in the ocean. So, the lesson here is that Kaneohe Bay is sharky (note to self, do not swim in Kaneohe Bay).

After throwing fish to the sharks from a safe distance, we got to feed the rays some squid. Gross.

We learned from Tracy that the sting rays don't bite you but that their jaws are so strong that if you finger gets caught in there you would have a severe crushing injury. As such, we stood behind a lattice fence and then put the squid through a hole in the fence. That way, your fingers were always safe from injury.

The sting rays would come right up to the fence and suck the fish from your fingers. They made a very loud sucking sound as they were eating, which was quite entertaining.

We could also reach over the fence and touch the stingrays. They were not at all the texture you would expect and I can't even think of the words to describe the feel. Squishy? Slimy?

Ko Olina - February 2010

This is a view from my lanai at the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort on Oahu in Hawaii; it is one of my favorite places in all of Hawaii. We spent five days here in February on vacation. It's so nice to go somewhere and just be lazy and enjoy the view rather than getting up early and going to work. We spent our time lounging on our lanai, around the pool, or at the lagoon that you can see in the distance. Just imagine me sitting in one of those blue lounge chairs around the pool. It was perfect.

During my last trip to Oahu, we spent two days at these lagoons just swimming and enjoying the water even though we were staying at a different hotel. I decided during that trip that I would come back some day and actually stay at this resort. It was such a great feeling to have that goal finally realized.

Interesting side notes: the movie Blue Crush was partially filmed at the JW Marriott Ihilani and Disney is building a resort right next door. I can't wait until the Disney resort is complete and I can return for another visit and stay in the new Disney hotel. This is a picture of the Disney resort they are building. The JW Marriott Ihilani is the white hotel to the left.




This is a picture of my nephew Codey out walking along the shore just outside our hotel.





This is a picture of Codey and Chris out on the lanai one morning just reading and relaxing. I am taking this photo from my bed, which I had yet to get out of that morning.

Banff Springs Hotel (2/12/10)

When you think of Banff, I think you picture the Banff Springs Hotel, I know I do. It's so iconic. It was really beautiful and I wish I could have spent the night; alas, I can't afford $500 per night for a hotel!

The views around Banff are absolutely gorgeous.

Ice Sculptures in Banff, Canada (2/12/10)

At the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, there were about 30 ice sculptures scattered around the property in honor (or honour, as they'd write in Canada) of the Olympics. The castle was my favorite. It was built out in the middle of the ice skating rink next to Lake Louise.

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is the most beautiful winter wonderland I think I've ever seen. I imagine that this is just like a European castle somewhere. So beautiful. Everyone should visit at least once.

Calgary Tower (2/9/2010)

In February 2010, I traveled to Calgary, Alberta in Canada to teach a week-long class at the University of Calgary. Right next to my hotel in downtown Calgary was the Calgary Tower. This is a picture of my hotel with the tower in the background.

One night, my co-worker and I decided to do the tourist-y thing and take the elevator to the top of the tower and dine in the rotating restaurant.

As we were rotating around the city, I decided to put two American pennies on the ledge and see what happened. I was expecting them to still be there when we made a complete rotation.

To my great delight, someone had taken my two American pennies and replaced them with a Canadian dime. I thought it was perfect. In hindsight, I guess I should've put out a quarter or something and upped the ante, but we didn't really want to sit there for another 45 minutes, waiting for another rotation.

The tower also had a glass floor you could walk on....525 feet above the ground. My co-worker Rob didn't hesitate a second before stepping out on the glass. I, on the other hand, couldn't get within three feet of it without feeling nauseated.

Rob kindly took this photo of my hotel for me, looking straight down!

This young girl thought I was just stupid as can be because I wouldn't go on the glass. She spent her time skipping back and forth, showing off for me. I asked her if she was brave enough to lie face down on the glass and sure enough, she was.

What a fun experience.

Out with the old, in with the new!

I sure loved my beautiful black sports car.

But, truth be told, it sucked in the snow (it was rear-wheel drive). I'd been thinking of trading in my car for about a year and finally decided to do it. We found our new car on the internet on a Friday night (it was at a dealer in Las Vegas), talked to the dealer about a million times on the phone on Saturday, drove to Mesquite on Sunday, picked up the car in Vegas on Monday and then drove right back home. It's kind of crazy that I bought a car sight unseen off the internet. I ended up with a 2010 all-wheel drive crossover SUV that looks just like the photo below (actually I think the wheels might be different, but that's a minor detail to me). If there's ever a nice, sunny day, I'll have to take a photo of my actual car.

So, the new car is a amazing. One of my favorite features is that my iPhone connects to it wirelessly so I can talk hands-free. It also plays music from my iPod. What can I say, I'm a sucker for gadgets. And it goes amazingly well in the snow. So, I guess when all is said and done, I'm happy with the new car, but I can't help but feel a little sad that I don't still have my old car. Is it wrong to be attached to a car?