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Yosemite 2021 – Rocktober

Posted on October 19, 2021 by JimG

Monday, October 18, 2021

We pulled up in front of El Capitan, a huge block of granite.  The first thing I noticed was that there were a lot of cars parked in front of it.  I asked why there were so many cars and he responded “Rocktober!”   This is the month for climbing up El Capitan.

Earlier the guide mentioned that when you stand in front of El Capitan, it feels like it looms out at that top, he said that it doesn’t.  He was right, it felt like wall came out over us, but it was an illusion.   We walked into the meadow to get an unobstructed view of the El Capitan.

El Captain is three times the height of the empire state building.   The climbers on the wall looked like small specs, barely visible.

The guide talked about the movie “Free Solo” which was an award-winning documentary about one individual who made the climb to the top with minimal equipment (shoes and chalk), no ropes and no safety harnesses. The guide went on to talk about the various forms or rock climbing and what equipment is used.

I have a fear of heights, I feel uncomfortable looking at people standing on a ledge, if my hotel balcony doesn’t have sturdy railing, I won’t go out on the balcony, the glass skywalk in the Grand Canyon is not on my list of places to visit.

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Yosemite 2021 – Yosemite Valley

Posted on October 19, 2021 by JimG

Monday, October 18, 2021

Our next stop was the Yosemite Valley.  The trip into the valley was nothing short of breathtaking.   As we approached it, I couldn’t believe the view that I was getting from my side of the car.  It continued to get better and better.

We spent the rest of the day in Yosemite Valley since the road to Glacier Point was closed.   I was OK with that, every direction I looked at, it was unique and different.  It is not one of those places that you see once and mark it off the list of places that you have seen. The clouds rolled by, the light changed and it kept illuminating different things such as the color of the rocks, the shape of them, the waterfalls that seemed to be invisible and then suddenly illuminated.

After spotting what our guide called the lower falls, he suggested we hiked over to it.  I was happy that it was a flat hike as my calves were still feeling the burn from the 400 feet downhill and uphill hike earlier.   On the way, there was a lot of commenting about seeing a bear next to the falls.  We did see the bear at a distance for a few seconds but nothing to get a good picture.

We stopped for lunch at the Ahwahnee hotel which is inside the park.  It is a gorgeous hotel built in 1927. After we had lunch the guide told me that it was this hotel that was the inspiration behind the Stanly Kubrick’s set used in “The Shinning”.

As I looked around, I could see it, but me thinking that I know my Hollywood history thought that everyone knows that the inspiration came from The Stanley Hotel in Colorado.  It was after the tour that I realized, the original inspiration behind the novel was The Stanley Hotel, but the inspiration for the sets used in the movie was inspired by The Ahwahnee. and if you google it, you will clearly see it.   Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures, nor did I ride the elvators!

 

 

Categories: Yosemite | 1 Comment

Yosemite 2021 – Tuolumne Giant Sequoias

Posted on October 18, 2021 by JimG

The hike to the giant sequoias in Tuolumne Monday, October 18, 2021

I have wanted to go to Yosemite for a very long time but every time that I started to plan this adventure, I would become overwhelmed; the park is over 1000 square miles, there are five different entrances, should I stay in one of the park’s lodges or should I stay outside of it?   I would end up realizing that this was going to require more research and would set it aside.

I finally decided to dive in and go.  The drive from Los Angeles to Oakhurst took about 5 hours but we took our time and stopped for lunch along the way.   We arrived mid-afternoon, found a place to eat, turned in early.  I knew that the tour started sixty miles north of where I was staying and according to Google maps, it would take close to two hours to drive to get there.

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Bruce Munro: Field of Light at Sensorio

Posted on December 5, 2019 by JimG

December 5, 2019

Drove up to Paso Robles to the Field of Light at Sensorio.  If I drive up north, Paso Robles is a place that I usually stop.  It is wine country with rolling hills filled with vineyards and tasting rooms.  It reminds of Napa Valley before it became popular and overrun with wine tours and visitors.

The Field of Light at Sensorio is a 15 acre piece of art featuring over 58,000 lights that walk through.   We arrived when the exhibit first opened hoping to see it while there was still some light as it progressed into darkness.  As we stood in line waiting to get into the exhibit, we chatted with the other people in line.  The guy in front of us had a SLR with real film.  The girl behind us said that one of her first jobs was working in a Fotomat and yes, she did  look at all the pictures and talked about them with the other employees.  Yes, times have changed.

The event was very nice and we enjoyed walking around it.  It was due to close in January but I noticed that they keep extending it and the website is now reporting it will be open until June.  If I am in the area again, I would go see it.

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Brews and BBQ Hawaii Food and Wine Festival (HFWF) 2019

Posted on October 23, 2019 by JimG
BBQ and Brews Hawaii Food and Wine Festival 2019

Brews and BBQ HFWF2019

October 23rd, 2019

I headed down to the pool around 8:30 AM and the pool was empty.   As the morning went on, more and more people showed up and the more entertaining it became.  I cannot get over how obsessed people have become with posting selfies and waiting to see the amount of “likes” it generates.  There were people where all they did was walk around the pool taking selfies and taking turns taking pictures and posing.

We cleared out just before lunchtime and headed out for a walk and lunch.   I found a place where I could get a slice of pizza with Portuguese sausage while Sophon found Ramen.  I love Portuguese sausage and when I buy it at home, it is never as good.

That night there was a Hawaii Food and Wine event call Brews and BBQ.   It was very good, I loved it.

 

 

 

Categories: Hawaii, Oahu | 1 Comment

Waikiki Alohilani

Posted on October 22, 2019 by JimG

October 22nd, 2019

As I walked to the lobby, I spotted the gecko, originally he was in the shad and I thought it would make a great picture.  By the time I had my phone out and ready to take a picture, he was running for cover.  Every time I walked past that area I kept looking for him but no luck!

As I left Maui, I thought about what a nice time we had in Maui, it was a lot of hanging out and not a lot of running here and there and of course there was a lot of eating!   It was nice having that feeling of “What do we want to do today instead of here is what lined up.

We headed to Waikiki where we were going to attend events that were part of the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival.  We have been doing that for years and we were looking forward to it.   We were staying in the newly remodeled Alohilani.

Over the years we keep searching for the ideal place and in Waikiki that can be a challenge.  First, many of the hotels need to be  updated.  I tried staying where I had status and just about all of them more or less said upon check-in, it is a resort which means elite status means nothing or very little.   I told myself, at least I was earning points but after some of my worst stays, I decided it was better to have a nice stay without earning points versus a bad stay that earned points.

We get to Waikiki and check into the room.  I had a great view of Diamond Head and the rooms were nice.  So far so good!

Sophon and I went found a hole in the wall place to have dinner which was delicious, checked out the hotel’s pool area and aquarium in the lobby and then called it a night.

These days, it is all about “the gram”, as I looked out of my room I saw the mural 16 stories below.  I spotted another mural with a boom box and had the same thought, it is all about that selfie and that Instagram.

Pool Area from my room
Alohilani Pool
Alohilani Pool
Alohilani Pool
Categories: Maui, Oahu | Leave a comment

Down the Hatch

Posted on October 21, 2019 by JimG

October 21, 2019

I learned that the hotel had a coin operated laundry facility.  I am not sure I would call it a facility, it had three washers and dryers.  It took a few early in the morning trips before I was able to get a washer.  I was so glad that I was able to do a load instead of paying a fortune to have my laundry done.  The laundry was at the top of the very top of the hotel on the cliff where the original entrance was, there were great views which made doing laundry pleasurable.

As I looked out, I remembered back to my first trip and how Kaanapali looked with the sugar cane plantations.   Sugar is bright green and acres of it sat between the strip of hotels and the mountain.  It was beautiful and although Kaanapali is still something to see, I miss the sugar cane plantations   One of our drivers talked about how that the labor costs made it too expensive to continue so they moved operations overseas leaving the sugar plantations a thing in the past.

After we finished the laundry, we headed for a morning walk and eventually to Lahaina to check out a restaurant called “Down the Hatch” It had a lot of great reviews on Yelp and had been featured on the Food Channel’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” and normally I don’t make it a point to visit restaurants featured on those shows, but the yelp reviews were too good.  We were going to try it on our last trip but there was a long line, we were tired and we wanted air conditioning.   We found another place.

We got there right before lunch, Sophon ordered the Fish and Chips I ordered the Lobster and Crab stuffed grilled cheese on Hawaiian bread. Although the Lobster and Crab stuffed grilled cheese sounded good, I couldn’t help but wonder, is this going to be Instagram-able but not very good or was it going to live up to expectations?   It lived up to expectations and then some.   The fish and chips were also very good.

Lobster and Crab Grilled Cheese
Down the Hatch
Fish and Chips

I will say, “Down the Hatch” did not disappoint!

We hung out at the hotel the rest of the afternoon.   Later we decided to go to Safeway to pick up some Poke.  As we boarded the shuttle bus to Lahaina, I hear someone talking loudly on their phone.  She boards the bus and ends up sitting behind me.  The entire bus can hear booking an event.  At one point I hear her say,  “Yes, I am ready, I have the charge card, we actually, it is my boyfriends, but he is right here, let me know when you are ready”.

She then gives the first name and last name and I cannot believe she is this oblivious, so I turn to Sophon and say, do you have pen? We need to write this down!   The boyfriend heard me and got what I was saying and told his girlfriend not to quietly give the credit card information.

We returned to the hotel, watched part of the hotel’s Hula show and then packed up to depart to Honolulu the next day.

Categories: Maui | Leave a comment

Hanging out in Kaanapali

Posted on October 20, 2019 by JimG

October 20, 2019

Sophon has a friend from Thailand who now lives on Maui.  We met her, her husband and her son for lunch at the Monkey Pod restaurant that was in Whaler’s village that is just a short walk away.   The Whaler’s village was hosting a HWFW 2019 Kekei (child) event where kids could get a bag and then go trick or treating.  Most stores were passing out candy and there were a bunch of events geared towards children.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel and went to the beach.  We headed back to the room and went to dinner at Hula’s.  I was impressed by Hula’s, it was better than what I would be.  We had seen Hula Pie a few times so Sophon had ordered it.   It was sinfully good!

 

Sunset at Hula's Hula Pie

 

 

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Lahaina

Posted on October 19, 2019 by JimG

October 19th, 2019
Got up and went to breakfast at the hotel since it was included with my room.  It was a really good buffet with pancakes, waffles, eggs, sausage, muffins, croissants, cold cuts, a few Asian breakfast items and an omelet station. What did I have?   Peanut butter on English Muffins!  PB on toasted bread was something that I loved while growing up and frequently ate it both before and after school.  I won’t allow myself to buy jars of peanut butter, I can easily finish a jar in a couple of days, but when I am on vacation and they have it on the breakfast buffet, I allow myself to indulge.

Later in the morning, we took the hotel shuttle to Lahaina, we visited the banyan tree and then walked around. Lahaina has a lot of art galleries, shops and restaurants.   I am not a shopper and am not looking for art, we were pretty much done with looking around in about an hour.   We had found a place on Yelp called Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie shop. It had several thousand of reviews on Yelp with a 4.5 star rating. They served both sweet and savory pies so we decided to Uber it over to the shop.  We weren’t disappointed.   It was delicious!

As I went into Uber to get a ride back to the hotel, I realized that there was no cell signal and the restaurant WiFi didn’t have internet access.   How was I going to get back to the hotel?   I started wandering around the parking lot hoping to get reception and although I could get a single bar, when I went to order an Uber, I would get the message that the app couldn’t connect to the Uber service.   I was about to give up and go back into the restaurant to get change for the payphone to order a taxi when Sophon was able to finally get through and order an Uber.

I was relieved but it got me thinking on just how much we rely on connectivity. The Uber driver that picked us up also had a problem with her cell phone connecting and had to ask us where we were going and she didn’t start receiving directions until we were closer to downtown Lahiana.

We spent the afternoon sitting by the the pool and then wandering down to the beach and swimming in the Ocean.  We returned to our rooms and then went to dinner at Leilani’s on the Beach in the Whaler’s Village. I felt like I had been eating all day so I made it light meal of salad and poke. Sophon on the other hand seems to be able to eat everything.

We went back to the hotel and from our room watched the fireworks.

Fireworks
Fireworks
Leodas pie
Banyan Tree
Categories: Hawaii, Maui | Leave a comment

Maui

Posted on October 18, 2019 by JimG

October 18th, 2019

It is an ABC store, I am officially in Hawaii!

It is time for the 2019 Hawaii Food and Wine Festival.  This morning Sophon and I flew to Hawaii gathered our luggage and then found our shuttle to the hotel.  We boarded the shuttle and driver said that it would take 45 minutes to get from Kahalui to Kaanapali.  I was surprised by that and thought, how many times did I make that drive and yet I had no idea it was that long.  I guess when you are looking at beautiful scenery time flies.

About halfway to Kaanapali, the driver pointed out a building with a domed roof, he said it was a Frank Lloyd Wright house that was designed for Arthur Miller’s wife, Marilyn Monroe.   Arthur and Monroe divorced, and Frank Lloyd Wright died before it was built, his designs were later adapted to become the clubhouse for the King Kamehameha golf course which is often referred to as the Marilyn Monroe house even though she never lived there. I had been Maui before but nobody pointed that out to me.

Our room at the Sheraton was no ready, so we went to lunch.

I am always surprised at the number of kids and toddlers that are vacationing here in Hawaii. On the plane there was a couple on the other side of the aisle with a toddler who fussed the entire five-hour plane ride.  When I travel, I try to keep it simple one suitcase and one computer bag, I cannot imagine strollers, diaper bags and everything needed to keep a toddler happy.  I really cannot imagine.  Yet aren’t these the people who are complaining about student loans and affordable housing?

Maui was once known as the honeymoon Island, the majority of visitors are families with children and I always find myself wondering why the kids aren’t in school.

The hotel’s luau took place less than 100 yards away from my room.  I couldn’t see the stage, but it was fun watching the people who were attending.  I think every luau follows the same format.  It starts with a lei greeting, followed by a picture with the Hawaiian sunset in the background, and then Mai Tais.  Once the guests have gathered, they blow the large conch shell to officially begin the party, the host comes out teaches them a few hula moves followed by the pulling the pig out of the pit, the buffet lines open and once the guests are seated comfortably, the show beings complete with a royal court marching in, hula dancing and a fire dancer.

With Hawaii being three hours behind in time, it was an early night.

My room at the Sheraton Maui My View

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