JimG's Blog

Maui 2022 – Hawaii Food and Wine Festival – Big, Bold & Beatiful

Posted on October 22, 2022 by JimG

October 22, 2022

We headed over to the Sheraton Resort and Spa for our first Hawaii Food and Wine Festival of 2022. We have been attending this event every year since 2014 until the pandemic hit and things came to a stop. It felt good to be attending the event again and we weren’t disappointed. As with previous events at the Sheraton, there were a couple dozen well known chefs creating all sorts of small plates. There was plenty of wine and a several mixologists.

One of the first people we ran into at the festival was Aya who has always taken care of us. Soon after we ran into Denise Yamaguchi who presented us with lei’s. Soon after we ran into Roy. It was good seeing everyone and hard to believe that three years had passed.

Chef Lee Anne Wong was there, we had eaten at her new restaurant in Lahaina the night before. Fan favorite Shota Nakajima from Top Chef 18 was also there. On Top Chef, he came off as being very laid back and very likeable. In person, he was very nice and very easy to talk to. He has a couple of different restaurants in Portland, I would love to go up there again and check them out.

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Maui 2022 – Flying

Posted on October 21, 2022 by JimG

October 21, 2022

I brought my drone to Hawaii in hopes of being able to fly it. Although I had the drone for a couple of years, I hadn’t flown it all that much. Ideally, I wanted to familiarize myself with flying the drone without having to worry about losing it or crashing it into something and causing damage. I knew that there was a big field next to the resort and headed over there just about every morning.

The first morning, I was told that I was in a restricted zone and I needed to get permission before I could fly. It was back to the hotel room to read about how to get permission in order to unlock the map. The following morning, I was able to take off but soon after, I received a message that it was very windy and that I should land as soon as possible.

Finally, I was able to fly and had fun doing so only to realize after the fact, I had not taken any video. It was off to the field again in order to get at least one decent video! I was pleased with the results but it is clear, I am a beginner and there isn’t anything too exciting or dramatic in this footage!

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Snorkeling

Posted on October 20, 2022 by JimG

October 20, 2022

We arrived at our snorkeling destination and received our instructions on how to use the equipment before getting into the water. There is something wonderful about snorkeling; it feels like you are peering into another world that is not easily seen from above. Phil pointed out a lot of different fish, more names than I can remember. We saw a couple of sea turtles and Phil told us that when they are active, they need to surface every few minutes but when they are resting, they can stay underwater for two hours.

A woman on the paddle board told our guide that there were monk seals not too far away. The Hawaiian Monk Seal is an endangered species. We were told to keep our distance, if there was a mother with a pup, she could get aggressive. Later I thought about the woman on the paddle board, we were pretty far out there, did she come out on a different boat and was it her job to help spot wildlife or had she paddled all the way out there? Continue reading →

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Maui 2022 – Sailing

Posted on October 20, 2022 by JimG

October 20, 2022

This morning, we went for a private sail. We met Captain Eli and his assistant Phil on the beach at Whaler’s village and took a dingy out to the sail boat. Although it was called sailing, we didn’t have much of a wind and we had to rely on the boat’s engine. It was a very nice boat. One that makes you want to own one. It is hard not to think about what life would be like waking up on the boat and having your morning coffee on deck.

I have known a few people who owned boats and what I learned from them was that they are a lot of work, they require maintenance and not everyday at sea is a picnic. Captain Eli and Phil may seem like they have the ideal job of taking tourists on sailing and snorkeling exhibitions, it is hard work and long days.

The first wildlife we saw was the malolo, which were fish that could fly. I always thought that flying fish could jump out of the water and fly for ten or fifteen feet, I had no idea they could fly up to a quarter of a mile. It was fascinating to watch them.

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Maui 2022 – Maui’s Aquarium

Posted on October 19, 2022 by JimG

October 19th, 2022

After taking a scenic route up above Kahalui, we headed to the Maui Aquarium. I always remember seeing the aquarium on my way from the airport to Kaanapali but I never stopped there. In So Cal, Long Beach has a great aquarium and Monterrey is renown for their aquarium. I was curious to see how Maui’s aquarium stacked up. I was impressed.

Besides the coral reef and Jellyfish exhibits (which I love) they had a 3d experience about hump back whales. I was very impressed by that. It felt like they were right in front of us. They also had an exhibit with the sea turtles. I cannot remember seeing sea turtles at other aquariums! All three of us really enjoyed the aquarium. Continue reading →

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Maui 2022 – Kahalui

Posted on October 19, 2022 by JimG

A view from the Kapalua Airport

October 19th, 2022

We were switching hotels and moving from the Westin Kaanapali to the Westin Nanea and although they are next to each other, there is a large field between them and we couldn’t wheel our luggage down the street or beach boardwalk to the next hotel. We wanted to explore the other side of the Island, I thought it would be easier to change hotels with a car rental. I went to get the car rental while Sophon watched the luggage.

When I got back to the hotel, Cindy was dealing with a work issue so Sophon and i went for a ride. Instead of heading towards Lahaina, we headed the other way. Not to far was the Kapalua airport. It is a very small airport and although much closer to Kaanapali, there are no flights to it from the mainland. I remember flying into the airport back in the late 1980s and it hasn’t changed much. While admiring the view from the airport, Cindy called and we headed back to the hotel to picker her up. Continue reading →

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Maui 2022 – Lahaina

Posted on October 18, 2022 by JimG

October 18th, 2022

Headed out early in the morning for a recon mission. We would be moving over to the Westin Nanea the following day, although the properties are next to each other, there is a large field between the two resorts. I wanted to see how long the walk was. I also wanted to locate the car rental agency. We were going to rent a car for a day and drive to another part of the Island. The walk was 15 minutes.

After getting back from my walk, Cindy, Sophon and Ubered it over to the 808Grindz café. Although Yelp and google said it would be open, the sign on the door said closed. Yes, the shuttle driver was right when he said that restaurants may be closed when you would expect them to be open. We decided to walk into Lahaina. It was relatively early and most of the shops weren’t open. Lahaina can get a little crowded, it was nice to walk around with no people around. Continue reading →

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Maui 2022 – Kaanapali

Posted on October 17, 2022 by JimG

Sunset in Kaanapali

October 17th, 2002

My first trip since the start of the pandemic. I have to admit, the process of planning it out and finally getting on a plane felt good. Although it feels like things are finally back to normal, I remind myself that things may take a turn in the upcoming months.

As I landed, I found myself thinking that although I was going to be on this vacation for a week, I should have planned a few more days. Vacations have a way of going by quickly and I would be back on a plane headed home before I knew it.

We arrived around noon and went to get our luggage and find our shuttle. Sophon and I found a place to sit, both of us know that it takes forever for the luggage to show up on the carousel. It is as if they are telling you that we are now on island time. We found hour shuttle and headed towards Kaanapali.

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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!