Beautiful Baby

Still enjoying the grandbaby and family in Las Vegas. All's well.

Capt. Jack's Debriefing

This is the story of a vacation. Mine. And a celebration of 60 years of matrimony (combined). My name is Captain Jack Morgan and I was found looking in the happy couple's condo window. I know, I know, it is a bit of an odd behavior, but what can I say, it was shady there. Or maybe I was a bit shady there.... Either way, they had a good sense of humor and invited me along.

The day I joined them I had at least one too many mango margaritas and some monkey business.
A large portion of each day was spent on the beautiful beaches of Maui... Looking for a good time. And a decent tan. And the normal things one looks for on a tropical island...

The time at the beach was more than just laying around, though. We also spent considerable hours snorkeling with colorful exotic fishes, gracefully soaring sea turtles, and all in an ocean reverberating with songs of Humpback whales.


Sometimes, we kayaked out to see them, I was a little unsure of our plight at one point. We were a couple of miles from shore and it took considerable time to get back.

I think I liked it a bit better watching the whales from shore. Well, that and the wahines.


They told me to stay away from this sacred site, but I just couldn't resist. I am always ready for an adventure. And the view of the whales was good from here.


Exploration of the island required a variety of transportation styles and I knew the way...
Jungle travel can be slow.

Of course, with legs the size of mine, travel ANYWHERE was slow.
Still.... wherever we went and however we got there, we all had a great time!They thought they left me on Maui. I decided to hang around a while. Someone's got to navigate, after all. Until next time- jack

Maui: 2011

This following post is all out of order, but sometimes that is just the way it goes and in any order Maui is pretty sweet.

Especially the whales. This photo was shot by our friend while we were kayaking. This male shot out of the water unexpected. But does anyone really expect a humongous whale to shoot out of the air like a space shuttle, do a half turn and then crash back down into the unknown depths? And all of this only at about 200 yards away. Awesome. The highlight of our trip. Heck, probably will be a highlight of our lives.

We really enjoyed kayaking. We did it a couple of times. Both days the water was glassy and calm and there was something very satisfying in propelling oneself along the sea. The mountains behind us are the west Maui mountains and we kayaked out of Lahaina.
This is a photo of Iao Needle. It rained on us here. I think it often rains here.
This photo is of the many waterfalls that were created on the north east side of the island.
The ocean is wild on this side and we enjoyed it from a distance.
This is on the north east side too and is called the Olivine Pools. It was pretty awesome to swim while on 3 sides of you the waves crashed. This is of me diving in.
This is me too. Pretty cool shot that Mark took of me sneaking into a resort's infinity pool in Wailea, which is on the southwest side of the island. This was a sublime moment. Sunset and serenity.
Sunset and paddle boarding at the Old Airport Beach in Kaanapali. Mark tried it and enjoyed it.
These two kissing in the sunset are Humboldt neighbors who now live on Maui. They were the ones who generously loaned us a number of items to enjoy and served us dinner and took us to a wonderful show called Ulalena. We all enjoyed it a lot. At one point I found my face bathed in tears. It was that moving.

Our good friends and our daughter in law's parents went with us. They too were celebrating their 30th anniversary.


We took a "sailing" trip to Lanai', a neighboring island. The sailing was very minimal, but it was nice to be out on the water and the beach on Lanai was exceptionally beautiful. We forgot to take our camera off the boat though, so you will just have to take our word for it. Or go there yourself. Lanai has a great camping area and when we ever visit the islands again that is where we will go for part of our time. We really liked it.
Probably the best thing about our boat trip was the deep water swim. The color of the water was wonderful and underwater the whale song was loud.
We hiked in the West Maui mountains one day. A seven mile jaunt. At Kapalua they have a shuttle that will take you up the mountain and then well marked trails to walk down. At one point you walk through an abandoned pineapple field.
And there was, of course, many flowers and even fresh fruit growing along the way to eat.


Of course, I suppose no trip to the islands would be complete without going to a Luau. We went to the Old Lahaina Luau and enjoyed it. The food was exceptional, the service excellent and those girls could sure twirl their hips!
This is Makena beach. It is southwest Maui and very beautiful. We spent one day in the south snorkeling, sunbathing and crashing the fancy hotels there. LOL.
Every evening was spent enjoying the sunsets. This is the one and only sun rise I witnessed. It was taken on our last day. We got up early and went for a walk and a last snorkel with the turtles.


Our anniversary was spent simply.
Another whale tail. The humpback whales come to Maui every winter to have their calves. They were very active and could be observed from shore as well as from the water.
Another view from our hike of the west Maui mountains. We also saw a lot of wild pig signs. It made us think of Eric the Bold and it had us walking a bit faster. LOL>
Thirty years together. Sweet.
The waves of Paia.
We snorkeled somewhere almost every day. This was taken from Napili Bay, probably my favorite spot.
We stayed at the Outrigger Aina Nalu in Lahaina. They had a lovely salt water pool that I enjoyed doing laps in. We rented a 2 bedroom condo at a very reasonable rate from the Vacation Rental By Owner website. We weren't on the ocean but we really enjoyed being in a town. Living on a ranch makes us appreciate being able to just walk out your door to get whatever you might need.
Very, very happy feet on Napili Bay. :-)
The end.


Well, this is their version of the vacation. My version might be just a little bit different. They found me peeking in their condo's window and invited me along and I live a little more on the wild side........Until next time- Capt. Jack Morgan

Grayson Ryan

Whew. We had about 36 hours at home and then we got a phone call and our daughter sounded very much like she was in labor, even though her due date wasn't until March 5. We threw some clothes in a suitcase and headed north to go south because we had a half of beef waiting for them at the locker and wanted to go pick it up before heading to Las Vegas, which is about a 14 hour drive. We made it there in plenty of time and were able to help our daughter and son in law at home for a while before going to the hospital. Little Grayson was born at 9:41 last night and weighed 6 lbs 2 oz. and measured 19.5 inches long. Sarah had over 48 hours of labor, with 5 of them at the hospital and a few of those hours pushing because Grayson was face up, which makes it much harder. She also had to wait 40 minutes for the doctor, after he was in position to be born! That is a lot of time to spend blowing. Why doctors always seem to show up late I will never understand. But alls well that ends well and both baby and parents are doing great. Now, I just need to go take some more photos and give some more hugs.......

We're Back...and its snowing!

This was me a couple of days ago. Floating in the calm waters of Baby Beach on Maui.
This is the view today from the top of our driveway. Just a tad different, huh?
Eric and Jo helped us go feed and the snow is fun and lovely and dare I say, Cold. It is just a bit of a change. A shift in the mindset from swimming to sledding or from bikini to boots.
But the whole gang is happy to see us and we were surrounded with moos and neighs and maas and clucks and barks and wiggles, so who wouldn't be happy to be home. Besides, the views are lovely and the fire warm. Now, if I could just get busy on those tax forms.....


Here is a short clip of Sweet William in the snow.



More to follow soon about our wonderful vacation celebrating 3o years of married life.

February 14, 1981: Yosemite Valley

As the sun starts a new day so our love begins a new life.

Happy Anniversary To Us!

P.S. : We might just be on a tropical isle right about now. Maybe. Maybe not. Either way we are celebrating.

Pruning

It's that time of year again. The fruit trees, roses and grapes need a haircut and maybe a little oil. The weather is really cooperating with our yard work. Upper 60's all week so far and we are expecting to experience 70 degree weather this weekend. WooHoo. You gotta love it.

I Spy....

Brumbies.... that's what we call our herd in the winter A term taken from a movie. Can you guess the movie?

Do you see what sees me?
It was following me and it took me a second to see... Clay. Our old bull.

I think he was hoping I had a hand out of grain. He is a real sweetie.

This little gem is unfurling in the sun and the fresh spring grass.

An English Daisy.