Haleakala

I don't remember what day it was - it being vacation and all - but Tom, Meg, Jenny and I decided to take a day trip to Haleakala, the large mountain on the eastern side of the island. On our way there, we stopped at an overlook to view the whales. We saw some spray and splashes which would seem to indicate that there were large mammals out there somewhere.
Near the top of the mountain, there was short walk to view the crater. It was quite impressive. The clouds were floating past us a few hundred feet below us which give us a pretty clear view of the mountains on the big island.
Hey Jenny. Where is the Haleakala Crater? Any body else notice that Jenny is cold even in Maui?
I needed to commemorate the first time I was above 10,000 feet. We topped out at 10,023 feet. I kind of wish I had some pants.
Silver Sword grows only on Maui, or so I understand. The parking lot at the top had a lot of them in various stages of its lifespan.

Stay tuned.

Maui Sunset

Let's start with a sunset from the southern coast of Maui. There weren't many evenings that presented a good sunset. It was either too cloudy or not cloudy enough. This evening was perfect.

The island on the horizon is Lana'i while the darker piece of land is the western end of Maui.

There are more coming. Stay tuned.

Some of my Favorites

Alaska Part 3

The last of the Alaska pictures that I will put up:

On our day off - not paddling - we hiked about a mile in to a gold dredge.  There was a self-guided tour that took us all over the boat.  It was cool to see how things were done.  Many of the tools for the operation were left on the boat when mining stopped.
The above picture is the pilot house of the dredge.  Each of these levers did something.  One was for forward another back.  The pilot would stand behind these levers and watch the buckets dig the dirt and mud - and hopefully gold - and carry it to the back part of the dredge where everything was sorted and the gold kept while the rest was deposited out the back.
After our walk to the dredge - and short naps - we took another short walk, this time down the river.  I don't know what this thing is on the bank, but it's not important.
When I was living with Kristen and Sam, my favorite reading material was the book "Outhouses of Alaska."  This was the one at Slavens Roadhouse.  It didn't make it into the book but I think the birches in the foreground make it look picturesque.

That's it of the good Alaska pictures.  I have been pretty busy with the new house and haven't gotten to take many pictures lately.  However, I am hoping to have pictures of the new place soon to add to the blog.

Fall in Alaska

Fall in Alaska.  It comes early there - the end of August.  It was great to see the birches and spruces change from green to yellow on our trip.  These are four pictures from our time spent at Slavens Roadhouse and on our hike to the gold dredge.

At least one more set of pictures to come.  Stay tuned.