Kauai – RDZ Photography

Virtual Travel – Hawaii

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Museum, Nature, Transportation, Water Features

Because of the uniqueness of Hawaii I have no state highway maps in my collection. For this trip we will use a National Geographic Map from 1976.

Having spent an amazing 3 weeks in the islands, there are plenty of photos of the highlights. As a result this is a very long posting full of photos.

Hawaii – The Big Island. Covering over 4000 square miles, it is slightly smaller than Connecticut.

Big Island HI Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park

Big Island South Point

Southernmost point of any U.S. State – take that Key West

Green Sand Beach

Black Sand Beach

Volcano National Park

Kaimu Bay

McKenzie Park

Hilo – One huge banyan tree

Akaka Falls

Hilo (again)

Waipio Valley

Pololu Valley Overlook

Kapaau

Kona Cultural Festival

Off Kona

Maui

Views from the water

Lahania

More coastal Maui views

Iao Valley

Haleakala National Park

Kahekill Highway

Waimoku Falls

Hana

Kahului Hi Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center

Makai Glass Company

Dingking Surfboard Company

Molokai and Lanai

Lanai

It was once massive plantation, so the landscape has been altered to support the sugar crops.

Lanai cat sanctuary

Molokai

Drive to the far eastern end of the island

Halawa Valley

Native leader

Tallest seacliffs in the world – 3000′ high.

Oahu

Ka’ena Point

Makaha Valley

Honolulu, Waikiki Beach & Diamond Head

Waiahole Preserve & Kaneohe

North Shore Oahu

Dole Pineapple Plantation

Back in Waikiki

View from Diamond Head

Iolani Palace

Hawaii State Capitol

Aloha Tower in Honolulu Harbor

Makapu’u Overlook

One final night in Waikiki

Kauai

Waimea Canyon

Kalalau Lookout

Waimea Canyon

Polihale State Park and Beach

Waimea State Park Beach

Opeaka’a Falls

Rainbow Trees

Wailua Homesteads

One of the million wild chickens in Hawaii

Cocoa beans

A Milestone – Posting Number 1000

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Museum, Nature, Sciences, Sports, Transportation, Water Features

This photography blog started out as a way to share some photos with friends, but after a number of years it has reached a milestone – posting number 1000!

To celebrate I give you my favorite 40 photos of all time. (I tried to make it less but could not)

Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Milwaukee sunrise

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan

Duluth, Minnesota thunderstorm

Yellowstone National Park – All Hail the Geyser Gods

Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Mendocino County, California

Cambridge, Ohio lumberjack contest

Cincinnati Renaissance Festival

Loudonville, Ohio – Native American Pow Wow

Alaska Peninsula

Columbus – Krampus

Chicago

New York City subway art

Cincinnati – Rosie the Riveter Contest

Lanai, Hawaii – Cat Sanctuary

Haleakala National Park, Hawaii

Waimea Canyon Park, Kauai, Hawaii

Columbus – Krampus V2

Washington DC – Embassy Day

Houston – Lucky Land

Amarillo, Texas – Cadillac Ranch

Cleveland – Parade the Circle

Columbus Zoo

Montreal

Olivos, Argentina

San Antonio De Areco, Argentina

Buenos Aires – Casa Rosada

Bariloche, Argentina

Buenos Aires – Retiro Train Station

Buenos Aires – Recoleta Cemetery

Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina

La Leona, Argentina

El Calafate, Argentina

Buenos Aires – Palacio Barolo

Igauzu Falls, Argentina

Hawaii – November 2018 – Day 20 Rainbow Trees and An Abrupt Stop

Architecture, History, Nature, Transportation

Our second morning at the Kauai Inn started after sunrise, which gave us a chance to see how beautiful the grounds and background was.

As we left to go out for the day we found a new city have moved in down the street.

To quote a line from the movie ‘Groundhog Day’ – “I’m bettin’ he’s gonna swerve first”

Our day had us headed to some waterfalls – first was Wailua Falls. I was expecting to drive into a park and go for a hike to the falls, but we ended up driving up and getting a glimpse of them from the overlook in the fog.

Still the double falls was impressive.

We then headed to the nearby Opaeka’a Falls. While more distance, you did get a better view – but still no hiking.

The Wailua River Valley is historically a Native Hawaiian settlement area.

We continued up the road as far as it could go until we got to the Keahua Arboretum.

Not a traditional arboretum, but more of a ‘woods’, it nonetheless has some amazing trees. These are known as Rainbow Eucalyptus trees.

As Wikipedia states: “The unique multi-hued bark is the most distinctive feature of the tree. Patches of outer bark are shed annually at different times, showing a bright green inner bark. This then darkens and matures to give blue, purple, orange and then maroon tones. The previous season’s bark peels off in strips to reveal a brightly colored new bark below. The peeling process results in vertical streaks of red, orange, green, blue, and gray.”

Easily some of the coolest trees I have ever seen.

With that we headed back down the mountain, passing some houses with great views.

We stopped by Poliahu Park.

Where the remains of a Heiau (temple) remains from ancient Hawaiian times. People have left lei’s as an offering.

Our plans were to continue north to a wildlife preserve and lighthouse when we ran into a bit of a problem – literally. An elderly man missed seeing us coming down the road and pulled directly in front of us – BAM.

Airbags are an exciting event – scared the #$%^ out of me.

Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt, and after getting a replacement car from Avis (who get’s a shout out about how well they handled this situation), we got checked out and were on our way.

We decided to skip the lighthouse and instead went to the Spouting Horn Park, where we met some of the local sea birds.

Spouting Horn was nice, but with the much smaller waves it wasn’t nearly as impressive as the ones in Maui.

With that our eventful day came to an end.

Hawaii – November 2018 – Day 19 Kauai and the Grand Canyon of Hawaii

History, Nature, Transportation

We flew from Maui through Honolulu to Kauai on a Tuesday evening. Using google maps we made our way to our hotel, which took us past the shipping docks to who knows where.

The following morning we were up and on our way before sunrise. After about an hour and a half, and a quick breakfast in Waimea, we made our way up to Waimea Canyon.

We were greeted by the official bird of Hawaii – the rooster.

We made our way through the park until we reached the famed Kalalau Overlook. If it looks familiar, it should, it was used in Jurassic Park.

We are about 4000′ above the ocean at this point.

Look closely you will see the helicopter well below in the valley.

The other highlight of the area is Waimea Canyon.

Waipo’o Falls cascades into the canyon.

From a distance you can see why it has the nickname Grand Canyon of Hawaii.

It is immense, especially given how small the island is overall. This area of Kauai is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, and well worth the trip.

We made our way back down to the coast, and found this dirt road that continued in the direction of the bluffs we had just been on.

Eventually we reached the end of the road and found this amazing secluded beach with a view of Ni’Hau.

The waves, while not as impressive as what was in Maui, still made a great ‘Hawaii Five O’ look.

But it was the view of the cliffs that made the dusty ride worthwhile.

On our return trip to Lihue we stopped by the site of a Russian Fort, which was near the town of Waimea. Just down the hill from this fort a river ran into the ocean making some great sand dunes.

Further along the coast we found Salt Pond Park and Beach. Nearby pools produce the famed Hawaiian sea salt, but the beach was more picturesque.

Our final stop of the day was at Kauai Coffee. Very touristy, but amusing.

They claim to have 4 million coffee trees, and near the visitor center you can take a walk amongst them.

They also had some displays on how the beans are dried. These are for show, as this is a large commercial processing facility (that does not offer real tours of the plant).

Remember that drive in the dark – it was much better in the sun!

An amazing view at the Menehune Fishpond, literally a mile from our little hotel. The moral of this view is don’t always trust first impressions, the hotel and the views were spectacular – you just have to go through the cargo shipping area when you come from the airport.