California Dreamin'

It seems like a dream now, but in October we went to California and Disneyland.  We collected some memorable quotes along the way. 

Here are two:

"A bum!!" Krysta after seeing someone change out of a wet suit in the beach parking lot.

"No shame in that. These are awesome!" A surfer beach dude named Kevin who was our cashier at Trader Joe's commenting on our cheese puff purchase.

We love road trips!

Bonnie and Clyde's last car with the actual bullet holes. It's displayed just south of Vegas at Whiskey Pete's. It's kind of creepy and fascinating. There was an entire display about their lives and the history of the time. As much education (of the good kind) as you can get in a casino.

Newport Beach Marriott

 We made it to the coast just in time to enjoy the evening on the beach.

Best Deer Camp!

BEST DEER HUNT EVER! And this is the reason:

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'

  We chortled in our joy.

An actual bathroom with walls and everything! And inspite of it being a pit toilet and at the end of the season, it DID NOT SMELL! Graf girls have waited almost 30 years to witness such a deer hunt miracle.

And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? No. No, we did not slay a deer. But we saw some on the far hill, so good enough. Did I mention the Bathroom?  Like I said--BEST DEER CAMP EVER! (Even being woken up at 4:00 in the morning did not dampen our joy.) `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
  And the mome raths outgrabe. And here's a few pictures to prove it.

Look! An actual veritable freeway. We finally get a good 4-wheel drive vehicle and the camp is up a road that we could actually take a car. As opposed to some of the places where we HAVE taken a car!

And one more glimpse of our favorite part of camp.

Graf girls we hope to see more of you at our new fabulous deer camp next year!

Good-bye Hawaii

We spent the morning snorkeling at White Rocks and Makena Beach where we saw lots of fish and a turtle. The snorkeling was fun, but not as good as on our first day. We also tried body surfing with the boards provided by our bed and breakfast. Let's just say we need some help with body surfing. In theory it should be easy right? The water conditions seemed right, but what do I know? We only caught one or two good waves. We also drove south to the lava fields searching for some good snorkeling. Unfortunately the waters were really murky, so we didn't even get in the water.

Some hotels have a snack bar. This bed and breakfast had nuts and fruit straight from the source.

Macadamia nuts to crack

Apple Bananas--yum!

Breakfast view--more fruit trees are on the property below the fence.

 After snorkeling, it was time to pack up and leave.

We took a quick side trip to the IAO Valley. Unfortunately, because of dinner reservations, we didn't have time to go on the short hike. This site is where a battle ended in 1790 and is of importance historically and spiritually to the Hawaiians.

Our last dinner in the islands was at Mama's Fish House. The view alone was worth the reservation.

Our table by the open window.

 We ate delicious food....

We emailed Kevin once on our trip and sent a few pictures of our vacation so far.  He told us he spent the most time looking at the food pictures, so we took a lot at this meal to send them to him in our next email.

...and looked at the beautiful view.

Ate more delicious food...

Beef on a papaya.

 ...and looked some more at the view.

The food was about as pretty as the view.

Got to love Hawaiian hair. Curt was sure I could straighten it. Can you straighten the road to Hana?
 Both are about as likely.

Couldn't decide which dessert to have so we got both.

The Black Pearl! Aaarghh!

The dinner was a perfect way to end our Hawaiian vacation. 

And so we flew off...

 ...over a night...

 ...and into a day....

...and over an ocean and a canyon...

 ...and over a man-made canyon...

Can you see the massive landslide?

 ...and back to reality!

Aaargh!