Not Quite a 3-Hour Tour...

Taking a cue from the demise of Skipper and Gilligan on their three-hour tour, we opted for a two-hour one on Maui. Actually, they don't offer three-hour tours and that is probably why!

We booked our excursion ahead of time, knowing that December and January offer prime whale watching opportunities. We went through the non-profit Pacific Whale Foundation, which guaranteed a sighting or your next excursion is free! (Or discounted, at least.) Since this is the time of year the whales migrate and mate, we were pretty confident we'd at least see ONE humpback whale.

We started the cruise from Lahaina Harbor on their mostly smooth-riding single-deck catamaran, Ocean Explorer. Each trip includes expert interpretation of the whales' fascinating behaviors by Pacific Whale Foundation's certified marine naturalists.The open seating area offered unimpeded viewing -- a favorite of photographers -- until we got out of the harbor and everyone was standing up and trying to spot and point out whales.

They'd yell, "Look!" or "Over there!" and point. By the time you looked, you'd catch the tale end (literally) of the action.

Wait, that's a small whale, isn't it?

Are there sharks in the water??

Nope, those were dolphins entertaining us as they buzzed around the boat so we could all get pictures. Our onboard marine naturalist estimated it was a school of 40 spinner dolphins. These dolphins are known for jumping high into the air, spinning anywhere from one to seven times before they hit the water. While the cause of this is not scientifically proven, researchers think this is done for a mixture of reasons, including attention, courtship displays, getting rid of water in their upper respiratory tract, resetting their organs, ridding themselves of parasites, or simply because it's super fun. We saw a few do this but like everything else, if you weren't anticipating it, you definitely were not going to capture a picture. Just preserve the memory in our minds.

After the dolphin distraction, we resumed our lookout for "spouts" of water from our humpbacks.

Was that one there? Yes it was! Ohmigosh. A whale!

It got pretty exciting when we saw a handful of them "breach" out of the water... think that Pacific Life image you've come to recognize over the years. I missed the main action on the breach above but all was not lost...

I managed to have the camera ready for this one. It was quite a ways off so it was a grainy photo, but you can see how amazing it is!

There was another boat of tourists that obviously got the closer, better view. But all the tour companies must follow the state and federal laws regarding approaches to humpback whales. They try to stay a football field away and guests are not allowed to place their arms or camera equipment into the water when whales are within 100 yards.

My suggestion if you are going on a whale-watching excursion is to have a decent camera with a much better zoom than mine. Also one with a view finder or with a shield that allows you to view your digital screen when the sun is shining on it. For every picture I took of actually marine life, there were at least 5 of just sky because I couldn't tell where I was aiming the camera!

While I did not take video, I stumbled upon a photo application that can string together some pictures and "animate" them. Isn't that cool?

It would have been well worth it to have stayed out on the water an extra hour. But you can't press your luck with those three-hour tours... those three-hour tours...

Finals Week

Doesn't seem that long ago I was crying over my empty nest. Now, Carter has finished classes and his first semester of college is complete. He's cheering because his finals are done. I'm cheering because he'll be home for a month so the odds of me seeing him are finally in my favor.

This also means it's Finals Week when it comes to Christmas shopping (I think we're done) and meal planning (not even started). Of course, as Christmas draws near, it also means my daily German chocolate treat from my Advent calendar.

Or is used to mean that.

Here's a holiday tip for you kids: Even if you are fleeing the mainland, don't ever, ever leave your Advent calendar unattended. Especially at the office.

I knew I had catching up to do since I hadn't been in the office since the 12th. When I opened up #13, there was no chocolate... but there was a little note that said, "Sorry." Say what? When I opened up #14, there was no chocolate... but there was a little note that said, "Nope!" Now I knew I was pranked.

Opened the rest of the doors to more notes and no chocolate.

After a handwriting analysis from my CSI North Pole division, I identified the culprits – Jeff the Instigator and Cassie the Shenanigan-ator for Hire. Glad no one had to work too hard in my absence. They obviously had free time! Still brought in some coconut cookies to share with co-workers on both the Nice and the Naughty lists. And got back to the grind.

I guess I've passed the vacation baton to Carter, who took it eagerly.

He got home this evening and we both went (separately, of course) to the Assumption boys basketball game. Quite a night. The Royals had at least a 20-point lead early on in the game. Thank goodness after two, yes two, overtimes, they kept the victory in their hands! Good stuff.

Now I suppose I should catch up on sleep. Although it is "finals week," I am not pulling any all-nighters. It was bad enough when I signed on to a meeting at work today and the computer said, "The meeting will start in 23 hours and 59 minutes..."

What day is it? What time zone am I in?

I need that chocolate!

Island Time

Not even sure what time zone my body thinks it's in so I am just going to string a few a words together with a few pictures and get to bed. No, vacation doesn't wear a person out so much as traveling. Been up over 30 hours with a 3-hour nap on the plane, so sleep will come first and vacation photos and interesting narrative will come second.

Here's a bit about where we stayed and how we got there.

First of all, when you're boarding a plane for Hawaii, you don't need to hear surf music and see island video highlights to get in the mood to go.

A quick look at the current temperature was all we needed. Let's get this plane in the air!

I am not a completely comfortable flyer. I need to either read or watch the featured movie or sleep so I don't have to think about the thousands and thousands of feet up in the air we are. Normally, the mention of the seat cushion serving as a flotation device goes right over my head. But this time, I was like, wow, we are going to be flying over water for a long, long time. Uff da. Good thing I brought along some good distracting Christmas books to read!

We landed in Honolulu and then hopped over the Maui. You can see that the Big Island is very populated! It was so cool to fly over a volcano crater without being charged extra. Ha.

Very pleasant to arrive on Maui with an updated forecast that included less rain than initially stated. Felt bad for those suffering the snow and cold back home but, dang, did we have good timing to escape or what?

Our home for 5 nights was Ka'anapali Shores on the west end of Maui.

A view from our ocean-facing suite. We were on the 9th floor and I even dared to go out on the balcony every day!

We had a kitchenette, too, but really enjoyed almost all of our meals out – immersing ourselves in the island flavor!

This is the view from our balcony. There were two pools, the second closer to the beach on the other side of the short "beach club bar" building.

And just beyond the pools... the beach! It was windy and high tide so the beach area sort of disappeared. But we found a spot further down when we needed it!

View from our balcony at night.

... And at 4:30 a.m. when you wake up on Wisconsin time!

The view from the backside faced east so we could see the sunrise over one of the "mountains." Didn't have any spectacular colors the mornings I was up early enough to view!

All the resorts were getting excited for Christmas, their busiest week of the year. So weird to see holiday decorations without snow. That took a lot of getting used to.

Oh, and here is the view of our room/balcony from the pool, where a desperate Wisconsin woman was trying to get the last rays of sun on a very cloudy day before heading to the airport!

It was tough to say goodbye and it seemed like the travel gods didn't want us to go either. Had very turbulent flight from Maui to Phoenix (so no sleep there). Then got delayed in Phoenix until 2:30 a.m. Mountain Time. Finally got to Minneapolis before 8 a.m. and home to Wisconsin Rapids around noon.

Time went so quickly but we squeezed in sightseeing, an island tour, a whale-watching excursion, an outstanding luau and swimming in the ocean. More to come. Not to rub it in, but to show you and teach you a little bit about one of our 50 states I never thought I'd cross off my "must see" bucket list.

Aloha!

Off the Grid

Like a child anxious for Christmas, I went to bed early last night hoping that would make Monday come faster. And with Monday here faster, Tuesday would be quick on its heels!

That sort of worked. Monday came but dragged on and on as if trying to delay the arrival of tomorrow. Needless to say, I raced home after work to move the process along. Everything was packed, of course, and we were on our way. The first leg anyway.

Tonight it's sleeping in the Twin Cities. Tomorrow it's airport shuttle by 5 a.m. and off to Maui and off the grid.

Yup, I am not taking a laptop. But could borrow hubby's if I HAVE to. Am not planning to blog. But may post a photo or 2 or 30 on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, if you know how to find me. I am going so relaxed and low-tech that I am not even wearing my FitBit. I am sure we'll be doing plenty of hiking around without needing to count the steps. And really, I don't want to mess with my tan lines!

We'll obviously have our phones to check on Sylvester, making sure Princess Poops-A-Lot is not kicking Tony out of the house, and touch base with Carter so he can feel a little bit included.

If you want to feel included, too, and go off the grid with us, just picture yourself in one of these chairs. I've been doing that ALL Day!

Aloha!

Fallen Angels

If you needed an update on who is on the Nice List and who is on the Naughty List, you've come to the right place.

First the Naughty List...

Uh-oh, Sylvester! It is supposed to be a partridge in pear tree not a kitty in a "fur" tree! She's lucky she didn't make the final leap up or we'd have a fallen tree to go with our fallen angel tree topper. Not sure what she did to fall from grace, but I can't fix her!

Now the Nice List...

Yes, Old Man Winter made the Nice List! Sure, we got 4 or so inches of snow. But it was light and fluffy and I was able to handle the snowblower all by myself!

 Much better than that heavy, heavy, wet snow from last weekend. That was naughty.

My nephew Tony also made the Nice List, doing the manual removal of snow from the decks. He fits right in like a character from the winter streets of Grumpy Old Men, doesn't he? Love that hat. And his help!

Hubby also made the Nice List, finishing up the snowblowing around Carter's car so it wouldn't get snowed in its parking spot. He also didn't gripe about me watching two Hallmark Christmas movies today PLUS the Vikings game.

I made the Nice List myself, getting my side of the suitcase packed and everything ready to go so we can leave this Winter Wonderland after work tomorrow. Can't make time go fast enough.

Sure hope the weather man and Mother Nature have aspirations to make the Nice List this week.

Had a Very Shiny Nose

Technically it wasn't kidnapping, but with temps in the low teens, I managed to coerce my nephew to go to the annual Rudolph Country Christmas today.

Rudolph's nose may be red and shiny, but our were red and runny! Thankfully, the sun was out and the wind was down so it had the illusion of being a nice winter's day.

First stop was the post office where we could "hand cancel" our Christmas cards with a special Rudolph, Wisconsin, reindeer stamp pad at our disposal. I didn't take a picture but if you are lucky enough to receive a card from us, know that each was canceled with care.

After that, it was off to see Santa and the reindeer. Found out they weren't going to be downtown until 1 p.m. We were not hanging around 3 hours for that. When I saw a sign about "Breakfast with St. Nick" we decided to test our luck.

Found him! He was very gracious about letting big kids like Tony and me sit on his lap. One at a time, of course, since there wasn't a lot of room!

When he saw my hat, I almost didn't get a turn. But then he admitted he is powerless to help either the Vikings or the Packers this year. Hey, if Santa can't help, you know they're bad.

From there, we checked out some of the nativity scene animals. Can't you hear this camel asking, "Mike, guess what day it is?" from that commercial?

We were worried the camel would spit, but instead he was snuggly like a dog or cat.

And liked to give kisses!

Both Tony and I got kisses and snuggles. (And definitely washed our hands after that!)

"Does this cookie make my ass look big?" (Ha. One for the pun-sters.)

They also offered horse and carriage rides but we bypassed that. Stopped in at the craft show, bought some Amish cashew crunch and we were on our way. Ran some errands in Stevens Point and had to figure out what we don't want to get out and have to buy tomorrow when we may be snowed in!

Tonight, we enjoyed a food, friends and fun evening at our friends Joe and Michelle's. Got to see some of our "Assumption family" we haven't seen in awhile, plus start the holidays holi-GRAZE.

Been snowing lightly all evening and apparently there is much more to come in the next 12 hours. They're still staying 6 or 7 inches here.

We might need Rudolph and his shiny nose to get us to church in the morning!

Wigging Out

No holiday is complete without plastic wigs and a Charlie Brown tree. At least that was the sentiment in the early '70s. See proof above.

I distinctly remember my twin sister and I wearing those plastic wigs. They were stored in the "play box" of costumes and dress-up clothes. (Probably a.k.a. the Halloween Box.) You had to work out the crinkly dents before placing it on your head. I think we were only 2 in this picture so what did we know about fashion? We just enjoyed wiggin' out over Christmas.

These days, we only "wig out" about potential stress. Which could be Christmas in some cases, and definitely is snow storms in all cases.

Heard today we are in for a doozy this weekend. The latest map shows this accumulation from Saturday evening through Sunday evening.

Wisconsin Rapids made the map! We are sitting at the 6-8 inches line. Uff da. We don't need that. If you look closely, you see Platteville also made the map. Carter will be seeing 8-12 inches of the white "no such thing as snow days in college" stuff.

Ironically, while we're snowed in on Sunday, we'll be packing for Hawaii. Just need the roads plowed by Monday afternoon so we can drive over to Minneapolis! Hopefully this won't disrupt air travel going into late Monday and early Tuesday. If it does, you will seriously see me wigging out.

No plastic headgear required.

Be careful out there!