Taken by Kris Nelson on Monday, September 14th, 2009.
Location: Along Honoapiilani Highway in northwest Maui

This is a shot from our first day on Maui during our trip for the Maui Photo Festival back in September. It was one of the places along the end of Honoapiilani Hwy (just before the Kahekili Hwy starts) that we pulled over to enjoy the view.

Slow Going
You can probably tell that the updates and posts here at our blog have been pretty scarce lately. Well, after the Maui Photo Festival much of my free time has been behind the camera and in the digital darkroom as I feed my renewed shutterbug addiction. If you’re interested in seeing more of what I’ve been up to lately, head over to my photography site.

Never fear, though, our love for Maui is still as strong as ever. We’re excited to hear that the whales have arrived for their winter visit, and we’re targeting the end of November to lock down plans for our next one-week trip in February to see them again for ourselves.

Other Posts
Since there hasn’t been much here to read, I thought I’d add a few links that might help with your Maui fix.

• My reviews and photos from the ‘09 Maui Photo Festival
• A little insight into my experience at the Sunset Hula photo shoot
• Another great #MauiTweetup from October, courtesy of @jalove
• Some pumpkin picking at the Kula Country Farm thanks to A Maui Blog
• The official Maui Photo Festival 2009 group on Flickr

Mahalo, and enjoy,
- Kris

Aloha Friday
A cloud covered Molokai as seen from a private area of the Sheraton Maui Resort.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 3 months since my last Aloha Friday post. I guess it goes to show just how busy of a summer it has been for me. Regardless, I’m still working on getting things a little more regular here.

This photo is an oldie but still a goodie. It’s taken from one of the viewing areas at the Sheraton Maui Resort in Ka’anapali. In fact, it’s only one of many great views you can find at the Sheraton.

More FollowFriday Coming Soon
I’m writing this a little unprepared today, so the return of Follow Friday (aka #FollowFriday on Twitter) will have to wait until next week. I’m excited, though, because I met so many great people at the Maui Photo Festival last month and have a great list of tweeps you’d be interested in following.

And speaking of the Maui Photo Festival, they’ve recently announced the dates for the 2nd annual event next year. If you couldn’t attend this year, or wasn’t sure what it was about, let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing. I still owe you details and photos from my MPF experience this year, and hoping to feature some of them this weekend over at Maui by Photo. In the meantime, find me as @MauiByPhoto on Twitter and ask away.

Back to the dates for next year’s event, block off August 25-29 on your calendars. Also, there will be a big push on preregistration starting in a few weeks, and great early bird deals to save money on your registration. Check out their site (and here) as more details are released.

Hope to see you there next year.

Taken by Kris Nelson on September 18th, 2009
Location: Above Napili Bay in a helicopter (with the doors off)

This is one of the many awesome shots I took on the doors-off helicopter tour I took as part of the Maui Photo Festival not so long ago.  While we didn’t get to go as far south along the West Maui coastline as Ka’anapali (which would have been awesome), it was still a blast and well worth doing.

Here are a few Google maps to help show where this was taken.

Where did the week go?
Don’t ask me to account for my activities last week after we returned from Maui. It’s been such a losing battle trying to catch up with everything (except sleep, that is) that I can’t keep track of whether I’m coming or going.  I did make the promise to myself, however, that after next year’s Maui Photo Festival, I intend to take the following week off from work just to wrap up with everything I need to finish up from that.

Still to come
It hurts to even type up this list because I don’t have a good feel for when I can get to it all, but here it goes.  The following is a brief list of things I’m trying to get to in the coming weeks (in no particular order).

• Final trip journal entries from our most recent trip
• Adding new beaches and activity pages from both our February and September trips
• Update our trip details section to include a recap of this most recent trip, as well as plans for a week in February to see the whales
• Get back into the Aloha Friday groove, because I’ve gotten to meet so many cool Maui tweeps since the last time I posted one of those lists

I’m going to stop there, otherwise I might not publish this post altogether.

Mahalo nui loa for all of our loyal readers that have still stuck with us during this dormant period here at the blog. I promise, once I find what normal is and my life returns to some semblance of that, it will be well worth the wait.

Aloha,
- Kris

I did want to take moment, though, to say how awesome it was to be part of the biggest Maui Tweetup to date. It was a perfect way to end a great trip. Mahalo to @AMauiBlog and @DJSMOOK for helping to organize last Sunday’s meeting, and @PeterLiu47 for taking photos as usual.

Check out Liza’s post from A Maui Blog to see more details about our #MauiTweetup.

A very special mahalo to Liza for the wonderful leis she greeted us with for our anniversary. It was such a thoughtful gift that we’ll always remember.

Photo by @PeterLiu47 on TwitPic.

More journal entries coming soon.

There were quite a few things left from our trip in February that we needed to catch up on this week, and visiting more of Upcountry Maui was near the top of the list.

With only a few days to ourselves before the Maui Photo Festival starts, we knew our schedule was going to be pretty ambitious. Our plans for Tuesday were no exception, as we found ourselves driving across the island to the upcountry and up to the hills of Kula.

First on the morning’s agenda was a trip to H. A. Baldwin Beach park, which is a favorite spot of our painter friend, Mort Luby. While we had a later start to the day than anticipated, we made pretty good time and had our feet in the sand before we knew it. I was a little thrown by just how big Baldwin Beach actually was, but that just meant more ground to cover.

In fact, I was shooting for over an hour, even though I was battling a pretty stiff wind on the way back to where Cindy was sitting.

That’s when the late start began catching up with us, because we had a booking for the 2:30pm walking tour at the Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm. That meant we had less time to spend on our next stop, which was walking through Paia town. Short on time, we found a little place called the Green Banana Cafe that looked worth a shot. We ordered a few panini sandwiches (and Cindy’s favorite, Smart Water) and ate outside.

The food was good, and the people were really nice. Certainly worth a return visit when we visit Paia again. Looking down at the time, we realize we had to jet, which meant we had to pass on the Ono Gelato place right down the street. Plans are to pay them a visit before we leave on Sunday.

Off to Kula
Nervously watching the clock, we began our mad dash to Kula and the lavender farm. We ended up making it with about 5 minutes to spare, and as fate would have it, we were the only ones signed up for the 2:30pm tour, so it wouldn’t have been too big of a deal if we were a little late.

I, of course, was blown away by the views from that elevation. The fragrance in the air up there was memorable. That could also be from the lavender samples we brought back with us that filled the rental car with that sweet aroma for the rest of the day.   The air was noticeably cooler up in Kula, too, which was a welcomed change from the morning at the beach.

Close, But No Cigar
Well, you can’t win them all. Our next stop on Tuesday was supposed to be the Surfboard Fence that Shelia at Go Visit Hawaii recently posted about, but I couldn’t find it.

It was ultimately my bad, since I hadn’t been prepared enough to map out the directions ahead of time. Yup, I do that sometimes, but in my defense, it’s been a busy week already.

I decided to follow along with the GPS on my phone, which itself chose when it wanted to work and when it wanted to lose a signal around important turns and intersections. No worries, though, since it was still a beautiful drive back to the Hana Highway and heading back towards Lahaina. Leave it to the lavender to have that calming effect on getting lost.

Let the Night Begin
With a day of close calls in terms of timing, we made it back to the hotel early enough in the evening to enjoy the sunset from our balcony.

It was lovely scene, for sure. But than again, West Maui sunsets always are spectacular.

Back to the timing, we would have had plenty of time to make our way back to our room if it hadn’t taken 20 minutes to find parking at the Hyatt. Adding that to the list of things we like much better about our rooms at the Sheraton over the Hyatt, but I’ll save that for another time.

Who’s Hungry?
After a full day of driving, sun, and lavender, it was time to get cleaned up and think about dinner. We didn’t have to think very hard about what we wanted, since Leilani’s at Whalers Village was on our minds for most of the day. More specifically, the Hula Pie.

Yes, that’s an old photo, but perfection like that doesn’t change much over time.

After dinner, we took our usual stroll around Whalers Village, but this time headed south instead of north back to our resort. We actually were able to take our time this trip going back to the resort, as opposed to February where the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating with our attempts to enjoy the beachwalk at night.

And A Lovely Night It Was
Speaking of the beachwalk, it was as lovely as it gets at night. Once again, the sky was filled with stars above us, and we just had to stop more than a few times to enjoy the view. It was all too much to for me to pass up, so after we made it back to our room, I packed up the camera gear and headed back downstairs.

If that’s not as lovely as it gets, I don’t know what is!

Mahalo,
- Kris

Related Links

• Monday’s journal entry: Off to Explore
• Our travel day: The Early Bird…
• Unique Surfboard Fence – GoVisitHawaii.com
• Lavender Farm in Kula – A Maui Blog

The first full day of our trip called for a little exploring and some familiar scenery.

One of the cool things about Maui is that even when you’re plans don’t work out, there are still some great memories to be made. Case in point for Monday was our drive north of Kapalua in search of the Nakalele Blowhole. Maybe a little bit of arrogance on my part, but we decided to just wing it drive up on our own without reading too much about where it was.

We never actually made it to the blowhole itself, although I could tell we were close. Instead, we did end up spending about 2.5 hours hiking, climbing, and taking photos of some breathtaking views from the sea cliffs in the area nearby.

Nice hair, eh?

It was a beautiful morning to be out there, and definitely something we’ll want to do again. With a little more preparation, that is.

Show Me The Turtles
Two weeks ago I shared an article about the new turtle hatchlings that arrived at the Maui Ocean Center courtesy of Sea Life Park on Oahu. Seeing that we love honu, we just had to check these guys out.  They were too cute, for sure.

Well worth the stop. This little guy had his own tank, while the slightly old ones were taking over the Turtle Lagoon. Certainly much smaller than the ones we saw back in April of last year.

After that, we made our way into my favorite exhibit, the Open Ocean Exhibit. The timing couldn’t have been perfect because it was feeding time. We came in near the tail end, but there was a big group outside the shark tank and one of the naturalists holding a Q&A session with one of the divers in the tank. Very cool to see, if you get a chance.

Photos didn’t turn out that great (I didn’t bring my tripod in from the car), but I did shoot some video that I’ll hopefully get around to posting once we get back.

Before we left Ma’alaea, we took a quick stroll through the shops there and came across one of the 808 Clothing Company stores. We first found them last February during the Whale Day Festival and were going to try and find time for a trip down to their Kihei store, but this was much more convenient for us on our short trip. I really love the cool designs they have there, plus the fact that everything is made right there on Maui. You can’t get much better than that.

Going to Town
After the stop at the ocean center, it was time for our usual day one tradition. Yup, a stop at Cheeseburger in Paradise for a meal with a view.

Sure, it’s a tourist place right in the middle of Lahaina, but it’s been a regular stop of ours since we found them in Waikiki on our honeymoon quite a few years ago. We joke because we always have one of two waiters that we see there each time, and last night was no exception.

New Aloha Wear
While we couldn’t fit in a luau this trip, we were on the lookout for some new Aloha wear to bring home with us, another one of our traditions. Actually, this time it found us, as we spotted it in the window along one of the shops on Front Street. I’ll post a picture later in a week when we take our Aloha photo for this trip.

It was quite a busy first full day, with Tuesday shaping to be just as busy. And this is all before the 6am – 10pm activities begin on Thursday for the Maui Photo Festival. I’m going to be completely wiped out once this week is over.

Mahalo,
– Kris

An early start to our travel day, and 3 flights later returned us to the island that we love.

Things are going to get really, really busy once the Maui Photo Festival starts Wednesday night, so I thought I’d try to squeeze in a few journal entries before my free time goes out the window. Our travel day started earlier than most, with our first flight leaving O’Hare airport in Chicago at 7:30am. It was only the first of three flights for the day. Given the circumstances that made us wait until the last minute to book our flights, the 3 flight journey was better than not, but nothing something we’d volunteer for again.

The flights went off without a hitch, which was a welcomed change from last year. After about an hour getting our rental car, we made it to the Hyatt by around 5pm.

Aloha Hyatt
Regulars at the blog here now we’re big fans of the Sheraton over on Black Rock, so we knew it would be different coming back to Maui and staying at the opposite end of the beach. The Hyatt itself is a very lovely hotel, don’t get me wrong. We’re just not convinced yet, however, that it will overtake the one-and-only Sheraton in our hearts.

Because we booked our trip late, there weren’t any rooms available as part of the Maui Photo Festival rate. That didn’t turn out to be such a bad thing, however, since we were able take advantage of another one of the Hyatt’s current deals and score a deluxe ocean view room for only about $400 more for our week stay than festival rate. The deal included 2 nights free and breakfast for the week, so it turned out in our favor.

Our room is up on the 20th floor of the center building (aka Atrium Tower). Of course, I had to snap a shot before we headed out for the night.

The lighting wasn’t ideal, and I didn’t take the time to fuss around with it too much, but you’ll see more like this from the week, for sure. After unpacking, it was off to our arrival day tradition.

First Things, First
After a total of 17 hours from leaving home for the airport and getting settled at the hotel, it was time to eat. Since we were stopping at Safeway at the Lahaina Cannery Mall after dinner, we decided to return to Lulu’s for flatbread pizza. Okay, it was really for their malasadas, but don’t tell anyone.

We discovered Lulu’s last February and had enjoyed their malasadas for Fat Tuesday during Mardi Gras. In fact, it was around that time when my diet starting going to you know where. In any case, Lulu’s might have just earned a spot in our arrival day tradition going forward.

After the yummy food, we hit Safeway and headed back to the hotel. After we parked, Cindy looked up and noticed the stars were out on a very clear summer night. Sure enough, right above us was the Milky Way, and my tired body started wondering if it could stay up for a few hours of nighttime shooting. It turns out I was able to get a few shots before the clouds rolled in, one of the better ones is below. These clear nights have been hit or miss for me on our trips in the past, so I try to take advantage of them whenever I can.

Once the clouds started rolling in, I turned my aim lower and grabbed a few shots of the nicely lit Hyatt grounds down below. From 20 floors up, and with a few tweaks, I got a few photos to be proud of.

I’ve always been a big fan of Maui at night, and given that the night time temps will be warmer this week then during our trip back in February, you can be sure we’ll be down there enjoying a stroll or two this week.

All in all, a great first evening on the Valley Isle. Looking forward to a lot of fun on this bonus trip for us this year. Be sure to stay tuned.

Mahalo,
– Kris

Taken by Kris Nelson on June 4th, 2006
Location: Flying over Wailuku, Maui on a Blue Hawaiian Helicopter tour.

This week’s Sunday Photo comes from the skies above Central Maui during our first helicopter tour above the Valley Isle back in 2006. I thought it would be a fitting choice for two reasons.

First, because I’m really excited about my next photo adventure in the sky coming up this Friday. I’m just 6 days away from a doors-off helicopter tour as part of the Maui Photo Festival this week, and one of the big selling points for me to work my butt off this summer to pay for a 2nd trip to Maui this year.

The second reason I thought it was a fitting choice was because, as I’m typing this, I’m currently 32,000 feet somewhere over the Midwest on our way back to Maui. And while I’m writing this on the plane, I’m actually connected to the Internet via the Gogo Inflight Internet Service on American Airlines. Talk about a long time coming, all these years messing around on my laptop during these long flights to and from the islands in the Pacific Ocean, and just now am I able browse the web in the process. The $9.95 price per flight might be a little steep (or not, compared to the price of airfare), but I wanted to give it a shot at least once.

Back to the photo, I always have fun looking at photos of Maui from either a plane or helicopter, trying to identify where above on the island it was taken.  My good old friend Google Maps usually is my first stop, and the map below help in part to solve this particular puzzle.

Following the same process, I was able to identify other neat places in my helicopter photos, such as Wailea in South Maui, the road along Hookipa Beach, cars parked at the Papawai Scenic Lookout, and even a distant shot of Haleakala National Park near the Oheo Gulch.

I can’t wait to go up again and get even more shots of the island we love. Not only do I now have 3 more years worth of photography experience now, I also will be flying with former Air Force aerial photographers. Too cool. Be sure to check back next weekend for the photos, as I’ll try to post them as fast as I can.

Mahalo,
– Kris

Related Links

• Details of our first Blue Hawaiian Helicopter Tour
• Sunday Photo: Hidden Waterfall
• Workshops I’m thinking of attending for the Maui Photo Festival.
• More helicopter photos on Maui by Photo

Taken by Kris Nelson on February 23rd
Location: Along the road to Hana on East Maui

No real question about which road I’m referring to here. Although it doesn’t show the dramatic turns that those familiar with the road to Hana think of, I still think it’s a fun pic. Plus, it was a spur of the moment type shot where I pulled over and ran out in the middle of the street (maybe not the smartest idea).  I still remember Cindy shaking her head at me when I got back into the car.  I think her exact words were, “you’re nuts.”

The driving fan in me loves these types of drives, like the one up to Haleakala (although not the way back down) and the about half of the Kahekili Hwy drive around West Maui we started last trip. We’ll finish that someday.

There’s one place that we visit closer to home, up in Door County, WI, that reminds me of some of the stretches of road near Hana.  Whatca think (besides the snow)?

One Week Left
This time next week we’ll be on our 3-flight journey back to Maui, for a week of fun and the Maui Photo Festival at the Hyatt in Ka’anapali. It will be our 5th trip to the island, so I was thinking of doing a mini-series here at the blog this week, highlighting memories of our previous four visits to paradise. Be sure to look for those posts each day this week.

Also, in preparation for the festival, I grabbed some new camera gear and have been doing a few other things to get things ready. You can check out more details at my photography blog, as well as scope out more photos. Right now, I really should be out practicing with my new toys, so I’ll end this post with that.

Mahalo,
– Kris

Related Links

• Sunday Photo: A Winding Road
• The Road to Hana in 45 seconds
• The Road to Hana page at Maui by Photo
• A little of our Trip 5 plans
• Official site for the Maui Photo Festival and Workshops
• My almost completed todo list for the festival
• And for fun, a few snowy Door County photos (which I do miss, too, but not as much as Maui)

Taken by Kris Nelson on February 24th, 2009
Location: Oheo Gulch at Haleakala National State Park

Lots of good stuff this week, but let’s start with the photo. The shot above one of the photos I got soaked for when visiting the Oheo Gulch earlier this year. Regardless of the fact that my cell phone never recovered and we had to take a pass on our hike to Waimoku Falls along the Pipiwai Trails, I’m still pretty happy with the way it came out.

I know I’ve already said this quite a few times now, but spending the night in Hana and being able to make it out to the park before the majority of the crowds was a great idea. Highly recommended if you’re able to fit it into your vacation schedule.

Two Weeks to Takeoff
Now, onto the countdown to our next Maui trip. We leave in just two weeks, and just because we finally wrapped up all the travel arrangements, it doesn’t mean it’s just smooth sailing from here on out.

I posted some of our initial Trip 5 ideas already, and now it’s time to start making those reservations. There’s also a few omissions that I left out. First of all, Cindy wants to go parasailing. Yup, something she hasn’t been able to try the last few trips because of whale season. Me, I plan on tagging along just to snap some neat photos, but don’t have any desire to take the plunge.

I also mentioned last week that we wanted to make it out to Baldwin Beach near Paia, which we passed up on on our way back from Hana in February. Well, we hope to make it more than just a trip to the beach, and thanks to a post from Liza at A Maui Blog, I’m inspired to plan a longer visit to Paia that day. Read her post on why she loves Paia town to see some of the things we’re going to look into.

Gearing Up
Not forgetting the primary reason for this trip is to attend the Maui Photo Festival, I still have quite a few things to do in order to prepare for all the learning and shooting I’m going to be doing. I started this list over at my photography blog, and so far the only item I can cross off is the new gear I ordered from Adorama. It should be arriving this week, just in time to test it out for a bit before we leave.

As for the other items on that list, I hope to cross more of them off today, or early this week. As you can tell, there isn’t much time left. But, as seriously as I want to start taking my photography, I really do need to make more time for it on top of everything else I do on a weekly basis.

Sunday Photo #75
Lastly, it seems like only yesterday I was talking about my first Maui photo as the 50th edition in my Sunday Photo Series. Well, as fast as this summer has zipped by, I’m already up to #75 with today’s post. I like the feeling that I’ve been able to share all my favorite photos with all of you over these past two years, and am excited that I still have so many to post and more future trips to Maui that will allow me to continue sharing the Aloha for years to come.

Here’s to another 75!

Mahalo and Aloha,
- Kris