Great Horned Owl

My first hike home after our trip to Hawaii and I found an owl dead on the frozen creek.

 

It appears that it hit the power lines overhead & fell to the creek below.

Its a great horned owl.

What a beautiful creature.  I love how the patterns of its feathers mimic the tree bark.

And look at those talons.

Due to federal regulations, people cannot possess raptors or any part of them,

so I had to leave him to decompose in the woods.

Signs of Hawaii

I think you can get a feel for a place by the signs you see.

This is Hawaii.

Aloha!

Road To Hana

On Maui, there is a well known road that snakes through the rainforest behind the 

Haleakala Crater.  It is 52 miles to the small town of Hana with over 600 turns & 59 bridges.

There are lots of waterfalls from the rain flowing down the mountainside.

There are lovely black  sand beaches

Its a fun trip!

Haleakala National Park

I checked off national park number 43 at Maui's Haleakala National Park.

Haleakala is a dormant volcano.  The summit is almost 10,000 feet high.

This is the visitor center at the top.

On the coastal side of the volcano are the Seven Sacred Pools.

From sea level to the summit, it's a really cool park.

Hawaiian Laua

You can't visit Hawaii without seeing a luau.  Here's some shots from ours.

Sea Turtles

Walking along the beach today, we saw sea turtles

They were eating the algae from the black rocks along the beach.

Sometimes the surf was so rough that they were tipped upside down and they flapped their flippers trying to get upright.

It was quite a sight!

Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

We visited national park #42, Hawai'i Volcanoes on the big island.

The park is the site of two of the world's most active volcanoes, Mauna Loa & Kilauea

This is Kilauea which has been erupting since 1983.  

Hot steam & gases are escaping from the caldera which is an amazing sight after dark.

There are places where the lava has erupted and crossed roads as recently as 2014.

There are cracks in the earth from earthquakes.

And you can walk in caves created by hot lava flows called lava tubes.

It's an other worldly place that you have to see to believe.

Pearl Harbor

If you come to Hawaii, you should visit Pearl Harbor.

There is lots of information about that fateful day, December 7,1941.

At the USS Arizona Memorial, you can still see the rusted hull of the ship underwater where 1177 crewmen died.

We are grateful for their sacrifice to freedom.

Little Hula Dancers

We were entertained by grade school Hulu dancers and were they ever cute!

Just adorable!

Headed West - Way West!

We are on our way to Hawai'i!  This is our first glimpse of the islands from our plane.

We landed in Honolulu and went to the Aulani Disney Resort, a beautiful place to start our trip.

The beach lagoon was perfect.

We're enjoying the trip already!