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“Pic of the Week”, December 27, 2019: Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida
A few scenes of a nice warm day at the beach, on what for many of us is a cold winter’s day. Generally about 80F in Fort Lauderdale today — and 20F in Calgary.
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge, right arrow to advance slideshow)
Dec 26, 2019
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.All Trips / Hawaii / North America
Black Sand and Green Turtles
I love visiting the Big Island, my favorite of the Hawaiian Islands. I think the main reasons are because of its active volcanoes and large stretches of undeveloped land. The volcanoes especially fascinate me and draw me to see them again and again. It’s because of its volcanoes that Big Island has so many black sand beaches — black sand is only formed by the breakdown of lava rock, often when hot lava encounters the ocean, solidifies, then shatters in the powerful surf. White sand generally is due to the breakdown of shells, corals, and other organic matter.
An excellent example of a black sand beach is Punalu’u Black Sand Beach Park, located on the southeastern Kau coast. Since black sand …
“Pic of the Week”, August 28, 2015: Surf and Turf
I love spending time in Newport Beach, one of the Orange County beaches in Southern California. A major reason for this is beautiful Crystal Cove State Beach, a 3 mile stretch of natural beach just north of Laguna Beach. I’ve walked the length of that beach many times.
One time while walking along the cliffs overlooking the beach we came across this artist who was doing a rather nice job painting the rugged coast. The middle photo below shows his subject matter.
Aug 27, 2015
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.All Trips / Hawaii / North America
Hapuna Beach Prince Resort, Hawaii
One of my favorite places to travel is the Big Island of Hawaii. Where else can you find the tallest mountains in the world, the most active volcano in the world, and a surreal landscape of lava flows, desert vegetation, coffee plantations and tropical jungle? The Big Island and its welcoming, friendly people never cease to amaze me.
I try to visit or attend medical meetings on the island whenever feasible. One of the meetings I enjoy and learn a lot from is held regularly at a wonderful resort known as the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel. This resort was opened on the Kohala coast (rainshadow side of the island) 20 years ago, twinned with the Mauna Kea Resort on …
Tagged beach, Big Island, Hapuna Beach, Hawaii, resort
.All Trips / California / Southwestern USA
Crystal Cove State Park, Newport Beach, California
“They call it paradise, I don’t know why.
You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye. ”
The Eagles
There’s a lot of great reasons to visit sunny Southern California. It has a near perfect Mediterranean climate with months of sunny dry days. There’s lots of fascinating sights to see, like those centered around the movie industry and the many family theme parks (Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Legoland). But you’ll certainly not find solitude here and there are very few “wide open spaces” left in the …
Tagged beach, California, Crystal Cove, hiking, Newport Beach, tidepools
.All Trips / Europe / France
A visit to Normandy: exploring the D-Day beaches
True to its history, our visit to the coast of Normandy was cool, windy and wet — but that’s how it’s been for thousands of years. Many an armada was delayed in leaving or landing on these shores because of inclement weather, including the D-Day attack which had to be postponed one day to June 6, 1944 because of poor weather conditions.
We spent two days exploring the D-Day sites, not an exhaustive visit but enough time to gain a perspective of the region you can’t get from books or films. Our goal was to see the different fronts of the invasion and gain a first-hand understanding of the scale of the largest naval assault in world history. And we came …
Tagged beach, D-Day, France, Normandy, World War II
.All Trips / Europe / Iceland
An all too brief visit of South Iceland
Only a single day was left on this visit to Iceland, not nearly enough time but I did want my wife to see more of South Iceland. Most travelers think the Southern part of Iceland has the country’s best and most dramatic scenery — from lovely waterfalls, recently erupted volcanoes, large glaciers (one with a very memorable glacial lagoon), to vast stretches of people-less space.
Of greatest importance was to get Sylvia on the back of an Icelandic horse and on a trail ride. The staff at our hotel in Fludir recommended a nearby stable (one of dozens around South Iceland), so we headed there for the morning. Sylvia had a wonderful ride on these small smooth-gaited horses (which she will …
Tagged beach, Iceland, Icelandic horse, South Iceland, volcano, waterfall
.All Trips / Hawaii / North America
The Valley Island of Maui: 1) Introduction and West Maui
There are few destinations that evoke more traveler’s fantasies than the Hawaiian islands; of these, Maui is thought by many as THE island to visit. I have a genuine fondness for the Big Island, one of my favorite travel destinations, but Maui certainly is in the same league. Most definitely worthy of your time and energy.
Hawaii is among the most remote places in the world, farther from any continent than most anywhere. As such, it always takes many hours of flying (or an incredibly long boat journey) to get there. For us it’s a six hour trip from Portland but it’s always a worthwhile trip. As our plane approaches Kahului Airport from the south — as do …