Big Island, Hawaii - Honeymoon Photos Part II

The Koi Pond was at the beautiful Mauna Lani hotel, the kind of splurge hotel that you only justify the splurge on your honeymoon. We explored the pitch black lava tube cave that goes for miles underneath the rainforest in the Volcano National Park. It felt like being in dungeons and dragons. The green sand beach, (a beach where the sand was green as it is ground from a green volcanic [aka igneous] mineral found there), was made all the more spectacular, given the long dirt roads, windmills, and 4 miles (round trip) of spectacular ocean front trekking to get there.

Not pictured here, but the Waipi'o Valley, home of a black sand beach, and a spectacular waterfall is said to be a source of great Mana, or spiritual energy. You can certainly feel it when you are there. I can see why video game designers think that such Mana can be used to power magical spells, though I'm not sure if eating the dead is the best way to obtain it. Similar Mana can be found at the Pu`uhonua o Honaunau Place of Refuge where neat statues watch over the holy place where hawaiians could escape the dealt penalty for breaking oft-times capricious kapu laws, like in Highlander. Oh, and of course great food (even at the obligatory lu'au)!

Good times!

Kauai, Hawaii - Honeymoon Photos Part I

Opaeka'a Falls

Tunnels Beach

Kipu Falls

First half of our Honeymoon to Hawaii. Ah, tropical paradise. Never knew what the big deal was before. Beautiful place. Scuba diving. Helicopter tours. Ziplining. A 12 hour Na Pali Coast Kayaking expedition.

Fuerzabruta: populist modern dance and girls in skimpy frocks frolicking in water

No deep commentary here. R- and I wandered over to Tkts last week, given that her schedule this month at the hospital is relatively easy (no 36 hour shifts for a change). On my brother's rec, we picked up half priced tickets to Fuerzabruta, an off-broadway show that incorporates dance with a giant overhead swimming pool.

Instead of sitting passively in the audience, the audience stood on stage with the performers, in a space that was made to look and feel like a club complete with flashing lights and DJ.

(The water motif reminded me of this production of the metamorphoses I saw off broadway long ago, which reenacted Greek myths with modern dance in a theater of the round where the stage was a swimming pool).

Fuerzabruta was an even more extreme beast, that put the awe inspiring aerial gymnastics from the Olympic opening ceremony to shame. With dancers running and twisting and turning in mid air, conveyor belts subverting our notions of video reality into actual reality, and girls in skimpy frocks frolicking in a transparent pool of water suspending above our heads.

Shamelessly proletarian, there was very little high concept here, but just impressive ways to subvert our notions of dance and gravity, and to bring the energy of the dance floor (or a Matrix style planet rave) into a theater experience.

And despite the awful light conditions, the iPhone camera did admirably well.

Underwater Photos from my Canon in a Ziplock Baggie

Who would have guessed that putting my canon point and shoot in a glorified ziplock bagwould actually take good underwater photos. Good thing the camera was old, and I'm ready to upgrade, because one of my waterproof camera baggies did start to leak by the end of the trip, but they worked well enough to get some great shots. Though the tropical fish and coral lost their luster without a strong flash. But otherwise, I'm quite happy.
More Hawaii photos coming soon!

Manta Ray Dive!

So R- and I learned to dive for our Hawaii trip. Many more photos to come, but here are screenshots from the DVD from our night dive with the manta rays off the Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.

From Manta Dive

The images courtesy of the dive operator (for the exorbitant fee of $70, but totally worth it). Will post some video clips online if I ever figure out how. (Any suggestions on what to use to pull clips from a DVD for upload, do let me know!)

Mini-honeymoon Photos: Moab, UT - May 2008

Photos from our "mini-honeymoon" that fit in between the wedding and Romina's graduation, and before our main trip to Hawaii. A visit to Moab, UT, home of Arches National Park and Canyonlands, often overshadowed by nearby Bryce and Zion Canyons, not to mention Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.

We were impressed by spectacular sights, spectacular skies, and a surprisingly dazzling array of dessert flowers. Also, our first shot at "adventure travel" with rappelling down 10 story canyons and rafting, a prelude to even more at Hawaii.


La Sal Mountains from Arches National Park - May 2008


Park Avenue, Arches, Utah - May 2008

Hawaii Photos, coming soon!

My photo of Bobby Flay at BRGR

Was at BRGR the other day. Great burgers incidentally. Had my brush with a (foodie) superstar (though my one visit to Mesa Grill, albeit many many years ago [2000] wasn't so memorable), waiting to buy a burger for his daughter. Nice to know BRGR gets Bobby Flay's stamp of approval. Checked my iphone to make sure it really was flay, and then used it to snap this photo.