Maura

From time to time Justin and I will keep Maura while his parents are out of town.  One particular time she had just been spayed and therefore she was relegated to wearing the cone.  Poor thing looked very pitiful when we put her to bed at night.

When she would hang out in our sunroom her favorite place was the couch.  I think it might have something to do with the fact that it used to belong to Justin's parents so it still smells like them.

Maui, Hawaii - Luau

A visit to Hawaii is not complete without going to a Luau.  We went to the Luau at the Hyatt.  Here we all are waiting for dinner and the show to begin.

Traditionally dinner is pig cooked in the ground.  Here it is being taken out.  Turned out great!!

After dinner was the show.  The show went through the various cultures of the South Pacific.

The show was great, especially the closing number...the fire twirler.

Maui, Hawaii - Definition of Insanity

Before we started out on our Road to Hana drive, we took a slight detour off the highway.  After a 15-20 drive off the highway on a dirt road, you come to a place where several cars are parked and there is a crowd of people peering over the cliff.  From this cliff you can watch the surfers at Jaws, which is similar to the North Shore of Oahu in that there are waves reaching 40-50 feet high.  While we did try to surf while we were in Maui I think we are a LONG way from what you see in these pictures.

These wind surfers had to be towed in by jet skiers to reach the waves.  The jet skiers were also on stand-by just in case something happened.  SCARY!!

Maui, Hawaii - Red Sand Beach

I wrote about the black sand beach earlier.  This beach had red sand.  Justin had his heart set on seeing all the colors but we didn't make it this trip.  It's a great excuse for going back to Maui in the future!

This beach was more difficult to reach as you had to climb down a steep cliff to get there.  Justin was the only one brave enough to do as I was not wearing the correct shoes and didn't want to make the walk back to the car to get them.  I know...I'm lazy! 

I Think This Might Be the Reason...

I think I figured out the reason for this...

Maui, Hawaii - Fury of the Seas

Water is a powerful force. 

There is a small village by the name Keanae along the Road to Hana.  During our drive we stopped for lunch at the small ocean side park.  The seas here are amazing to watch.  I think it had more of an effect on us because you were right there.  You weren't looking over a cliff to see these waves. 

Just across the road from the ocean was what looked like the village's school.  I can't even imagine what it would be like to see something this beautiful every day.

Maui, Hawaii - Makapipi

Yesterday I wrote about some of the waterfalls that are along the Hana Highway a.k.a. the Road to Hana. 

One particular waterfall was visible by looking over a bridge.  Its name was Makapipi.

It turned out to be an unfortunate name for a waterfall because we were not sure of the correct pronunciation so it became "make a pee pee".  The name was very fitting because it looked sort of like someone peeing off the bridge.

Maui, Hawaii - Hana Highway, Waterfalls Galore

If you ever wanted to see a waterfall, Hana Highway is a great place to go.  They were plentiful and beautiful.

These seemed to come out of nowhere.  We had to climb to the top of a hill in order to see into the valley to see them.

This waterfall was named "Three Bears".  As you can see there are 3 streams of water.

Viper Cruise - Round Top

As I mentioned yesterday we cruised both Saturday and Sunday of this past weekend.  Sunday was the cruise through Sam Houston National Forest.  Saturday, we met up with a couple of friends that own Corvettes and cruised to Round Top, Texas.  It is close to Brenham.  We stayed on the back roads on the way there.

We ate lunch at Dempsey's.  Out front was this wooden cowboy.

The town was centered around this historical landmark, an old hotel.

After lunch we walked through the little shops.  I am not sure what the purpose of this was.  It just looks like a place where people put their beer bottles when they are too lazy to throw them in the trash can.  But who knows...it could be someone's idea of art.  Maybe I will try to find out next time we are in town.

Here are the pictures of the cars.

Here is the picture of Justin's Viper I promised I would post. 

The after lunch cruise consisted of driving north toward Brenham.  The road gives you a surprise along the way.

That comes after a pretty tight turn.  Yikes!

Viper Cruise - Sam Houston National Forest

A couple of months ago Justin finally realized one of his dreams...he bought his dream car.  A 1996 Dodge Viper.  This was something he has wanted since at least 1998 when his dad was searching for his sports car. 

This past weekend we had a Viper weekend where we went cruising Saturday and Sunday.  His Viper is the blue and white one on the left side of the picture.  I will post better pictures in the near future.  I promise.

As you can see from the above picture there were plenty of others joining us for this particular cruise.  12 Vipers and 2 Challengers to be exact.  We started in the Tomball area and drove through the Sam Houston National Forest.

There were Vipers to the front...

And the back of us throughout the day.

We stopped at the GORGEOUS home of one of the Viper Club members.  I think it took about 30 minutes before everyone picked their jaws up off of the floor after walking in the house.

Seeing 14 sports cars drive down the street sometimes elicits stares and smiles, this time we got a peace sign.  I missed the picture of the family coming out of church to see us drive by.  The look on their faces was priceless and I wish I would have had my camera ready.