Kilauea Lighthouse

Yesterday we visited the Kilauea Lighthouse on the north shore.  The Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge is here and we saw Red-footed boobies, Black-footed Albatrosses and endangered Hawaiian Geese.



North shore swell battering the rocks


More crashing waves


Goose with a view


What are you looking at?


The lighthouse glass

More stormy wave photos

A few more photos from yesterday - we are having a blast!

Kauai Storm Waves

One of Laurence's favorite Kauai activities is to watch the surf report for incoming storms to create big sets of wave on the north shore to photograph.

Guess what came in overnight?
Guess who was very excited?  :)


A very long exposure for waves (3 seconds) makes for a more abstract image



We caught the start of a rainbow just as the sun was rising behind us.

More to come soon!

Kauai

It's a long standing tradition of ours to escape the damp gray Seattle weather in late fall/winter in hope of finding sunshine somewhere warm.

This year we find ourselves in Kauai, and while there has been some tropical rain, it's still significantly warmer and sunnier than back home!
Barking Sands Beach looking towards the Na Pali Coast



Breaking waves at Barking Sands Beach

Redwood National Park

Trees.  Giant Trees!

What a wonderful experience to walk among 300 ft tall, 1500 year old trees.  Words can't describe how peaceful and tranquil it is.  And photos really don't do it justice....

A giant Redwood disappears into the fog



The path into the Redwoods



Jennifer demonstrating how tall the Redwoods are



Later in the day with less fog



Detail of Redwood bark

Travel Day - Central Oregon Coast to the Redwoods

After a great few days in Yachats, we drove down to Bandon for lunch (Laurence's old stomping ground in middle school and high school).  We got to visit the new cheese factory in town - nice to see Bandon back in the cheese business!

Then we enjoyed a beautiful drive down the rest of the Oregon Coast into California.  We'll be staying just outside the Redwoods NP for a few nights.  The resident Elk were grazing outside our door....



A solo male keeping a hopeful eye towards the herd...


The male of the herd interacted with all 20+ females and young elk - fun to watch


Setting moon through the sunset lit clouds

Oregon Coast - Driving to Yachats

Wow - we must have had a few inches of rain on the drive down to Yachats today.  We kept the speed down and stopped in for a long Starbucks break in Newport.

After checking into our hotel - the skies parted briefly, and we were able to enjoy 15 minutes of rain free photography.



Algae grass trying to work it's way out to sea....



Stormy sea sunset

Oregon Coast - last day in Cannon Beach

We have settled in to more typical Oregon Coast weather - windy, cloudy and sunny, changing rapidly.  We are having a blast, and enjoying the massive number of Pelican's hanging out on the beach.



Stormy B&W



Pelican fly-over



Cruising in front of storm clouds



Jennifer takes advantage of a sunny break in the weather for a beautiful run



And a quick pose after the run



Grassy sand dune

Oregon Coast - Cannon Beach

We arrived to amazing weather on the Oregon Coast.  Sunny, calm and warm (70 degrees counts as warm on the Oregon Coast - especially in October).

This morning the sky filled with soft pastel light - making for some fun photography.



Haystack rock in the mist



Looking the other direction



Haystack Rock in the distance from a grassy dune

Mount Rainier

We headed up to Mount Rainier for our 20th Anniversary celebration.  We were treated to amazing weather, fun animal interactions, and beautiful wildflowers.  Plenty of deer, a fox, and hilarious marmots following Laurence and stuffing their faces with wildflowers were the animal highlights.



Self Portrait @ Bench Lake


Bench Lake reflection


Reflection Lake just after sunrise - lighting up the wildflowers


Wildflowers and Waterfalls


This marmot kept eating the wildflowers Laurence was trying to photograph

Rattlesnake Canyon

We had the pleasure to explore and photograph a small slot canyon called Rattlesnake Canyon.  It's very short and very narrow (and a couple of latters in place to enter).

Jennifer was assured it's called Rattlesnake canyon for it's shape, not for it's residents!

Wonderful lines



Jennifer demonstrating how narrow it is



A fun arch inside the canyon



A color version of the S curves

Antelope Canyon at Night

Last year we explored both Upper & Lower Antelope Canyon.  Upper Antelope is guided only - and the only way to describe it is as a zoo.  It's incredibly beautiful, but the tour companies run hundreds of people at the same time through the small slot canyon.  The amazing light beam photos you see can be deceptive - as they almost all involve a brief moment of holding the flood of people back for a quick shot.

We had an opportunity to experience Upper Antelope in a different way - though a small night tour.  It was just us with 1 other photographer - and amazing peaceful.

Our guide was Lionel Bigthumb - an incredible guide and accomplished photographer in his own right.    We highly, highly recommend him out of the multiple slot canyon guide options in Page, AZ.  http://www.navajoantelopecanyon.com/tours.html



Looking at the entrance - with the interior light painted by our guide



The first chamber, with a few stars peaking out



Looking up


Getting started

The Wave - 2013

We were fortunate enough to win the online lottery for tickets to hike "The Wave" 2 years in a row.



Secret passage to The Wave



Jennifer hanging out on The Wave



Desert flowers



The classic view of The Wave



The heart of The Wave