Driving Journey: Day 3: Up to Crater Lake

I got up early on my 3rd day on the road in order to see all of the many things that I wanted to. The first leg of the trip was from Klamath Falls up to Crater Lake, about 70 miles.



I absolutely love this shot! Imagine waking up every morning and seeing this majestic view.





Here's a good shot of the canyon that sits off to the right as one drives up the mountain road to Crater Lake.

Driving Journey: Day 2: Cascade Lakes Highway

Rather than head directly down Hwy 97, instead I chose to explore the Cascade Lakes Highway.

Driving Journey: Day 1: Mount Hood

Much of the top half of Highway 97 was very pleasant but uneventful. However, I couldn't resist capturing this image of Mount Hood.

A Rainy Day in Waikiki

It wasn't the best weather today so I stayed inside most of the day. In the early evening though I headed out, took a few photos, and had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (aka "CPK").

This is a shot of Diamond Head. If you click on the thumbnail you'll notice that the photo is very grainy. It was fairly dark so I manually increased the ISO on my Canon G9, which results in a more grainy image.

Breaking News: Excalibur Gondola Accident at Whistler Blackcomb

News is just coming in that one of the towers of the Excalibur Gondola has snapped in half. Let's hope no one was hurt or killed. Photos here.

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Update: News stories are now flooding in. More here and here and here. Video from Global TV is now available here.

Thankfully there are no fatalities and injuries appear to be minor.


Here is a video of a similar gondola at Whistler, filmed last year:

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood

"A beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day, a beautiful day. Won't you be my neighbor?" - Fred Rogers

Magic Island

Southwest of Waikiki and directly south of the huge Ala Moana shopping center is Ala Moana Park and Magic Island. During the week, at least, these areas are highly underutilized gems that seem to be completely ignored by the hordes of tourists.

I don't know what type of bird this is but it sort of looks like a small crane.





These are the same creatures I saw at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore. Update: Thanks to my friend, Andy, I learned that these are called "Opihi" in Hawaiian. The more general term is "Limpet".
This was a staged video shoot of a wedding of a Japanese couple, complete with a Hawaiian ukulele player (who looked bored). It was the perfect setting for it though!
The view of Diamond Head is unobstructed and absolutely spectacular.
Rounding Magic Island on its west side, one comes across this scene.
The gorgeous turquoise colours of this lagoon aren't really well represented by this photo. In the background are the highrises situated between the Ala Moana and Ward shopping centers.
As you can see, this beach is sparsely populated compared to Waikiki next door.