Hoss and Friends: Hawaii 2009

We just returned from a terrific vacation on the island of Maui.

It was so much fun to spend time with our friends Debbie, Tyler, Crystal, and Boyd. 10 days worth of awesome experiences are hard to condense to a few sentences, but here are a few highlights:

The gang went on an all-day boat trip around the island of Lanai. We saw old shipwrecks from WW2, whales, dolphins, turtles, starfish, octopus, snails, and all kinds of colorful fish on our three snorkel stops. It was great fun!

All of us in our raincoats (we still got thoroughly soaked).

This was not our best Pacific Whale Foundation trip! The weather was cold and windy and the waves were pounding our boat like crazy. We hardly saw any whales and we got sprayed with freezing salt water over and over again. But I can honestly say, it was the funnest whale watch we've ever taken.

Tyler took Crystal on a 2 hours spin around the island in one of the planes seen in the background. It was a little spendy to rent the aircraft, but hey, when you're a pilot how can you resist?

We spent a lot of time on the beautiful beaches in Wailea. It was hard to keep my wild and crazy friends under control, but I managed somehow! One photo from this occasion that we sadly did not captured was the picture of a bird perched on Debbie's butt for a minute or two. She obviously was in a coma.

Debbie, Bill, and Boyd (in case you aren't able to recognize their finer features)!

Bill and Boyd on their rented Harley Davidson's touring the island. Isn't life rough?

Here we are in the hot tub at Debbie's fancy hotel. This was our grand finale each night after a couple of card games and a yummy dinner at one of the restaurant in Kihei. By the way, everybody cheated at cards- Lori never even won a game!