Hana Highway Maui Hawaii

May 9th.  I really like looking at colorful peacocks, although the birds are actually quite obnoxious at times.  So when we had the chance to photograph some, I took quite a few shots.

I spotted this gardenia.  The ones in my garden at home never look this good!  It helped that it had been raining earlier, so you can see some raindrops on the petals.

                  Gardenia

Often leis are made from the white and yellow plumeria or frangipani flower.  There are also many other colors, but I've mostly seen white and dark pink ones in Hawaii.  The flower has many other names, depending on their location in the world and they smell heavenly.  

For more information, I enjoyed looking at this website, even though it is a commercial site: http://www.allthingsfrangipani.com/frangipanis.html  I even brought back some perfume made from the blooms.

            Plumeria

The Hana highway has some gorgeous waterfalls.  These were photographed with a slow shutter and a tripod to create a dreamy look.

                   Puohokamoa Falls

Gardens in Kula Maui

We took some lovely, sometimes unusual, flower pictures in Kula, part way up the volcano.  This area is where the King protea come from, that are seen in dried flower arrangements.  There were lots of gazebos to look pretty. At the Enchanting Floral Gardens we even saw some chickens.  ( see the chick underneath)

        King protea

         Hibiscus

       Silk tree

Maui Hawaii

We went to Maui and Molokai Hawaii May 4-19.  It was a little cooler than usual this trip.  Cooler than Maryland.  We haven't had a major vacation for 5 years, so it was nice to see some place beautiful.  I will be posting some of my favorites on the blog as I go through the thousands of pictures from beginning to end.

We started in Kula, Maui, halfway up the Haleakala Volcano, which hasn't erupted since 1790.

The gardens on the property were beautiful, with a huge purple Jacaranda tree, this curved garden and a terraced garden sloping down the back of the property.

The Kula Lodge also had a huge purple Jacaranda tree out front, similar to this one. 

The view from the Kula restaurant or a nearby property shows the west end of Maui and the island of Lanai in the background at sunset.

We spent much of the day starting at sunrise at the volcano, where it was quite cool and windy.  This panorama is actually made from eight photos, since the area is so vast.

There are quite a few silversword plants, that are unique to the area, up at the top few overlooks.

Kent Island Powerboat Show

Jim loves boats, so I voluntarily went to the recent boat show.  We visited yachts we could never possibly afford and saw plenty of useful gadgets.  There were lots of fiberglass boats and only a few wooden boats.

I like to photograph some of the small details on the boats like this boat horn.

There was an interesting repeating pattern in these posts and their reflections.

This gazebo on the grounds looked extra romantic, surrounded by spring blossoms. It was tough to get an angle without lots of cars in the parking lot!

The day ended with a lovely sunset, complete with a boat.

Redbuds are A'Bloomin'

In St. Mary's County the parking lots are full of beautiful flowering trees.  The cars in the background usually turn the photos into snapshots, so I just enjoy the flowers with my eye instead of a camera.  I tried my best to keep the cars out of these particular photos.  I especially liked the parking lot in Callaway where the Redbud trees were everywhere.

 

 The reflection is from the moon roof of my car!

The shadows on the wall were interesting.

More Spring Photos

Think Pink!

Just some pictures within walking distance of my current job.  Sometimes good photos are closer than you think.

Cherry tree in noonday sunshine vs afternoon 

Cherry tree blossoms

Red dogwood

Spring has Sprung

Just a few flower pictures to brighten your day!