Cutting It Close in Capitola, Ca.

Cutting It Close in Capitola, Ca., originally uploaded by sharkzƒan.

These two surfers would catch a wave and ride it all the way in to about 50 feet from these rocks before bailing out. No thanks. I'll stay on shore and shoot the pics.

Surfer at Soquel Point - Capitola, Ca.

Surfer at Soquel Point - Capitola, Ca., originally uploaded by sharkzƒan.

I took my wife and daughter to a baby shower for a cousin in Aptos. neither one of them wanted to drive the highway 17 over the hill. Can't say that I blame them. It's a horrible road to drive. I took the opportunity to take some pictures while I was over there. I wasn't going to come back over the hill for an hour just to turn around and go back to pick them up.

I found a spot at Soquel Point in Capitola that was a dead end street. It had "No Parking" signs posted but I think that was a formality. I pulled up a spot and was getting some decent shots of a couple of surfers. The waves were really crashing into the rocks.

Back To The Real World

The vacation in tropical paradise is over. I've been back to work for three days and I had to get sick. Here I was the only person in our family to take "Airborne" for the trip and I'm the one that gets sick! I'm sitting in my recliner blogging in my pajamas. No waves crashing in the background, no tropical birds chirping, no ceiling fan gently whirling in the warm air. Just the unemployed next door neighbor listening to rap/hip hop at unhealthy decibel levels and the guy across the street drinking a beer in his garage staring into our front window. The neighbors two doors down sitting on the couch on their front potch listening to loud mariachi music. I don't know why I would rather be in Hawaii than at home!

Our neighborhood has steadily degraded over the last few years. One neighbor has a pot card which gives him the right to grow six pot plants. I'm sure it's for his terminal illness that he struggles with every day. No...wait...that would be his laziness that he "struggles" with as he sells his medicinal pot to the neighborhood hoodlums. I hope I don't sound too acidic, but I really loathe the fact that he is obviously sponging off my tax dollars in some way. In the 22 years that I have lived in this location, I am not aware of him ever having a job other than delinquent or drug dealer. His live-in girlfriend goes to work every day. His two older brothers go to work every day. All of his neighbors go to work every day and he just bilks us out of our tax dollars for whatever "assistance" he is on.

Dirtbag

On a happier note, I will be a grandfather soon! Possibly mid-April of next year. I'm definitely way too young to be a grandfather. Although I can also say that about being a father as well. My daughter was born 10 days after my 20th birthday. I was deployed with the Navy at the time in Puerto Rico. I didn't get to see her for the first time until she was three weeks old. It seems hard to believe that she's old enough to have children! We were dropping her off at pre-school just a few short years ago. Time moves rather quickly and you really don't notice until there is quite a bit of it behind you.

I'll leave you with a very short video of what I had to leave behind in Maui.

Vacation Anticipation

Three days on Oahu and seven on Maui. I'm getting a little light headed just thinking about it. I've been to Maui one other time in 2000. It was wonderful. There was a drought at the time so it only rained for a few minutes on one of the seven days that we were there.

Rather idyllic I must say. We did the road to Hana thing. Being dry it was probably not as impressive as when there were active waterfalls plunging through tropical foliage. Did the deep sea fishing trip. My mother-in-law caught a nine foot Marlin of about 250 pounds. It was interesting but I don't think I would do it again. The most memorable activity was the snorkling. Christmas morning the kids opened the few presents that we brought along with us and then we went to the 14 mile marker on the road to Ka'anapali. We must have been in the water for about four hours. It was just amazing. It was knee deep to chest deep at least one hundred yards from the beach. This meant you had to be careful not to brush up against the coral however. The aquatic life we saw was fabulous. Just like a National Geographic article. Fish with all the colors of the rainbow would swim up to you. I think that was because many people would bring various forms of fish food into the water with them. Kind of like pidgeons and seagulls, these fish were scavengers looking for the easy meal. We didn't have food but they would approach anyway.

This time around I would like to see more in the way of the countryside. There is the Haleakala crater, Iao Needle, the north shore. Tedeschi winery also sounds intersting. They produce pineapple wine. The grounds are reportedly spectacular. We had done a quick jaunt into Lahaina a few times on our last trip. We did the Old Lahaina Luau, Hard Rock Cafe and Bubba Gump's. I think we may have shopped one afternoon. I would like to see some of the historic buildings in the town. I guess when you're an old coot like me (hmm) you want to do those kinds of things. I just find history extremely interesting.

On Oahu we will do the obligatory Pearl Harbor excursions. There is also an aviation museum I would like to check out. It's a mini New York so I guess we won't be bored. It will be my first time there except for being at the airport on six other occasions. If you have any suggestions for the off-the-beaten-path excursion, leave me a comment and any tip that would come in handy on the islands.