As I type this, I am sitting on the patio of a B&B outside of Hilo, Hawaii (the big island) in a torrential downpour. It is 9:40 pm Hawaii time, 12:40 am at home in Arizona. We are at the end of day seven of our trip, but I am going to start this post with Day 1.

We arrived in Maui on Wednesday, May 22nd in the early evening and got to our hotel after sunset.

On Thursday morning, we hit the ground running. After a room service breakfast at the Royal Lahaina, we took to the “Road to Hana” for the day.

Just the opportunity to see this gorgeous tree, in person, would be worth the drive. It is the rainbow eucalyptus, Mindanao gum, or rainbow gum tree. Isn’t it amazing!?!

But there is more than one pretty tree and a cool surfboard fence to see along the way.

Our first stop was Twin Falls. You enter through a tiny little passage at Wailele Farms.

There are two separate falls, this is the first, with a lovely swimming hole.

After the small fall, you continue to hike another 15 minutes or so and go past this cool rock/tree bridge thing.

And eventually, the path ends at the second, taller fall.

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Not only did Sheila and I enjoy our Vootbeer Cocktails on Friday night, we also scarfed down some salty spicy-sweet little snacks … ummm … as our dinner.  Hey, we’re on a vacation shopping trip – do not judge!

Additionally, this is a “do as I say, not as I do” sort of recipe. We didn’t have any foil, or a rack, so the photos don’t exactly match the instructions. I had to make do with what was available in Sheila’s adorable drool-worthy cottage kitchen.

The kitchen is actually very well equipped, as Sheila is a fabulous cook, but things are sometimes just a bit smaller than I am used to. If you have foil and a rack, which I’m sure you do, then follow the directions and you will be set!

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We arrived home on Wednesday night and hit the ground running on Thursday. Dave and I have been singing THAT SONG for the last couple of days now.

I have enough photos and stories from our Alaskan adventures to fill days and days of blog posts – but of course, this IS a cooking/food blog, NOT a travel log – so this will be my last Alaskan entry. A pictorial really, which much to Dave’s dismay, is not necessarily in chronological order – I hope you enjoy it…

The photos above and below were taken in Ketchikan, and they just caught my fancy.

While in port in Ketchikan, Dave and I went on a “Cruise George Inlet and Crab Feast” excursion. I was one of the lucky two chosen to haul up a crab trap.

Here is Dave holding the largest Dungeness crab of the day.

And below is the pile of crab shells our table of four amassed at the feast! There was a competition between tables for the tallest tower.

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I have very limited minutes of free internet while we are in Juneau… so I give you just a few of my amazing Alaska images. That is Sawyer Glacier behind us in the photo above.

It looks tiny compared to the fabulous Hubbard Glacier. We watched as it calved more than a dozen times. Spectacular!!!

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We’ve seen and done some wonderful things… all prior to boarding the ship for the cruise portion of our trip. The final day and night were spent in at The Hotel Alyeska in Girdwood, surprisingly, one of the few ski resorts in Alaska.

Upon viewing the map of ski trails, I’ve never seen so many black double-diamond runs in one place before!

The best thing I did that last day?

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For the first four days of our Alaskan trip, we have been in Denali National Park and Preserve. We stayed at the lovely Grande Denali Lodge, high on a hilltop over the town. The best day, by far, was when we were taken on the Tundra Wilderness Tour – a 53-mile, 8-hour tour, with a certified driver/naturalist. Our driver was Peter, and he was beyond amazing! Although we were riding on a “remodeled” school bus, it was one of the most enjoyable and informative tour-guided trips I’ve ever done.

Beautiful Denali Mountain looming large in the background, still visible, even beyond my huge hair – frizzed out from the humidity.

And from what not only Peter said, but just about everyone else in Denali told us, it was one of the most perfect, beautiful, and fruitful sighting days seen in many a summer.  Denali Mountain (also known as Mount McKinley – see the story and controversy over that name HERE) is most often shrouded in clouds. It was such a warm (warm for Alaska) and cloudless day, that the mountain was “Out” for what Peter told us was only the sixth day since May.

And although, we came with the expectations of seeing literal herds of caribou and moose, packs of wolves, and flocks of eagles – turns out, that no matter what we’ve all seen in movies, that is not how it “works” in Denali.

So when we not only saw the mountain in all its unclouded glory, but we saw just about every wild animal possible. First a small herd of Dall sheep on the mountainside.  Then two male caribou, with full racks of antlers, on a ridge and a lone bear in the brush, quite far from the bus. Next, up, is a cow moose, also rather far from the bus, but viewable with the zoom lens on my camera. Plus the bus is equipped with a super-zoom video camera that Peter is an expert with and screens throughout the bus for all to see “up-close”.

Best of all, we saw four different sets of mama bears with their cubs – from new spring cubs to 3-year-olds (grizzly cubs stay with their mother for the first 3 years of their lives before heading out on their own) and oh my, are they adorable!

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This is my first photo of Alaska, flying into Anchorage on Alaska Airlines – with glaciers below.

After checking into our hotel, we went exploring and found a huge open-air market. Love these license plate maps.

It was a beautiful 70+ degree day. Don’t know why these people have long pants and sleeves on – we were in shorts and t-shirts!

Kinda wish I would have bought some of these antler buttons.  If I stumble upon them again, I will for sure.

Ulu knives with bone handles. An ulu is an all-purpose knife of the Yupik and Inuit Eskimo. It was traditionally used for everything from skinning and cleaning animals, to cutting food and, if necessary, trimming the blocks of snow and ice used to build an igloo.

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By the time you read this, Dave and I will be on our way to Alaska for a trek through quintessential Alaska wilderness – Denali National Park & Preserve, and then an Alaskan cruise. Not sure if I am the cruising type or not, but I am super excited to go to Alaska, one of the only states I’ve not yet been to. And there is the added bonus of escaping the Arizona heat, the expected high temperature for Scottsdale today is 113 degrees. Bring on the cooler temps!

I recently read in Sunset Magazine that the state has 100,000 glaciers, thousands of brown and black bears (in parts of Alaska, bears outnumber people by a large margin), and 586,412 square miles—bigger than Arizona, California, Montana, and Oregon combined.

The excursion that I am most looking forward to is zip-lining in Klondike Adventure Park!

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And, we are guaranteed to see whales on the whale watching excursion … now that will be worth the trip!

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There is something super special, never attempted before, a first time ever – thing at the end of this blog. Be patient and read through to the end. Hopefully, it will be worth the wait!

This, the seventh post about our trip to San Francisco, is the last. We were only there for 4 nights and 3 days, but we packed in quite a lot. So, this is a continuation and conclusion to Sunday.

After dinner at Boudin Bakery at the Wharf, we walked a short distance west to Pier 45, Shed A.  It is there that you will find the well-known and dearly-loved city treasure, Musée Mécanique, an antique coin-operated arcade.

Admission is free…but bring plenty of quarters. Or just plenty of cash, they provide the change machines. The four of us went through more than $30 in about 1 hour. But what FUN!

The Musée Mécanique is a for-profit museum and is owned and managed by Dan Zelinsky. It attacks more than 100,000 visitors each year. In 2011, U.S. News & World Report called the Musée Mécanique one of the top three “Things to Do in San Francisco”.  The SF Weekly called it the “Best Old-School Arcade” for 2011.

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I know what some of you must be thinking. “Will these San Francisco posts ever end?” Please continue to indulge me… this is the second to last. And the post tomorrow, the last one, has an extra special treat at the end that I am SO excited about! Hang in there baby!

After Connor so graciously endured the day of shopping, spa time, and Jägermeister, Marissa and I decreed Sunday as “Connor Day.” The first order of business on “Connor Day” was breakfast. We chowed down at Park Chow, located in the Sunset District. The food was good but did not come close to what we had the morning before at Outerlands.

Yesterday, I posted photos of Marissa looking annoyed with me.  This day, apparently, Connor was – what a look!

Aww… sibling love!  After breakfast, we took a quick detour from “Connor Day”  (“quick” as what a girl would think of as quick… not so much what a boy would think of as quick) to a cute clothing boutique, where I bought Marissa a beautiful teal dress and nude pumps. And we were again on our way.

First stop, the awe-inspiring Inspiration Point Overlook in the Presidio. Back in the car for the very short drive to The Walt Disney Family Museum.

The 40,000-square-foot Museum, located in a historic brick building, once a barracks on the main post of San Francisco’s Presidio, opened on October 1, 2009. Co-founded by Walt’s daughter, Diane Disney Miller, and grandson, Walter E.D. Miller, the Museum is owned and operated by the non-profit Walt Disney Family Foundation.

In the lobby (the only area photos are permitted) you’ll find Walt Disney’s 26 individual Academy Awards, as well as the unique honorary award for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which consists of one full-sized Oscar alongside seven miniature ones. It was presented to Disney in 1939 by 10-year-old child film star, Shirley Temple.

The rear of the museum features a glass wall offering a panoramic view of the nearby Golden Gate Bridge.  If you plan to go, schedule at least 2 to 3 hours, there is a lot to enjoy!  Next stop… Chinatown.

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