Here's a throwback! I was fortunate enough to go on a trip to Hawaii in 2007 with my grandmother to visit my brother, his wife, and their eldest daughter, Natalie. Of course, attending a luau was on the agenda for this trip. My brother and his wife took my grandmother and I to Germaine's Luau in Kapolei. Of course, baby Natalie was also in attendance. My grandma was very good at entertaining Natalie. The luau is not just performance entertainment, as one may suspect. They also serve kalua pig: pork roasted in an underground oven called an imu. Several men come out to light the torches and to lift the beat out of the imu, and the guests of the luau get to witness the entire process. The luau was a wonderful experience, and as previously stated, the location just made it all the better. I remember snapping the photograph below, thinking that it looked like an older Window's computer screensaver. Just in case you are interested in learning more about Germaine's Luau, here is their website: https://www.germainesluau.com/
Please note that I am not in any way receiving monetary gifts/rewards for this blog post and for mentioning Germaine's Luau. I simply write these blog posts to share my personal experiences and travels.
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I was in Texas last November (2019) to shoot my cousin David's wedding to his beautiful bride, Lacy. Jeremy and I decided to stay a few days after the wedding to enjoy exploring Texas, and my mom happened to have the same idea! Jeremy, Mom and I all flew out the same day (different airlines, different airports), and since we each had evening flights, we decided to go explore the Dallas World Aquarium. We also explored that area of Dallas a little bit. It was a bit drizzly and foggy that day, so I captured the photo below before we went into the Aquarium.
Isn't he cute? Also, that's my amazing mama in the background with the purpley-gray top. In case you don't know this about Jeremy already, he loves monkeys. I just told him about Monkey Island in Peru while writing this, and his response was, "That sounds cool!". So, I guess I'll add that to the list of future potential vacation spots. The monkey below is a Pied Tamaran, and you can read up on this little primate here: https://dwazoo.com/animal/pied-tamarin/ I loved these birds. They were very vocal, and I thought they looked like baby "Toucey Toucey Birds"! George of the Jungle, anyone? However, these little fellas are not toucans, they are aracaris. The ones pictured here are Humboldt's Lettered Aracaris, and they are pretty young! https://dwazoo.com/animal/humboldts-lettered-aracari/ The sloth was sleeping.... I don't think this will take anyone by surprise! Ha. https://dwazoo.com/animal/hoffmans-two-toed-sloth/ I absolutely love this blue/purple, pink and red bromeliad above, left. The image below is of a different type of bromeliad as well. I tend to be drawn to them, photographically speaking. The orinoco crocodile didn't really move at all while we were there, and I was somewhat convinced it was fake... until it twitched. Eek! https://dwazoo.com/animal/orinoco-crocodile/
I love sea life exhibits that are lit up with black lights. The little guy above is a Banggai Cardinalfish. https://dwazoo.com/animal/banggai-cardinalfish/ There was this part of the aquarium where you could look through and see people on the other side. It was fun seeing my fiance (then boyfriend) and mom enjoying the fish.
Aren't the colors of the world just gorgeous? The colors of the coral with the brightly colored fish, the octopus puckers, the greenery with the bright pink flamingos, and even the slight pink on the penguin's feet all bring me such joy. This is why I love photography.
Thank you all for your time in reading this blog about my trip to Dallas World Aquarium, and I hope you enjoy the links I have provided to their website which give you educational information on each creature pictured in this blog! For the final images, check out the links below. https://dwazoo.com/animal/black-footed-penguin/ https://dwazoo.com/animal/carberryi-anthias/ https://dwazoo.com/animal/giant-pacific-octopus/ https://dwazoo.com/animal/american-flamingo/
Jeremy and I were convinced that the puffer above was broken. All it did was swim into the glass of the tank. Poor thing. She wants out!
By the time we made it over to the penguins, I think they were all tuckered out. Most of them were napping, or just standing there and staring off into space. Do penguins have third eyelids that allow them to sleep with their eyes open? I'm going to Google this.... .... .... .... Yes, yes they do. So they were probably just sleeping standing up. There were two penguins doing... um... naughty activities, but I decided to not share the penguins' intimate moment. Ha! My sister, Jeremy, and I had a good laugh about it though. I loved the Sandy Shore & Aviary exhibit, because I love looking at all of the different birds. The bird pictured below is a phalarope. One of the other birds featured was the western snowy plover, which reminded me of the adorable birds in the Disney Short, "piper".PS, the bird in the Disney Short is a sandpiper.
I love the patterns in the sand left behind by the waves, too. They resemble trees , or veins, so well, and it was a reminder of how connected we all are to nature. After our time in Capitola, we drove out to Santa Cruz for dinner and ate at a restaurant on the pier. We ate at a place called Stagnaro Bros. By the time we made it to Santa Cruz, it was dark outside, so we didn't get to see much of it. Again - something for next time! We really enjoyed our time going to the various towns on the West Coast, and we really can't wait to explore more next time we are in California. Maybe Jeremy will win us another free flight voucher at the next Furry Scurry which takes place on May 2nd! And yes, we are already registered! After dinner, we did drive out to an ice cream place, so I was pretty happy with how the night ended! Thank you, family, for showing us the West Coast, and we can't wait to be back! Love you all.
After we finished our ice cream, we headed over to this gift shop called Wish Gifts, which was right across the street. It's a super cute store and I highly recommend it for gift shopping. We ended up buying a birthday present for Jeremy's youngest brother, Joshua, and we bought ourselves a new coin bank that looks like a globe. We walked down the rest of the block, crossed back over to the other side of the street, and went to this coffee shop called Ink!.
We woke up early the next morning after staying at Yosemite View Lodge the previous night. We had no idea how spectacular the view was from the lodge until the morning, as it was dark when we checked in at 11pm the night before. We were greeted by the sunrise and cliff faces, and it couldn't have been a better start to the day. You feel like you are already in the park before you technically are.
It was definitely worth it to make it down to the river. It was beautiful seeing the river, which was low, trinkle its way around the boulders and rocks. We even found a big rock to climb up on, for a better view, and of course, for poses.
Jeremy and I stood at the base of Yosemite Lower Falls with my mom and Katy. Then, thinking Jeremy was following me, I set off unto the woods to the left of the viewpoint to try to get a different angle of the waterfall. I had barely walked into the woods and turned around when I noticed he was not following me, and he was no longer within my view. He had gone somewhere else. I decided to continue hiking my way up towards the base of the fall. Eventually I made my way back out towards the open rocks, and who do I see on the other side? My bearded man.
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RebeccaPhotographer, visual artist, mother to four fur-babies, and travel enthusiast. Categories
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