Christmas on Kaui

This is a Hybiscus, which is the state flower for Hawaii. We left cold Utah on the 16th of December for 8 beautiful days on the Island of Kaui.

We stayed at Aston's Islander on the Beach in Kapaa. Our place was in the Kaui building #132. It had a Queen size bed plus a couch that could pull out into a bed. There was a kitchenette so we could eat in.

This picture is taken out the door condo. The beach was only about 60 feet from our front door. We left the slider door open all night so we could hear the sound of the waves. Oh. heaven!

This is the Wailua river. We rode this river boat up the river to the Fern Grotto. On another day we took a two seat kayak and paddled up to a hidden falls trail.

There was native entertainment up at the Fern Grotto and on the way back to where we boarded the boat.

This is Opaeka Falls.

This is the Wailua falls, which is the one that was at the beginning of the old TV show "Fantasy Island"


This is Waimea canyon. Mark Twayne called it the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

At the end of the Waimea Canyon drive is this look-out . It is on the top of Mt. Wai'ale'ale which is the wettest place on the planet with annual rainfall of 455 inches.

On the north shore of Kaui is Tunnels Beach. The sand is beautiful.

This is the Hanalei valley with all the taro patches. They use the taro to make Poi which is the Hawaiian staple food. It tastes like wall-paper paste but if eaten with Kalua Pork it takes some of the salty taste away from the pork.

Just some beautiful scenery. This happens to be along the Waimea river.

This Mustang convertible saved Bob $35,000 dollars! He rented it for the trip on Kaui and found out he didn't want to buy one after all. It was fun but Tana liked the Seibring we rented on Maui, last year.

This was the sunrise from our front door on our last morning on Kaui.

Merry Christmas and Aloha!!

Flash Back

The great matador on her way to battle

Come on little bull!

Oh, I guess the little bull won this one!!!

Forgotten picture

I left this picture out of the other post but wanted to include it since we saw this in Yellowstone. (It happened to be on the front cover of the Island Park Newspaper).

Island Park Weekend

Thanks to Bob's son-in-law, Chris, we were able to use the Tanglewood Lodge in Island Park, Idaho for the UEA weekend to host Tana's family. It was the first time in about six years that some of them had been together. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time.

We went into Yellowstone Park on Friday and saw several Bison. This one looked like he didn't like tourists very much so we made sure the grandkids stayed away. The grandkids are city kids and think that all animals are tame so they wanted to get closer.

We saw this beautiful bull elk. He bugled as we walked up, which was neat.

There was also this cow elk nursing a calf. The grandkids thought it was pretty cool.

Bob and Tana by the Fire Hole River. The scenery was beautiful and because it was off season there weren't many tourists in the park. It was a perfect time to go.

Tana's kids and spouses: Travis and Heidi Muirbrook, Nate and Ronda Mills, Kim and Lou Burke, Joe and Shelly Burke, Bob and Tana Hale, Travis and Sarah Burke and Jen and Ryan Skidmore.

All but two of Tana's grankids. They had so much fun being together, since they are very close in age.

Siblings Get Together

Tana, Bob, Hyrum, Nancy, Ron, Linda, Brent

On Friday and Saturday the 27th and 28th me and my brothers Ron and Brent along with Ron's wife, Linda and my sister Nancy along with her husband Hyrum got together to go through all that was left of my mom's stuff to divide it up. There were a lot of photo albums, journals of both mom and dad, genealogy information and other assorted items. While going through things there was a lot of "remembering" about life as we were growing up, on the farm in Groveland, Idaho and later in Blackfoot, when we moved into town. Nancy and Hyrum had just returned from a mission to Russia, Ron and Linda came down from Lacey, Washington and Brent and his son Gary came over from Orangevale, California. It was good to get together. I'm not sure any of us are ready to be the oldest generation!

Europe trip part 6 (the end!)

Our time in Switzerland over we headed back to Germany on our way home We stayed at Hotel Laterne in Baden Baden, Germany

The plaza out our window of the Hotel Laterne - notice the date of the building 1691

Beautiful garden in Baden Baden, Germany

Baden Baden gardens

Bob and Tana at the Frankfurt Temple, Frankfurt, Germany

Kaiserdom (Kaiser's Cathedral) in Frankfurt, Germany


Altar in Kaiserdom, Frankfurt, Germany



Door to Kaiserdom, Frankfurt, Germany

Three Kings Church in Frankfurt, Germany

Two tired but happy tourists ending their trip in Frankfurt, Germany

Europe trip part 5

We finally had to leave our favorite place, Lauterbrunnen, for Luzern by panorama train.

On the way to Luzern, Switzerland

Covered pedestrian bridge in Luzern, Switzerland

Riverside walk in Luzern, Switzerland

Kramgasse (Kram street) in Bern, Switzerland

Famous Bern bear in Bern, Switzerland

Bikes lined up at Bern, Switzerland bahnhaf

Tana by city wall of Murton, Switzerland - a medieval city

Murton, Switzerland city wall

Murton, Switzerland

Old church at Kerzers, Switzerland

Europe trip part 4

Our next country was Switzerland with a stop at beautiful Lauterbrunnen

This is the scene outside our window of Staubbach falls

The left side is the barn and the right side is the house

Swiss cow bells under the eaves of a barn

Stechlberg, Switzerland

The Eiger and Monch mountain peakes in the Swiss Alps

The village of Murren, Switzerland

Village of Gimmelwald, Switzerland


House in Gimmelwald, Switzerland

Tana walking the trail down from Gimmelwald to Stechlberg, Switzerland