Super Rachel Zana's Spot

There was really just one thing that I was dead set about making sure I did in Hawaii:  I really wanted to see a whale.  From a boat so I’d be a little closer.  I had heard that the best way to see a whale in the ocean was from…

Our friends arranged for all of  us to tour the National Botanical Gardens.  I’m not a plant expert by any means, and I know a lot of people who would have appreciated this experience even more than I.  I had a great time.  Some of the plants were so unique…

  So, people have been telling me about the amazing fruit in Hawaii for years, but I still had no idea!  Seriously, I could have lived off fruit alone all week long!  The grapefruit and tangelos were packed with heavy, juicy flesh.  The lemons were sweet and sour all at…

This is just a short break from even more vacation pictures and stories  that I’m going to share over the next couple of days to document what I learned this month. Bamboo can grow up to six inches in a single day.  Phenomenal. I learned more than I ever thought…

It turns out that I have an insatiable love of the ocean, much like I love Lake Superior.  I couldn’t get enough of the Pacific on our trip, and lucky for me, the ocean was around every nook and bend.  It was never far away! On a couple of other…

I’m not a big fan of coconut, but my husband is crazy about it.  Of course I knew he’d be searching out coconuts on our trip.  Sure enough, on our first full day on the island we were driving along the road in the late afternoon.  As we came around…

Unfortunately the lighthouse was closed the day we drove to this part of the island.  Fortunately, you could still see it from the parking lot!  I loved the different shades of blue in the ocean water, and the waves breaking on the shore were mesmerizing.  

We had read about the glass beach on Kauai, a former dumping site in an industrial area that is now filled with sea glass.  Although I thought it would be kind of neat to see because I really, really love sea glass, I figured we probably wouldn’t actually go there…

My dad loves canyons, and growing up, many of our family vacations included a visit to a canyon or gorge of some sort.  We never visited the Grand Canyon, although my parents may have done that more recently.  I can’t quite remember.  Regardless, my dad would LOVE this canyon.  It…

Pretty much every part of our trip was fantabulous.  Really, we just had a splendid time zipping around the island in our sparkly little rental car that was the perfect invigorating shade of blue.  I should have taken a picture of that adorable little car, but I forgot to do…