wild_turkey

Thanks and Dec 29. My guess is that we will mostly do our usual 1-2 St. Barth trips each year without the kid for a while, then eventually let her tag along for the occasional trip. It's kind of our personal space and I want to protect that time.

One last post from me with a overview and some pics from our recent trip. It will be a little long but hopefully helpful to anyone new like I was. Kauai has long been a bucket list destination for me because I’ve always wanted to see the Napali Coast in person. It’s just always been on the back burner until some friends asked us to go this year and we couldn’t turn it down. I expected to like it, but I had tempered expectations due to not knowing a whole lot about Kauai, and it far surpassed those expectations. Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. Lots of things to do for people who like activities on vacation. Wife and I stayed the first 2 nights at the Grand Hyatt in the Poipu area. We both wish we had picked somewhere different for those nights. It’s a nice resort, but it’s massive and basically has a water park for a pool and caters heavily towards families with kids, which we were not. I think we booked it out of laziness in researching and it was only 2 nights. Oh well, no big deal because we got out and did fun stuff those days. We then met up with our friends and spent the next 4 nights at a house in Princeville. Agree with many that the north side of the island is far more enjoyable. Better beaches, hikes, and a more relaxed vibe. Fewer crowds and didn’t have that overly generic resort feel. We then went back to Poipu area to stay 3 more nights at Ko’a Kea Resort. This hotel was much more to our liking. Felt like more of a boutique hotel with a quiet relaxing pool, spa, good restaurant. Great for couples. Would for sure stay there again. For activities, we did the following: Hiked to Hanakapiai Beach and Falls (see post directly above for info) - highly recommended Helicopter tour with Jack Harter - about 45 minutes, cost was $750 for the 2 of us. Rented a private boat for a full day from Napali Experience. We had a boat captain who took us all up and down the west side of the island. They normally only do half day tours so we booked both the morning and afternoon slots and our captain was pretty excited to have the time to just chill. Spent time swimming, snorkeling, eating lunch right off the Napali Coast. Queens Bath - cool spot, water was fine for cliff jumping and swimming. Snorkeled with a bunch of sea turtles. Unfortunately my GoPro didn’t have its memory card! Hiked to Hoopii Falls - nice easy hike, took about 2 hours Hiked Maha’ulepu trail on the south side and went to the beach there Went to Wailua Falls (commonly known as Fantasy Island falls) and hiked down - this is officially forbidden but there were 50-100 people doing it so I don’t think anyone actually cares. I recommend going down because you can swim there and you can walk behind the falls. Wear good shoes. Went to Haena Beach, Papa’a Beach, Aliomanu Beach, and Poipu Beach. Ate meals up north at Hideaway Pizza, Kalypso, Postcards Cafe, Hanalei Bread Company, and Jimmy’s Grill. Ate meals down south at Red Salt, Tidepools, La Spezzia, The Tasting Room, and Kenji Burger. I would like to go back at some point, mainly because I now have an even stronger desire to do the full Kalalau Trail hike and stay on the beach. I would also like to visit Polehale Beach and try a couple of different hikes on the southwest side. Here are some of my favorite pics:

I try to stay out of CR but this thread topic is of interest to me. I've lived in Texas my entire life, but I've considered leaving for a long time, mostly due to being tired of the heat and wanting to live somewhere with prettier geography (nice beaches or possibly mountains). I'm not a lake person and I think the Texas coast is ugly. Politics haven't historically been a big motivator for me, but that's starting to wear pretty heavily on me too. Our state leadership seems incompetent most of the time (winter storm 2021) and increasingly determined to use religious beliefs to oppress large percentages of our population. SB8 had me pretty pissed off, not to mention countless school shootings with no willingness to change gun control, and now the post-Roe abortion stuff. I would not at all be surprised to see same sex marriage on the chopping block and I don't want to live in a place where our government dictates those things. An 18 year old can buy an AR-15 here but women don't have control over what takes place in their own bodies. The problems for me are the classic issues of job and family. I'm a physician with an established practice. My family and my wife's entire family all live in Texas, most within 2 hours of us. That includes 3 sets of parents, 5 siblings, nieces and nephews. We're fairly close to everyone and want to keep it that way as best as possible. Not to mention, we have a lifetime of friends within driving distance of us. Added to all of this, we have a baby on the way. Very difficult to intentionally leave a great support network and a great income and start from scratch somewhere new. So if we were to do anything, we would probably wait 4-5 years, but by that point we may have aging parents and that's a new set of concerns. If we did move, our criteria for a new place would be better weather, prettier geography, and hopefully more moderate politics. For the first 2 criteria, I think California, Hawaii, and North Carolina fit the bill. We absolutely love visiting Colorado but I think the long winters would be more brutal for me than the Texas summers. For the politics part, I'm not sure anywhere in the U.S. is really safe. Maybe I'll just focus on getting a forever home in Texas where I can have a pool and a backyard oasis to retreat to in the heat. And maybe the politics will eventually change if someone like McConaughey gets in office. Doubtful. Maybe I'll figure out a way to retire early to Tuscany or New Zealand or St. Barth. None of those solve all of my concerns. It's a flawed world for sure.

Would you be interested in mountains (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana..) or are you looking specifically for a cool city to visit?

I love St. Barth, been there many times with my wife, it’s become our home away from home. We’ve always gone as a couple and it caters more to adults, but we have a kid on the way and we fully intend to keep going there often and we want our kid to be a part of that so she can hopefully grow to love it. That being said, I realize it’s not for everyone, so it all depends what you want to get out of it. Villa Marie looks like a great hotel (almost stayed there once but plans changed that trip). It’s small like every other hotel in St. Barth so it won’t have a huge resort pool or whatever other amenities the bigger AI resorts on other islands may offer for kids and families, but if you just want peace and relaxation in a beautiful environment, it checks those boxes. Also keep in mind food can be pricey in St. Barth depending on your tastes.

I’m an ophthalmologist. I don’t personally do scleral contact lenses or corneal cross linking, but I work with docs who do both. My sister had to get a cornea transplant due to keratoconus (this was before cross linking was FDA approved in the US) so that part also hits close to home. Keratoconus is often a progressive disease so I encourage anyone with that diagnosis to see someone familiar with cross linking to see if they are a candidate. It helps prevent progression so don’t wait until your vision is already horrible.

What the fuck does “Feels like 119” even mean? What normal person knows what 119 feels like? There should be a point around 105-110 beyond which they quit saying the number it feels like. Just says “Feels extremely fucking hot.”

Scleral lenses are great for keratoconus and other forms of irregular astigmatism. They typically provide better vision and better comfort than a traditional soft contact lens or glasses. The drawback is that fewer optometrists know how to prescribe them, they sometimes require more visits to get the correct fit and prescription, they can be more expensive, and you have to take better care of them over a longer period of time. Also, anyone with keratoconus should have at least one exam with a cornea specialist or another ophthalmologist familiar with cornea cross linking. That’s a great surgery that can stabilize the cornea to prevent progression of keratoconus and prevent worsening vision or the need for a cornea transplant the future.

I’m underwhelmed so far and I loved the first 2 seasons.

Butch Cassidy has always been a favorite of mine because my dad likes it and we watched it a lot growing up. I loved the scene in The Offer when he went to NM to visit the Butch Cassidy set and they were filming the Bolivia shootout. The other movies I will probably look into.

Agreed. They should both get moved to Lifetime Movie Club or some other obscure streaming platform where poorly written soap operas rightfully belong.

I’m too young and too naive about old Hollywood to understand a lot of the references, but I found myself constantly pausing and getting on Google or IMDB to check things along the way. I enjoyed that part because I learned about movies that were before my time and I thought many of the references were used in a clever way. I also thoroughly enjoyed the scenes when Lapenis was trying to pick movie posters, shorten the movie, and cut the Sicily sequence. I realize he’s a fictional character, but he represents the movie studio’s internal opposition and competing interests that make it difficult for any great film to be produced. That’s not something I typically think about, and it’s crazy to think what could’ve happened to The Godfather if meddling financial executives became too hands-on. Or for that matter, I wonder what mediocre movies could’ve been great, but were sabotaged by people who thought they knew more than the creatives.

Great show from start to finish. It’s made me appreciate The Godfather more than I already did. Really loved Bob Evans and Bettye.

Or possibly rent is through the roof. West 7th area can’t keep any good tenants the past couple of years.

We did the hike from Haena State Park to Hanakapiai Beach and then over to Hanakapiai Falls yesterday. This is basically the first 2 miles of the Kalalau Trail, which would continue on along the coast instead of going inland to the falls. It’s 2 miles to the beach and then another 2 miles to the falls, so 8 miles round trip. We started at 10:00 and finished at 6:00, which included time spent at both the falls and the beach. Sections of the trail are fairly steep and can be muddy depending on recent rainfall. You should have good footwear (hiking boots, Chacos, etc.). Don’t do it in tennis shoes or flip flops. Take plenty of water and snacks. We also took 2 bottles of rosé and some beers because some of our people are like that. But it was great having a glass of rosé while looking at the falls. Our experience was that most hikers try to start early but that also means the trail, waterfall, and beach were more crowded early. It thinned out in the afternoon. When we arrived at Hanakapiai Falls there were about 40 people there, but by the time we left there were only 6 people. When we arrived at the beach on the return segment, my wife and I had the entire beach to ourselves. So maybe a later start time is actually a good thing if you hike fast enough to catch the last shuttle back at 7:00 pm. I would love to do the full Kalalau Trail hike but my crew isn’t up for it so maybe it gives me a bucket list future goal. Regardless, the hike we did was amazing and probably a top 5 hike for me.

Our plan is to do Kalalau trail to Hanakapiai Beach (about 2 miles) and then over to Hanakapiai Falls (about 2 more miles). We have a reservation for June 6 so I can give more info afterwards if that’s still relevant to you. Reservations are done through gohaena.com. It says they open 30 days in advance and the parking spots sell out immediately so the shuttle is the more likely option for most people. Also, parking reservations are for a half day whereas shuttle reservations are from whatever your scheduled arrival shuttle time is (we got 9:30) until whenever you get ready to leave. We were not prepared for the reservation system to be in such high demand so everything was completely sold out for the duration of our trip when we first checked (about 2 weeks ago). If this ends up being the case for you, don’t give up. I started checking multiple times daily and there were either cancellations or they opened new spots because I was eventually able to book a reservation for 4 people that was originally not available. I saw multiple other slots pop open during the course of my searching. Also, you can cancel a reservation for a full refund up to 3 days in advance, so even if you are unsure of your plans, I would start trying to book asap to have something as a placeholder. Good luck.

So wait, you are already saving $100+ to fly on AA or United, but you won’t pay $94 to get a decent seat? And that’s AA’s fault? I get that AA has its own set of problems, but I would almost always pick the AA flight over SWA, especially if price is similar and that includes a premium seat on AA. SWA boarding practices are insane to me.

Thanks for all your input. I ordered a Canon T8i from mpb.com, and since that was well under my original budget, I added a 10-18mm IS lens. The newer sensor and processor, plus the better lens, should be a noticeable upgrade in image quality. Plus, I’ll get a touch screen, better battery life, WiFi, etc. I wanted a new camera before a couple of summer trips (Kauai and Corsica), but I’m a little busy to be learning an entirely new camera system, so this should keep things simple for me.

We watched the first 6 episodes over the past week and we’re enjoying it. The Godfather has always been one of my favorite movies but I realized how little I knew about the background. My only small complaint is that Miles Teller seems to be pretty flat in his acting. Not a lot of range of emotion from him, even when you would expect his character to be worked up over something. Maybe that’s how Al Ruddy actually was, I dunno. We also took this opportunity to rewatch The Godfather and we’re about an hour in The Godfather part 2. Used to be a yearly watch for me but it’s been a few years.

Had an incredible meal at ZOI in Split. Also love walking along the marina in Split late at night, stopping in random places for a nightcap or three. Lots of incredible meals in Croatia, actually. Restaurant 360 in Dubrovnik was pretty damn good, as was Roki’s in Vis. It’s hard to not eat well that country.

Are you saying you have both a D500 DSLR and a Zfc mirrorless and you prefer the DSLR? I'm starting to wonder if I should just replace my old DSLR with a current DSLR. Since I already have a Canon, that would likely mean the T8i. I can get a lot of the features I want, just without the smaller body of a mirrorless camera.

Posted in CYHMWT but someone suggested posting here instead. I have a Canon T3i that is ~11 years old and I’m interested in replacing it. I’m a simpleton that uses mostly a prime 24mm lens and sometimes the kit zoom lens, which are satisfactory for my purposes. Mostly pics during travel, landscape stuff, architecture, artistic nudes in nature, etc. Looking at mirrorless cameras but not entirely opposed to another DSLR. Probably APS-C since that’s what I’m used to. Would like to spend under $1500 for camera and a lens. Video isn’t too important because I have an iPhone and a 4K Gopro for that. Sony seems to be the leader in the mirrorless arena but their APS-C a6100/6400/6600 models are backordered everywhere due to an apparent chip shortage. I also think the ergonomics are pretty terrible because the cameras are almost too small with a poor grip for my hand. Fuji has some models with high ratings - XT30, XT3, XT4. They have the same ergonomics issues for me, and the XT4 is in the price range of some full frame cameras. Canon and Nikon have the best ergonomics because their mirrorless models are basically smaller DSLR bodies. Canon has the M50 Mark II which seems like a decent entry level camera but their M mount is about to be phased out in favor of APS-C R mounts. Nikon has the Z50 which also seems like a decent model and I can get it with a 16-50mm kit lens for $1200. Or there’s a camera store near me than has a Nikon Z6 body used in mint condition for $1200. That means switching to full frame but I also get perks like IBIS. Sorry for long post. Appreciate any input.

When we were in Loire we mainly visited chateaus - Chambord, Chenonceau, and Amboise. We also went to the Leonardo da Vinci chateau in Amboise which I thought was cool. We love wine as well but didn’t get the feeling their vineyards were geared towards public tours. Stopped in a couple of wine caves that were okay.

Woodshed can be good as long as you aren’t going in expecting Texas BBQ. They have some decent stuff and it’s a good atmosphere when the weather is nice.

I have a Canon EOS t3i that's about 12 years old and I'm looking to replace. I use it mostly for outdoors stuff, travel, landscapes, people, pets, etc. I don't care about video capabilities because I have an iPhone or a Gopro for that. It seems like mirrorless cameras are pretty popular now and have the upside of being smaller and lighter than a traditional DSLR, yet still have good image quality and interchangeable lenses. There are tons of options out there - Canon M50 Mark II, Nikon Z50, Fujifilm, Sony, etc. Not really sure where to begin. Would like to spend $1200 or less for the camera with a kit lens. Can add other lenses later as needed. Thanks for any recs.