Golf from the Island of Maui

 Sentry Tournament of Champions

We are here at the Kapalua Resort on Maui to enjoy great golf at one of the world's most beautiful courses.

First, add some Hawaiian music to the background as you review this post by clicking here:

The Plantation Course at Kapalua is special.  Great views, pleasant temperatures, and world-class golfers all come together here the first week of January each year.

The 18th hole, shown above, is a delight to experience.  At 677 yards, it poses a real challenge for the golfers.  Indeed the tournament winner was determined here on the last putt of the day (Sunday).

We could see the Plantation Course from our Villa and the resort shuttle ran us up to the course each day.

Chuck and Mary Widlowski joined us on Maui.  They came over from our winter home community, Heritage Pines, in Florida.  We saw some tremendous golf shots over the days.  Many of world's top golfers were here.

It is a one mile hike to the top of the course.  Thus, it is a one mile jaunt for the golfers for just two holes, numbers 17 and 18.  Needless to say, the views up top are spectacular.

There are some homes on the course and a local realtor told us they start at $12 million.  A bit steep for most.

See if you can identify any of your favorite golfers.

Love this place.

 Good morning from Kapalua Resort on Maui.  Here is a cute little love story (music) to brighten your day.

A New Year, 2022, Begins on the Island of Maui, Hawaii

 Happy New Year to each of you followers of my TRAVEL WITH GENE blog.

Dianne and I kicked off the new year on the island of Maui, Hawaii at the Kapalua Resort.  I will have three reports from here:

1.  The Beauty of Maui from the Kapalua Resort,

2.  The Sentry Tournament of Champions (Golf) at the Kapalua Plantation Course.

3.  Whale Watching off Maui.

Let's get started..........

THE BEAUTY OF MAUI

Do you enjoy Hawaiian music.  Here is one of my favorites:

Welcome to the Kapalua Resort:

The Ritz Carlton anchors the resort:

Then there are three sets of villas, the Bay (where we are), the Ridge, and the Golf.  All three have unique features and views.  This is our 3rd stay at Kapalua Resort.

Here is our villa, and the views from our Bay Villa.

We are just off the beach and spend a great deal of time hiking the seaside trails.  Here are a few pics:

The landscaping here is unbelievable.  Flowers and ground cover everywhere.  

The sounds of crashing waves throughout the night lead to good sleeping.

Speaking of sleep, it is sundown now.  Enjoy these scenes at sunset:

We are here on Maui to attend the Sentry Tournament of Champions.  There are two golf courses here at Kapalua, the Bay Course which surrounds us here at the Bay Villas.  Then there is the Plantation Course, one of the most beautiful in the world.  Take a look at the course by viewing the tournament on the Golf Channel the next three days.

Next report will be from the tournament.

Fall Colors 2021

The woods are on fire with fall colors.  The farmers are in the fields.  The nights are very cool.  At nearby Glacial Lakes State Park the prairie grasses and their wild flowers are a joy to see.

The first day of fall seemed like a good day to snap some pics.  Add a little music by Donavan and you get this result:

Little Grand Canyon of the North

To the north of us lie the vast forests of Minnesota.  We have begun to explore that region of the state.   

The forest lands are shown in orange.  

Within that forest lies the Mesabi Iron Range.  The iron mines in this region of the state feed the giant steel industry once controlled by the Rockefeller and Carnegie families. 

The town of Hibbing is known as the birthplace of Robert Zimmerman, better know as singer, composer, Bob Dylan

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Hibbing is also home to the Little Grand Canyon of the North.  The largest of the large iron mines is the Hull Rust mine and we paid a visit to this vast hole in the ground.

This slide shows how the ore is distributed to the steel mills of America.

The mining at Hull Rusk starts with a weekly dynamite blast on Thursdays.  Then huge trucks move the ore out of the mine.  This is a 240 ton truck.

It takes some big shovels to load those trucks.

Here is an interesting video from the Hull Rust Visitor Center.