DAY 0 - Valerie and I board our United flight bound for Hawaii

The ground crew continues to load luggage on to our plane

Another 767 leaves the gate

We should be able to depart after one last baggage cart is emptied

We taxi by Virgin America...an airline Valerie really liked

We pass a scaffold-covered Encounter Restaurant, the control tower, and a Hawaiian Airlines aircraft shortly before taking off

As we take to the sky, I catch a shot of our old neighborhood

We pass over Marina del Rey's breakwater

View stretching from Pacific Palisades to Santa Monica

This peninsula is Mahou Riviera in Malibu

Many trails wind their way into the Santa Monica Mountains from Pacific Coast Highway

This is not the site of the Xterra Point Mugu 11K Trail Run Valerie and I participated in this year...these trails lie just to the southeast

Oxnard and Camarillo to Point Mugu NAS

Anacapa Island

Santa Cruz Island

I have never visited any of the Channel Islands

These islands are not far off the coast of Oxnard or Santa Barbara

I think Santa Cruz Island is bigger than Catalina

More clouds cover Santa Rosa Island

For most of our flight, the Pacific Ocean is under heavy cloud cover

A few hours later and we begin our descent

Storms obscure our view of the Big Island

As we bank towards our destination, Maui's Haleakala becomes visible