Danny visits us in Maui - week 1

Danny came to visit us!  Another excuse (like we needed one) to explore more of the island and find fun things to do and places to see.

[Many photos are courtesy of Danny - thanks Danny!]

Kip and I had previously scouted the "4 waterfalls" hike at the beginning of the road to Hana (thanks Kip!), so we used that knowledge and Danny's willingness for some adventure to see the rest of it.

Step one - be ready to swim, wear the right clothes, don't take any electronics that you care about (yep, John's phone is apparently currently expendable):

We scaled the rope & ladder up a small cliff (with John's help) and worked our way further up the creek.  The swim was quite chilly and the final climb up the small waterfall was interesting, but we made it to the 4th waterfall!  What fun!  No photo from there, didn't care to swim with the phone.

A blurry selfie from a bit downstream will just have to suffice:

That was really cool!

Danny and I did a tamer trip up the Iao Valley:

Admiring the large tree by the creek:

Beautiful Japanese garden:

Introducing Danny to his first Peace Pole:

Gorgeous landscaping:

That is one large banyan tree:

A really nice photo Danny took of the West Maui mountains:

Hello turtle!  John showed us where he sometimes sees sea turtles when he runs on the beach, and sure enough, there they were!  Love the turtles.

Super artistic shot, courtesy of Danny:

The surf was up one day, so Danny and I drove over to the Dragon's Teeth past Lahaina (stopping at Aloha Mixed Plate on the way, yum).  We both really enjoy watching the waves pound on the rocks:

Water surging up the "bathtub":

Huge waves being thrown up on the south side of the peninsula, with a person in the frame for a sense of scale.  Even standing at a distance you get sprayed with salt water.

And now for a different kind of "explosion" - Danny and John flew to the Big Island for some volcano exploration.  They had a blast, figuratively of course.  The best part was getting up early Sunday morning to see the active crater glowing in the darkness (it had been too foggy/socked in the night before to see anything).  Wow, that is something to see:

Thanks for the excellent photos, guys!

Next post - more fun with the Danny man!