Danny's Maui visit - week 2

More fun with Danny!  We were lucky with super weather all week, so we took advantage of it to see more things we hadn't seen yet.

[Many photos courtesy of Danny - thank you Danny!]

My first visit to the Lavender Farm (after passing by it several times on the way up to Polipoli) - lovely outdoor walkways, beautiful flowers and plants, and a nice set of deck chairs:

Fun pose under an archway:

One of many fascinating flowers on the property:

We followed up our stroll with drinks and scones (all lavender-based) at the cafe, delicious.

Quick stop at the Surfing Goat Dairy on the way down the hill:

Danny noticed this funny sign:

Baby goats!  We just missed getting a picture of a goat actually climbing on a surfboard, so close.

Danny treated us to a wonderful show called 'Ulalena, with the history of Hawai'i detailed in native songs and dancing.  The cast is highly talented and we really enjoyed the emotion and entertainment.

Afterward we happened to catch our favorite hula troupe performing outside, fun!

Danny took a day to drive the road to Hana (and all the way around east Maui!).  Highlights included oodles of beautiful waterfalls:

And lunch at a roadside stand that sounds amazing:

All-natural plate, leaf lining, and chopsticks, and Danny tells us the food was delicious too, very cool!

We finally made it to the top of Haleakala, finding an afternoon of decent weather to drive up there for sunset.  Yay, it worked!  And it was worth it!

Brrr, rather chilly on top, but very happy to be there:

I was rooting for the sun - go, go, go (down) - so we could run back to the car and warm up  :)

Danny met up with some friends for a surfing class and did really well, go Danny!

On the weekend we headed to Little Beach and continued past it to find a fun snorkel spot:

Monday afternoon, Danny's last day :(   but with a really fun outing to cap off the visit - whale watching with the Pacific Whale Foundation.

The whales are still here!  We saw several sets of moms and babies, including one baby who swam right toward us briefly.  One big breach, a few fin slaps, lots of blows and gentle swimming with mom and child together, and 3 beautiful, slow fluke-up dives that made us all "ooh" and "aah."

I mostly just watched and enjoyed, but got a couple photos to share:

Lovely, thank you whale!

A special treat!  They lowered a microphone into the water so we could listen to whale songs, so cool!  They told us we were hearing whales from further away, deep down in the water and possibly up to 2 miles away.

A video with the whale songs playing while we watched a mom and baby:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUKReVJx4FM

And a whale tail!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5Fp8sAtchU

Thank you for a wonderful visit, Danny, we so enjoyed it!

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!

Hike up from Polipoli to the summit

I recently hiked up from Polipoli Park to the top of Haleakala, and it was such a clear, gorgeous morning that I was glad I had the camera along.  The winds had completely shifted and moved off any trace of Big Island vog or sugar cane burning smog, and the visibility was excellent.

Just above treeline, looking over at West Maui as the first traces of the normal "West Maui clouds" start to gather:

Mamane Trail - fun singletrack, great for downhill mountain biking:

The island of Kaho'olawe offshore:

And - the Big Island!  I always enjoy getting a glimpse of Mauna Kea and Mauno Loa to the south:

Looks like a downhill cyclist dropped something - hmm, this looks pretty good, actually:

And another!  Guess I didn't need to carry along all the food I had in my pack, I could just eat breakfast from what I found on the trail:

The wide dirt road (Skyline Trail) coming up the hill, beautiful for downhill running later:

Another view as clouds start to gather on west Maui:

The Big Island, still visible as more clouds congregate:

Barren terrain up high:

Moonscape rocks:

Some gravel near the top:

This gate stymied me for a couple minutes until I finally followed the instructions to "PULL" and yanked it open - not locked, just a bit stuck shut:

Oh, the clouds are actually rolling up here, that's interesting:

Almost to the observatories at the summit, imagine the clouds moving uphill to the left:

A couple minutes later, that building was enveloped:

Trailhead at the top:

Starting back, I was briefly in the clouds, putting away all electronics to keep off the cold, wet mist:

And then, back in the sunshine!

Funny vegetation:

Obligatory selfie, in front of a cinder cone:

Beautiful day and a fun hike!