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After a week in Maui, we island-hopped over to Kaua’i. On our last trip to the state, we’d visited O’ahu and while that was cool, we wanted to see something new. On our first full day there, we hopped aboard a helicopter tour.

It lasted a little less than an hour, but it was probably one of the most amazing hours of my life. The scenery was without equal. We saw more waterfalls than I could believe, and I found myself breathing “wow” almost every time we swooped around a cliff into another valley.

The cliffs were steep and completely covered in green, with rivers and streams flowing through them.

So many waterfalls!

As we continued toward the western edge of Kaua’i, the cliffs became steeper.

The wide-angle lens on my camera couldn’t even capture the scene from top to bottom.

We cruised through canyons whose sheer walls were, in some cases, almost half a mile tall.

And then we arrived at the Na Pali Coast.

Words (and photos) don’t do it justice. The cliffs are towering and the water is a breathtaking shade of turquoise.

Check out the tiny boat for scale:

Along the shoreline are beaches and caves, many with waterfalls.

Indescribable.

Some of the waterfalls literally spring from the side of the cliffs, with no source above them. The water at the top of the mountain– one of the wettest spots on the planet– trickles down into the rock and can take decades to eventually work through to the rock face where it gushes out as a waterfall.

After seeing it, I decided then and there I want to hike or kayak along the coast. It’s a journey of several days, but the chance to stop at caves and camp on the beach would be an amazing experience. Laralee agreed to do it with me, so now I have a new item for my bucket list.

There’s nowhere quite like Na Pali.

Haleakala is the mountain in the center of Maui, a long-extinct volcano that towers over the island and has a profound effect on the climate. The area to the north and east is incredibly wet (one of the wettest places on earth) while south and west is much drier. It makes for a fascinating drive to essentially circle the mountain, taking the Road to Hana along the north shore, and then highway 360 on the south shore.

The mountain is part of a national park, and the southeast entrance is at Ohe’o Gulch. Despite the name, it has a majestic shoreline.

Alex hiked out a bit to get a closer look:

Kyra snapped a shot of me and Laralee:

And I couldn’t resist one of her looking out over the ocean.

A short hike unveils even more incredible shoreline.

Looking inland, you can see the so-called Seven Sacred Pools. There aren’t seven, and you can’t swim in them, so it’s a bit of a misnomer.

We headed up the trail, which was the muddiest trail I’ve ever hiked. This area of Maui gets an unbelievable amount of rainfall, and after a while we stopped even trying to keep our shoes and feet clean. We stopped for a quick photo at a massive banyan tree:

Eventually we arrived at the bamboo forest, which as always was awesome. There’s something about all those tall trees crammed together, waving gently in the breeze and making a strange knocking sound.

At the end of the trail is Waimoku Falls, cascading nearly five hundred feet down a sheer cliff face.

What a beautiful national park!

As we approached Hana, we stopped at Waianapanapa State Park (yeah, say that three times quickly!) to enjoy the black sand beach. The sand is made of volcanic rock that’s been relentlessly ground down by the waves, and it’s really cool to walk on it.

We walked through a lava tube to come out to a beach filled with rocks and black crabs. Oh, and waves.

The view from the beach is, not surprisingly, stunning.

Like most of Maui, everything is green… including the rock walls, which have been overgrown.

After some time at Waianapanapa, we went to our rental place in Hana. It was advertised as a “bungalow” and it definitely was.

There was no air conditioning, no cell service, no internet… just a little house nearly buried in tropical plants.

I found a pretty flower for my pretty wife.

The lanai was screened in, and included the dining table and a bed. Kyra wisely chose this place to sleep, and was probably in the coolest room in the house because of all the airflow through the open screens.

It was a charming place, although at $450 per night it was without question the most expensive place we’ve slept in our lives! There are very few places to stay in Hana, and no other big towns for fifty miles, so accommodations command a premium. Totally worth it.

Later we went down to a red sand beach, which was nestled in a protected cove area:

Looking more closely at the sand, it was probably half red (note the color of the rocks above) and half black lava rock. Pretty cool.

After a couple of days in Hana and the area, we headed south. On our way out of town we stopped by a nice area called the Venus Pools. Although it looks kind of pretty, the water was filled with a lot of flotsam that would’ve made swimming kind of questionable.

Hana is definitely a cool place, and I think its relative inaccessibility adds to the charm somehow.

Nahiku is a little out-of-the-way village that’s absolutely stunning. There are only a few houses, as well as a bus stop and a church, at the bottom of a long winding road down from the Hana Highway. After parking, there’s a walk along a paved road (closed to traffic) that brings you to a beach lookout. We stopped for a couple of photos.

After a brief walk along the rocky shoreline, we headed to our favorite place in the entire world: a little swimming hole buried in the forest.

When we were last here in 2017, the waterfall was a gentle trickle, but with the rain Maui had been getting, it was considerably bigger this time. There was even a second, much smaller, waterfall off to the side.

The entire area is so incredibly lush and green that it’s hard to describe, and even harder to capture in a photo.

We didn’t have swimsuits with us in 2017, so it was a shame we couldn’t actually swim in the pool. But this time we’d planned better, and it meant we could use the rope swing which is probably thirty feet above the water. Zaque and Alex look good:

I just jumped straight off the cliff, since the rope swing wasn’t really necessary. The water was cool and crisp, fresh from the jungle stream. We swam under the waterfall and probably spent two hours just enjoying this magical place.

Even the walk back to the car was amazing. The green of the forest, and the colors of the plants, are almost overwhelming.

Ahh, Nahiku, you still hold a special place in my heart.

Along the Road to Hana there’s a little area called Ke’anae where the waves absolutely pound the north shore. There’s also a “world famous” banana bread stand there, so we stopped for a bite before walking to the rocks.

It had been raining, so everything was kind of dulled, but in a way it made the waves more impressive as they came crashing into the rocks.

Alex and Kyra waded out a bit and enjoyed the surf.

For some reason, the waves make especially spectacular splashes at one point, often surging twenty or thirty feet into the air.

For some reason, I love watching the waves.

Kyra waded out to another area, but couldn’t go too far because the incoming water was looking a little dangerous. Here’s a smallish wave hitting the outer rocks:

Along the “beach”, the black lava rocks are continually rolled by the waves, making them smooth. The sound they make as they cascade over each other is really fun.

The Nakalele Blowhole is a well-known spot on Maui’s north shore. We learned from our last experience on the craziest road of all time to take the western route, which was much easier. The waves were crashing as always, and the blowhole didn’t disappoint. Several times it shot well over a hundred feet into the air.

It’s actually kind of tricky to take a picture of it, because my camera has a hard time focusing on the ethereal water. But as with all digital photography, taking enough pictures eventually yields a keeper.

We hiked over to the far side so we could be closer (notice Laralee and the kids for scale):

I could watch the waves crash against the rocks all day.

Laralee stood a little too close to the shore and was surprised by a particularly big wave.

She and Kyra posed atop a tall rock overlooking the ocean.

After spending a while at the blowhole, we moved on to some nearby areas on the north shore. Zaque, Alex, and I hiked out to a promontory.

One thing I love about Maui is the color of the water. Yes, it’s really this blue when the sunlight hits it just right. (I didn’t adjust the colors or saturation in this photo at all.)

Maui is my favorite place in the world. When we were contemplating a trip to Hawai’i, Laralee and I agreed we had to go to Maui again. And of course the most magical part of the island is the Road to Hana, which is fifty miles of narrow roads, crazy winding turns, and the most amazing scenery anywhere.

Our first stop was the bamboo forest partway up the road. We stopped at the right mile marker and climbed out of the car. The kids were confused: “Are you sure this is the right place?” There’s no trailhead, in fact nothing at all to indicate there’s something to see. But when you look at the thick bamboo trees alongside the road, you’ll see a narrow dark hole that goes steeply down from the pavement. We stepped inside.

The trees are incredibly thick, making the forest dark.

The trail is steep, muddy, and not very well-defined. But we made our way down to a stream. The last time we’d visited, we could rock-hop across the stream to get to a series of waterfalls. However, it had been raining earlier in the day, so there was significantly more water. The stream was wide and deep, and we had to wade:

Fortunately we’d planned ahead and were all wearing swimsuits. (As it happened, we spent more than half our time in Hawai’i wearing swimsuits all day.) We crossed the stream and Alex found a place to achieve inner peace before we continued.

We found the first waterfall deep in the jungle, admired it for a bit, and then moved on to our real target, a second waterfall emptying into a big pool.

Of course we took advantage of a rope swing near the falls.

The kids posed by a different waterfall:

This is definitely one of my favorite hikes anywhere. The kids were thrilled, and asked if we’d be hiking through any more bamboo on our trip.

Yep.

For the second time, Laralee and I went to the Hawai’ian Islands. And this time we brought our kids.

Our internet service was pretty spotty during the course of our trip, so rather than a day-by-day travelogue, I’m going to step through each of the places we visited. Get ready for a dozen or so posts…

Last week we headed up to Montana to check out our new house. We’re staying in Colorado for the rest of the summer, but we figured we should at least see our new place before moving up there in September.

Tara and her kids showed up a little after we did, and a few days later Thom, Katie, and Sefton stopped in as well. It was fun to have a big group there; the house is really good for hosting groups. Together we all explored the house and tried to figure out how things worked (so many light switches!). Katie even found a secret closet-within-a-closet. The utility room has a bewildering array of switches, control panels, and valves. It was definitely an adventure.

The house looks amazing when you first arrive:

Across the courtyard is the guest house, also known as The Party Room:

And yes, we have a turret. Everyone needs a turret.

Zaque actually slept in the attic, which is at the top of the turret above the spiral staircase. The carpet in there is deep purple (no kidding).

The cherry orchard was really cool. It’s harvest time, so Laralee and I picked a bunch of them for sharing. They were delicious.

As we wandered around figuring things out and thinking about where our furniture would go and sort of dreading the impending process of moving, I wondered if all this is crazy. We’re moving a thousand miles, away from a place and friends we know and love, to an area we know very little about, and trading our city life for a much more rural one. Is this a mid-life crisis? Maybe. But as I sat on the front porch and watched the sunset over the lake, I was reminded why we’re doing this.

It’s breathtakingly beautiful. Sure, it’ll be a different lifestyle, but we’ll figure it out and make friends and, most importantly, we’ll do it together.

While we were visiting Missouri, Mom pulled out the old Apple IIe from my childhood. I think we bought that in the early 1980’s, and after plugging in a few parts, it actually booted up!

Thom and I fiddled with some of the disks (yes, the original 5 1/4″ floppies) and managed to bring up a few classic games like Black Magic (Thom’s favorite). Here he is playing Dig Dug:

One of my favorite games was Lode Runner:

Unfortunately we couldn’t get the game to start– we could only run the demo mode. It was strange, but I suppose after 35 years or so, it was more surprising that it even partially worked.

It’s a credit to Apple (and to Mom!) that after all these years, the computer still worked. Check out the sweet core memory chips, at 8kB apiece for a total of 64kB:

But– lucky us– we had an expansion card called the “80-column card” which doubled the ram to 128kB and allowed the system to display 80 columns of text instead of the default 40. That was really important when doing word processing, and of course for games.

I think Mom is going to give away the computer, or maybe sell it on eBay one of these days (yes, there’s still a market for 1980-era Apple IIe’s out there). It was fun to be reminded of all those hours spent on the computer when I was a teenager. That old Apple put me on the path to a successful software career a decade later!