Boys are in town

A couple of weeks ago Butch brought Zach and Austin to Reno for a long weekend. Calvin was thrilled to have more grandsons in town to play with and Peter had his eye on a little labor for house project he had in mind. But first things first, a boy ski day.  Zach and Austin have become really great skiers this past season.  The skiing was so fun, the camera only came out once, so here is part of the ski crew.  Austin and I were hanging out in the lodge with Sylvan.

Sylvan had to hang out in the lodge, but he got plenty of cousin attention. It is great fun to be able to ski with grandkids!

While he had a readily available labor force Peter finished a house project.  He put lattice over the trellis over their back patio.  It was a beautiful day and while Peter, Calvin and Butch worked the rest of us enjoyed a beautiful spring day in the backyard.

The trampoline was a big hit.

Big brothers can give a big bounce.

While we were enjoying the day, work was being done.

At least by some

I think it turned out very well.

There were also projects in the workshop.  Zach and Austin made Harry Potter type wands so they could have a wizard duel.

And of course bikes were ridden.

A pretty fun weekend by any standard.

Kaui check list

And finally the other mandatory Kaui activities.

Watching the sun set...check

 Pictures of unusual trees...check

Hawaiian monk seal sunning on the beach...check

Calvin sunning on a deserted beach...check

Visiting one of the rainiest spots on earth when it wasn't raining....check

We had a great week in Kaui, but there must be a little more adventure in our future.  My fortune cookie said so and fortune cookies never lie.

Hiking Kaui

Kaui is a great place to hike and we had a few great hikes. Calvin chose our first two hikes and I should have gotten a hint by the name of our first hike.  We did the Canyon hike in Waimea Canyon.  The nature of a canyon is downhill and uphill, and that pretty much explains the hike.

This is the view from the trail head. Notice that bare spot across the way, in the mid left of the photo.

 This is pretty much my view of the trail, that blur at the top is Calvin.

After hiking down our side of the canyon and up the other side we reached the bald spot and took our picture.

Just around the corner was supposedly an 800 foot waterfall. It might have been spectacular, but we only saw the stream at the top. We couldn't see the waterfall from any angle.

We did brave a very cold smaller waterfall around the corner.

Canyon hike: 1.8 miles down and 1.8 miles up.

The next day we hiked the first section of the Kalalau Trail along the Napali coast. You can only get to this section of the coast by boat or foot. The full trail is 11 miles long, but we just went in 2 miles.

This is the view back to the beach from a quarter mile up the trail. 

This is our sweaty selves at half a mile up the trail.

And this is what the Napali coastline looks like from here.

This is me hiking down the final hill to our destination beach.

Unfortunately the "beach" was a boulder field.  The sand washes away in the winter and it had not come back yet. So we ate our lunch and went back.

Kalalau Trail: 2 miles up and 2 miles down.

The next day I chose the hike, a lovely paved coastline trail, pretty much a flat stroll. 

 The Ke Ala Hele Makalae trail is one of the top 10 things to do in Kaui, and the views are great, but it really doesn't compare with the Napali Coast.

Kaui 2016 The Spouting Horn

We spent last week in Kaui, a place we have not visited for  a while.  Plane connections getting there are a pain, but once arrived it was just beautiful.  We did a lot of the touristy things, so our first stop was the Spouting Horn, which did a very respectable spout because the surf was high.

Spouting as advertised