Oh, Canada

So last weekend, Aviva and I met up with my Dad and Peg in the Canadian Rockies, spending a couple of days in Banff. Its the first time that my parents got to see Aviva since she got pregnant, and they were so excited to see her and the baby belly - she is about 5 months now and baby G is still perfectly healthy and right on track.

We had been looking forward to this for a long time, and now that Aviva is pregnant this trip was extra special because it was going to be our last significant getaway before the baby comes. Plus, Banff is awesome - I have wanted to go back since I stopped there with Ryan on my road trip across the continent when I moved to New York.

And the trip turned out great. Peg picked a fabulous place to stay, Rimrock resort, nestled in the mountains above Banff, right next to the Upper Hot Springs. We went hiking each, at least my father and I did, Aviva and Peg spent Thursday at the spa while my dad and I were hiking to Bow Glacier Falls, up past Lake Louise on the Icefields Parkway. Friday was Upper and Lower Johnston Falls, and on Saturday we walked along the shore of Lake Louise, and then my Dad and I continued up towards the Plain of Six Glaciers while Peg and Aviva went back and got some lunch at the Fairmont Resort. 

And every day, after the hike we went to a great meal. For such a small town, Banff also has a lot of great restaurants - with the emphasis on meat, a lot of bison, venison and local Alberta beef. My favorite place was The Maple Leaf Grill, where I had once of the best pieces of meat I have ever eaten, a bison prime rib with an escargot & roasted tomato sauce. The elk meatball appetizer and my fathers maple and mustard salmon were also fantastic. The Bison, where I had a spectacular venison medallion and we had some amazing tuna carpacchio. And Nourish, where we had a variety of totally fascinating vegetarian dishes incorporating tons of fruits and veggies, like felafel with red pepper, strawberries, sprouts and cranberries. 

Overall, a fabulous, fabulous trip - great bonding time with the family and some pre-birth baby bonding with our upcoming Bubbie and Zayde. 

Below are some pix from our trip ...

View from our hotel

The Rimrock Resort at night

Bow Glacier Falls

Bow Lake from the falls

Cairns along the trail to Bow Glacier Falls

Bow River flowing away from the Glacier

Dad and I in front of Bow Glacier

Bow Lake

Crowfoot Glacier

Bow River in Banff

Family in front of Lower Johnston Falls

Upper Johnston Falls

Waterfalls along Johnston Creek 

Pathway in Johnston Canyon

Johnston Creek

Lower Johnston Falls

Lake Louise

Fam on the way to the Plain of Six Glaciers

Waterfall below Victoria Glacier

Victoria Glacier

At Lake Louise

Evening in Banff

A short little hike

So today was the last full day on Kauai, and the last hike of the trip. It was a short, 3 mile loop up to Makaleha Falls, a large waterfall pretty close to where we were staying east of Kapaa. We had heard the hike was very tough terrain, but we had been told that the Kalalau Trail and the Nu'alolo Ridge were also tough, and we knocked them off pretty easily, so we figured this one would be similar.

Not so much.

Makaleha was probably the toughest terrain I have ever hiked across. The "trail" was marked by a series of disconnected pink ribbons, rock cairns and macheted out gouges in tree branches. It took us across the waist-deep river on a large, slick boulders, up through a thick grove of bamboo on a slick mud-covered hillside, through thick vines, thorn bushes and other scrub and through and onto the sloppy, moss-covered limbs of a large number of hau trees. In particular, the jungle gym of hau tree limbs was a truly difficult and gnarly trail experience. 

And it was totally awesome!!!!

It did take us about 4 hours to hike 3 miles, and we got fairly beaten up and eaten alive by mosquitos. And we didn't exactly get to the waterfall ... we may have passed by it by taking the far right stream when we should have taken the left one, but we did see them from a little distance and they were spectacular. 

After we got back and showered up, we ended our time on Kauai with a trip to the South Coast, exploring the Spouting Horn and having dinner at the Beachhouse, an excellent restaurant right on the beach. The calamari and my ebbe in a fish broth with miso and shitakes were superb, as were Aviva's aioli covered scallops. 

All in all, Kauai treated us very well and I felt like we returned the favor. A fantastic trip all around. 

Aviva crossing Makeleha stream early in the hike .

Up the muddy, slippery hillside through the bamboo grove.

The trail continues straight ahead. 

The "wall" where the trail got ... difficult.

Through the jungle. 

Follow the pink ribbons. 

At the stream junction, you can see Makelaha falls in the distance.

A close up of the falls.

Sunset on the south shore.

South Shore tidepools.

Spouting horn blowhole. 

A Grand Canyon on Kauai

So today was West Kauai - after spending our time over the last two days on the north and east coasts, we headed across the island and up into Waimea Canyon. The "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" is a massive gouge in the earth 10 miles long, 1 mile wide and around 3500 feet deep ... it is a truly remarkable site. The colors in the canyon, the reds of the earth and the greens of the vegetation, are unlike anything I have ever seen.

But I am getting ahead of myself. While we drove up into the canyon early in the day, we spent the morning and early afternoon hiking down Nu'alolo ridge, across the Nu'alolo cliffs trail and back up the Awa'awapuhi trail back to the road, before hitching a ride with some of the hikers we met back to our car.  This hike was tremendous, about 10 miles and as we hiked down and up the ridges from 4000 feet to 2400 feet and back, we passed through a variety of vegetation zones, felt the temperature shift by 5 - 10 degrees and saw some of the most unimaginable terrain I have ever witnessed.

We were actually looking at the mountains and ridges which form the backbone of the Na'pali Coast, which we hiked on Monday. The sheer peaks, covered in a green cloak of vegetation, were like nothing I have ever seen before. We saw giant ferns and a gorgeous ocean blues, heard more kinds of bird songs than I knew existed and were often cooled off by periodic rain showers.

After the hike, we spent some time checking out the canyon, then stopped by a taco stand for fish tacos and burritos, and finished off dinner with ice cream shakes at Lapperts. A perfect day ...

Beginning of the exposed open trail along the bottom of the Nu'alolo ridge trail. 

Enjoying the view into Nu'alolo valley. 

Plants clinging to the edge of the world.

Top view of the Nu'alolo valley. 

A sketchy section of the Nu'alolo cliffs trail - there is about a 1000 foot drop here, and the path is about 2 feet wide. Definitely the scariest part of today. 

Stopping for lunch at the Nu'alolo flats above the valley.

 Looking down on the Kalalau valley. 

At the Awa'awapuhi overlook. 

One of the many feral roosters tracking us during the day. 

Waimea Canyon.