We hopped off the plane, grabbed our rental car, and took off up the infamous road to Hana. In just 52 miles, we traversed 620 curves and 59 bridges. You know those road signs that show you how tight the curves are coming up? Many of the signs on this road looked like U-turns. I have never been on such a twisty road. Fortunately, Sarah slept all the way to the end.
We didn't stop much on the way up since Sarah was asleep, but we did stop for a few nice photo ops. The view was fantastic!
There were waterfalls all along the coast, many of which were visible from the road.
We drove past Hana to the Seven Sacred Pools, which are in Haleakala National Park. We hiked up the 2-mile trail to see all of the pools and a beautiful waterfall at the top.
We hiked through this awesome bamboo forest. There were so many different kinds of landscape on Maui. The bamboo was fun.
On some parts of the trail we were actually hiking up waterfalls. I was a little nervous about Kelson carrying Sarah, but he said not to worry. He would never fall because he is so sure of foot.
We made it! Beautiful!
Kelson and Sarah were standing on a rock to pose for this picture. Just after I snapped the shot, Kelson slipped, and they both landed in a mud puddle. Hmmm...
Sarah was pretty muddy, but she wasn't upset for long.
My two little rebels.
By the end of the hike, she had conked out.
We ate some delicious Thai food in Hana and then started back toward civilization. Along the way, we stopped at Wai'anapanapa State Park (Say that 10 times fast!) to see the caves and the black sand beach. I stuck my toes in the water in the cave so the guppies could nibble on my toes.
Sarah isn't very good at staying still while riding on Daddy's shoulders. Just popping down to say hello!
The black sand beach was very interesting. It was made of very smooth, tiny, black pebbles. Sarah was so excited to see the ocean that we had to let her get in even though we weren't wearing our suits.
We crawled into a cave that was open to the ocean. Of course Kelson had to climb the rocks.
After we left the black sand beach, we started what will surely go down in family legend as one of the worst drives of our lives. The drive up didn't seem too bad, so we weren't particularly worried about the drive back. We timed it perfectly so that Sarah fell asleep just as we started the journey home. It should have been great. Unfortunately, we had been around a lot of fresh-cut grass that day, and Kelson's allergies were acting up. He was sneezing so uncontrollably that he had to let me drive. At the same time, I had a terrible headache and my stomach full of delicious Thai food was really feeling those 620 curves, so I wasn't in great shape either. About the time that I took over driving, Kelson's sneezing woke up Sarah. She pretty much screamed the rest of the way home. Our rental car was making awful noises every time we drove up a hill. Add to that the fact that we left a little too late to avoid driving in the dark, and it was a recipe for disaster. I had to stop twice to throw up. Kelson was about to explode with sneezes. Sarah was hysterical. Longest 2 hours of my life! We were all very glad to get back to civilization and stop at a store to get ibuprofen and allergy medicine. I have never been so glad to see a K-mart in my life. Soon, we were all feeling better, we got a delicious pizza for dinner (who knew Little Ceasar's makes an awesome Hawaiian pizza?), and Kelson made friends with an interesting K-mart clerk. All's well that ends well, right?
After a good night's sleep, we were ready for day 2 of adventuring. We took off around the west side of the island to do some snorkeling. Along the way, we stopped off to see a blowhole. The view there was great. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures of the places we snorkeled that day, but we found some fabulous places. It was much better than the snorkeling on Oahu. Sarah liked swimming in the ocean, but mostly she enjoyed the fact that Maui has tons of wild chickens.
We stopped at one of the resorts in Kaanapali to go snorkeling at black rock, which was really fun. Kelson makes a lovely hula girl.
After we finally got our fill of snorkeling, we stopped in Lahaina for an evening stroll. It has a fun downtown that is right on the water.
They have a banyan tree that covers a whole acre. The birds in there were so loud that I was afraid to actually walk under the tree.
Saturday morning, we got up before 4:00 so that we could drive to the top of Haleakala, Maui's 10,000 foot volcano, to watch the sun rise. I was pretty worried because the map said we were in for another long, twisty ride, but this one wasn't nearly as bad. We got to the top just before the show started. It was awesome watching the clouds swirl around as the sun rose. Definitely worth the trip.
We had read before our vacation that it could get pretty cold at the top of the mountain and that it was a good idea to bring warm clothes. We dismissed that, figuring that it was probably some wimpy Hawaiian saying that. Holy moly, it was cold! I think the temperature was around 40 degrees, but the wind was blowing like crazy. Sarah was the only one with a jacket. I think she stayed pretty snug wrapped up in the baby carrier, and I stole her blanket to keep myself warm.
It was awesome watching the clouds swirl around as the sun rose. Definitely worth the trip.
From the top of the mountain, we could see both of the volcanoes on Hawaii sticking out of the clouds in the distance.
There is an observatory on the top of the mountain. We were excited to go to the lookout, but by the time we got there the whole thing was encircled with clouds, so we couldn't see anything.
I never thought I would be so excited to drink hot chocolate in Hawaii!
We spent Saturday afternoon on the southern shore of the island. We drove through a lot of lava flows, which was very interesting. The pictures don't do them justice.
My little strawberry hanging out with me while Dad was doing some more snorkeling. She really likes to exercise her vocal cords, and she was so loud at this beach that I could keep my bearings while snorkeling by following the sounds of her screeches even when I was under water.
We had lunch in Kihei, did a little wandering around, and then finished up our adventures at Iao Needle State Park. It was an easy hike with a beautiful view, and it was just a few minutes from the airport. Great!
We are so grateful that we get to live in this beautiful place for a little while and have such exciting adventures as a family. We made some wonderful memories in Maui!
Even my family hasn't survived the road to Hana! And that volcano is freezing! When we went Nat came down with altitude sickness and blacked out at the top. Vacations are always a mixed bag of memories for sure ;)
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