MAUI
DAY 1
Our flights to Maui and from Maui back to Oahu were both with this island-hopper company.
Scenes like this from the airplane window serve to remind you that no, you're not in Kansas anymore!
We landed in Lahaina, which is very touristy. We drove around long enough to get our fill, then left for a leisurely sight-seeing drive to the nicest accommodations of the trip, Upcountry Bed and Breakfast in Kula.
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We enjoyed the very nice room and some stunning sunsets from our lanai.
We were the only guests for the delicious breakfasts prepared by the proprietor Michael Sullivan, supervised by his friendly yellow lab Gabby.
DAY 2
We started this day with a 22 mile drive from Kula at 3,000 feet elevation to Haleakala National Park and the top of Haleakala volcano at 10,000+ feet elevation. It was a twisting, turning drive with fantastic scenery.
Though still considered an active volcano and monitored as such, it has been hundreds of years since any eruptions. As with many of the volcanoes on the Hawaiian islands, there are observatories at the top.
Our jaws dropped at this other-worldly scenery looking into the caldera.
There were many trails available for hiking, but this was another place of blow-you-off-your-feet wind, so we just gawked.
Back down and to the Iao Valley State Park, which is just outside the city of Kahului. Being close to town, it's very popular with locals and tourists alike. As you can see by the dense foliage, this area is on the windward, or wet side of Maui.
A trail through the valley leads to this dominant formation, Kuka'emoku, or the Iao Needle. It is considered the phallic stone of Kanaloa, the Hawaiian god of the ocean. Warriors climbed it as a lookout during times of war.
The valley itself was a great battleground in 1790. So many warriors were killed it blocked this stream, which ran red with their blood.
Our last stop of the day was at the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum.
The museum is housed in the former plantation manager's house, and provides an interesting look at the long history of sugar in Maui. Sugar was not only the economic backbone of the islands for a long time, many workers were brought in from many different countries which resulted in the cultural variety that now defines Hawai'i.
Sugar has declined in economic importance in Hawai'i, and across the road from the museum is the last of the working sugar mills.
Driving in this area includes large fields of sugar cane.
Sugar cane is harvested when the leaves on the stalks are dry. The fields are burned, then the now-leafless stalks gathered by harvesting machines and transported to the sugar mill. They were burning fields a couple of the days we were in Maui, and this was our early morning view from the lanai.
DAY 3
The Road to Hana
The Road to Hana is an iconic Maui activity for tourists. At the recommendation of our B&B host Michael, we chose to drive it as great big counter-clockwise loop. Since it was a Sunday, Michael said, traffic would be lighter on the "back way" part and that had its own spectacular scenery.
The Road to Hana is known for its narrow, winding, twisting curves-500 of them on the "front way" part and who knows how many more on the "back way" part.
The "back way" started out as a paved narrow two-lane road.
It became a paved narrow one-lane road
complete with one way bridges.
We were working our way down to sea level.
We stopped by picturesque St. Joseph church.
The road became an unpaved narrow one lane road, with numerous blind corners like this. Honking to let other drivers you were approaching was mandatory. There were also signs indicating "no shoulder", and they meant it. Though there was greenery right up to the road, there was literally no land. You couldn't swerve or move over or you would GO over. We met only one car on this part of the road and were able to squeeze past each other without incident.
Sea level.
The "back way" ended at Kipahulu Park, where the trails to waterfalls were recommended.
The trail included this portion through a bamboo forest. Even the tiniest breeze set up a clacking that sounded like a hailstorm.
This is my favorite of the warning signs.
Violating a Closure: $100---OR DEATH!
Our payoff was lunch with a view.
After lunch we tackled the "front way". Traffic was heavy, as expected, and included small tour buses bringing people to the park. Ron did a fine job driving, including some passes that brought our mirrors within inches of other vehicle mirrors. It was nerve-wracking, and he had to keep his eyes strictly on the road. We made only two stops for short breaks. It was nerve wracking for me as well and the few pictures I took were through the car window.
The red flowers on the left are poinsettias.
Another stunning Maui view.
500 turns later, we finished with the "front way" and made our way back to the B&B, satisfied and exhausted.
DAY 4
The Last Day
We struck out for the
We had committed the time to hike this trail of several miles, however about a mile in the "ridge" part of the trail revealed itself, and I succumbed to the chicken-heartedness that's become my hallmark when exposed to steep edges. I invited Ron to continue on, as I had no complaints about the view where I would wait
He chose to come back after a short while, and we hiked back down and worked our way to Ho'okipa Beach, the windsurfing capital of the world. No windsurfing activity, but it was a beautiful beach.
We stopped at
Housed where the ranching Baldwins of Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Plantation family formerly lived, the center and grounds were both stunning.
Banyon trees lined the front area.
The art inside was nice, but run-of-the-mill.
We were plenty worn out and it started raining, so we returned to the B&B early, watched a Louis Black dvd from Michael's extensive collection and called it a day.
GOING HOME
It rained heavily all night. We got up early for a couple hour drive to the airport to discover that someone who shall remain unnamed but her name starts with Al- and ends with -ice left the passenger side car window down enough to completely soak the seat. Whoops. So I rode in the back seat, with Ron in the chauffeur position. No complaint when we returned the car-apparently it's not uncommon. Another island hopper to Honolulu, where we caught our flight to Phoenix, then the shuttle van home, arriving at about 0230.
We loved our Hawai'i vacation, and thank you for sharing it with us this way!
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