I didn't plan to do day by day posts because I don't want to bore you to tears... however, I just couldn't narrow down the pictures from our trip around the island so I'm making this its own post.
We got another early start, having read extensively about the Road to Hana. Apparently there's something like 300 curves in the road and it takes maybe 3 hours to go 50 or so miles. In many sections, the road is just one lane around curves or bridges. So, all the advice said to start early to allow many stops along the way and finish the round trip by dark. One advantage of the early start was seeing the sunrise above as we made our way down to East Maui.
We had to balance our desire to stop at many of the breathtaking sites along the way with the fact that we couldn't get Grace in and out of the car over and over again. She was a pretty good passenger given that she had to spend a lot of time in the car (hurray for Blues Clues and Sesame Street podcasts). At one point she said she had to go potty, causing us to panic. A 1.5 lane road with no gas stations doesn't leave a lot of room for pit stops. So, we found a pull out and I told her she would have to go in the woods. I thought she would freak out, but surprisingly, she thought it was awesome (not that she went, which triggered further parental panic). In fact, for much of the rest of the trip she requested to "go" outside rather than in a toilet (no, we didn't let her).
Anyway, here's a shot showing one stretch of the road.
We almost skipped the stop at Waianapanapa park, but we were so glad we didn't. It had a spectacular black sand beach. If we weren't committed to getting to 'Ohe'o Gulch, we would have happily spent the day there.
After a few more beach and waterfall stops, we finally made it to 'Ohe'o Gulch (the coastal part of Haleakala National Park). We had hoped to be able to swim in the pools at the gulch, but the water level was too high (apparently this is pretty common). So, we picnicked and took a short hike out to the pools. What these pictures don't capture is that the pools ultimately flow into the ocean. The entire spot is just gorgeous.
I just can't believe how much Grace looks like a big kid in this picture!
After checking out the pools, we hiked up to the Falls at Makahiku. Along the way, we met a ranger who had woven palm fronds into birds and stuck them onto branches so they appeared to bounce and fly. He kindly gave one to Grace, and it provided great entertainment (and many questions "why did he make it? what is it? why he give it to me?") along the trail. It was very warm and humid and Grace insisted on being carried. It felt very tropical. And it was beautiful.
After our hike, we decided to brave the infamous Pilani Highway. Most people take the Hana Highway to Hana or the gulch and then return the same way, largely because the road that goes all the way around the island has a terrible reputation, no cell service, and most rental car companies don't allow you to take your car there. We checked our car contract and gathered some intel and decided it really couldn't be so bad. Good thing we did - it was a beautiful drive and more direct than the winding Road to Hana.
There were good stretches of the Pilani that were dirt and it was a narrow one lane winding along above the ocean. But I'm a ninny about these things and it wasn't alarming at all, plus there was hardly any traffic. Grace napped and Steve and I gawked.
Then we got into cattle country...
The views up to Haleakala were really neat and the whole drive was such a contrast to the lush side of the island around Hana.
We were not at all expecting a view like this...
The whole area oddly reminded me of the Ring of Kerry in western Ireland. There was something about the hillsides sweeping toward the ocean, especially once we found the cows. One of our favorite spots was a mission church on a bluff, but some sticky traffic made it impossible to get a good shot. However, I found one here (in fact all the pictures on that blog are excellent). I had hoped we would be able to see all the way to Hawaii, but it wasn't clear enough. It was, however, pretty incredible to come around to the west side of the island again and see Molokini and Lana'i appear in the distance.
It was a long day, and we were all pretty tired by the time we got back to Kapalua via a stop at a random playground in some tiny town as well as a failed attempt at seeing the Iao Valley Needle. We ate pizza and popsicles on the lanai and crashed, very ready for a lazy beach day on Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment