It's day 7 of our trip, and the second (and last) full day on Maui. On today's itinerary we planned on driving on the other half of the island- the Halemahina volcano side, and driving to the top of Haleakala to see the sun set, and do some star gazing.
In the morning, we stopped at a restaurant across from a marina south of Lahaina (I think it was called Beach Bums). They had a BOGO free breakfast deal. The food was really good.
On this side of Maui, you can see the other smaller islands that are near by.
Here's Anna with Halemahina behind her. And no, that's not the name of the van.
In this area the beaches are a dark gray. Believe it or not, this was the first time we stepped on the beach, anywhere, the whole trip. It's true when I say I'm not much of a beach person.
Along the way, we spotted this tsunami warning siren tower. There was a big one on the road to Hana that we missed the day before, so we were sure to stop at this one so Anna could take a few pictures... like this one.
In the "downtown" area of Lahaina, there is the largest Banyan tree in the U.S. It's nearly as large as an acre. It was planted in 1873. Lahaina used to be the capital city of Hawaii before Honolulu, so there is a lot of history here.
Here's another view of the tree.
While walking around a small shopping center, we spotted this fish tank with some humuhumu fish in it. Since Anna was talking about snorkeling, I said if I hold my breath while looking at the fish, it would be like the same thing.
Just a little snack while we're here.
The largest Buddha outside of Japan, is in Lahaina.
Once we were done driving through Lahaina and Kaanapali on the west side of Maui, we made our way back toward the center of the island, and started our drive upward to Haleakala. It was a bit overcast, but we kept going. From here we are about half way.
Then you drive through the clouds and start to see the blue sky and the desert that is the peak of the volcano. From here, we are at the very top looking down into the crater of Haleakala. Anna was super excited and awed by it all.
At the top, there's an observation room. There's an elevation marker on it. There's less oxygen at this elevation.
We're on the direct rim of the crater looking in.
We didn't have a lot of time to hike in. We hiked in for about an hour, and gave ourselves two hours to hike out. Here's a picture after hiking in about 30 minutes. We were waiting for a group on horseback to pass us on the trail. Anna's a couple meters off the trail.
All along the way, there are various sized volcanic "bombs". These bombs are formed when hot magma is blown out of the volcano. While it's flying through the air, it forms a smooth oval-like shape and begins to harden. Then geologist come by and take mass pictures of them all... here's Anna with a HUGE one. She ignored all the signs that say to stay on the trail to take it.
This is as far as we got after hiking in for an hour. Hardly noticeably closer in pictures, but still closer.
I like this "bomb" picture because it shows how many are laying around all around us. Anna's shoe is in the picture for scale. Bombs are also as little as chicken eggs.
It indeed took us twice as long to hike out as it did to hike in. Here's our fake sunset as the sun disappears behind the volcano's rim.
The "Silversword" plant only grows on Haleakala. They are very cool looking. If I remember right, they can live up to 50 years, and bloom only once, then die.
We successfully hiked out of the crater and went back to the top to wait for the sunset. In the mean time, Anna found more and more bombs to take pictures of and with.
There are even bombs that have been used to create walls in the parking area. Another good picture of how many bombs there are, and of Anna.
The sun is almost setting. You cannot tell in the following pictures, but the temperature was dropping very fast, and it was getting very cold! That's an observatory that the sun will be setting behind.
Not only is it cold, but it's breezy too! It only made us colder.
The sun went down, and the sky darkened behind it, and most of the people that were there for the sunset, got in their cars and left. Shortly after, all of a sudden, the horizon was this blazing gold color. We were amazed.
The sun continued to work it's magic as it descended (or rather as the earth turned away from it). The contrast in colors made it look as if we were looking into a painting. It almost didn't seem real. This is one of my all-time favorite pictures from our whole trip.
At the entrance of the parking lot at the top of Haleakala there's another elevation sign. This shot is to illustrate how cold it is at 10,000 feet. It was in the mid-to low, 40s.
Again, the colors on the horizon continued to change.
We have a ton more pictures of the horizon as it continued to change. At one point, it looked just like a rainbow, as we were able to see all the colors on the spectrum. So very cool.
It indeed took us twice as long to hike out as it did to hike in. Here's our fake sunset as the sun disappears behind the volcano's rim.
The "Silversword" plant only grows on Haleakala. They are very cool looking. If I remember right, they can live up to 50 years, and bloom only once, then die.
We successfully hiked out of the crater and went back to the top to wait for the sunset. In the mean time, Anna found more and more bombs to take pictures of and with.
There are even bombs that have been used to create walls in the parking area. Another good picture of how many bombs there are, and of Anna.
The sun is almost setting. You cannot tell in the following pictures, but the temperature was dropping very fast, and it was getting very cold! That's an observatory that the sun will be setting behind.
Not only is it cold, but it's breezy too! It only made us colder.
The sun went down, and the sky darkened behind it, and most of the people that were there for the sunset, got in their cars and left. Shortly after, all of a sudden, the horizon was this blazing gold color. We were amazed.
The sun continued to work it's magic as it descended (or rather as the earth turned away from it). The contrast in colors made it look as if we were looking into a painting. It almost didn't seem real. This is one of my all-time favorite pictures from our whole trip.
At the entrance of the parking lot at the top of Haleakala there's another elevation sign. This shot is to illustrate how cold it is at 10,000 feet. It was in the mid-to low, 40s.
Again, the colors on the horizon continued to change.
We have a ton more pictures of the horizon as it continued to change. At one point, it looked just like a rainbow, as we were able to see all the colors on the spectrum. So very cool.
At this point, there were only about 3 cars worth of people left at the top. Luckily we had saved a couple of haupia pies for our star gazing. We were pretty hungry.
We stayed till the stars were bright in the sky. Neither of us are very good at identifying constellations, but Orion was HUGE in the sky. There was one other couple there as late as we were, and they knew a lot more than we did. The guy's father was an Astronomer.
As it turned out, they had a "local" menu. Nice! I ordered their Loco Moco. It had Portuguese sausage fried rice. It was actually really good. Anna ordered country fried chicken over rice with sausage gravy and hash browns. Good grinds.
We headed home. It was our last night on Maui and in Hawaii... where did the time and days go?!
We stayed till the stars were bright in the sky. Neither of us are very good at identifying constellations, but Orion was HUGE in the sky. There was one other couple there as late as we were, and they knew a lot more than we did. The guy's father was an Astronomer.
We were cold enough, and had experienced enough that it was time to drive back to sea level and get something to eat. By the time we were back in town, it was almost 11pm. Most everything in Maui closes at about 9pm, so finding a place to eat might be tricky. We spotted a Denny's, and even though we really didn't want to eat there, it was all we could find open.
As it turned out, they had a "local" menu. Nice! I ordered their Loco Moco. It had Portuguese sausage fried rice. It was actually really good. Anna ordered country fried chicken over rice with sausage gravy and hash browns. Good grinds.
We headed home. It was our last night on Maui and in Hawaii... where did the time and days go?!
