Maui: Days 5-6

I woke up early every single morning we were in Maui. My body really hung onto California time. At least I saw some beautiful sunrises!

This picture is a little blurry - we took it with the timer. We checked out of our hotel pretty early and headed west before the Hana Highway got busy. That made it a lot more enjoyable. It went tons faster, too.

We got to the airport in time to pick up my sister Ellen and her husband Jason. They live on Oahu and were able to meet us for the weekend. Sadly, I took very few pictures with them. I guess we were too busy visiting. First we had brunch at a fun place in Kihe (KEE-hay) called Ami Ami.  I got bananas foster pancakes - yum! Then we went to Makena Beach, which I LOVED! It's on South Maui, past Kihe, in Wailea (very beautiful resort area), and it was the prettiest swimming beach we went to all week. There was shade, gentle waves, great snorkeling, and a cabana to refill our ice water.

It's always amazing to me how the ocean can look totally normal from the sand, and then you put your head in the water and see a whole new world! 

While we were on the beach, Dave and I did Facetime with our kids. It was so fun! I loved seeing the boys and showing them how beautiful it was there. Apparently all the older people on the beach were staring at us in amazement - they couldn't believe what we were doing. Ah, technology!

Then we checked into our two bedroom condo in South Kihe. It was at Maui Kamaole, and we found it through VRBO. It was so nice! Each suite had a king size bed, bathroom and lanai. There was a full kitchen, living room and dining room. And since we went off season, we got a really good deal!

 

The best part was the big lanai off of the dining room, with its beautiful ocean view. We had the closest condo to the beach. It was a little hazy on Saturday - something about the trade winds changing directions and bringing ash over from Kona's volcano.  After we got cleaned up from the beach, we went to dinner at Peggy Sues for hamburgers and milkshakes. It was a very small 50's style diner, and the food was cheap and tasty. Then we walked around some shops and bought groceries.

After church on Sunday we went back to the condo to eat lunch and change clothes. Then we headed up to the top of Haleakala - Maui's big volcano.

Several people told me how much they loved going up to watch the sunrise over the crater and then biking all the way down, but we decided just to drive up and look around. That seemed like a good Sunday activity. The problem was that Jason gets very car sick, and there were tons of switchbacks! I drove slowly and pulled over a few times, but it just wasn't working out. So we dropped him off at a visitor's center halfway up. Here are some nene (nay-nay) geese - the Hawaiian state bird.

 

Finally we made it to the very top. It was a little chilly (upper 50's/lower 60's), but not too bad. I think it helped that we were there in the middle of the afternoon instead of early in the morning.

 

It was pretty foggy, so we couldn't see into the crater. Apparently the heat pushes the clouds up during the day. For that reason, I guess early morning is better. Maybe next time.

 That's an observation center behind us.

 This is the beautiful silversword plant, which only grows on Haleakala above 2100 feet.

 It's protected, since it came close to extinction. It's very soft, like lamb's ear, and it shimmers.

We picked Jason up and headed back down. It's kind of hard to see, but this is looking at West Maui (which was formed by another volcano) in the far distance. To the left is South Maui, where we were staying in Kihe. To the right is Kahului Bay, on the north side of the island. Between them is the narrow neck, where sugar cane grows. From here on it got a tad stressful. It took longer to get back than we expected (especially since I took a wrong turn - oops), and we were really pressed for time before their flight. We had to book it to our condo for them to get their luggage, and Jason got really car sick. So Ellen called the airline and had their tickets switched to a later flight. Shwew! We had such a great visit with them, and the weekend went by way too fast.