Maui Day 4 & 5

Ok, so where we we.  Oh yes, Maui.  Hang on just a minute while I go back there mentally...

Ok, done!  Man, that was easy. :)

Day 4 actually wasn't super exciting so it's getting thrown in with day 5 which really was.  Sunday (day 4) we hung around our hotel and had their brunch, then went to Sports Authority to get ready for day 5- volcano day!

Day 5 we spent a big chunk of our day traveling to the Haleakala National Park to see the summit of Maui's inactive volcano, Haleakala.  We drove for a little over 2 hours and only about 30 miles before we finally made it to the summit. We drove through sun, rain, hot, cold, forest, towns, desert... pretty much every climate you can think of was on this road.

This is looking down over the island on our way to the first stop- the visitor's center.  This was also the last picture I got of the land below.  From this point on we were above the clouds.

Finally made it to the Park Headquarters and we still had about 10 miles of windy road to get to the summit.  I was pretty much done for at this point.  We climbed from sea level to about 7,000 ft above sea level in a little over an hour.  It took its toll on this girl who gets sea sick, but I knew I had to see the top- there was no turning around for me.  (This is also the trip where I discovered Dramamine, I don't know why it took me so long to hop on that bandwagon.)

 Still climbing...  I'm pretty sure this is where I hung my head out the window like a dog just to feel the cold air.  This drive is not for the weary.

We FINALLY made it to the base camp for the summit.  I have never been so happy to be out of the car, my goodness I'm feeling dizzy just thinking about it.  Anyways, we hiked to the summit and around the crater for a while (ended up being a few hours I think, and we got the sunburns to prove it!).

Ok, there's the pictures I took of that and I need to move on.  The motion sickness went away when we got out of the car and started hiking around.  So, all in all, worth it.  Go see the volcano.  Take your Dramamine first.  Really, struggling with these pics right now.  Moving on...

After we left the volcano (which also, by the way, people bike up to the summit.  How crazy is that???) we were STARVING so we headed back to Lahaina to go to Cheeseburger in Paradise in Whaler's Village.  It was delicious and very filling and it was 3:00 in the afternoon (anytime is cheeseburger time in my book!).  We also looked around the shops in the village and had a really fun time.  There is alot of neat shops in this little city.  We also met Rafael, a local artist who uses a spade to make some really incredible pieces with amazing texture. 

I couldn't resist walking away without this little sea turtle.  I'm not even a turtle person, but for some reason this really jumped out at me and I had to have it.  I don't know what I'm going to do with it.  Maybe I'll set up a mini Maui in my room and just take mental vacations every now and then. :) 

Since we hadn't been busy enough already we decided to head down towards our hotel and make it to Big Beach in time for sunset.  Big Beach is another beach just past our hotel with some incredible views and amazing waves.  We stayed for about an hour watching the body surfers (who can do all sorts of stuff- back flips even on a body board!), whales (yes- humpback whales are migrating through Maui this time of year and yes, we saw them usually in the mornings and evenings), and the sunset.  It was such a relaxing end to our long day.

See?  Unbelievable!

Another day in Maui in the books.  Tomorrow we tackle Hana...

Aloha!