Hana and Beyond

By 7am this morning, we were on the road to Hana... and that wasn't NEAR early enough!! D'OH!! Not because of the distance or road conditions or anything sane like that... it was because there were soooo many other people who picked the same thing to do as we did. I'm pretty sure that every tourist visiting Maui decided to go to Hana today! Oh well. What do you do.

In spite of all the traffic, we did take in some pretty nice scenery. I was excited to see Jaws, but I guess it only 'attacks' during the winter months... so I had to settle for a pic of the peaceful looking bay that is dormant for the summer.

The highway travels through some seriously dense, rainforest-ish vegetation and is lined with many waterfalls and neat little fruit and flower stands. Just west of Hana, we stopped at a market and tried the coconut candy I've been reading about. It was yummy!

Then we detoured out to Black Sand Beach and had fun wandering around on the lava flows. And, after a few attempts at route finding, we were able to check out Red Sand Beach also. Both were super cool!

We continued past Hana instead of turning around and going back the way we came. This is a spectacular drive as well - I think I almost liked it better, especially since there were few other vehicles!! The terrain is so different, it's almost hard to believe you're on the same island. Oh, and there was the most awesome old shop with the best antiques ever - my friend Toni would have loved it!! Of course I drooled over the collection of cameras... and then pouted a bit because nothing was for sale. 

By 3pm we were back in Kihei and half an hour after that, Todd was out riding. Unfortunately he suffered a gear failure (chicken loop blew apart), so his session was short-lived... but barbequed steaks, rum, and a gorgeous sunset quickly made up for it!

Well, now we have officially circumnavigated Maui in its entirety. Yeah! Over the next few days, I'd like to get in a bit more hiking (early morning - since it has been averaging 90F by 10am or so!!) and Todd will continue to take full advantage of the trade winds I'm sure. **SIGH** I can't believe how fast the time goes by, when we're having such a great time!! Not much longer and we'll be heading back across the Pacific. Boooo. Vacation is just too much fun!!

Cheers!