Getting High on Maui - Part 2

Getting High on Maui - Part 2

Map of Maui - We were mostly on the lower portion of the island this day

Early morning at our hotel, the Maui Seaside Hotel

In the morning, Chuck and family drove over from Lahaina. Chuck turned their car over to Sherb to be our driver and guide for the day.  We headed off to pick up our "breakfast to-go" at Krispy Kreme Donuts!  

All this talk of donuts and I did not take any photos of the only Krispy Kreme shop in the state of Hawaii!  Sorry!

I ordered a large Coke, which turned out to be a costly mistake as later while climbing up to the summit of Haleakala (Holly-AHH-kahh-lahh) Volcano on East Maui.  I set my camera down into the large styrofoam cup of Coke sitting in the car’s center console!  Oh! Rats!

This completely soaked my camera.  I dried it with napkins immediately, but later, up on Haleakala summit I was getting condensation inside the camera lens.

After the trip, I had to ship the camera to a repair shop in the Los Angeles area to have it disassembled, dried and cleaned out!  That large drink ended up costing $109 and left me with no camera during the Chinese New Year celebrations in Honolulu this year.

You may notice some of the effects of the camera being drenched in the remaining photos taken that day.

Beautiful Bougainvillea at the start of our drive

We were soon climbing up the volcano on the steep, twisting highway to the Haleakala National Park and volcano crater. 

Climbing up the volcano

Above the clouds looking down toward the middle, flatter agricultural areas of Maui  

 

Wowee!  Very high on Maui ! (The sun's Ultraviolet rays are turning my Photo grey lenses very dark)  I am doing the Hawaiian "Shaka" sign.

We definitely got very high on Maui !

We saw the beautiful silver sword plants that only grown at high altitude on the Hawaiian Islands.  The plants are hardy enough to grow in the intense sunlight, the cold and very bleak environment of the tops of the volcanoes.  Very fine filaments on the leaves give them protection from the sun and give the plant its distinctive color. 

Silver swords and other high altitude plants

Silver sword plants

 

Silver sword plant - detail

We could see the top of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Mauna Kea was 100 miles south of where we were standing, on the summit of Haleakala.   

Summits of Mauna Kea and Moana Loa 100 miles away on the Big Island of Hawaii

Observatories on Haleakala Summit

 

Relief map - The Islands as if looking from the southwest to the northeast.

Other hardy high altitude Hawaiian plants

A poem about Haleakala and its plants and birds  Ahinahina is the Polynesian Heliotrope, Nene is a Hawaiian species of geese, ohia is a red flowering tree the first plant that grows on new lava flows, 'o'opu is a Hawaiian species of fish.

Other hardy high altitude Hawaiian plants

Haleakala Crater

Sherb drove us down from the National park through the rural lower slopes of the volcano.  We had a wonderful lunch at the Kula Lodge.

Still above the clouds

The Kula Lodge

High pasture land near the town of Makawoa (Mack-ahh-WOAHH) 

Catholic Church in Makawoa

 

Rural town of Makawoa

We ended back on the coast road going north into Kahului.  There were quite a few windsurfers out enjoying the waves on this Saturday afternoon. 

 

Sherb then drove us down to South Maui to the end of the road near Makena Beach.  The road ends at a lava flow from the late 1780's.

Property near Makena Beach

The road ends near a lava flow area close to Makena State Beach

Historic marker for the spot where the first European made landfall on Maui - A French Count

Detail of the Historic marke Jean Fancois Galaup, Comte de Laperouse leadeer of the first group of Europeans to land on Maui - May 26th, 1786.

We returned though a truly wealthy, area along the coast with many very private, seaside gated communities being developed. It looks and feels very much like the Gold Coast in Orange County California.

Soon we were back in Kahului where we stopped at a Ruby’s Diner for dinner. We said our good byes to Chuck, Priscilla and Nicole at the parking lot of our hotel. 

Early Sunday morning, we had another Krispy Kreme Donut before arriving back at the Kahului Airport.  

Kahului Airport

Our flight home to Honolulu arrived early enough for Sherb and I to have our routine Sunday morning breakfast at the Original Pancake House.  


A week later, I celebrated my 70th birthday with my friends at Outback Steakhouse in Honolulu.

Life is good!

L to R - Richard (also his birthday), me, Jan, Sherb

Please click the colored link to view my other blog about my more distant journeys - Travler Al's Wanderings

Please give me photo credits if you use or share my photos for non-commercial use.  

Contact me at traveleral@aol.com should you need to use my photos commercially.  Larger digital files of the photos are available.

I encourage you to share this blog with your family and friends.

Your comments and criticisms are my reward for the effort to do this blog – they are appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my travels.

Getting High on Maui ! Wowee!

A Quick Trip to Maui – The Valley Isle 



Part 1

My apartment mate, Sherb’s, nephew, Chuck, and his family made their annual Christmas Season pilgrimage to their time share on the Island of Maui.  Sherb had often told them he would come down to visit with them while they were in Hawaii.  This year Sherb honored his promise.

I had met Chuck, Priscilla and their daughter, Nicole, on my first visit to the Hawaiian Islands prior to moving here.  Sherb asked me if I would like to go along with him down to Maui for a quick weekend trip from Friday, Saturday and return early on Sunday.  I said, "Yes !"; even though I was just back from my 3 voyages and almost 10 weeks away from home on my "Almost a Last Hurrah" adventure.  I guess I wanted to add one more Hawaiian Island to my memories of this beautiful state.

Click here to read about "Almost My Last Hurrah!"

We got up and left for the Honolulu Airport much, much too early on Friday morning.  We were the first in the waiting area for the 6 AM flight south to Maui

Sherb at Honolulu Airport - very early in the morning!

It was still dark when we landed, after 32 minutes in the air, at Kahului (Kahh – WHO – looie) Airport.   We picked up a rental car, dropped off our bags for storage at the hotel we were staying at  and set out for…. Krispy Kreme Donuts!  

Kahului has the only Krispy Kreme Donut store in the Hawaiian Islands. It is located just outside of the airport.  We ate breakfast there each of our 3 mornings on the Island. 

What a treat to get a decent glazed donut still warm with a perfect glaze!  The humidity in Hawaii makes it very difficult to have the sugar glaze on donuts and rolls not turn into a sticky, gooey coating.  Getting a great glazed donut is one of the factors that make my semi-annual trips back to the Mainland bearable. I have a list of “favorite” foods I indulge in when I make my trips back to the Mainland.  

Soon we were off to explore the sights in the early morning sunlight.  Our first stop was at an International Peace Park built by the different nationalities and cultures who immigrated to Maui.  Each group had created a pavilion representing their culture: Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean and Hawaiian.

A tribute to the Japanese immigrant farm workers

 Chinese pavilion honoring Dr. Sun Yat Sen

Statue of Dr. Sun Yat Sen - President of China 

before the Communist  Chinese take over.      

Chinese Pavilion - Lion Statue "Please, Scratch My Back!"

Korean Pavilion

Detail - Korean Pavilion

Map of Maui - The Valley Isle

                           

It was still early morning when we left the valley where the International Peace Park is located.  We drove along the coast road north toward Kapalua.

Kahului Street early morning

The road to Kapalua

 Oh My!  It's a long way down! 

Country church - Road to Kapalua

The road to Kapalua

Different colored blossoms on the same stem. 

The road to Kapalua

The road to Kapalua

The road to Kapalua

The road to Kapalua

The road to Kapalua

The views are stunning !

So was the road, it took about 3 hours to drive the 32 miles to Kapalua, but we made many stops for taking photos. 

 Blowhole on Maui's North Shore

  

Molokai in the northern distance

North Shore of West Maui

North Shore of West Maui - Surfers

As we got closer to Lahaina, the road became more crowded and the hillsides along the road were more inhabited.  The drive soon reminded me of being in Irvine California as we passed golf course after golf course with major, very large resort hotel complexes one after another. The landscaping on both sides of the road was flawless.

We found the beautiful time share village where Chuck and his family were staying and soon met with them there.  We then all headed off for sight seeing and lunch on the way to Lahaina.  

Golf course in Lahaina

Marriott Village swimming pool.

Marriott Village - time share apartments

Koi pond - Marriott Village 

We had lunch at a shaded outdoor café right on the seaside. After lunch, we drove through Lahaina and then parked the car to browse the many boutiques and shops. I took a number of photos. The afternoon passed quickly. 

One banyan tree completely fills the block behind an early city administration building  

Nicole on one of the outstretched banyan branches

Lahaina resort shopping area

Cowboy and Sherb

Lahaina seaside shopping area

Lahaina means “Cruel Sun” and the sun is quite intense.  I tried to stay in the shade as much as I could. 

Detail on building above - a ship's figurehead

The Baldwin House - built in 1834. The Baldwin's were a missionary family

The Master's Reading Room next to Baldwin House

Gilmans Store and location of the first Customs House

Lahaina was an important stopping place for whaling ships and their crews in the early 1800’s.  Many of the whalers were out of New England in the United States.  I am sure that the sailor’s stories of the beautiful, naked Hawaiian women who swam out to their ships in welcome – lifted quite a few eyebrows back home.  The New England churches sent out missionaries, including the Baldwin family in 1834, to bring these “heathens” into civilization and Christianity to Maui.  

I don’t think anyone asked the Hawaiians if that is what they wanted. 

L to R - Sherb, Nicole, Priscilla and Chuck

We had an early dinner at a restaurant built out over the ocean.  Our sunset dinner was very good. We had the perfect close to a fun day together as  we watched a cruise ship sail past the nearby Hawaiian island of Lanai as it left Lahaina.

Island of Lanai behind cruise ship

After dinner, Sherb and I drove back to Kahului by completing the route around West Maui to the seaside hotel where we were staying.

End of Part 1 


Next - Getting really high on Maui.

Please click the colored link to view my other blog about my more distant journeys - Travler Al's Wanderings

Please give me photo credits if you use or share my photos for non-commercial use.  

Contact me at traveleral@aol.com should you need to use my photos commercially.  Larger digital files of the photos are available.

I encourage you to share this blog with your family and friends.

Your comments and criticisms are my reward for the effort to do this blog – they are appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my travels.