Tuesday, November 20, 2012, Ka’anapali, Maui, HI

Tuesday, November 20, 2012, Ka'anapali, Maui, HI

Our first stop

We were up at 0 Dark thirty. 5:30 AM? What's with that? We were in front of the resort and caught the tour bus at 6:35. We had a continental breakfast at the Kahului Country Club before getting on the road to Hana.

One of many waterfalls and pools

One of first stops was a stand that sold banana bread and other snacks. We bought fresh coconut. At another stop we bought Macadamia Nut Brittle. When we stopped at the Lanakila Church in Keanae, I turned on my GPS and there was a cache about 400' away. The cache was in the roots of a tree near two places where the waves crashed against the lava, sending water high into the air. The cache was named "As The Waves Pound The Lava Rocks." Very appropriate.

Near the cache

Bird of Paradise 

Even with the clouds the scenery was fantastic. We made several stops for points of interest. Our driver/guide lives in Hana and supplied a constant stream of information on the areas we passed through. One of our stops was in front of her aunt's house to take pictures of a Poinsettia Tree. Debra told us her aunt's favorite colors were gold and green, while pointing out the Green Bay Packers sign in front.

Frank and Gerri at the black sand beach

Pink Ginger

A black sand beach

The highway to Hana is mostly two lanes. The thing that makes the drive arduous is the hairpin turns and the one lane bridges. Over 617 hairpin turns and 56 one lane bridges.

After the town of Hana the road becomes narrower and in some paces is still dirt, but it's mostly rough pavement. No matter how narrow the road it is still two way traffic.

Gerri and Neva at the National Park

Lunch was at a flower farm. The arraignments that can be shipped anywhere in the world, the owner said it takes longer to get the shipments to the airport than it takes for the rest of the trip to the recipient. The also sold cuttings for different plants, explaining that as long as there are no leaves or roots the agriculture department allows carrying them home. Lunch it's self was Marinated chicken breast, macaroni salad and a green salad. Desert was a chocolate macadamia candy. It was really welcome after a long morning of bouncing over the rough, curvy road. After lunch we had time to wonder the grounds and take pictures of the tropical flowers.

Charles Lindbergh is buried here

It would be hard to remember all the stops and information about the area. One stop was at a church yard where Charles Lindbergh is buried. Besides the gravesite and church there was a remarkable, huge old Fichus tree. We went through several state parks with one stop at a National Park where we saw the famous black sand beaches.

The Grand Canyon of Maui

There were some memorable moments at places with sheer drop offs and beautiful waterfalls, usually with pools at the bottom. Because of the recent rain the water was high and there was no swimming allowed in most of the pools.

Our last stop was at the Tedeshi Winery and general store in Ulupalakua.

Unique carvings at the winery

From there it was about two hours drive through city traffic to the resort. The tour took us through pineapple fields, bamboo jungles, rain forest, ranch land, near desert on the side of Haleakala that last erupted and back to the resort. It was a long but enjoyable day. As I said before we saw spectacular cliffs, waterfalls, tropical streams and pools along with a lot of fragrant flowers and trees.

For dinner we had a Kalua Pork Pizza.

Gerri was anxious to catch up on her computer time. We did watch Vegas before going to bed.