Showing posts with label Maui. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maui. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Lahaina

On one of our last days in Maui, we drove over to Lahaina to wander around. This is where we stayed a few years ago when we came with my mom, her friend Barbara, and Rich’s brother and sister in law, George and Nadine. Along the way, we stopped at a bird preserve area but there was literally one little bird standing in the marshy water and that was it. Guess it must not be the right time of year. We continued to Lahaina, had some lunch and walked the streets for awhile. It was another warm and sunny day and I was happy just to be outside in it!







































We decided to take the long way back to Kahalui, which ended up being quite the adventure. The very long, steep, winding road took us through the mountains, around blind curves (“no sight distance” say the signs in Hawaii), dangerously close to sheer cliffs with no guard rails, onto one-lane stretches of road and one-lane bridges where we had to hope for a pull out so we could avoid oncoming vehicles. This went on and on for about two and a half hours. We laughingly agreed that we were happy we were not driving it at night. Can you imagine? We later read a comment in a guidebook stating that car rental companies discouraged their customers from using the road. As Rick Perry would say, “Ooops!"







This does not even give you a true representation of how scary the road was. :)




Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Haleakala

We took a drive to Haleakala National Park the other day. The name Haleakala is Hawaiian for "house of the sun." According to a local legend, the demigod Maui imprisoned the sun here in order to lengthen the day. The park features the dormant Haleakala (East Maui) Volcano, which last erupted at around 1490. Above, we took a short hike out to one of the overlooks on the way up. It was a little windy!




Nene bird



Here's the famous Haleakala Crater. It is huge: 6.99 miles (11.25 km) across, 2.0 mi (3.2 km) wide, and about 2,600 ft (790 m) deep. The interior of the crater is dotted by numerous volcanic features, including large cinder cones. Gorgeous!



We saw lots of bicyclists on the road. Many people ride bikes all the way up and all the way back down the steep, winding road. I have to say I would never want to do it--I'd be scared out of my mind. It has to be unbearably hard work biking up, not to mention trying to stay out of the way of cars. On the way down, I can just imagine losing control and falling in front of a vehicle. Yes, I usually think of the worst possible scenario. I was scared just riding a bike to the Golden Gate Bridge and going across in the bike lane. :)


It's also common practice for people to arrive before sunrise to watch the sun come up, or to come out in the evening to see the sunset. We did neither and were there in the middle of the day, but the crater was still hugely impressive.















Pretty high, huh? My ears were popping and I think I had a slight bit of altitude sickness because my head was killing me for about an hour. But, hey, big fun!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm

We visited a lavender farm on Friday and our guide, Christina, took us on an interesting tour of the grounds. The farm grows many varieties of lavender but only a few are still blooming in November.



English lavender


Many other plants and flowers grow on the farm as well and I couldn't even keep up with the various names. :) Quite a few Protea were represented. The genus Protea was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus after the Greek god Proteus who could change his form at will, because proteas contain such a wide variety.

The feathery looking plant is called a White Mink Protea. The large one to the right is a King Protea, which has the largest flower of all proteas.



King Protea








Pink Protea






Lavender fields


Enjoying lavender tea and lavender scones on the lanai

Ugh, I am so annoyed with blogger. I can't get it to take out all these big spaces. I don't know how many times I have gone back in and deleted space after space, saved the post and republished, to no avail. Bear with me. :)

A few more photos from the Heritage Garden
























































and some kids body surfing at sunset