March 4, 2013: Kula Garden, Haleakala--

Up early again.  Today Bill and Sue headed home.  With their flight at 11:55am, they were up and out for their walk early.  Then we headed to breakfast at Kihei Cafe.  Definately an interesting place!  Stand in line to order food, then wait to grab a table, then wait for food.  They certainly do a great business!  I got to banana mac nut pancakes.  They were great.  Everyone else liked their food, too. 

By the time we were done, it was about time to head to OGG.  We probably got them there too early (about 10), but I guess it's better to be early then late.  Since we were on that side of the island, I managed to talk Ken into taking me to Kula Botanical Gardens.  There was a $10/person admission fee, but we enjoyed our leisurely walk.  We probably spent an hour or 2 there.  Unfortunately I don't know as much about plants as I do fish.

 azalea

 ????

 birdies

 map of the garden

purple flowers

One of the beautiful walkways.

 one of the beautiful flowers

 ???

 wish this was my lawn!!!

 a type of ginger!

 protea

 iris?

 protea

 orchid

 orchid

 orchid

 weird antherium?

 talk about root bound!

 pretty gazebo

 bird aviary

 nene admiring a tree

 blood leaf bush---or something like that.

 Almost looks like a Christmas tree farm!

 ?????

 more pretty walkways

 looks like a type of agapanthis (sp)

 hydrangea

 hairy palm???

 just another pretty walkway!

 another pretty protea

 trellis

 ??????

nice place to sit and contemplate the meaning of life!

 even had some of these guys there.

 nifty Dr. Suess tree.

 another orchid?

view to the southwest from the gardens.

Since we were halfway up the mountain, Ken asked if I wanted to go up to the summit of Haleakala.  YES!!!!

I've been up here 3 other times, but this is the first time I've been there when there were no clouds!  It was also about 63 degrees up there and not windy! 

 would be an interesting hike.

Love looking at the cinder cones inside the weathered summit.

view down to the valley from the summit.

finally made it to the 10,000ft mark!

lots of silver swords up here.

heading back down.

Lots of sugar cane fields.

 Cute little white horse

 cute little town of Makawao.

By now it was after 3 and we were hungry.  I remembered Stillwells was a cafe,too, so we thought we'd try it out.  Unfortunately, they stop serving lunch at 3 and they were out of lilikoi desserts, so we had to settle for pie!  It was so good I even forgot to take a picture of it until we were half done.  While we were there, we met a young lady who works on The Pride of America cruise ship that was in port then.  We offered and gave her a ride back to the ship and had a nice visit with her after finishing our pie.  Knew there was a reason we checked out that port earlier in the week!

Having had dessert, it was time for dinner.  So we headed to Round Table pizza again.  We don't have Round Table pizza at home, so have to get our fill now.  Plus my salad and the medium pizza was only $22. 

Heading back to our resort we found traffic a real mess.  There was apparently a fatal accident somewhere around Piilani and S. Kihei.  I guess there aren't many ways to bypass highway accidents here.

Near sunset, I walked across from our resort and wandered between Kameole I and II beaches.  Even watched some volleyball players for awhile.  As an avid volleyball player, I was really wanting to play---will have to wait a couple more days until I get back home!  Don't know about the other sand courts along S. Kihei road, but this court is used alot.

Nearer to sunset I headed off to find a spot to take sunset pictures. On the way, I spotted these cool pups.

 Kameole beach II (down from our resort)

 even got treated to a playfull whale not too far from shore.

and finally, another not too impressive sunset.  But it's in Maui!

Couldn't go the whole day without getting in the water!  So we hit the pool and jacuzzi after dark.  Perfect end to another perfect day!  Only 1 more full day left!!!!