Feb. 19, 2015---Road to Hana and beyond:

With the weather changing again, we decided to do The Road to Hana today.  Thought the high surf was going to come in earlier, but it didn't make it until the afternoon.  Anyway, we had to be out of our condo so the Menehunes could come in and clean our room.  So we took off pretty early for a change---about 8:45.  Figured we'd check the Costco gas station to gas up before heading out to Hana.  Today we were able to drive right up to the gas pump!  Gas was $2.82 there and about $3.12 elsewhere.  We gassed up on the way back, too, and with those prices it only took us $20 for our whole trip. 
I took this picture of the West mountains from near Costco --- the mountains almost look snow capped.

 First stop along the Hana Highway was the little farmstand to get some banana bread.  I thought this was the place everyone raves about, but I think we came across the real one later on.  Stopped there, too, but it was so slow and people were cutting in everywhere, so we just left.  Anyway---I was also able to get a couple apple bananas here, a loaf of banana bread (which turned out to not even be as good as mine), and some candied coconut.  We had never had candied coconut before and it was a big hit!  Love that stuff!  (Tried to find some in a store to bring home to the "kids", but couldn't find any.)

 I noticed this bunch of bananas just starting to grow.  Never saw them this color before.

  Back on the road.

 Really?!

  Originally Ken was scared off of going on this road.  People he knew who had done it all talked about what a scary trip it was.   But they are a bunch of Midwesterners who are use to straight roads.  I finally convinced him that he's driven enough Oregon mountains that this is a piece of cake.

 Although there were a couple scary moments like when a semi or school bus turns a blind corner and is in your lane.

  But most of it was just a beautiful lush drive---sort of like driving the north shore of Kauai.

 The vog wasn't noticable here, either.

 so many different types of vegetation.  So many shades of green!

  Just one of the many waterfalls we saw.  This one took about a 30 second walk to get to.  We were pretty lucky with getting spots to pull off to.  It really wasn't too crowded on the road today.

  Looking back at the bridge from the trail.

  Lots of flowering trees and shrubs.

  Took a bit of a detour and drove down to this beach. 

  One of the few views of the ocean from the side of the road.  Most of the road was actually inland a bit or overgrown with vegetation blocking the view.

 Maui tax dollars at work.  This did cause us a bit of a delay, but it wasn't too long.  We actually noted that the road to Hana (even the part not repaved yet) was smoother than a lot of the main roads around Maui.

  More of the interesting vegetation growing wild beside the road.

  another waterfall.

  and another.

Overlook of one of the little towns.

 zoomed in 

  another wildflower.

 dried up river bed

  one of the many roadside markets

  reminded me of my days as a Girl Scout leader!

  vegetation on top of vegetation.

  such a variety of vegetation.

 finally reached Hana about 3 1/2 hours later.

  note the little critter looking at us from the side of the road.  We saw 3 mongooses run across the road during our Road to Hana trip.

 Had to turn around an go back here when we realized there was only one way into Wai'anapanapa State Park just before Hana.

  I immediately wanted to jump right in!

  We had our suits with us, but it was getting late and we still hadn't eaten and we wanted to get to 7 Sacred Pools.  But it sure was hard not jumping in!

  Lots of things to do here.

   Yes, I was mesmerized!

  I didn't realize this park was so nice.  Ended up walking to the spouting horn, but it wasn't spouting.

  We saw a few people snorkeling and a lot of people just playing in the water.  (If we ever do the Road to Hana again and the conditions of the ocean here are like this, we're definitely snorkeling and not bothering with going past Hana.)

  Even some historic Hawaiian ruins.

 Finally decided to eat lunch, so we picked a shady spot and had a pic nic.  There were pic nic tables available, but all the ones In the shade were taken.  So Ken brought the tarp out and we sat on the ground.

  That sandwich sure tasted good!

Next stop was at Hana Bay for a quick look around.  I'd read about a red sand beach, looks like we found it.  (I was told this isn't  it and that it is hard to get to. )

 some Hana cows.

 then we drove past Hana.  Highway 360 reminded of the back side of the West mountain in a lot of places---except for the amount of sheer drop offs by the West mountains!

  I was surprised to see we were entering Haleakala Park when we got to Oheo Gulch (or something like that, also 7 Sacred Pools).  I guess my guide book is so old that this visitors' center is new since then.  No biggie, Ken is an old geezer with an National Parks Old Age pass.  So we got in free.

 There was even a little museum here.  I thought this was an ingenious octopus lure!

 We did the mile rt walk to the pools.

  Lots of people were there.

  towards the ocean from the pools.

 walking back we saw these Amaryllis growing wild.

  Note the narrow area.  At least here there was plenty of space for the other driver to move over.  A few times we were caught having to back up, or the other people had to back up.

  LOVED these!  We had to go back by them so I could get a picture.  If someone had been there we probably would have bought one. 

  Bet this horse doesn't care for walking on the road.

 a few views along the way back.

 The sun was dipping low and blinding in some spots.

 found a little Rainbow Eucalyptus stand of trees.  

 Close up of one.

 One of the many 1 lane bridges.  Hard to believe they're about 100 years old.

  Sunset was while we were driving through the valley.  Lots of color in the sky tonight.

  Dinner was another Round Table pizza.  It was just as good as the first one and we had another coupon!

 We did get a little water time once we got back to the condo.  The pool and Jacuzzi felt really good.  Then I had to go through my 300+ pictures.  No snorkeling today, but it was another new adventure and a lot of fun.  I had driven the Road to Hana when I was here with my Dad about 10 years ago, but it was a cloudy rainy day and we didn't get to stop at many places (including  Wai'anapanapa State Park, plus the road past Hana was closed then).  With the overcast and rain that trip, it wasn't nearly as pretty.