MAUI SUMMARY
December • January • February • March • April
Day 108 - We went for a Kipahulu stroll, revisiting sites we'd seen before... past the old sugar mill, the Palapala Ho'omau church and the Lindbergh gravesite.
Day 100 - In the afternoon, there was a heavy burst of rain. The living room ceiling (which was badly in need of repair) had been leaking and it was always quite the ordeal to juggle the buckets.
Day 101 - I encountered lots of interesting fungi on this morning's waterfall hike. Perhaps they're the result from all the rain.
Day 102 - I was super tired today so I skipped my usual walks. I mostly rested... but did crack open a cacoa pod we'd picked up earlier in the week from one of the local stands. I also tried pohole (edible fern) that someone had picked. I continue to have a coconut each morning. They have to be the young, greener ones; the older ones are too hard to crack, even with a machete. After hacking off a tip, you carefully dig a hole through the meat and drink the coconut water. Afterwards, you can bust the entire thing open and scoop the meat out of it. Some off them (because they are too young) have no meat at all, only 100% water. Once every few weeks, folks would come by and harvest them, cutting down and leaving a bunch for us for the ensuing days.
Day 103 - On today's hike... baby bamboo shoots and the massive banyan tree. It was rather windy and rainy the rest of the day.
Day 104 - It was a gorgeous morning! I definitely heard a pig(s) in the bamboo forest... a rustling of leaves as if something big walked past then the distinctive snap/crack of bamboo stalks breaking.
Day 105 - It rained heavily all morning which delayed our drive out to Kahului. We first visited the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum, which was all about sugar cane harvesting. Next was a visit to the house (filled with numerous exhibits) of Edward Bailey, a teacher and painter who lived here in the 1800's. At Kanaha beach park, we watched the windsurfers and kitesurfers for a while. In spite of having the van, we rented a Chevy Sonic for three days... mostly because we planned to drive to the top of the volcano and knew the van wouldn't make the steep journey. It kept having overheating and battery problems. We watched the sun set at Baldwin beach, then headed up to Sue's place up in the hills (she had visited us last month) where we could leave the van on her property.
Day 106 - At 6:30 am, the weather looked clear so we made a race to the top of Haleakala (37 miles, from sea level to 10,023 feet). Unfortunately we only got a very brief glimpse from the summit before thick fog rolled in. Being as it was only 39 degrees F (with ice on the ground) and we weren't going to get any good views, we decided not to do a hike and simply drove back down. Once back at Sue's, we got a tour of the property. It was an amazing location and even had a couple of historic ruins. We split a pizza at the scenic Kula Lodge, then drove up to Olinda to do a wooded hike along the Waihou Springs Trail. We headed to the charming little town of Makawao where we visited some art galleries and watched a bit of glassblowing. We drove up to Poli Poli but the thick mist and rain moved in, so I only did a short hike to a dry waterfall. We grabbed a bit of dinner at Grandma's Coffee House before heading back to Sue's for the night.
Day 107 - We said goodbye to Sue and headed off. We stopped by Kula Country Farms to enjoy the gardens and flowers, then returned the rental car. After a few errands, we drove to Pa'ia and parked alongside the road for the night.
Day 108 - I wandered around Pa'ia early in the morning, then we began the beautiful drive home over the Hana side. We took our time and made stops at Twin Falls (including having to take my shoes off to cross several small rivers), the rainbow eucalyptus, and the Keanae Arboretum. Once settled back in Kipahulu, I went to one of my favorite spots in the national park under a hala tree. A short while later, it began to drizzle, then rain, then pour! Since it didn't look like it was going to stop, I just trekked back in it, getting thoroughly soaked.
Day 109 - It rained hard all night. We had a few errands in Hana but then I spent most of the day reading. It was far too wet to do any hikes. We did watch Donny play at Laulima in the evening for open mic night.
Day 110 - There's been so much rain lately that there were three new waterfalls on my morning hike! The trail was soaked but everything looked so lush and vibrant. I lingered around the bamboo forest and banyan tree. Later we popped over to Hana Farms and got three kinds of banana bread (chocolate chip, pineapple and liliquoi) and some chocolate and macadamia nut covered frozen banana chunks.
Day 111 - It was the most amazing sunrise, with a baby humpback breaching in the golden water. After my morning waterfall hike, I tried to take a shower but it was too windy. Basically the water blows away before it gets the chance to fall on you! We drove down to May's Landing to enjoy the horses, banyan tree and beautiful view. A storm hovered over the inland but there was still blue over the ocean. The mangos are now in full swing and litter the ground. I then spent the sunset under my favorite hala tree. My time is coming to end on the island so I'm hitting all my beloved spots as often as I can.
Day 112 - The weather cleared up a bit so we drove over to the Kaupo general store. Traffic on the narrow road plus some free-roaming bulls made the trip interesting. On the way back, we stopped in at the Huialoha Church (and cemetery). We then washed and took photos of the van in order to sell it.
Day 113 - It was my last full day here on the property. I did two morning hikes... my usual waterfall trail plus the 'hidden' trail, enjoying numerous fallen mangos. The 'Ohe'o pools were wild and flooding over! I packed and finalized my travel plans, then got in an evening national park oceanside stroll.
Day 114 - I got up early so I could squeeze in one last waterfall hike. We then headed via Hana to Kahului, stopping at the Ke'anae overlook to enjoy some of our chocolate chip banana bread and catching more windsurfers at Ho'okipa. We ran some final errands and wandered the Maui mall until it was time for me to go to the airport at 8 pm. My flight left at 10 pm.
Day 115 - We got into Los Angeles early. Moments before boarding starting, I was fortunate to get assigned the second-to-last available standby seat on a 7:30 am flight to Salt Lake City. Once there, I learned the 11 am flight to Denver was full so I had to wait and try for the 2 pm flight. I was #6 on the list with only one seat available. The odds of me making this flight weren't looking good. But then at the final boarding call, one other seat opened up. The first two standbys hadn't shown up, another girl got one seat, and then the second girl gave up her seat to me because her boyfriend (who was after me) wasn't going to be able to get on the flight with her. I was literally running to my seat as the plane doors closed. There was still snow on the ground in Colorado. It was a mixed blessing to be home!
