FLASHBACK: Maui 2015 Part 4

Aloha!

For today's flashback post, we actually LEAVE the condo!  Ha!

We got up that morning, the sea turtles were out and it was a nice day. Of course we missed the sunrise at the volcano again--but no big deal. Since we never made it to the sunrise (and never would), Erich and I decided to visit the top of the volcano anyway. We drove and drove and drove and drove, up and up and up. It took a long time before we finally reached the park entrance---and then had to drive some more.

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Once at the top, there were two visitor areas, one at the tallest point and another at the rim of the crater. We went to the one at the peak first. It was 10,023 feet high, which is over two miles up and way above the clouds. It was so strange to have been in a warm, tropical paradise at the base and then find yourself shivering in the cooler air at the top.

The air was also thinner up, making it difficult to breathe. But you could see seemingly forever!

The volcano's crater area was completely surrounded by clouds, giving it an eerie other worldly feel to it. You could totally see how sunrises here would be spectacular.

In the center of the parking lot was a little space with these rare plants that grow nowhere else in the world. Erich said that years ago they were all over the mountain. Now there were very few left. I had read a sign that these plants were in danger thanks to human vandalism (typical) and, I think it said, some sort of goat.

The nene is the (not national, not state, but...) island's signature bird. Also rare and endangered and only found here on the volcano.

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There was a huge telescope for interstellar research on the top of the volcano. It was closed to the public, but I could imagine that since it was so high up--above the clouds--that they must get great visibility there.

Although it may be hard to see in this shrunk down photo, you can see from one side to the other side of the island here where the northern part's "neck" connects to the main portion of the island. We could also see some of the surrounding Hawaiian islands, like Lanai and Kahoolawe, but we could also see Hawaii--the big island--as well.

The visitor center at the crater rim can just be seen in the photo below at the left. Here I am with the crater behind me, trying to keep warm and oxygenated. Ha!

At the lower visitor center, we got a really good look at the middle of the volcano. Zowie!

Looking back you can see just how big the telescope installation is. The little visitor shelter at the top of the hill we were at is also visible, but hard to see. Follow the path up the hill on the left. If you look up from where it curves and disappears around the hill, you can just see it dotting the hill it is sitting on.  The crater though was huge. You could see the remains of smaller volcanic cones within it. Jeepers, I couldn't imagine that thing bubbling and spewing lava all over. Yikes!

​On the way back from our journey to Haleakala, we decided to see if we could find this fancy restaurant we'd heard about that was situated out in the middle of nowhere. Erich really wanted to eat there and I really wanted him to get the chance. It's called the Hali'imaile General Store (I think the building once was a general store, perhaps?). We swung by and found it. It was just a mile or so off of the road to Haleakala. We'd have no trouble finding it later if we got to go there.

When we got back, Ted had rented himself a motorcycle. It was his ambition to motor around the north end of the island. Part of the road on the north end of the island (as well as a big chunk of the road on the south end of the island) is really narrow and treacherous. In fact, car rental agencies forbid renters from driving those sections of road. But Ted wanted to conquer the north section at least on the bike. Ricki didn't want to go with him, but we did all take a drive up to Lahaina together.

​Lahaina is kind of a neat town. It was cute and right on the water. The drawback the day we went was that a big cruise ship had just come in and there were a zillion tourists everywhere that had come ashore. Ha! I liked Lahaina, but I think I liked Kihei much better. Kihei was more laid back. The shops in Lahaina seemed to be all about getting the big tourist dollar, whereas Kihei seemed friendlier to tourists with a  lower economic status (which was where I was--believe me!).

We met up at a big park in town with a huge banyan tree, which apparently is the 2nd largest in the world. I was unfamiliar with banyan trees and found it utterly fascinating. The park appears to be filled with trees, but this is not so. All of those "trees" are a single tree. The banyan sends out its branches and those branches occasionally send out branches into the ground to support the branches. Those supports grow to be like trees themselves. Fascinating!

The town has an old-fashioned look to it, but a good portion of the shops are higher end. The shave ice store below we did hit (on another day). The bulk of the town was literally built right on the water, as illustrated in the third picture below. In fact, in that third picture--although you can not see it, but about where that white van in, was this amazing vintage poster shop that had stuff to die for. All of it very, VERY expensive. It's a good thing I was broke or...I'd be BROKE-ER! Ha!

The poster store had all sorts of advertising posters from the 1800's up through the 1960's, I believe--including vintage movie posters. They were all European posters, but they were exquisite. The draw back--aside from the price--was that they were all mounted and restored on linen. But they were gorgeous. My mouth was watering...

​Fortunately, I didn't get to drool long (and possibly soil a poster in the process), because we were dragged next door to another shop in the same building. It was Fleetwood's on Front Street, a bar/restaurant  with a gift shop and gallery owned by Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac fame. Ted wanted to buy a souvenir shirt and we planned on eating in the restaurant upstairs. The restaurant (which looked very nice) was not open for lunch though. We ended up eating elsewhere in town.

After lunch, Ted took off on his motorcycle, Ricki went shopping and Erich and I went on a bit further up the coast towards Kaanapali. Since we were sooooo close, I thought I'd try to get to the other sort of tiki bar--at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel.

The tiki bar was just a poolside bar. There was also a matching snack bar. They were separated by a giant tiki statue. Anyway, we got there, sat down and had to have a drink. We both opted for the Coco Loco (or something like that). The bartender told us she was out of coconuts (??? The menu hadn't said anything about them being served in coconuts.), would we settle for these? And she pulled out two green tiki mugs! Heck yes those would be fine. Nothing on the drink menu mentioned coming in any sort of glassware. When I asked if we could buy the mugs, she said they came with the drink! AWESOME!!!! The only bad thing about them (aside from the not-so-great cocktail that came in them) was that no where on the mug does it say anything about the Kaanapali Beach Motel, Maui,or anything. Oh well. I'll know where it came from. CHEERS!

After picking up Ricki, we headed back to Kihei. Back at the condo, Erich and I had to run to the store for something--so off to Foodland we went. We had wanted to get the Shave Ice at the one shop in Lahaina, but didn't. There was a stand right next to the Foodland and we had stopped there. Oh my stars! It was the melt-in-your-mouth best! Mmmm MMM!

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I'm not sure what we did for dinner or what the rest of the evening held in store. I was, no doubt, writing postcards while everyone else watched TV. It had been a pretty good day, the next day was going to be a real challenge!

Stay tuned for Part 5.

CHEERS!