Friday, November 7, 2008

North Side of the Island

Thursday - This was the day we had decided to take the drive to Hana . . . not GO to Hana but drive the road toward Hana.

We drove north up the Mokulele Highway. Our first stop was the Sugar Museum. I cannot count the number of times the hubby and I had passed it over the years but this was the first time we stopped and took the tour. The largest question looming on our minds was: How long does it take for sugar cane to mature? The answer: 2 years.

Next, continuing on Highway 36 we stopped at Mama's Fish House in Paia for a wonderful lunch. I haven't been here in years. It is much nicer than I remember and the view was amazing . . . as was the food. Again, the fish was de-lish, and these are words coming from a non-fish eating person.

After lunch we rolled back into the car and, finally, headed toward Hana. If you've heard that it's windy and windy . . . it is. (Okay . . . so I had to ask the hubby how to spell both . . . cause I didn't want to say windy, as in all-turny, and have it mean windy, as in blowing air) in actuality it was both. Mostly all-turny roads windy. We pulled over to watch the surfers, wind-surfers, and para-surfers.

The mile markers, which we were using to find the stops, confused us. We had started at 3 only to have them reset at 5 or 6. We saw some waterfalls . . . were they Twin Falls or the falls near Waikamoi . . . we're not sure.

Next stop was the Garden of Eden. We enjoyed the many 'labeled' plants that we had noticed but had no idea what they were.



Continuing our trip, we took a left when we spotted Keanae Arboretum and headed for the the peninsula. We saw the taro beds, expansive shoreline with its wild, crashing waves.

There was a little house with two brown ponies in the front yard. I could have sworn the chair on the porch was rocking back and forth. I couldn't quite make out if there was really a person in the chair . . . but I thought I could make out some white shoes and maybe a newspaper they were reading.
I snapped a pic . . . what do you think?
On the way to our final stop we passed a rest stop. I only mention this because I only caught a glimpse of the weirdest sight. Next to the bathrooms there was a fenced in area.

Inside the fenced in area, there were chickens and cats . . .

LOTS of them, several herds roaming the inside of the corral together. There were also a bunch of people who had pulled over to look at them.

If I had been driving I would have stopped. I really mean LOTS of them.

Really. LOTS.

The last stop was Pua'a Ka'a State Park. We found another waterfall.

. . . and another wildlife creature: a Maui mongoose.

For the final time we piled into the car and headed home, returning well past dark. It had been a very long day. We enjoyed Komoda's apple pie and some Haupia ice cream for dinner. I was the first to hit the sack. I heard the other three soon followed. It had been a very long day for all of us.

3 comments:

Georgina M. Hunter R(S) e-Pro said...

Did you know the back road around by Kaupo Store is now open again? Then you don't have to drive the same route twice.
Glad to hear you're enjoying your Maui vacation!

Serena Cavanaugh said...

Shirley,

You sound like you are having way too much fun. I can't believe that windy and windy are spelt the same way. I thought you made a mistake, but I guess not. I know the road to Hana islong, but was it worth it? Did you enjoy it? It sounds like you did. When we went to Maui, every one told us to pass on that, so we did. But I always wonder about it...

Hurry home. Well, actually, enjoy your vacation and make it last "Island Time."

Serena

Heidi said...

I had forgotten that Baldwin is kind of a big name around there--some long time ago missionary raised his family there or something. As for me, I think it was a ghost in that there rocking chair.