For some unexplained reason (OK, maybe it was the previous night's mai tais) we slept in fairly late this morning, so we didn't get our traditional sunrise. It felt good though!
Despite our general aversion to attractions that are specifically for tourists, we found ourselves drawn to the "Tropical Plantation" that we had passed on our way home from the I`ao valley. The nature of the place was immediately obvious, because the entrance was through the shop, which was the size of a good sized supermarket, filled with everything from macadamia nuts to aloha prints. Yes, we did buy some macadamia nuts for our friends back home.
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| Tropical Plantation |
Beyond the store there are some very nice tropical gardens, and I got give my new macro lens (my first purchase through eBay) a good workout (Lots of pictures HERE). Of course the majority of the flowers were types that we see every day since we live in Los Angeles, but they seemed lusher here. We finally saw a few geckos, much touted but absent until now. There was a huge fish pond and swarms (the word seemed more fitting in this case than 'flocks') of ducks that tried to mug us when we walked too close to the fish food dispenser. There were also some great views of the mountains.
We decided to skip the informative (and pricey) tram ride through the plantations themselves, though we did sit in for the demonstrations of how to make a tropical fruit salad (we can now make a little outrigger canoe out of a pineapple, just ask us!), along with gulping down the free samples.
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| I`ao Theater |
Even a super sized Coke couldn't revive us, so we headed into Kahului to find some coffee and ended up a Borders. Coffee and a treat picked us up enough that we were ready to face Haleakala, where we wanted to be for sunset. As we drove up, it wasn't clear (literally) whether we would see the sunset, as we kept driving through drizzle and fog. Even after we arrived at the park headquarters it was cold and wet, so we changed into sweaters and jackets before heading to the top. We were hoping to see Nene, the flightless goose that is the state bird and a wonderful example of evolution. However, none were to be seen.
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| Haleakala Crater |
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| Haleakala Sunset |
We had stayed at the top longer than most people, so we didn't have to play caravan on the way down the hill. Driving the curvy road at night (and through thick patches of cloud) wasn't too pleasant, but since there was no traffic it wasn't stressful. We passed two or three cars coming up the hill, scientists on their way to work at the observatories on the summit.
Having had a full day, and being in a great mood from the sunset, we decided it was about time to go out and have a really nice dinner. We had a sushi house in Lahaina targeted, and our mouths were already watering by the time we were down the mountain and got onto Hwy. 30. Then the traffic stopped. Stopped cold. Didn't move. We sat for more than half an hour before we finally thought to turn on the radio and heard that there had been a fatal traffic accident on the road at 2:30 that afternoon, and that they were still working to clear it. Since there are no alternate roads, everyone was stuck. We were lucky we only got there at 7:30, but I wish we had been listening to the radio earlier so we could have gone to dinner elsewhere while the accident was cleared. As it was, we sat pretty much unmoving for more than 2 hours. People got pretty relaxed about it though, turning off their headlights and engines to rest and just listening to the radio and taking it easy. In LA there would have been shootings! By the time the opened up the parallel sugar cane road (potholed dirt road) to bypass the accident site, it was far too late to go out to dinner, so we just headed back and had cereal for dinner. That will teach us to put off a night out until the last night of the trip!
Day: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - Notes/Resources
Last Updated 4 November, 1999
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