The light all over Maui but especially along the road to Hana was so beautiful, we kept saying "warm light, dark sky, can't lose" just like Coach Taylor.
We started off with a rainbow right out of Paia, great sign! After fueling up at Paia Bay Coffee's indoor garden (and dropping some dramamine) we were quickly thrown into hairpins and bamboo forests. By far my favorite part was a detour that led us down a closed road where we could walk to the ocean. Surrounded in sticky jungle, with sunbeams cutting through the humidity, it felt remote and removed and fantastic.
After a quick stop at Wai'anapanapa to ogle the black sand beach and dip in the cave pools, it was lunch time and ice cream sandwich time and time for Liz to show the locals about LA cholo style.
We left plenty of time for a couple hours to relax at Hamoa beach in Hana which gave me my first chance to scrounge passionfruits off the floor of the jungle (!!!) off the parking lot. I could have just stayed next to the parking lot all day and been psyched.
After all that fruit excitement, there was still more! The road on the way back from Hana was incredible. I wouldn't have wanted to drive or ride it after dark, but in the afternoon light - YES.
The sunset from the car was not the typical Hawaiian sunset with pink and palm trees, but the orange + windmills on the ridge and sugarcane in the foreground felt like the Hawaii we wanted.
Kyle wanted to check out the surfing at Honolua Bay and we were happy to scamper along with him for the snorkeling (Dan) and enchanted jungle forest (me). On the way back to the north shore, we stopped at Leoda's for chicken and waffles and basically each of the pies they had - pineapple macadamia, are you kidding me?? It sounds insane to say you must not miss this place while on Maui but it truly surprised me by how good it was. It would have been just as good in Boston or LA so this wasn't a rating based on being blinded by vacation haze.
Just before we got there, the waves on the north shore had been scarily large (40') but we still wanted to see what it looked like at the infamous Jaws, even if they were a less pants-wetting 18'. No way was I getting any closer than I did. Kthx telephoto lens bai.
I could have spent so much longer in upcountry Maui than we did (weeks! months! evers!). After lunch at Hali'imaile General Store, where everything was awesome except what I ordered (I know, you're crying huge tears for me), Dan and I headed up to 10,000 feet and the top of Haleakala! I didn't think I was in, say, run a marathon shape, but altitude is no joke. Dan and I shuffled and huffled along the trail for a bit before deciding we needed to head back down to sea level for snacks.
Our last day still had plenty of time for more adventuring and light trespassing. Hey we didn't know, we were just scouting for a place for me to finish the last roll of film before sending it in.
Every time I felt like I was getting natural beauty fatigue from every sight out the window being so stunning, Maui still surprised me. La Perouse Bay was just one of these places that really knocked my socks off and made me reach for the camera again.
As Dan put it, he'd like to have starred locations on his google maps of each Hawaiian island. You can't just go once!
