Maui Day 5

Maui Day 5

Friday July 25th


We both had been looking forward to Friday big time. We had to drive an hour back to the airport in Kahului. We had to go to the heliport to catch our helicopter ride. We signed up for a helicopter ride that was to take us over the Haleakala Volcano and the town of Hana. From Hana, we were having lunch served and then taking a tour back to Kahului from Hana in a limo van. This was definitely our splurge of the trip. It was only Chris and myself as well as a small family of 4 (along with our tour guide). Overall, it was nice and intimate.

















The helicopter ride was nothing short of awesome. At one point, it was just so beautiful it made me cry. Very emotional to be seeing so much beauty all at once like that.













































































































































































The lunch was nice (teriyaki chicken, mahi mahi and more) and we were served in a park in Hana called Wai'anapanapa State Park (check out images of this state park on Google). The views here were stunning and majestic. It's hard to put in to words just how beautiful this place was. I told Chris our pictures aren't going to do this place any justice. But, anyway, at this park we walked down to a black sand beach and got to swim for a few minutes. Lava rocks are not easy to walk on, let me tell you!































check out the guy on the rock!
































our tour guide Sue and our lunch:









































more views and also the black sand beach in the distance:







































































We drove from the state park through Hana and made a stop at a flower shop. They gave me a small bouquet of pink and red ginger flowers. They were so pretty.


























After this stop, we stopped at a stream that we had to walk to. There was a waterfall there that Chris and a few others decided to jump off of (twice!). It was about a 20 ft drop. Pretty cool. I took video of it, so maybe you'll get to see it sometime.









































We made one more stop (but I can't remember what she called this place) and then began the long trek home from Hana. It was about a 3 and a half hour drive with stunning views the whole way. The whole saying, 'I survived the Road To Hana' is a very true statement. The Road to Hana is a very small, winding (617 curves), cliff side road that has one lane on each side (one very skinny lane that is) with one way bridges and a lot of blind hairpin corners. Very scary indeed. We had thought we might drive this road ourselves, but changed our minds and are VERY glad we didn't attempt this on our own. Plus, the tour guide was very informative and knew every single plant and flower out there and their history, etc. The most scary thing that happened was one guy in an F150 was taking a bridge too fast and he clipped our tour guide's side mirror and he didn't even stop or anything. So, yeah, very scary ride. But, we made it and bought a shirt that says we survived to prove it. heh



























































This was a long day for us, but very rewarding. We stayed in Kahului to eat dinner. The waitress from the other night had recommended a place called 'Da Kitchen' as a fav for locals, so we tried it and boy was it great! Very good food and huge servings. We should've just shared a plate, but we wanted to try two different things. Chris ate Teriyaki Steak and I had the Katsu cutlet which was their Chicken Katsu doused in am onion mushroom gravy with white rice and Ceasar salad. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! If we ever go back to Maui, we're definitely eating here again. The prices were decent as well.


After our long drive home, we swam and spent more time in the jacuzzi......