Three am came very fast, I rolled over as Ryan got up and went into the other room to sit on the couch to surf the net, as he has the past few mornings. At around 4, he came in and said, "Let's go if we're going to see the sunrise!" So I rolled out of bed, put on some jeans, shirt, thick sweater and running shoes. I had no idea the long road ahead would be freezing at the top of Haleakala mountain. Ryan said it would be cold, but we arrived at 5:36, just 11 minutes before sunrise. Thankfully there are bathrooms and a ranger station/ gift shop where we could wait for the sun to make an entrance into this Hawaiian world.
After we drove down Haleakala, seeing the view of the drive this time, we decided to go into Wailea to check out the Marriott of the big side of the island. There is a mall there too, but when we parked, we realized it was only 8:30 am and the mall didn't open till 9:30. These days have been so long, kind of nice!
So, we needed some breakfast, and we scoped out all the local cafes'. I didn't want a chain restaurant so we ended up at "Cinnamon Roll," a tiny little shop where an old couple makes these huge cinnamon rolls. She rubbed the roll we chose in the gooey cinnamon sauce in the pan and asked the spunky talkative wife add 'mac nuts' to the top. It was a sure treat.
Later in the day, after laying by the pool, not lasting long cause it was drizzling and windy, even though it was still 80 degrees, we decided to venture into Lahaina. After perusing the tourist shops on the water front, we had to stop for a "SHAVE ICE!" Mmmmmm. The best was from a stand called "Luna lani."This time we got 3 flavors; Mango, Pineapple and Coconut. Seriously the best!
Ryan really wanted to go to this park. He remembers going her as a young boy with his family. It's intriguing how the branches hang low, some propped by a large wood plank, but mostly they travel from tree to tree, regrow onto that tree, then venture into another. It's kind of crazy to think that the branches grow out longer than 60 feet and attach to another tree. This would have been my childhood dream to climb from tree to tree, walking across branches from tree to tree.
The day started with watching the sun rise, so of course we had to go to the beach on the shore in front of our Hotel to watch the sun set. It was gorgeous. We have watched some beautiful sun sets from our room while here, but it is always more fun to start and end the day watching the sun rise and set on both sides the pacific ocean on the same day.
After the sun left a halo on the sky, we walked to "Longboards," a restaurant just along the path attached to the Marriott. The seating is all outside with the funnest tiki torches, longboards all over as decor, and a man singing/playing Hawaiian and slow toons live. We had fish tacos and seafood pasta. If you haven't noticed yet, we've tried to fill our meals with fresh fish. Hope it is caught local. That was our intent, to have a real island experience with food, excursions, and weather. So far, so amazing!
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