After our time in Kauai, it was time to hop over to Maui. It’s interesting how different the two islands are. Of course there are similarities, but there’s a different “vibe”. Maui feels a little more civilized; Kauai seems more wild. Maui has some places that I find completely irresistable. I was excited to be back for the third time.
We drove up Haleakala, the massive volcanic mountain in the middle of the island. While most of Maui is green and wet, the top of the mountain is like another planet. It’s cold and desolate. Oh, and it’s windy. The temperature was about 40 degrees, and the wind was blowing at a steady 60mph. What’s funny is you can’t even tell in this photo of Kyra:
Pepper didn’t even want to get out of the car, because it was so cold and windy. No one was hiking the trails near the caldera. I braved the elements to snap some pictures of the crater, but even I was dissuaded from hiking along the rim trail as I’d originally planned.
Because there simply wasn’t much to do at the top, given the weather, we headed back down and watched as clouds literally rolled over the landscape below. Here’s a picture of a cloud bank creeping across the lowlands below the road:
The last time we’d been on the mountain– back in 2017— it was cold and raining (in fact snowing at the top). It was a little disappointing that once again, the weather kept us from enjoying the mountain. But it was still cool to be so high that we could see the rest of Maui spread out around us, and even see Hawai’i itself on the distant ocean horizon.
When we arrived back at sea level, it was warm and sunny, so we took advantage of a beach with some wild surf. Kyra and I enjoyed the waves while Pepper enjoyed the sand.
Afterward we went to a food truck (there are a ton of food trucks in Maui!) for some sushi dinner.
The day didn’t quite go to plan, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad day. Does Maui have bad days?…