Sunrise and Road to Hana

Wednesday was the longest day of our trip, but one of my favorite! We heard that the sunrise at Haleakala National Park from the crater was a sight we couldn't miss. So...we woke up at 2:40 in the morning (yes, before 3 am) and were on the road by 3:10 am. We made the couple of hour drive up to the "crater"-we learned it wasn't a real crater-and were worried when the traffic came to a screeching halt about 40 minute before sunrise. Apparently the gate to get past the ranger was super backed up, but we made it through and up the crater just in time. We literally walked out of our car 3 minutes before the sun showed its face.

Here's the first sign of the sun peeking out above the clouds...pretty amazing!

 It was quite the weather contrast from the beach days of Hawaii...it was in the 40s and our fingers and toes were FREEZING! It was quite an amazing site though.

 Since we were already over on the other side of the island (and it was still only 8 am) we decided to do the Road to Hana. Our first stop was for sandwiches that we packed and took with us, and then we stopped by a fruit stand with incredible flowers. I wanted to buy some (but didn't want to travel back home with them)!

And then the "Road to Hana" fun began. Grant did an incredible job driving, and even Holly, who is prone to car sickness, didn't get sick on the windy road in the back of the van. Pretty amazing. The scenery was a stark contrast from the rest of the island. It was SO lush and green. We just stopped along the way in several places, took pictures and enjoyed the views.

 We pulled into a little side area and this peacock was just chillin...got some awesome shots of him!

Next stop was a black sand beach. It was super rocky also, but the sand was dark. It was really pretty, especially backed up to the green mountains.

 Pretty views

We finally reached Halfway to Hana and stopped for "the best banana bread ever"! It was steep in price but tasted amazing! Glad I saw a girl eating shaved ice before I ordered because it was not true Hawaiian shaved ice, looked more like a snow cone at the fair. I would have been so mad if I had ordered it!

 There were TONS of waterfalls all along the way...gorgeous!

We don't actually have any pictures once we made it to Hana...but we stopped at the bay, ate our sandwiches purchased at the beginning of the day, and then proceeded on to the national park where the 7 sacred pools are.

We took the hike up to the 400-ft waterfall and saw this cool Banyan tree

My favorite part of this hike was not the waterfall at the end...it was the bamboo forest that extended for the last mile of the hike. It was AWESOME!

The pictures don't do it justice, but it was kind of surreal to walk amidst the bamboo like we did. This is how Grant carried our towels up to the waterfall...he had 4 people compliment him on the genius of his plan :)

However, the waterfall at the end was quite impressive... (and I really only like hiking when I have a destination) so that made it even better :)

 Holly and Jonny were brave souls and decided to get in. I didn't want to hike back wet :)

 And then we came back down and went to the 7 Sacred Pools... here is a view of the ocean they overlook.

 And here are the pools (more than 7)...waterfalls into each pool

The only downside to the day was the fact that we had to drive back the way we came (there is another way around but that's where we wanted to end up)...but even that went well. It was definitely a different Hawaii day but I loved all of it!