Honeymoon: August 2nd
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Maui, Hawaii
MAP
I wasn't sure if we had time for the "Road to Hana" trip when I was planning the honeymoon. After talking about it with Kim, however, we opted to do it, given the great things we'd heard. For those who don't know, the mileage of the drive isn't bad, but the myriad hairpin turns and 1-lane bridges, in addition to the plentiful sights and stops, can easily make this trip a full-day endeavor. LOOK HERE for an example of just how curvy this road is, and realize that that map covers just a very small part of the entire trip. I didn't find it too stressful, but it is slow-going.
In the end, I don't think either of us was terribly impressed. The area is very lush and green, with plenty of interesting stops. However, the first 5 miles look the same as the last 5 miles, and I'm not sure if hours of driving yielded more enjoyment than the first hour did. For the most part, waterfall flow was weak (affected by the same pattern that resulted in insufficient winds for sailing the day before). This just happens to be bad luck, since many of the stops are more impressive most of the time. Blue Pools, which looked promising, and about which we heard great things, was brown and trickling. The tour through the Garden of Eden botanical garden was nice, with plenty of cool flowers and plants and a very good view. It was quite hot, however.
Interestingly, I thought the way FROM Hana was more interesting. We took the entire loop around the island, and the highway south and west from Hana was horrible for many miles, with the worst excuse for pavement that I've ever seen. That said, it was certainly passable. The scultped landscape on the dry side of Haleakala was amazing, which put this in direct contrast to the "wet" side of the volcano. Oh yeah, we passed a bus that was on fire too.
Pictures
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