Maui 7
Maui
Wednesday was Kiah's 10th birthday, originally we were going to get up and watch the sunrise from the top of Mount Haleakala, but after calling the ranger station and being told we would have to leave around 3 am, and that even then we might not see the sun rise, as the previous morning the mountain top was shrouded in clouds, we opted to sleep in. So we woke up at 8 instead and went and rented a convertible to drive up-country as they say in Maui.
Sofi thought she was in a roller coaster ride
The novelty for Kiah soon wore off as she realized her hair would get messy
in the convertible.
On they way up the Haleakala we passed by fields of sugar cane.
The road was 37 miles long and climbed 10,023 feet.
There were fields of horses grazing on the hillside.
One of the things you can do in Maui is ride a bike down the mountain, actually
coast a bike down. We saw at least a hundred different riders in total, we
were going to try this out, but no one seemed accommodating for a three year
old.
As we got higher and higher we started climbing up into the clouds.
Soon we were above the clouds
We finally arrived at the park entrance, last year at Sequoia we bought a
National Park Pass so we just cruised right in.
We stopped at the visitor center, the wind was howling and it was freezing
cold. The crater was pretty amazing it looked like some foreign barren planet.
They even have an observatory on top of the peak.
We then drove up a little higher and walked up to the summit. It is amazing
how much the altitude affects you.
The silversword, that only grows on Mt. Haleakala and only blossoms once
every 50 years, was not blooming now.
Later that afternoon Kiah and Sofi both got new dresses for the upcoming
birthday dinner.
We went back to Kimo's Restaurant because Kiah really liked the shrimp, we
also bought her a jade lei that matched her dress.
The sunset's in West Maui are amazing, the night at Kimo's was no exception.
The waiter's came and sang Happy Birthday to Kiah, and brought her a Hula
Pie, which was a huge ice cream, caramel cookie crust concoction.
We all helped eat it, Kiah had a great birthday!
