We took things easy on our seventh day in Maui, because we were still pretty exhausted from the Road to Hana the day before, and because my brother Ted needed to get dropped off at the airport to fly home in the evening. We decided to just drive around and leisurely explore, hitting a couple food places we wanted to eat. One place we wanted to try together before Ted left was Geste Shrimp Truck!
Geste Shrimp Truck in Kahului.
Putting our orders in.
Waiting for our shrimp!
One of the foods I’ve been dreaming of having again since our trip two years ago to Oahu was garlic shrimp from a shrimp truck. The shrimp at Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck in Kahuku had been pretty amazing, and I was eager to find out how Geste measured up, as the two are often compared to each other.
I got the shrimp scampi, loaded with garlic – yum!
Miwa’s lemon pepper shrimp
Dan got the hot, spicy shrimp… of course.
The verdict? Geste Shrimp was pretty good… but Dan and I agreed that Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck in Oahu is better, especially with their garlic shrimp and the garlic rice that accompanies it. In terms of their variety, though, Geste has a better selection of flavors to choose from.
After stuffing ourselves with shrimp, we drove over to Leilani Farm Sanctuary in Haiku for a Mio-friendly attraction — with goats, rabbits, donkeys, cats, peahens, pigs, tortoises, ducks, chickens, and deer residing at this animal farm, it’s known as “a paradise for rescued animals.”
A visit to Maui is not complete without traveling the Road to Hana, or the Hana Highway, which offers some of the most gorgeous scenic views of the Hawaiian Islands. Even though this legendary road is only 52 miles (84 km) long from Kahului to Hana, it takes the average driver around three hours and can be quite a challenge to navigate, because of how narrow and winding it is. There are about 620 sharp curves and 59 bridges, 46 of which are one-lane bridges. I’d read that the road can take such a toll on one’s nerves, that it’s also known as the “Divorce Highway,†because the stress from driving on the road has caused quite a few arguments among couples (although thankfully, that was not the case for us). It’s also not a course you should undertake if you are prone to carsickness because of how windy it is. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? Well, we were told that it was well worth all the inconveniences, because there are so many stunning scenic views along the way; everyone who had been to Maui encouraged us to go on the Road to Hana, so we knew it was not to be missed during our time there. We at first questioned our own sanity for taking a toddler on such a long, treacherous trip, but we hoped for the best and planned to dedicate Day 6 of our trip to the Road to Hana. Because most people make frequent stops to hike and check out the breathtaking sights along the way, it is advised to dedicate a whole day to the excursion (the three hours mentioned above is driving time only). We’re so glad that we did make the effort to go, though, because we were treated to some of the most incredible views, and we were able to see for ourselves why they call it Heavenly Hana!
We left Kihei in the morning, so it took us over an hour to get to the start of the Road to Hana in Kahului. Towards the beginning, I was getting so carsick from all the winding roads that I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle the whole trip. Thankfully, the motion sickness subsided for me after the first half hour.
Stopping at Halfway to Hana in Keanae
Mio taking a much-needed break from the car. This was actually moments before Dan injured himself badly in the knee when he tripped and protected Mio from the fall.
A view along the Road to Hana.
We made a stop at the Hana Lava Tube, which is also known as the Ka’eleku Caverns. It’s one of the world’s largest lava tubes, and you can explore 1/3 mile of unusual underground formations that were created by an ancient subterranean river of lava! Liquid rock flowing through the passages one thousand years ago has cooled into myriads of beautiful stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone.
Dan is excited to go into the lava tube. Mio, not so much.
Descending into the caverns. The cow skull is there because cattle ranchers used to dispose of the remains of slaughtered cattle in this lava tube.
Our place is a total mess right now with all the packing we’re doing in preparation for our move in two weeks! Mio can definitely sense the big changes and seems to have an inkling that we’re about to go somewhere new — she’s been piling stuffed animals onto her ride-on toy car and pushing them from room to room, as if to tell us, “We’re already ready to go!”
She likes to say “boo-bboo” (Japanese equivalent of “beep beep”) as she wheels her entourage around. 😛
On our fifth day in Maui, we woke up at 3am and left the cottage at 4am to drive up to the Haleakala Crater summit, in hopes of watching the famous sunrise which is said to be the most beautiful when seen from the volcano’s highest point at 10,023 feet. The drive took over an hour and a half, but we got there just in time for when the sun was scheduled to come up. It was freezing up there, but we bundled up and eagerly waited with cameras on hand.
View of the sun about to rise, from the Haleakala Summit
…and then came the most disappointing moment of the entire trip. It had looked like the sun was about to shine through the clouds and light up the valleys below, and then a massive fog came in and shrouded everything. It became dark, and we couldn’t see a thing.
Darn you, fog!
You can see what happened in the time-lapse that Dan created, below.
We were really bummed, as this was supposed to be one of the biggest highlights of the trip and was one of the top attractions in Maui, probably second only to the Road to Hana. We found out afterwards that there was a hotline you could call the night before with a rating/forecast of how the sunrise would look the following morning. If only we’d known about it, we could have saved ourselves the early wakeup and long drive up and down the summit that had all been for naught.
At least we got some stunning views of the sunlit valleys of Maui on the drive down for the summit. I guess it wasn’t a complete waste of time…
We went back to the cottage to take a nap, and then drove over to Polo Beach, where we spent much of the afternoon.
Lately, when Mio hears the Japanese children’s song ito maki maki (ã„ã¨ã¾ãã¾ã, or “thread-winding”), she does the winding motion with her hands. She’s starting to catch onto things very quickly these days — I love observing all the new things she’s learning!
