Going to church in Hawaii is always fun. There are SO MANY tourists there. This was ward conference for the Kihei ward.
After church we went to Haleakala Crater. Things I have heard about this crater are that sunrises are a big deal there, and my mom did a bike tour where they drove them up in the middle of the night, froze their butts off while waiting for the sunrise, then rode bikes down the mountain. Riding bikes sounds fun, but not being crammed up there with hundreds of other people freezing while waiting for the sun to rise. Ultimately we decided to wait until after church. I mean, that was really our only option since we flew out the next day and we didn't want to miss church. I had also heard about hikes in the crater. There were a few, but there was this 11 mile one that sounded like the one to do. Only problem is that it started at point A (up top) and ended at point B (lower). So the thing to do was hitch-hike from point B where you left your car up to point A unless you wanted to walk uphill another 6 miles or so. I was all to hike. Except that it was chilly. We were worried it would be a disappointing hike, meaning nothing to look at but brown sand and ugly hills. And when we stopped at point B and got out to look around, we were FREEZING. It had to be 40 degrees, and like 20 with windchill. We did not bring winter hats and gloves and coats. So we drove up to the top to look around. It was even colder and windier up there. It was a really cool, unique sight though! But I was not about ready to hike in that weather. And the hike did look like it would be a bit of boring scenery. So I'm not too disappointed we bailed on that idea. (Hike #2 on my list that we didn't do).
The drive up was really cool. We go from sea level to 10,000 feet. And we saw cyclists climbing it! Talk about a tough ride! Not only difficult uphill, but risk of death is high with all that traffic on a road with no shoulder and lots of turns!
Doesn't it look like another planet??
This is the start of the trail we had thought about doing.
One cool thing up there is these silversword plants. They ONLY grow up here.
There are signs everywhere about these Nene birds being endangered. It's hard to believe anything lives up here. It's so cold! Ryan swears he saw snowflakes.
Once we got back to warmth again, we headed to the beach. It was still really windy so I didn't put my swimming suit on, but I brought it just in case. We ended up just exploring a bit and then walking around for a long time.
As we got back to our place, we realized the sun would be setting on the water if we hurried to the beach. The beach access was about half a mile away, but we walked quick and got there as the sun had just dipped down. Pretty!
We flew out the next morning to head to Kauai, and I took this picture out of the window as we left. It's nice flying when it's light out!
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