Road to Hana

Wednesday was our day to take the scenic trip to Hana. It is about 56 miles from Kahului (the airport and about 45 minutes from where we stayed) but it takes about 2 1/2 hours to drive it. It was a beautiful trip. We left before 7 am and made it back for dinner about 6 pm. We stopped numerous times, partly so Ryan could enjoy the scenery. We were told the road has roughly 600 turns (we aren't sure of the accuracy of that information, but it sounds right) and many one lane bridges. Ryan and James climbing at one of the places we stopped.

Coffee beans growing wild.

I don't remember which stop this was, but the waterfall was pretty.

Ryan and I hiked up to Fagans Cross, which affords a really good view of Hana. Truthfully, looking at Hana from far away was about as good as looking at it up close. The so-called famous Hasegawa General Store was a dive and a disappointment. I don't think they've done much to the store since it opened in the early 20th century.

Another view from the top.

Us at the top. James and Tiffany opted out of the hour walk, choosing to read and nap in the shade. We were very hot and sweaty when we returned, but it was good to walk. We saw mangoes, guavas, coconuts and macadamia nuts all growing wild. Ryan showed me the proper way to get fresh mangoes-- take a rotten one and throw it up into the tree to knock fresh ones down. They were sooo good. We tasted fresh guavas for the first time. I thought they tasted just kind of sweet, and Ryan thought they tasted like a sweaty horse. (How does he know what one tastes like?) Guavas are very, very seedy, like the prickly pear, or tuna.

There is a funny story from this walk, but it's too long to do justice here. Ask me in person.

Some of the stained glass windows at the Catholic church in Hana.

This was a Hawaiian hymnal. Good luck singing that!

Hamoa Beach, just past Hana. This is supposed to be the only north Pacific beach that looks like a south Pacific beach.

We thought this was a cool crab. He's well suited for his environment. Ryan took several pictures of him.

We stopped at Wai'anapanapa park on the way back. It was a very pretty beach, but it required walking down from the parking lot quite a ways. We were so tired at this point, that we just admired from a distance. This was a black sand beach, and it appeared to be hot for the barefooted people playing on the beach.

We made the trip back must faster than the drive to Hana. Everyone on the road appeared to be in "let's go home" mode, rather than the "let's look and drive" mode of the morning.