We arrived in Maui and were greeted with cloudy skies, but hoped the predicted rain wouldn’t put too much of a damper on our plans.
Our first stop after getting the rental car was at Poi by the Pound. So, if you want to start your Hawaiian vacation off with trying out some Hawaiian grinds (food) then #Poi by the Pound is a good choice. I had the Kalua Pork and cabbage, really quite tasty.
The next morning we were up early to drive up to the summit of Haleakala (house of the sun). It’s the 10,023 volcano on Maui and a National Park. In order to control the crowds at sunrise, the Park has instituted a reservation system which can be done online 2 months before. You’ll need the reservation to enter the park between 3am and 7am and will set you back $1.50. So, there we were on our first day of our Hawaiian vacation up before the crack of dawn to drive 2 hours to the summit of a volcano. Can you see why some people don’t like to travel with us? When we first got there the sky and clouds were actually really a beautiful blue, but as sunrise approached the clouds rose and the rain began. Well, unfortunately the sunrise was not going to be viewed that day.
So, we instead decided to check out Polipoli State Park. The drive up offers some great views of Maui as you wind your way up to 6,200 feet. Will had to stop on the drive up to answer the “call of nature”. But much to his surprise nature answered back. Alyssa and I had never seen him run so fast back down a hill. He said he heard snorting and grunting. Could it have been the mom to these cute little guys?
This area was once deforested by cattle and non-native trees were replanted by the CCC in the 1930’s. The park looks more like northern California than Hawaii as redwoods were planted here and flourished. There is also hunting allowed and yes , it was pig hunting season. So, maybe Will was right to high tail it out of there. The route up to the park is about 6 miles of a very twisty road and then onto 4 miles of a dirt road. We finally got to the park complete with wheelchair parking and picnic areas. As we found the trail to be in need of some serious maintenance we kept our hike very short and instead enjoyed our picnic in the park. The rain and clouds started moving in again and we decided to head back to the hotel. That night we checked out Mama’s Ribs and Rotisserie. Reasonable prices, great chicken and a ton of food.
The next day was our highly anticipated pineapple tour. Maui Gold is the only company growing pineapples commercially in the US and I believe the only pineapple tour. This tour was really fun and quite interesting, plus you get to eat all the pineapple you want. You tour the field where the pineapple is grown and Steve picks pineapples straight from the stalk and cuts and serves it right in front of you. Talk about fresh. It was truly a farm to mouth experience. The pineapples here are all planted and harvested by hand and it’ll take 2 years to get your first crop. We also toured the factory where the pineapples are processed and shipped. Then we received our take home boxes of pineapple. Mmmmm
Below is the truck that spits out the crowns and shoots for planting. The planting crew will then come in and hand plant. Want to make $40/hour? Then you’ll need to plant 6,000 pineapples a day.
After our tour we headed to Baldwin Beach to enjoy our lunch. This beach might be different on the weekends, but when we were there we were treated to a little song on the piano by one of the local beach bums (homeless guys). Yes, there’s a piano in the picnic shelter. Interesting little place.
Going to Hawaii, bring your Costco card. Yep, we were checking into our new place which had a full kitchen, so we made our Costco run. Really bring your card, gas was running 80 cents cheaper a gallon then the vast majority of gas stations we saw.
That night we went and checked out the old town of Lahaina. This is a real tourist trap, but still worth a stroll down Front street. Lahaina was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii in the 1800’s. There are many old buildings which have been converted into numerous shops and restaurants.
