The day began for me at midnight, half because I’m still on eastern time (6am) and half because I was very excited about today’s agenda. We were one of 50 lucky people that got the reservations to view the sunrise on top of Haleakala Volcano National Park. It was one of those things that sells out within 10 seconds of the tickets becoming available.
I laid around in bed for awhile, then woke up everyone else, who were all surprisingly not very cranky since we all got decent sleep. It’s supposed to be fairly chilly in the higher elevations, so we all put on the warmest Hawaiian clothes we had, which consisted of the a couple layers and the one set of long sleeve shirt and light weight pants that we were allowed to bring. We skipped over the groceries shopping section of our agenda yesterday, so I’m leaving without the proper amount of coffee/blood ratio – I guess adrenaline will have to do. We’re out the door and on the road at 3:15 am.
The drive wasn’t bad. We listened to some chill Hawaiian radio music on pandora and it only became a little bit challenging once you got to the base of the road that cuts up the volcano, which became an hour of switchbacks in the dark. We eventually got behind some slow grandma drivers, and at it became easy to just follow where they turned. If they drive off a cliff, i’m likely to follow them. This is much easier in a Chevy Malibu that it was in a 30 foot RV. Google maps directions.
We made it to the park entrance where there was a line of 10 cars all trying to get in to do the same thing. We made it to the top, flashed our reservation and park pass and continued up the mountain. The park ranger’s one word of advice was to watch out for birds. I hope the birds know they need to be watching out for me.
After another 30 minutes of switchbacks, we made it to the visitor center parking lot – already mostly full with cars and a few tour buses – damn, thought we’d be one of the earlier ones, although it was 5:20am at this point, and things were starting to brighten up ahead of the scheduled 5:45am sunrise.
We made the quick walk up to the sunrise observation area. It was fairly packed, but we found a spot in the back. It was an absolutely breathtaking view – it felt like being on top of the world, sitting on that volcano looking down the mountain and seeing a floor of clouds below with an almost unobstructed 360 degree view of the horizon. Behind us, the place where the clouds met the sky was turning light shades of pink, purple, and orange – a truly magnificent sight.
There was a loud tour guide there talking about what we were looking at. We’re at ~10k feet above sea level and the volcano we were sitting on – Haleakala – means “House of the Sun” and is sacred to the native people of Hawaii. It should be treated with the same reverence that Pearl Harbor is treated with. As we were solemnly observing the natural beauty, a voice yelled out asking for a doctor. Some good hearted doctor gave up their viewing spot and headed over to help someone that seemed to be struggling a bit breathing in the higher elevations (I think they were fine).
And that was when “disaster” struck… Everyone was patiently waiting to see the most beautiful sunrise ever seen and we were down to the final minute, a large, thick white cloud came up from the mountain and rose right into our view, along with a winter wind that chilled the bones with a cold mist. The tour guide kind of gave a “ah man, high clouds today – don’t be disappointed, you’re still in Maui” type response and people sat around confused what to do. The sun came up behind the thick cloud and they sang a Hawaiian song to greet the sunrise, but most people were a bit disappointed and wandered around.
Good news for the Hodgson’s is we were able to move up and get a better spot and snap some pictures of the hazy sunrise. Victoria and Lydia had smiles here, but their level of misery at the point was about 8/10.
A few minutes passed, and the cloud passed temporarily and we were able to get an amazing view of the sun just above the clouds, minus all of the oranges/pinks/purples we were expecting to see. Still breathtaking… The tour guide yelled out that our patience was rewarded and reminded us that even when you’re dealing with hardship, it is important to always keep faith.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough the guide screamed out “LOOK BEHIND US NOW – A DOUBLE RAINBOW”. A complete double rainbow!!! What does this mean?!? *COMMENCE UGLY CRYING”. It looked kind of like a weird white rainbow missing most of its colors, but it has to be some kind of special sign for the trip. LET’S TAKE A PICTURE OF IT.
The gods decided that was enough and the cloud and windy rain return, which was the limit for the girls and they headed back to the car to warm up. At this point, the girls had enough of the cold and headed back to the car to warm up.
I decided to go up the Pa Ka’oao trail that was a short hike right next to the viewing area. With the cloud descended on top of me, it felt like I was hiking through heaven. All around me was a misty white fog and volcanic rock – very alien, almost like another planet. I imagine one hell of a fireworks show 500 years ago or whenever this thing exploded last.
I hiked back down and we loaded up along with the tour buses and started heading back down the mountain. The girls saw the birds we were supposed to be watching out for called “Nene’s” in the parking lot. I don’t think I ran over any when I backed up. The girls have been calling all birds “Nene’s” now, an I assume this will continue the rest of the trip, and possibly their lives.
The drive down was much more interesting with the sun out – you’d drive from one side to the other – one with clouds, and the green mountain landscapes down to the ocean far below. One more rainbow for the road as well. One bit of bad news – I needed to book reservations to dive in Hanauma bay in Oahu at 7am. I was ready to go right at 7, but either my internet on the side of a volcano or the mobile website was very slow and I couldn’t book them before they sold out. Normally they were selling out around 7:30-7:45, but today everything was gone by 7:05. I’ll try to move the schedule around to see if we can go Sunday instead and try again tomorrow.
At this point, we were all starved so I punched up google maps to find somewhere good to grab breakfast. A good looking bakery called “Baked in Maui” popped up that was close by so we headed that way. The name of it is especially clever because they serve CBD infused coffee for those who’d like to be extra baked. Maybe next time I’m not driving for an hour. Got the “Piggy Wiggy” – ate outside with the nene’s – easy 5 star breakfast. As we left, Victoria said what we all were thinking – “I don’t want this trip to ever end”.
We drove back to the house as we were excited try test out the beach in our back yard. The girls grabbed the boogie boards and I grabbed the beach chairs, walked 20 paces out the back door and plunked down in the sand. I kicked back and enjoyed the view- deep blue turning into turquoise water, quiet private beach, and cloud covered islands in the distance. The girls tried to boogie board for awhile, but the waves weren’t big enough to do anything and switched to snorkels and I jumped in with them. It was a pretty decent little snorkeling spot with some coral and a few fishing running around. A monster turtle made its way into the cove area also. I couldn’t snap a picture in-time, but trust me – it was big. You’re supposed to “give turtles space” and this turtle found a good space so I left him alone.
The only thing missing at that point was some tropical fruit / drinks, so I decided to fix that. There was a farmer’s market / grocery store (Farmer’s Market Maui) type place a 2 minute walk down the road so Lydia and I made the short walk over there. She got a fruit smoothie and I got the Aloha Acai bowl – pineapple, acai, granola, mango, strawberries covered in coconut – outstanding – 5 stars!
We chilled out a little while longer, then everyone got showered up and went for dinner at Miss Arepa, a little Venezuelan food hole in the wall that has some delicious empanadas, arepas, and yuca fries. I’m surprise Miss Arepa isn’t married already with food that good.
Day ended with a quick stop at a nearby beach-side park for some gymnastics, a photo shoot, and deep thinking on the meaning of life.
