West Maui & upcountry

We packed up Red Thunder (our rental car) and drove along the west coast of Maui to Ka'anapali. The Sheraton was not nearly as swank as the Grand Wailea, but it did provide easy access to snorkeling - there is a reef right off the beach, along the rocky point (Black Rock). About halfway out the point is where I finally saw sea turtles! And if you want to see a guy dive off the rocks, it's the grand finale every night at the torch lighting ceremony. (one time was good for us)

Bren continued to have lots of fun in the pool with Daddy, and the grownups enjoyed having access to some new restaurants. We also got to see some truly incredible waves - there was a storm somewhere in the Pacific that created giant waves on the north & west shores - the paper said they were the biggest waves in 40 years!

By this point, we'd been on the beach or in the pool for a week, so I declared it was time for a change of pace and forced everyone to head inland and up - 10,000 feet up, by the time we were finished. We started our upcountry adventure at Surfing Goat Dairy, home of the luckiest goats in the world:

We tried a half-dozen or so different types of goat cheese, all of it good. Brennan especially liked the spreadable mango goat cheese, and hooting at the dogs and cats that wandered around the farm begging for goat cheese. Then we headed a little further up the mountain to have lunch in Makawao, a funny little Hawaiian cowboy town. And then it was time to brave the long, windy drive up to the Haleakala summit. A lot of people come to watch the sunrise, but the prospect of getting up at 4 am to deal with traffic, a cranky toddler, and tourist groups on a downhill bike tour wasn't all that appealing - so we went for sunset instead. Here's a view looking down at the "crater" - which isn't technically a volcanic crater but some way more complicated geologic thing:

this plant - a silversword - only grows in Hawaii, usually above 4900 feet:

Anyway, it all looks like Mars up there-

And it gets cold up there! As the sun went down, the temperature dropped to about 50 degrees - the only time I needed a jacket. Daddy made a poor choice of footwear.

It was really beautiful up above the clouds - we could see the West Maui mountains and coastline, Lanai, and the tips of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the Big Island. I took lots of photos.

Here's your Haleakala sunset: