On Wednesday we had the Gypsy Tour Guide app take us around the southern edge of Maui, heading East. First stop was Lahaina, which was a bustling little village. We ate breakfast at Cheeseburger in Paradise (not the Jimmy Buffet chain) and did some shopping. We finally tried some Hawaiian shaved ice. Yes, it is as delicious as it sounds. I made a kiwi, strawberry, mango treat.

We continued our drive through a few small villages, then we rolled past the high dollar real estate area. We parked by the Four Seasons and went for a swim, once again hoping to see some of the turtles that are supposedly just off the coast. The beach by the Four Seasons is referred to as a “turtle town”, and you are pretty much guaranteed to see at least one. The turtles didn’t get the memo, apparently, and it was more like a Turtle Ghost Town. Nuts!!!

A little farther down the coast and we entered Keono’o’io. Just past this area was a section of government land that was closed to hiking, swimming, stopping the vehicle. Why? Because it is the location of Maui’s last lava flow, and they are trying to preserve that natural landscape. At first glance, it looks like a giant patch of chiseled dirt. Upon a closer look, it is hardened lava. Heaps of it. So incredible!! They think the last eruption was around 1790. Can you imagine watching that hot lava flow out to the sea?!

It was around 3:00 by this point, so we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at a place called Kimo’s in Lahaina. The view was perfection.

On the drive back to the resort, the heavens blessed us with an amazing rainbow.

We found some lounge chairs by the hotel and watched our last Maui sun set before going back to the room to catch up on my blog posts. Aloha!

Tuesday morning was supposed to be the day of our ATV tour, but the hotel concierge messed up the date (for once it wasn’t my mistake!). So after sitting at the check in location on New Years Day for 15 minutes, we decided to change plans and drive up to Haleakala Crater instead.

First we needed to run back to the hotel and get some warm clothes, snacks, and toilet paper. Haleakala is a National Park, and since our lovely politicians can’t get their act together, National Parks are shut down. Well, sort of. The roads are open, and the bathroom services were questionable as to their accessibility. So we brought toilet paper with us, just in case. Thankfully when we got to the top, the bathrooms were open! Hooray! And they had toilet paper and soap! Double hooray! To the Park Rangers that kept the toilets functional during the government shut down, we appreciate it!

Jay has been saying since we got to Hawaii that he wanted to bring home a Hawaiian license plate. I was keeping an eye out at the gift shops and hadn’t found any yet. But as luck would have it, while we were driving towards Haleakalā, the truck in front of us lost something small, shiny, and rectangular. We stopped the Jeep, and sure enough, it was a Hawaiian license plate! Boom.

So I didn’t think I needed to take a Dramamine. Bad choice. While I didn’t get sick sick, I wasn’t feeling good by the time we got to the top. Hint for other travelers who get motion sickness…take the Dramamine!

Here’s another hint. I mentioned during the Road to Hana blog that we dowloaded an app called the Gypsy Guide to Hana. I went ahead and paid a little more to download the Gypsy Guide to Maui app. We hooked my phone up to the Jeep speakers and had our own personal tour guide along nearly all of the roads on Maui. Today we listened to him tell stories and give directions and travel hints all the way up and down the crater. This app is AWESOME!! He was telling us about how the tectonic plates caused the volcanic eruptions that creates the islands. He was pretty confident that Maui wouldn’t erupt again, which was comforting since we were driving towards the top of the old volcano…

We started the drive to the Up Country and made a quick stop at a gift shop halfway up. The temperature was quickly dropping and my long pants, tank top and light jacket weren’t going to cut it. I bought a sweater. (Hint – next time, I would wear warmer clothes. Temp drops at least 20 degrees as you climb).

We got to the entrance to the park and were greeted by locals who were reminding everyone to respect the park (since the rangers were on shutdown). Good news, though! No park entrance fee! We continued to climb to an elevation of 10,000 feet! The air was THIN. And there was hardly any vegetation at the top – for sure no trees. Cold, windy, and sunny.

The views from the top were incredible. I have never seen anything like it. It is kind of like what I imagine the surface of the moon looking like. The first day of 2019 was spent exploring where Maui started…the top of the volcanic crater that created the island. Each of the peaks were called cones – each one was an eruption. So. Awesome.

We decided to try to do the hike. Since we rocked the 2 mile hike to the waterfalls on the road to Hana, we thought we could handle the 2.5 one-way hike to the bottom of the crater. What we didn’t take into consideration was the difference in the air thinness and the change in altitude. To do the full hike, you drop 3,000 feet of elevation during a 2.5 mile hike. Dropping 3k feet is easy. Climbing 3k feet is not easy. We went about halfway down, and thank goodness decided to turn around. That hike up was HARD.

Once we finally reached the top, we drove a couple minutes higher to reach the very top. There were some beautiful plants called Silverswords that are just about the only things that can somehow survive the conditions at the top of the crater.

On our way down, we stopped to see if we could find any Ne-nes, which are the state bird of Hawaii. They are a form of goose that only exists in Hawaii (and cannot fly). Unfortunately we didn’t see any… :(.

Our Gypsy Guide suggested stopping by an old cowboy town called Makawao. Unfortunately most of the shops were closed due to New Years Day. One shop that was open was called Maui Hands – full of art made by local artists. I am super excited for my aluminum prints of the Rainbow Eucalyptus to arrive in Iowa. It will look something like this (only smaller).

The Dramamine I took on the top of the crater for the ride down the mountain kicked in. After eating dinner at Longhi’s in Lahaina, I crashed.

So this day was all about plates. Tectonic, license, and if we would have been daring, Hawaiian Mixed Plates – a local cuisine. Next time! Aloha!

Monday was a day of rest. After a yummy breakfast at our favorite spot, we staked our claim on the south end of Ka’anapali beach by renting a couple beach chairs and an umbrella. We put on our snorkel gear and headed out towards the rocks where rumor had it turtles played. We saw a few fish, a bit of coral, no turtles. Doh.

Nap time!!

Hungry? How about a beach drink and chips and guacamole?

Ok, bellies are full. Let’s try to see those turtles again! This time, we headed out towards the far south end rocks. The fish here were awesome! I felt like I was swimming in an aquarium. We saw some cool coral, too. But wah wah…no turtles.

Nap time!!

After a long, rough, warm day on the beach, it was time to get showered and dressed to go to the Drums of the Pacific Luau. Not a bad way to spend the last day of 2018…

We sprung for the VIP tickets (because it’s not every day I get to see a luau). We had front and center seats, beautiful leis, and were greeted with Mai Tais. Yummy!!!

The meal was delicious (mostly…not a fan of the Hawaiian Poi). Roasted Kalua pork, salads, Poi dinner rolls (which were actually tasty), prime rib, fish, chicken, white rice, noodles, and an assortment of desserts. And more Mai Tais and Alligators (Jay’s drink of choice for the evening).

The show started, and of course they wanted audience participation, and of course I had to go on stage. When am I ever going to get a chance to learn the hula? My hips, unfortunately, don’t move quite like the professionals…

The show was great! The dancers showed us the different fashion styles of the Polynesian islands, a variety of dances, fire twirlers, and a sweet band. Loved it!!

And as has been the case since we arrived, it was early to bed for us. Jet lag sucks. We were woken up at midnight by the sounds of the fireworks – and looking back we probably should have drug ourselves out of bed to watch them, but we are old and lame. Goodbye 2018!! Hello 2019!!!

Sunday morning we got up early to do some island hopping. First stop, the airport. I loved this sign.

We caught an early flight to Oahu, where our trusty tour guide Ed picked us up and took us to Pearl Harbor. Ed wanted us all to be like him, so we all donned name tags that said “Ed”. You can imagine how many Ed jokes there were all…day…long…

First stop on the tour was at the USS Missouri – the Mighty Mo. This battleship was HUGE, based on the Iowa Class battleship design from the early 1900s. It was commissioned to the US Navy after the strike on Pearl Harbor, but was similar to many of the ships that were sunk on battleship row on December 7, 1941. While the Mighty Mo was not docked at Pearl Harbor that day, it sits bow to bow to the USS Arizona, which was the first ship struck by the Japanese bombs. The USS Arizona remains just under the surface of the water, a tomb of soldiers that made the biggest sacrifice for our country. A memorial has been constructed on top of the Arizona – the white structure in the photos below. World War II started in that spot, and ended on the deck of the USS Missouri, which was docked off the coast of Japan when leaders of several countries signed the documents ending the war. I am not a history buff, so I will save the fact finding to the Wikipedia experts. What I can talk about is what I observed, thought, and felt as the day went on.

We spent just under 2 hours exploring the Missouri, and could have spent twice that amount of time. Did I mention that this ship is HUGE? Jay was totally into this part of the tour, and he read pretty much every sign. I was drawn to thinking about the lifestyle of the soldiers that called the ship home. The beds…not exactly 5-star residences. The showers and toilets were tiny, and tucked into any place they could fit one. I imagine the Mess Hall full of (mostly) boys grabbing a bite to eat before going back to polishing chrome, washing the deck, or monitoring the ships’ engines. I am definitely not cut out to be in the Navy. Much respect to all who have worn the Navy uniform.

If you can’t tie a knot, tie a lot…

The next stop was the Pacific Aviation Museum. The first building didn’t do much for me, but we went ahead and grabbed a quick lunch before heading over to check out a hangar that was full of awesome airplanes. I loved the airplane and helicopter with the jaws painted on the nose.

Up to this point, it hasn’t really sunk in where I was. I mean, I knew that I was at Pearl Harbor, I knew it was where WWII started, but I was kind of just going through the motions of being a tourist. Reading the signs, taking pictures. It was this sign, however, where I finally felt the full meaning of where I was at.

If you can’t read the sign, it directs you to look at the windows, where several pieces of glass still have bullet holes from the attacks in 1941. A.Maz.Ing. I cannot imagine the fear, adrenaline, sounds, sights, panic that all who were there that day experienced. Wow.

Here are some other photos of the aviation museum.

So now that I was in the right mindset, the next part of the tour was to watch a film containing actual footage from that day. Gosh. Not an easy thing to watch. A couple Navy sailors were our captains to take us on a boat ride out towards the USS Arizona memorial. Unfortunately due to structural issues, the memorial was not open, but we were able to ride the boat up to it. Several of the mooring docks for the other battleships that were struck on that fateful morning still retain the names of the ships. All but three of the battleships were struck were able to be repaired and continued to fight in the war. One fact that really struck me was that there is still oil seeping out of the ship. It is not enough to be harmful to the environment. They refer to it as the black tears of the soldiers that perished inside the ship. Completely humbled.

The last part of our tour was to tour the USS Bowfin. This submarine is referred to as the Pearl Harbor Avenger. She struck down 16 enemy ships during WWII – more than any other submarine. So I mentioned earlier how I was fascinated by life on the USS Missouri. I cannot even begin to imagine life on a submarine. Talk about small, cramped spaces. Hot, stinky. Can you tell from the pictures where the beds are located? Torpedoes. How does one get a good nights’ sleep with torpedoes inches from their heads? Incredible. The submarine was powered by 4 ginormous V16 Diesel engines. Can you imagine how loud that was? I liked this part of our day the best. I just wish I could have looked through the periscope! Submarine engineers are genius.

We met some fun Canadians on the tour, who were also catching the evening flight back to Maui. We had some drinks with them at the airport bar and got some great travel tips. They have been to Maui several times so they knew all the good things to check out. We got back to the hotel around 8:00 PM, definitely a super long day. But so worth it. If anyone is making the trip to Hawaii, I highly recommend fitting in a trip to Pearl Harbor.