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| Halfway to Hana waterfalls, flowers, and banana bread |
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| Hanging tree vines on road to Hana |
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| Ready to explore Hana Lava Tube |
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| Inside the cave created by Hana Lava Tube |
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| Lavasicles; they reminded the girls of melted chocolate |
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| A peek in to the beautiful Travassa Resort in Hana |
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| Black sand of Wai'anapanapa beach in Hana |
Once we arrived in Hana, we made the most of our time by checking out the Hana Lava Tube and black sand beach of Wai'anapanapa State Park. The Ka'eleku Cave/Hana Lava Tube was a huge highlight on the way. The cave itself is easy to navigate and doesn't take long to explore. The girls liked getting to carry their own flashlights, and were especially intrigued by the lavacicles, which reminded them of melted chocolate. After spending some time spelunking (what a word!), we soon made our way back to the surface with the goal of reaching the Wai'anapanapa black sand beach. Once we arrived we realized that there is a lot to see in Wai'anapanapa State Park. If we weren't on a race against sunset, we would have stayed much longer to explore the bluffs and sea caves. The black sand beach is actually fairly small and crowded, so we stayed just long enough to leave a few footprints. The girls had fun chasing a few Hawaiian mongooses on our way out of the park.
After a very long and enjoyable day on the Road to Hana...with kids, we arrived at our final destination; Ohe'o Gulch in Haleakala State Park to see the aptly named Seven Sacred Pools. These tiered waterfalls are an incredibly beautiful sight. We arrived close to 6pm, which was nice because we didn't have to fight the crowds. The downside is that we didn't make it early enough to hike the Pipiwai Trail and bamboo forest, but in all honesty I don't think the girls would have made it far. We didn't stay too long as it was still a very long drive back to Kihei. The girls were pretty tired out toward the end of the journey, as were we. It took about another hour and half for us to drive from Ohe'o Gulch back to Kihei. Driving up toward Haleakala at dusk gave us our last incredible views of Maui. What a crazy/long/fun/exhausting/fulfilling trip it's been. We couldn't have envisioned a better vacation to start off 2014. Aloha Hawaii!
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| Beauty of Wai'anapanapa state park; Hawaiian mongoose |
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| Seven pools at Ohe'o Gulch |
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| Waterfalls, mountains, horses and cows |
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| Secluded tropical bungalows outside Hana |
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| A final Road to Hana shot before sunset |
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| Lights of Maui at dusk |
