First we drove up through Kahului, where the airport is, then turned east to Paia.
We stopped at the visitor's center then went up the summit. There are some special plants up here called SilverSwords that don't grow anywhere else in the world.
We headed back down, and it was a little easier because we knew the road a little better, but it was still cold back inside the cloud. But we made it!
Back down on the highway we continued on to the winery, which was nice, but now the mist had moved down a little and cooled off the road a bit more. Amazing that you could see the ocean from here but it was 20 degrees cooler!
The winery was very nice, they had two kitties outside to greet us and a beautiful tasting room with wonderful free samples.
We had lunch at the Paia Fish Market which was incredible.
Diane had a chicken quesadilla which was one of the best we've ever had. I had an Ono fish burger which was just amazing. We got a caesar salad as well. Pretty good for $25!
Next we turned south and headed up toward the crater. We went from sea level in Paia up to 10,009 feet which is the summit of Haleakala and the highest spot in Hawaii!
You could feel it get cooler even 10 minutes inland. The sky got cloudier. Once we entered the park and started to climb, it got cooler and cooler. At first it was green and looked like Long Island with rolling hills, grassy cow pastures and small spots of tall forest. As we ascended higher, around 6,000 feet, we started to enter the cloud layer and it got much cooler, foggier and wetter. It never actually rained, but it felt like you were constantly being sprayed in the face with a mister. At it's worst, there was maybe 10 feet of visibility, and all you could see were the lines on the road ahead of you. We crawled along as it got worse and worse. We had sweatshirts to take some of the chill off, but it was still wet, windy and cold. Better to take the car next time. Finally, we arrived at the park entrance, and maybe 1,000 feet later we finally rose above the cloudline and the sky turned a brilliant blue. The scenery was amazing, you had this beautiful lush mountainside, but you could only see about 500 feet down, then it was like you were standing above a swirling sea of white clouds. It was drier but windier up here, and the light was incredibly brilliant. We took a few photos (click the pictures below for links to the album). Too many to post here!!
The crater is like the surface of Mars. Up that high there are no trees and only very small and few plants.
You could feel it get cooler even 10 minutes inland. The sky got cloudier. Once we entered the park and started to climb, it got cooler and cooler. At first it was green and looked like Long Island with rolling hills, grassy cow pastures and small spots of tall forest. As we ascended higher, around 6,000 feet, we started to enter the cloud layer and it got much cooler, foggier and wetter. It never actually rained, but it felt like you were constantly being sprayed in the face with a mister. At it's worst, there was maybe 10 feet of visibility, and all you could see were the lines on the road ahead of you. We crawled along as it got worse and worse. We had sweatshirts to take some of the chill off, but it was still wet, windy and cold. Better to take the car next time. Finally, we arrived at the park entrance, and maybe 1,000 feet later we finally rose above the cloudline and the sky turned a brilliant blue. The scenery was amazing, you had this beautiful lush mountainside, but you could only see about 500 feet down, then it was like you were standing above a swirling sea of white clouds. It was drier but windier up here, and the light was incredibly brilliant. We took a few photos (click the pictures below for links to the album). Too many to post here!!
We stopped at the visitor's center then went up the summit. There are some special plants up here called SilverSwords that don't grow anywhere else in the world.
We headed back down, and it was a little easier because we knew the road a little better, but it was still cold back inside the cloud. But we made it!
Back down on the highway we continued on to the winery, which was nice, but now the mist had moved down a little and cooled off the road a bit more. Amazing that you could see the ocean from here but it was 20 degrees cooler!
The winery was very nice, they had two kitties outside to greet us and a beautiful tasting room with wonderful free samples.
No comments:
Post a Comment