Tuesday Travels - Hawaii part 2

We spent the next 2 nights at a Bed & Breakfast in what is called 'upcountry' in the town of Makawau (mak-a-wow). The b&b was a plantation home built in 1924 and has been beautifully restored. We stayed in the Rose room which had it's own private entrance to the lanai. From the lanai, you can see this huge Norfolk Pine tree in the back yard. Such a cozy little spot. Mom and I almost slept out there the first night. 

 The Norfolk Pine tree

 To put it in perspective...

 Here's the view of it from the driveway. Look how gorgeously tall it is. 

Now don't cha just wanna go hug a tree?

 the beautiful backyard

Ok, before I share the activities from the next few days, I have a little story. In preparation for the trip, I decided to make my own travel guide book instead of buying one. I made a long list of varying kinds of activities among other things. There were activities I was wanting to do (and hoping mom would be up for) and others I wanted mom to know she had the option to try. There were a couple activities that as I researched and added them to the list, I thought to myself, "she'll probably just read it and discount it as not a possibility". But just in case, I did my homework and added them anyway. See, mom has a few fears. One being the fear of heights. As a kid, I was the one that had to climb the ladder to paint the wood trim along the roof line because my mom and sister were wusses. Yeah, that's what I said. Wusses.

So as mom and I board the plane to Maui, I hand her the guide book. I promptly fall asleep. When I wake up, the first thing she say is, "I think I want to go zip lining." My response being, "really?" =)

Day 3: We got up at 3:20am to ascend to the 10,000 foot summit of Haleakala National Park to watch the sunrise. Now, I was prepared for the cold, but some how I missed the warning about how darn windy it is up there. Windy. I mean, hold on to yo-self or you might blow away, windy. We reached the summit at about 5:04. The parking lot was already full. We hurried to the viewing spot, but we were already too late to see the stars. There was a thin streak of light forming at the horizon. Sunrise was at 5:45. There was an inside viewing deck but there were already so many people in there. Plus I wanted to have the whole experience. I guess you could say I did. My fingers went numb. =) My nose was running all over the place. But we saw it. It was pretty.

We didn't stick around long after the sun rose, because (besides being frozen) we were going to try and make it to the 8am check in to go zip lining. Mom and I agreed that the best option was the 3 line canopy tour. Unfortunately, it only ran once a day at 8:30 am. It worked out great. We stopped at the b&b right as she was starting to put out the breakfast. We grabbed a few things to take with us and ate on the way. Luckily, 2 other people had signed up to do the 3 line that morning so they let us join at the last minute. The other 2 zip lining were a couple of ornery women and the guides were super fun and friendly. It was a fun group. Oh yeah, and it rained. Some how that made it even better.

The orneriest one actually chickened out twice. She was lined up to go first and couldn't do it. So her friend went. She tried again and backed down. I was nervous that she would scare mom out of going too. But she didn't. Mom got up there, and you never would have even guessed she was afraid of heights.

doing her sit test

doing the star fish 

I went after mom.

The panicked chick, ended up going after all. She had the guide release her because she couldn't mentally get passed the jumping part.
The second and third zip lines were progressively longer. Mom didn't even hesitate.

 

cannon ball!

Yay! So Fun! I totally recommend these guys if you find yourself on Maui. Travis and Clide were are guides and Crystal was our 'driver'. They were all a hoot.

By 10:30am, we had had a pretty full day already, so I took myself a nice little nap. Later we prepared for the next days adventure... the road to Hana. We made sure to fuel up and grab a few more groceries. We explored Paia. It's been described as a hippie town. There were quite a few art galleries and the grocery store was heaven. It's called Mana Foods. Love this place. I felt so at home there. Barefoot. No Shoes. Go on in. =)

Day 4: We were up early again so we helped ourselves to breakfast and hit the road... to Hana, that is. Every where I read, it said to take your time and stop often. Though, it also warned not to leave valuables in the car, not even the trunk. Well, there were a few attractions viewable from the road. Some you could actually find parking for, but most were a little trickier. People actually parked right in front of one way bridges to get out and take pictures of waterfalls. Ok, I was tempted to follow suit, but I wasn't about to get a ticket or piss off a local who decided to 'push' me out of the way. Needless to say, it was a fairly short drive.

 

There was really only one place we just HAD to stop and check out. Coconut Glens. For all natural, organic, vegan ice cream. We tried original (coconut) and banana rum raisin. The original was yummy!... didn't care much for the other, but mom liked it. We shared stories with a couple free spirits who reminded me of the beautiful people I met at camp 2 years ago. It made me happy to be embraced by them especially because I got to share that with my mom.

 

 

In Hana, we stayed at a vacation rental. We dropped our bags off before check-in and went to Koki beach for lunch. It was really pretty and had the squishiest sand. The waves were intense. A few guys were surfing. (I actually thought it was Hamoa beach until just now when I was trying to figure out the name of the other beach that we went to next.)

 

Now what in the world is this? A pterodactyl?

 Aw, I finally got my climb on!

We drove a little further and came to another beach, a little more secluded. That, come to find out, was Hamoa Beach. The waves were really strong there too. A dready local dude made friends with us and even invited us to dinner. I was excited to hang with some locals, but mom wasn't so sure...so we bid them farewell. He did show off (as requested) and did a handstand on his board while surfing. I sadly missed the shot. =(

Mom and I had dinner back at our place and I taught her to play gin. It didn't take her long to catch on. A couple days later, she was kicking my butt.

to be continued...