Maui 2012 – Day Four – The Road To Hana

Dateline Monday 28 May. The famous/infamous Road to Hana. 50+ miles, 600+ curves of narrrrow 2-lane or less blacktop. The windward, wet, lushly vegetated east side of Maui.

We buy the CD guide to play in the Caddy. Http://hanacdguide.com What a blast. A stop/start audio guide which points out by mile-marker and accompanying map ALL the places to stop and great things to see. Indispensible. I highly recommend it. You can find it in many convenience stores or buy it at their kiosk at the Shell station where routes 380 and 36 meet in Kahului at the start of the trip.

Highlights of the beautiful scenery we saw:

Incredible bamboo groves:

Eucalyptus bark:

Coastline views from the Wayside Park at mile marker 12:

More eucalyptus in the Ke’anae Arboretum, a less than half-mile stroll through labeled tropical trees from around the world:

Locals jumping in the water on the Ke’anae Peninsula:

(Look at The Road to Hana cut into the side of the far cliffs.)

At the end of the peninsula, the SRX, ocean, the 1860 Congregational Church, and a local bread seller:

(The nice woman in this house near the church had THE BEST mango bread. We bought two loaves, fresh and warm from the oven.)

Ke’anae Peninsula Overlook:

Hana Bay just outside Hana:

Mid-afternoon, after a curvy, steady, hour and forty minute drive back, we have salads and appetizers at Mama’s Fish House. It is so good we make dinner reservations for the coming weekend.

NEXT time we’ll go past Hana to Hamoa, Wailua Falls, and the Seven Sacred Pools. So much to see, so little time.

“It is a luxury to be understood.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson (p. 88 Lapham’s Quarterly Spring 2012.)