Road to Hana

The Road to Hana is something everyone should do ONCE in their lifetime. Frankly, I think that's all anyone ever wants to do it. LOL Not because it isn't amazing but because the drive is pretty brutal. It is a 52 mile drive with 617 curves and 59 bridges {46 of which are one lane wide} If you didn't stop at all it would take you a little under 3 hours to make the drive. BUT then what would be the point?!!! I think it's funny they call it the Road to Hana because (in my opinion) to make the trip worth it- you have to drive 10 more miles past Hana to visit the Pipiwai Trail. But I guess " The Road to the Pipiwai Trail" didn't fly! LOL

People had warned us to start around 7 am but we didn't get out of town until 9ish. {AND We paid for it on the drive back!! Well... Brett paid for it because he was driving it back in the dark. We made several stops for him to get out and hope he didn't throw up. Poor guy!!} Lesson learned---- Sight-seeing trip on the Road to Hana--- get on the road early!!!

Uncle Trave had bought us an amazing App for our road trip. [They did the trip earlier this week] It's a Gypsy Guide App that gives you history and suggestion of places to stop all over Maui. If you get it started before you pass Paia- it will work the whole way to Hana. We called the man speaking to us- Phil. ;)

This is a picture I found of the Road to Hana online. It looks fake (so don't quote me on the picture) but that's definitely how it felt to drive down the road. LOL

We saw tons of things on our journey "past" Hana. There were waterfalls and cliffs and fruit stands and overlooks. All so gorgeous!

Check out this gorgeous overlook of the black cliff rocks. And that cute couple standing on the wall near the sheer cliff below. ;)

This was a cool beach with this little island off the shore. Love that locals sign!

One place that Phil told us to stop was the Three Bear Falls. After a one lane bridge we found a spot to stop and hiked back down to check them out. We decided to go under the bridge and make our way down to the actual falls.

Aren't the Three Bears amazing!?

Brett and the kids went swimming and stood under two of the waterfalls. {Liberty forgot her suit. Silly girl!}

Here's an example of a road side Fruit Stand. It's just done on the honor system. You leave some money if you take anything. Love it!

We did quickly drive through Hana. There's not much there but at least we can say we did it!

It was starting to get a little dark on our way back. Oops! But we managed to make a stop at a black sand beach so we could wash off and collect some sand. It wasn't the famous Honokalani Black Sand Beach but we'll count it! ;) Only Glory and Brett would get out and get their feet in the black sand. It had been a LONG day, I guess!

The "real" Black Sand Beach has this awesome cave you can go into. Bummer we missed it! Next time, right?

There are another million things we could have done if we had more time. But all in all, we made it a full day! I'll devote another blog post to the Pipiwai Trail (end of the road before we turned around and went back the same way we came because rental cars are not covered on a small strip of road at the bottom of the island that takes you back in a loop. Darnit) But let it be said that the Seamons Family Survived the Road to Hana!!! {with the help of some motion sickness meds and a movie to watch on the dvd player on the way back. Thanks heavens for fancy rental cars! LOL}