Day 8 Friday - Maui

Today's morning was by far the earliest that I have gotten up while on vacation at 5:30AM. We had an hour and a half journey to the top of Mount Haleakaea which is still an active volcano. There was not any lights out yet and the road was long and winding. The 37 mile drive up the mountain was beautiful as it went through three different types of ecosystems: desert, forest, and grassland. I had to keep a careful eye as some places were without guard rails. Once we got to the park center to pay admission, it was 10 minutes to sunrise and we were late about 10 minutes so we did not see the actual sun coming out.

It was a cool 44 degrees at the summit and I brought several layers of clothing and hat/gloves. We were 10,000 feet high and in the clouds. We took some breathtaking pictures along the way and made out way down eventually. I tried to find the horse riding place but had problems finding it since the sign was so small. I drove all the way down and then half way up before locating the site. We were 30 minutes early for out 11AM appointment. After the liability paperwork was filled out, we each got on our horse. Mine was called Hapa (‘mixed’) and he was the hungry one out of the group. He would grab a bite of grass every time we stopped somewhere. There was some hesitance from me at first but I got more comfortable along the way. My sister got the slow horse that did not want to move and passed gas several times along with going to the bathroom every few minutes. We walked through trees and the meadows for a good while. Our tour guide Melissa was entertaining and took good care of us. The ride was fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

We started on our tour of east Maui shortly after with a lunch break at a park. The 80 mile ride took us 5 hours to complete as the roads were winding, narrow, treacherous and sometimes unpaved. There were several instances where only one car could pass down the road. We saw amazing views ranging from the raging ocean, to the clouds on the mountain to tropical jungles. It was a good tour but long and I will never make that drive again as it took a while and the roads are narrow. We got back right when it was turning dark. I made us a spaghetti dinner and we watched a bit of AFV until it was time for bed. We also reviewed the photos taken from through out the day.