Above the Clouds

---

We started the morning EARLY because Pam somehow set her alarm for 4am. Thanks Pam. We all tried, but only Pam could go back to sleep. We all got up at 5:30 and headed to breakfast after getting ready. Afterwards we took a taxi to the airport to pick up our rental car in long term parking.

Today’s journey was to Haleakala Volcano. The drive is the world’s highest elevation gain in the shortest distance. It didn’t seem like that. Compared to yesterday’s road, this was a super highway up to 10000 feet. Yes, it was curvy but the road was wide and smooth and you could see around the corners of the switchbacks. At one of the visitor’s centers, Claire heard a lady say “boy, I feel nauseous and I was even driving”. Claire replied “then don’t do the road to Hana”.

The drive started out through a forest but then the landscape became more and more barren until it looked like a Mars scape because of the volcanic rocks. At the top is an observatory (Don would be jealous) and some wonderful views. You could see the crater and the cones of some of smaller eruptions. From the summit, you could also see the 2 volcanos from the big island of Hawaii. We saw the coolest plant that only grows on that volcano. The plant, silversword, lives up to 50 years and only blooms at the end of its life.

The temperature difference between the summit and the ship was 32 degrees and the wind was howling, so it felt much cooler. We were also so high that we were above the clouds. On our drive back down, we spotted, 2 nene’s (birds that look like geese). They are a protected species on the volcano.

Our final stop before turning in the car was to a small town called Paia. We walked around the town and Claire bought a couple of items.

We then turned the car in and took a taxi back to the ship.

We had been dying to wash our hair for several days but hadn’t had time. Knowing we were coming back early we were excited. Okay, what is up with this ship today, the hot water is non-existent. Cold showers are NOT fun. Susan’s shower was so quick she thinks she still has shampoo in her hair. Pam washed her hair in the sink. We called down and asked the front desk to check on the hot water. They asked us if we knew how to use the shower. YES, we’ve been on the ship for 3 days, did she think we hadn’t taken a shower!!!!

We dressed for formal night and headed out to dinner. We looked nice, but we weren’t what you would call formal. Claire had on a sun dress that she bought today on sale and Susan and Pam had on dress pants and nice tops. When we got to dinner, we realized we were dressed very formally as compared to the other patrons.

After dinner we went to the Carol’s Kings show. The show consisted of 3 men who sang Carol King’s songs and told us the stories behind them. After the show we headed to our room to discover the plumbers working on the hot water. They asked us to come back later. We headed to a public area and planned tomorrow’s itinerary. After returning, we were told that the hot water had been fixed. Susan asked what was wrong with it. It was a broken mixer valve. Fingers crossed that it is fixed.

Remember there are extra pictures after all the text and you can make comments on the blog if you like. There is a comment section.

---

Photos

20221024_093928
volcanic rocks

20221024_100132
driving about the clouds

20221024_095551
the 2 Hawaii volcanoes in the background

20221024_114658
view of both bays of Maui

20221024_105715
the 2 nene

20221024_105900
No they were not chasing Susan.

Comments

[Barbara]

Volcano
The volcano is so cool. Did you get to look over the edge?

[3TravelingSisters]

Yes we did get to look into the crater