the Hana Highway, and road trippin

---

Hana Highway is the most scenic and sickening tour on Maui. It is famous for record numbers of bridges and hairpin curves, made even more fun by sections that are so narrow only one car can drive through at a time. Luckily I wasn't the driver, I had a window seat in a van and could sit back and ... try not to get carsick. Our (excellent) driver/guide from the hostel, Montana, was this awesome burly guy who grew up in Alaska and had tons of great wildery stories to entertain us with when the passing mountains, streams, exotic plants (like flowering trees and glades of rainbow eucalyptus) and towering waterfalls grew mundane (ha!). Essentially the road is just sandwiched between the ocean, pure blue exploding over black volcanic rock in frothy white, and the jungle. We stopped early on at a roadside stand for fresh, hot banana bread and then again later for fish tacos. Thus fuelled, we could enjoy jumping off of ledges into icy freshwater cave-pools and hiking through the forest to get up close and personal with a 400 ft waterfall. At our own risk 😊 We climbed banyan trees, traversed completely still bamboo forests, and shook guavas from the branches of guava trees. It was terrific fun. We also made visits to the red and black sand beaches, created from erosion of the volcanic cone and ash.
Another day I rented a car with some people from the hostel and we took a road trip around West Maui, which is similarly winding and spectacular. The typical white-sand beaches are on this side of the island, and since we had great weather we were pretty lazy and beach-hopped most of the day. We did go check out some more unusual sights though, including the Dragon's teeth and the Blowhole, a unique rock formation that spits water up into the air with every wave that breaks inside the rock.

---

Photos

look ma!
can't say they didn't warn me...

here i am
i pretty much laugh in the face of danger.

in the dragon's mouth
the geological formation i'm in front of is the "dragon's teeth." They have been carved into the shore by the surf and wind. Naturally, this is my best dragon impression.

"the sea was angry that day my friend..."
... like an old man trying to return soup at a deli."

Comments

[Kate]

Listen to your mother
Ahhhh, all those danger signs. It's a good thing your mother wasn't there or she would have been a nervous wreck. Love, Mom