We all met at 8:30 am and took a cab to the airport to pick up our car without waiting for the shuttle. We had another big day planned, but unlike yesterday, we had to be back on the ship by 5:30 pm so we needed to get going and keep an eye on the time.
We picked up the car and started the drive to Haleakala National Park which is about an hour's drive from the ship.
This is a drive Ben has made several times, so we were comfortable driving it and we would never be too far from the ship. I wanted everyone to be able to say they stood on top of a volcano in Hawaii!
Haleakalā, meaning "House of the Sun", is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of Maui. The tallest peak is at 10,023 feet. It is a dormant volcano but has not erupted since the 17th century.
Another neat thing about driving to Haleakala is that everyone had seen the coast of Maui yesterday, and now they would be seeing Maui's interior landscape, commonly referred to as "upcountry." So everyone was getting to see some of the best parts of the island, yet two very different experiences. Yet another plus is that upcountry is generally 10-20 degrees cooler than the coast.
It was another gorgeous day and the mountain was the clearest Ben and I had ever seen it which meant there would be a great view at the top!
We did the .20 Pa Ka’oa trail to an elevated overlook and although challenging, Fran and Harvey made it to the top. It wasn't the summit, but it was close enough!
On top of the world!
After the hike, it was time to get going because we had lunch reservations at 1:00 pm at the Mill House at the Maui Tropical Plantation. We had a little delay from some cows that decided they needed to cross the road!
The Mill House is a great restaurant on a beautiful farm and it's always our favorite meal on Maui so we were excited for everyone to try it.
We got a great table.
Ben got curry shrimp, Alice and Jason got fish, Harvey got a hamburger, and Fran and I got the fish sandwich. And you can't go to the Mill House and not get one of their hand crafted cocktails!
After lunch, we walked around the plantation and Fran visited the gift shop. I have about 500 pictures of the plantation from all our trips--everywhere you look is a photo op!
There were lots of chickens for Ben!
We left around 3:30 pm and dropped off the car and headed back to the ship. Ben and I got a drink and watched a little Monday Night Football in our cabin.
We went out on Deck 11 to watch the ship sail away from beautiful Maui. A hui hou, Maui, until we meet again!
Tomorrow we would wake up on the Big Island of Hawaii.
