Maui – Day Three

Today we set out to experience (and survive) the road to Hana. Several people told us leave early! Why I wondered, it is only 50 miles, but takes a minimum of two hours to get to Hana. Not only due to the 600 curves and turns, 57 bridge crossings, but this one lane road has several great stops along the way to explore. The road to Hana adventure was an eight-hour trek for us.

Grandpa David drove the whole way, up and down as he enjoys driving. He also enjoys pointing out things along the way, which is nice, but I had to tell him once or twice to keep his eyes on the road and we would check out everything along the way. That’s all the nagging I did the whole trip though i promise. All three of us felt car sick (not grandpa, just Jordan, Ashley, and I), but we DID survive the road to Hana and really enjoyed it.

Using Frommer’s Maui Day by Day guide, we picked Kaumahina State Wayside Park just past mile marker 12 to eat lunches we bought in Paia. Jordan didn’t eat, still feeling woozy. It was sunny all the way to this stop and rained right when we got there, but no worries, we were on our way soon and had sun almost the whole rest of the way.

Next stop was Puaa Kaa State Wayside Park, where we were treated to two waterfalls, the first one Jordan and Ashley jumped from the top (after we watched a few others jump and were fine). Then we found a muddy side trail which led us to a hidden waterfall, after crossing some man made water ducts. Find the description in Maui Revealed book by Andrew Doughty

Our next stop was the general store in Hana for some motion sickness medicine and Fuji apples. We drove around the little town of Hana, and I especially liked the unique houses along the way. There were signs congratulating the 19 seniors who had just graduated from Hana High School and as reported in The Maui News.

A must see next stop was at Oheo Gulch, the site of the Seven Sacred Pools, where we heard lots of great stories about when grandpa and grandma where here and grandma swam in these pools. When we return home, we are promised a slide show of these pictures from about 40 years ago. The pools are still there, the memories still alive in grandpa, and grandma was there too, watching us from heaven.

Eight hours later we were back in Kahului looking for a place for dinner. We found Da Kitchen (on yelp) which was a popular place! Line out the door told us we had found a good one. Only 20 minute wait and we were seated. The service was fast and portions huge. Great way to end Day three, but there’s more. We were treated to a visit at our condo by my Jordan’s cousin and his girlfriend, who happened to be in Maui during the same time so we got to share photos and stories of our adventures in Maui.