The Hana Highway

Prior to this trip Scott had never been to Maui. I knew I had to take him on the road to Hana. The distance from Kaanapali - where we stayed - to Hana is about 50 miles. However, the trek *getting* to Hana consists of an estimated 617 turns, and roughly 57 single-lane bridges. The trip can (and should) take almost an entire day.

We set off early and treated ourselves to some of Mother Nature's most amazing work.

Sit back and enjoy the photo dump with just a smattering of narrative.

I vaguely remembered the map/way to get there from previous experience, but I'd never been the one in charge of manning the map. I was worried that duty would strain our marriage. Thankfully, I managed not to screw anything up (too terribly).

We followed along with the Maui Revealed book and discovered some pretty spectacular sights.
There were waterfalls galore. But, the first one that *really* took my breath away was this one.

A stunning 200+ foot fall, with a small pool. And, we had the entire thing to ourselves. I repeatedly gushed to Scott, "Isn't it just awesome?!"

While beyond beautiful, the pool was very, very chilly.

After about 20-30 minutes we decided to keep trucking. We had a LONG way to go before reaching Hana. Just as we were about to make the hike back to the road another couple showed up and kindly took a picture for us.

The road weaves itself in and out of the rainforest and along the coast. There are no words to fully and accurately describe the majesty of it all.

If we saw one waterfall, we saw 100. Seriously.

It was nice to come across waterfalls just off the road. We were more apt to have someone willing to take a picture of us, rather than one of us (Scott) holding the camera out at arms distance hoping to get both our faces and whatever natural beauty stood behind us.

Of all the waterfalls to discover, this one was my favorite.

We were fortunate to meet a local man who directed us to this secluded little place. Again, we were the ONLY ones around. It was all a little surreal… This is the kind of stuff you only see in the movies (at least that's what I kept thinking).

Top left: Another arm out selfie.
Top right: I swam behind the falls.
Bottom: The pool below the falls was the majestic, sparkling turquoise. 

Also on  our trip we managed to find an old lava tube. It wasn't easy spotting the opening of the tube from the road!

Top left: We found it! We really had to search to find that opening!
Bottom left: HA! I had to post this -- we were in the lava tube, Scott snaps a pic, and then immediately makes fun of the wet imprints left on my shirt by my swimsuit. We keep it classy everywhere we go. :)
Right: One of the many tree roots to penetrate through the tube.  

The tube was abysmally dark. I couldn't see my hand directly in front of my face. I'd be lying if I said crawling around in the lava tube didn't creep me out a bit.

The Hana Highway leads to gorgeous Wai'anapanapa State Park (try pronouncing THAT).

The park is home to the only black sand beach on Maui.

And, at the end of the highway is Hana. There isn't any specific thing to see or do in Hana. It's just the journey to get there that is so out-of-this-world.