Flat Land Never Felt So Good

Today was the day to pick up our rental car, a little white Ford Focus.  We have it until Wednesday and we intent to take full advantage of it.  Our first trek out with it was to the mountain peak of Haleakala.  At 10,023’ above sea level, I don’t think our little Focus likes us too much, but what a view!  The winding road to get up the mountain is quite the tummy tuner: think of a lot of zigzags and then multiply that by 50 and an incline and that is sort of like the road to the summit, plus a lot of clouds thrown in there for good measure.

The entrance to the park

The road going through the clouds

The road ABOVE the clouds!

Once you escape the clouds though, you are pretty much at the top and your topsy turvy drive was definitely worth the Dramamine you will be taking for the trip back down the mountain!
This mountain is a dormant volcano, so when you get to the top, you get to see a small glimpse of where the volcano blew its lid when it was still active.

 Taking a break

That's a long way up!

A view of the ocean from the mountain

The observatories on top of the mountain at 10,000 feet above sea level

The total trip took us 4 hours to get up and then back to normal elevation (its true what they say: the air is definitely thinner the higher you go).  A quick stop into Maui’s Costco (its better then Winnipeg’s, although they did not offer poutine on their menu) and then to Wal-Mart for some cheap souvenir t-shirts and supplies for the week.
We will probably take it east tonight, a bite to eat and hopefully some more pool time!  It’s a very nice pool and to be more then honest, I prefer it to the ocean, hence us going there all the time and not to the beach, I think it’s the lack of sand up certain areas that makes it more appealing to me, plus, Hubby will actually get into the pool!  So it’s a win win all around!