Eucalyptus, Nene, and Silver-thorn

    Today we drove from 82* at sea level to 52* at the top of Haleakala.  Along the way we listened to an app that followed our route and gave us bits of history, geography, geology, and mythology.  We learned about whaling, growing sugar cane, Herman Melville's time in Lahaina, the myth of the fire goddess Pele and the creation of the Hawaiian Islands, and a lot about volcanoes and tectonic plates.

    Haleakala Highway is back across the island.   We headed up the winding road of switchbacks.  I remembered a perlious journey down this road when my friend Jo Ellen convinced me that we should take the tour which started at the top at sunrise and then involved riding a bike down most of the 37 miles of narrow and steep road. The National Park Service has prohibited vendors from bringing cyclists to the top for this ride after a few deaths and some bad accidents.  It certainly makes driving easier when you don't have roads full of amatuer cyclists.

    The road took us through up-country Maui with farms, orchards, and beautiful gardens.  We were lucky to have a clear day so that we could look back down and see the ocean on both sides of the island.  The air got cooler and cooler as we approached the park boundary.  While we were stopped to show our Golden Age National Parks Pass which got us all into the park for free, Rick saw the very rare  bird, the Nene, which is the state bird of Hawaii.  It looks like a goose.  

     When we were above most of the vegetation and into the lava fields we saw some beautiful spikey silver leaves on a plant called Silverthorn.  At the top of the drive we got out, climbed the few steps through very thin, cold air at over 10,000 feet to look into the crater.  This volcano hasn't erupted since the 1700's so there was no hot lava, dear Grandsons.

    We drove several thousand feet lower, back down the volcano and ran into a big cloud and light drizzle.  Our stop for lunch was at a campground in the park which was in a grove of Eucalyptus.  We took advantage of a little picnic shelter to get out of the drizzle.  We enjoyed watching the birds and smelling the scented air while we ate  Connie wanted me to mention that the pit toilet restrooms at this picnic grounds were the best smelling public bathrooms she has ever been in!

    While we were still in up-country we stopped at a lavender farm and saw many varities of lavender as well as lots of beautiful tropical plants.  My hands still smell wonderful from the lavender handcream.   The 82* weather was a shock when we finally got to sea level again.  We crashed with some cool drinks and put our feet up when we got "home."  We decided we were too tired to cook and went to the Maui Brew Pub for dinner.  I think its going to be an early night for us.