Maui - Haliimaile and Hana

It wouldn't be a trip to Maui without visiting the place we lived most of the summers we lived here.  Last time I visited in 2009, the old plantation was VERY run down.

Someone bought it and it is REALLY nice now.  

It's still under construction and is supposed to be done in January.

This used to be the old laundry room. 

They're turning it now into a wellness center.  I'm not sure what exactly that entails.

We couldn't resist getting our pictures in front of the building.  I wish I could have gotten a picture from the front, but they wouldn't let us because it was a construction zone.

This pineapple field was the only one we saw on Maui.  Sad days, but I'm glad there's at least one!  We saw lots of sugar cane.  This was right across from our old place.

We also took a drive along the road to Hana.  Beautiful drive as usual.  I didn't snap any pictures until after Hana when we stopped Homoa beach.  It is rated the second most beautiful beach in the world (we were told).  It was amazing and had the biggest waves we'd seen.

It's kind of hard to tell, but it's considered a black sand beach.

I watched Evie while Adam and Susannah swam for a bit.  These next pictures are not only ridiculously cute, but they illustrate that the sand really is black.

Evie was eating it again, but my purpose in this picture was to capture the "scrunchy face" she's been doing lately.  She does a happy one and a mad one.  This one is sort of in between.

Here's another shot of it.  This one is looking a little more grumpy, but is so cute!

I LOVE this shot even with the black sand on her mouth.

The happy couple about to hit the waves.

Sus and Evie trying to get Adam's attention.  He was more focused on the waves.

This is a view from the same beach just up on the road.

I grabbed some plumeria (my favorite flower) that had fallen from the tree to put in the car to make it smell spectacular - it worked!

We stopped at another portion of Haleakala state park to go on a hike.  It was a four mile hike, I believe. 2 miles in and two miles out.  There was a big banyan tree that we loved on that hike.

Here's Adam sitting on one of the branches of that same tree.

This one of me shows more of the height even though it still doesn't go all the way to the top. 

There were lots of little side trails that lead off to cool little places.  There was a little water fall going into this cool pool.

Probably the coolest part of the hike was a long stretch through a bamboo forest.  I've never seen anything like it.

This is a better view of the oustide of the forest.

Here's Susannah just inside of the forest.

We had a little fun in there too.

I took this short video to give you a little sense of it.  The color isn't bery good in it, though.  The animal noise you hear is Adam in case you couldn't tell.

This was a super beautiful area just after the bamboo part.

The purpose of the hike was to get to this waterfall.

I think they said it was 400 feet tall.

Adam found a great spot to watch the waterfall and rest at the same time.  There wasn't a ton of water falling, but it was still impressive.

After the hike we walked out to the shore.  It's a beautiful area.

Lion King?

I didn't get a very good picture, but this is 7 sacred pools which is so cool.

Love this shot of the same shore, just up higher.  I've been on the road to Hana quite a few times, but this was my first time to drive it.  I survived!