That’s the hill I wanted.  And up I went, and then down I went, with Tasha on board.  Apparently, according to Graham, “You guys sure caught a lot of air when you went over that bump!” I don’t know about that, because we were coming down the hill backwards incredibly fast, and I couldn’t turn the damn thing around.  When we hit the bump, all I knew was there was nothing under me for a long time, and suddenly there was.  I have a bruise on my butt the size of a basketball, and I’m pretty sure I re-broke the same rib I broke a couple of years ago.  Anyway, we moved over to the semi-bunny hill  (safer  for young ones AND old bones)

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]
more on the next pages…

With this many fishing rods (6 in total) we have to catch something!“Did you guys see that Flying Fish?”“Maybe they are just out a little farther”Waiting…Maybe once the sun gets up they will start biting…Well, it IS a nice boat ride

After the meal there was a a show of dance and song portraying the history of the Hawaiian people.

… more luau

]]> http://www.web-bandit.com/lee/2010/05/05/lahaina-luau/feed/ 2 http://www.web-bandit.com/lee/2010/05/05/haleakala-crater/ http://www.web-bandit.com/lee/2010/05/05/haleakala-crater/#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 21:45:40 +0000 Lee http://www.web-bandit.com/lee/?p=911 More than anything, I wanted to see a volcano while I was in Hawaii.  Unfortunately, there are no live volcanoes on Maui.  I knew that before I left.  The next best thing would be to see an extinct volcano crater.

The Haleakala Highway takes you to Haleakala National Park.  It’s a narrow winding road that takes you from about a 1000 feet above sea level to a little over 10,000.  And at the top you can see the collapsed crater of a volcano.  Perfect.

Sherry was driving, and all was good until we passed a sign that said, “Turn headlights on while driving through clouds.”  Haleakala means “the land above the clouds.”  That’s when Herb began to clutch the arm rest.  White knuckled, he mentioned about every fifty feet of the climb, “We are very, very, very, friggin high.”  The rest of his conversation usually contained something like, “Do you have to drive so close to the side of the road?”

Sherry was driving perfectly.  I don’t know what would have happened if she was a little nervous about the road.  I think Herb would have simply passed out.  We finally broke through the clouds, and soon a roadside turnout appeared.  There was parking for about 20 cars along beside a steep cliff, and across the highway was another steep drop off where you could view the clouds and Park buildings way below.

Herb cautiously crawled out of the car and huddled up against the cliff on the “safe” side and with trembling hands, lit a cigarette. Sherry and I ran across the road for the view and some photos.

… onto the crater

Uh oh.  Time to move into alternate plan persuasion mode.

I convinced them to take a drive towards the western end of the island, and maybe head up to Haleakala National Park.  We bought a road map and turned around with just a little griping from Sherry.

Our first stop was the Kula Botanical Gardens.

… more of the gardens

A beautiful location for exchanging wedding vows.  I think it was called “Secret Cove.”  And indeed it was secret.  Somehow, the car leading the parade to Secret Cove got lost, and we ended up at a golf course.

Secret Cove has a tiny little beach, and at one point in time there was three wedding ceremonies happening at the same time.  I didn’t get too many photos, because I didn’t want to get in the way of the professional photographer, or distract from the ceremony.  But you can see some photos on the next page.

We arrived at the docks at Lahania around 6:30 and once everyone was fitted with fins and snorkel gear – all given special names by the Captain of the boat and her crew – we headed out to sea.  My mask and snorkel was called Mahi-Mahi.  Mahi-mahi is Hawaiian for dolphin fish.

I had bought a small digital camera that was waterproof the day before just for the trip.  Yeah – I know – I really needed another camera.  But I didn’t think saltwater would be good for my SLR, considering how my cell phone reacted to dampness.

The plan was to stop at three places around the island to snorkel.  At the first location we were all given snorkel lessons before we jumped into the water.  The coral was amazing even from the boat. and several sea turtles could be seen under the water or surfacing now and then for air.

I had left the strap for the little camera in Audie’s truck in my big camera bag, but I found a big rubber band to attach to the camera and loop around my wrist.  I wasn’t going to let a little problem like that cause me any grief.

I loved it!  Unfortunately, when I stuck my head above the water I could see almost everyone was back on board the boat.  I remember something came to mind like “candy-asses” but I went along with the majority.

…the beach stop

The park is in the valley formed from a collapsed volcano (a caldera) Iao means “cloud supreme” from the bank of clouds that are usually hanging over the valley. Throughout the park, there are signs saying that flash floods occur regularly because of the frequent and heavy rains.