July 13 - Last Day

Maui's Upcountry

View of Makawao & Pukalani

The road...up, up, up.

This was our last breakfast on the lanai….I will miss it. We slept in a little and then packed up and headed towards Haleakala. We drove up Lahainaluna Road for a view of the town before we left. What a drive to Haleakala, sea level to 10,000 feet in less than 2 hours! I was glad we had canceled our bike trip. It is very very windy at the top. In fact, it was almost impossible to stand up, but the view was nice and worth the trip. We enjoyed stopping where we wanted to on our way down. If I lived in Maui I would want to live in the upcountry area. Rolling hills, cool weather, and the views are to die for.

Haleakala silversword in bloom. These are very rare plants.

View of the Big Island from Haleakala

At the top.

Views from the top.

We drove down through Makawoa and Haiku, stopped and had a picnic lunch watching the windsurfers at Hookipa Beach. We then stopped in Paia to look at some of the shops. A strange collection of high end art galleries and weird little boutiques. We still had quite a bit of time to waste until our flight at 11:00, so we went to the movies at Queen Kaahumanu Mall. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean. After the show we ate at the Saigon Café. It was a small place, but they were very friendly and the food was good. After dinner we stopped at K-Mart for some last minute snacks for the plane and to change clothes.

Hookipa Beach

Queen Kaahumanu Mall