Sunday the 11th was our Road to Hana day! When we arrived on the island, we went to a grocery store to grab some essentials like bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter, chips, apples, and bananas. We love the food here at the resort but at $27 per person for the breakfast buffet, we've opted to have breakfast and sometimes even lunch poolside on a cheaper dime. However, on our Hana day, I read about picking up a box lunch at Hana Bay Picnics. The reviews were spot on. We weren't disappointed at all! For only $9.50 each, we got a gourmet sandwich, chips, cookie, and fresh pineapple. The sandwiches were out of this world divine. I had a smocked salmon with capers, finely chopped red onions, and cream cheese on a wonderful baguette type bread. Todd had a roast beef with horseradish. It was definitely worth a stop in before we started the long trek to Hana.
Before we started our adventure, we stopped at Boss Frogs shop to pick up an audio CD tour for our trip. We really debated on just taking a tour to Hana but it was $100 a person and we really thought we'd get bored because the tours are 12 hours long - 6:30am - 6:30pm. We saved the cash and got the CD for only $10 and listened as we drove along. If you aren't familiar, the road to Hana is a 68 mile journey (round trip) but takes 3 to 3.5 hours one way. The road is very curvy and narrow. You pass over 59 bridges, 46 of which are only one way. The drive is beautiful and something not to be missed.
The picnic shop is located in a town called Paia. You enter Paia right before starting the long trek to Hana. It's advised that you get your picnic lunch, fill up your tank with gas, and use the restroom here before you start the long journey.
The town of Paia is quite beautiful. It's a quaint little town with a beautiful Inn, shops, dining, gas stations, etc.
The CD audio guide lets you know what mile markers are worth stopping at. You are told where the restrooms are, waterfalls, parks, etc. Our first stop was Kaumahina State park. They had restrooms to use and a beautiful scenic overlook.
As we migrated along the drive, we would pull off to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. I've never seen such gorgeous landscape before. Maui sure is a beautiful place to vacation.
However, be careful or your car could end up off the road, like the picture below. In all seriousness, the drive isn't bad at all. Who knows what happened to those people to make them drive off the cliff. There are actually 2 cars in the picture. You can't see the other one very well but it's black and to the left of the car you can really see. We came to an Arboretum at one of our stops and immediately saw the cars as we were walking to the entrance to the park area. Hopefully the people made it out okay....
We arrived in the little town of Hana after about a 3 hour drive. The town is very cute but not a whole lot to see. There are quite a few hiking trails that would great for the adventurous type. We would have done that but being pregnant, we kept to close ground.
Below is a picture of the Hana Beach park that the locals go for swimming. It was packed on Sunday and neat to see all the families that were there. You can only wonder what people do for a living that live in Hana. It's such a tiny tiny town, beautiful but tiny.
It was neat to see their school. The scenery surrounding the school is beautiful. It would be very enjoyable to attend a school that overlooks the Hawaiian landscape.
As we left the town of Hana, we stopped at Wai'anapanapa State Wayside Park. We were told not to miss this stop as the beautiful black sand beach was located here. Below is a picture of the black sand beach. They should totally change the name though. It was more like black rock beach. The beach was 99% black rock that hurt like crazy to walk on. There was a tiny tiny spot that actually had the black sand. Regardless, it was beautiful and the water was crystal clear.
The sweet baby and I about to die on the rocks.
As we were walking from the Black "sand", we came across a little cave. We walked through it and Im so so glad we did. It was so neat on the inside.
At the end of the cave was an opening to the ocean. The waves would come up and hit the small rocks. It was beautiful!
As we finished our walk through the park, you could walk across some lava to see a blow hole. There were warning signs everywhere to stay back because water will come up through those holes and it can suck ya in. I didn't even remotely get close and was "that wife" telling Todd to please stand back while taking this photo!
At the end of our drive back, we decided to stop at a Taco stand that our guide told us about. It did not disappoint!! This lady cooks up fantastic tacos with fresh fish and shrimp. It was divine! To the right of the stand is a man who makes coconut candy. We indulged in that too. To the left of the taco stand is a little cafe and shop. I bought my little Lauren a hair tie with a flower on it and a bracelet for me. Im so glad we stopped here and would recommend it to everyone who drive the "Road to Hana."
This would be Todd trying not to make a face because the rocks hurt :) (This photo ended up at the end?? Our internet is WAY slow at the hotel so I'm going to opt to be lazy and not change it. This is at the black sand beach, aka rocks) :)
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