Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Maui Day 5

We started this day off bright and early…3 AM early.  We drove 2 hours to the top of a 10,000 foot crater, Haleakala National Park.  The sun rises there around 6:50 AM, and we made it in plenty of time to watch.  Haleakala actually means “house of the sun” so we HAD to do this tourist thing, even though it meant waking up mega-early.

It was soooo worth the early wake-up.  We were amazed with seeing the sun rise above the clouds so high up.  It sounds so cliché, but seeing God’s creation amazed us.  The sun was HUGE and bright and perfect, and we are so thankful to be able to experience this part of God’s work.

We made about 80 videos of silly stuff during this trip, and I can't stand how country I sound when I talk on video.  I decided I wasn't going to share any of them, but it really helps you get the full effect for the sunrise experience.  So, I'm swallowing my pride and sharing my redneck voice.  



This 2nd video shows part of the drive up the crater plus the beautiful sun.  Even better, I don't talk : )


Here's a pic before the sun came up.  It was so cool being above the layer of clouds.  We could even see Venus, (yea, the planet!), while it was still dark.  Incredible!



Lots of people did tours to bike ride or horseback ride down to the bottom of the crater.  While that option would be very fun, we were quite happy to be in our warm car for the drive down.  It was 30 degrees at the top in the dark!  So crazy that just 3 hours later, we were wearing bathing suits lying by the pool.

We made it back to the Westin in time for our oceanfront breakfast buffet, and I went to a meeting or 2 of the conference.  We spent the afternoon by the pool relaxing.  A friend from PC and his girlfriend who now live in Maui stopped by to say hello.  They also let us borrow their snorkel gear for the next day's snorkeling adventures (stay tuned!).

We went to Lahaina, a precious town about 10 minutes away, for dinner and some shopping.  Lahaina reminded us a lot of Charleston.


We ate at Penne Pasta, another recommendation from my friend Fodor.  Caleb finally got to taste Hawaiian Lasagna, ha!


It was a great day, and the sunrise was maybe my favorite thing.  See?!  Everything is our FAVE!

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