Monday morning Ryan was up at the crack of dawn. He was so excited to be going to Hana with the Cutlers in our little PT Cruiser rental and to beat the traffic he wanted to leave at 6 am. Needless to say, we got there in just over an hour.
Usually there are waterfalls around every turn (it's one of the windiest roads on the planet) but this was a dry time of year so there were only a few and they were pretty wimpy.
Just before Hana is a little place called Waianapanapa State Park. Say that five times fast. Anyway, I've never stopped there before and was so glad we did. It's gorgeous. There's a blow hole you can walk right up too (totally dangerous at the wrong time of day) and look down inside. Then there was this black sand beach that had five different warning signs: jelly fish, manta rays, strong currents, undertows, sharp rocks... we opted not to swim.
This was a really cool lava tube down near the beach.
Hana didn't hold much appeal for us, and it was only about 8 am, so we went in search of waterfalls. We went to Kukui Bay the site of the Seven Sacred Pools, oooo. And hiked, 2 miles, to Waikapu Falls to see a 200 foot waterfall. (No, I wasn't feeling any better and yes, I'm crazy).
The hike was so awesome. It started out with a steep climb and the day was getting hotter by the minute but we crossed a bridge and all of the sudden there was this massive bamboo forest that went on and on. The wind was blowing through the bamboo and it sounded like something out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I just can't even describe how amazing it was.
When we came out of the bamboo jungle there was a little stream and a small waterfall. Dave looks and me and says, "Well, Lauren, what do you think? Was it worth the hike?" I tried to keep a positive attitude and said, "It's not exactly what I expected." And then he pointed through the trees and said, "then what do you think of that!" Two hundred feet of falling water is pretty impressive, and I felt a little silly, but everyone had a good laugh.
We were done with the hike around noon and with no food in sight we decided to drive around the back side of the island to Keokea. After lunch we still had a couple hours before our boat left so we kept going all the way to the top of Haleakala, Maui's volcano. We drove through clouds on the way but the top was sunny so I thought we would have a great view of the crater. But what did we see... a big fat cloud. There is a huge crater down there, but you only get to see it a few times a year. It just wasn't one of those days for us.
Dave and Kathy Cutler were so much fun to travel with. I don't remember what was so funny in this picture but I love it because it reminds me of how much we laughed that day. 
Speaking of good laughs, I finally made it to dinner Monday night. Thank you Dramamin. And to my delight the Sys Ops boys were a riot. I've never been so entertained at a two hour dinner. One particular gentleman from Scotland insisted on showing the waiter the true way to open a champagne bottle. He wacked the bottom rim of the bottle with a butter knife and sent the cork flying (denting the ceiling) and champagne pouring down the waiters head! The waiter was a good sport, though...
And got even in his own waiter way.
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