Family Trip to Hāna
Last week we took or eight youngest children on a drive around Haleakalā. Heidi and had an open schedule and we had decided we were going to head down to the Kahului harbor area to see if any of the guests on the small cruise ship that came in that morning, would like us ti take them anywhere?
We ran into a couple guys doing the same thing that morning. One of them left right away, and we chatted with the other one while people crossed in front of us. Heidi and I allowed him to do most of the talking to potential guests as he was at the spot first, and we did not want to over step.
After about 1/2 an hour, it was apparent that the folks on this boat mostly had all ready made plans and booked trips. Or they just wanted to quickly get off the boat and grab something from the stores right across the street.
So Heidi and I decided to head back to the house, and take our kids on the trip we were hoping to take guests on.
As we left our home in Kula, we drove down the Haleakalā highway and took the back roads into Makawao. I explained to the kids that Makawao was a cowboy town, and that in Maui, we call cowboys Paniolo. We drove by Casanova, which is our favorite Italian restaurant, and made the left turn on to Baldwin ave.
At this point we are headed directly toward Paia. About half way there we pass the La Akea farm and store. La Akea is a sustainable farm, that also hosts occasional art class projects for local with special needs. Our family has been fortunate to be able to help with many of those the last few years.
We then drove through the boho vibe town of Paia. As we’re almost into town, mama asks the kids, do you guys know what’s in Paia? They said “I don’t know”. So then she asked Dad, “What’s in Paia?” So I answered “Hippies!” And the kids were like “yeah! Hippies!” Not by best PC moment, but a good laugh nonetheless the less.
We didn’t stop in Paia on this trip so we made the right onto Hāna highway, and started heading toward Ho’okipa Beach Park.
There was a decent break today, so we got to watch some surfers getting after it. Then we hiked down to the flat rocky area to explore the shallows. The kids saw turtles and fish and ran around jumping off rocks.
We jumped back in the van and continued toward Hāna. We slowed down next to the big Rainbow Eucalyptus trees, and then pulled into the Garden of Eden Arboretum. Watched a few peacocks running around, then headed on.
Our next stop was the Hāna Roadside Stand, where sentries three of their delicious pizzas. This was the first time that I’ve had their pizza, and it was really good. We will defiantly have that again!
From there we continued on into the town of Hāna. We pulled into Hāna Bay beach park. When we pulled in a local family of kids was jumping off the old dock bridge. So we followed suit. It was a ton of fun. We were there jumping and swimming for two hours, then continued on through Hana, to head back toward our home in Kula the “back way”. Which would lead us through the town of Kaupo, with its ranches, and cattle right on the side of the road. I love heading home that way, because in the right time of afternoon, you end up chasing the sunset nearly all the way back into town. So many beautiful landscapes and moments along the way.
About half way back form Hāna toward Kula, we found a dirt trail that led down to the edge of the ocean, So with my wife’s aproval I took our AWD van down the trail, and we stopped to take in the scenery and shoot some pictures of the family.
We then headed the rest of the way home, doing our best Disney princess kariokee and pulled into home about a ½ hour after sunset. We didn’t make all the stops you might make on this trip this time, but it was just so nice to be together in God’s creation for the entire day.