The Adventures of Steve and Alie: October 2007

When is driving in a car all day long around hairpin twists and turns ever worth it? When you’re in Maui and you’re on the Road to Hana! On Thursday, we all decided as a family to bite the bullet and do the Road to Hana. We had been told by some travel advisors that if you go on the Road to Hana, it’s worth it to pay the $250 per person charge to sit in an air-conditioned travel bus and have someone else drive you around. All I have to say about that is…… WHATEVER!!! We had an INCREDIBLE time and we drove it ourselves! In an air-conditioned tourist van, you can’t stand up out the roof of your jeep with your camera while your husband is driving to film the unbelievable views (see videos below). We were able to go at our own pace and stop when we wanted to stop and explore the beauty of the east side of the island. The east side is the wet side and it is evident in the absolutely breathtaking beauty. Just when you think it can’t possibly get any more beautiful, you come around the next hair-pin turn and your breath is taken away again. It truly is a feast for the eyes and I am extremely happy that we decided to spend a whole day of our vacation on such a gorgeous adventure. We had 3 cameras on that trip, so we have a ridiculous amount of pictures. I could probably post about 5 blogs of waterfalls, lush mountains, and turquoise waters meeting black lava rock shores… truly unbelievable. Maui is one of those places that makes you think about how much God loves creating beautiful places for His children. His handiwork is all over in Maui…

This picture below is a waterfall called "The Three Bears." Not an incredibly tropical name for a gorgeous waterfall if you ask me, but what the falls lack in a name, they definitely made up for in beauty. This was one of my favorite stops. All the other tourists were taking pictures of the falls from up on the road quite a ways away, but I'm proud to say my adventurous family and I found a path (sort of) from the bridge down to where we could enjoy the falls up close and personal.

This is Ian on the hike back to my favorite stop called The Blue Pool. It was like something out of a movie. More on the Blue Pool to come, but I love this picture of my brother. He actually took some really amazing pictures on this trip for all of us to enjoy, a lot of them posted in this blog...

Steven and I at the Blue Pool about to jump in for a refreshing dip! The Blue Pool is created from waterfalls falling hundreds of feet to create a fresh water pool that is seperated from the ocean by a small section of rock. So there I was in paradise with my husband swiming in a freshwater pool with the sound of the waves and the view of the ocean just beyond the beautiful pool... um... I was in Heaven! Too bad other people were there... ;)

This is a picture from one of our last stops on the Road to Hana. This place was called the Seven Sacred Pools (They aren't sacred and there aren't even seven pools, but a smart businessman named the falls that in order to draw tourists way back when... I think it worked!) and was absolutely gorgeous. We actually took the family picture of us below, on the bridge in the back of the picture.

I absolutely love this picture of my mom and dad. I think it's beautiful.

Family picture on the bridge at the Seven Sacred Pools

We are miles away from this waterfall. This shows how far this one falls! And we were there in the dry season... can you imagine what this fall looks like in the wet season??

The four of us kids on our way!

Daddy and I decided to jump in for a quick swim. This was at the beginning of our adventure.

Another picture of Three Bears Falls.

At the Blue Pool.

Picture of the Blue Pool with the Ocean Beyond. Behind the picture are the waterfalls coming down from the mountainside.

This was a quick stop near Black Sand Beach. The water here was incredibly beautiful and Steven, Ian and I found this fantastic rock formation stretching out over the ocean. The formation was huge and we were really far up from the ocean, but these massive waves were coming in and crashing against the rock. The spray was so high it would come up right in front of us and block our entire view.

That etching along the side of the mountain is the Hana Road. We had just been on that portion of the road a few minutes earlier. The coastline drive was unbelievable.

I think my brother is so handsome.

One of our stops was along a beach made from lava rock. The waves would crash against the black rock that would then form pools and create mini waterfalls.