Day 1 - Haleakala Crater, Horseback Riding

Our first full day in Maui has come to an end.  Using the six hour time difference to our advantage, we went to bed last night at 7pm (1am in Boston) and woke up at 3am to drive to the Haleakala Volcano to watch the it's infamous sunrise.  I did do a bit of reading on it so I knew that it would be chilly up at the summit.  While packing I determined that one of our essentials was to bring one of our comforters (along with food and water) in our checked bag.  Thank goodness we were able to fit all our clothing and other stuff in our carry on bags because that heavy blanket came in super handy this morning.  Dave and I enjoy watching the sun rise in the morning and we try to witness the first sun rise of every new year so it really turned out to be an awesome (and I mean that in the truly awe-inspiring essence of the word) way to begin our Maui trip.

 

We did decide to forgo the popular bike tour which has tourists ride bikes down the volcano after the sun has risen.  To be honest, I chickened out when planning this portion of the trip.  Riding down the snake like roads at the edge of a cliff while on a bike when I haven't ridden one in over ten years was just not my cup of tea.  Instead, I justified my fear away saying that the tour was expensive and forces you to comply with the tour company's schedule.  Both of which are true.  Needless to say, we were able to drive down the volcano at our own pace, in our warm car eating the food that we brought from home.   My favorite stop had to be at the second visitors center where we parked and took a 20 minute nap.  It was only 8:45am but we had already been awake for almost six hours.tour   Once our rest left us more rejuvenated, we bought sandwiches from this quaint little place called, Sunrise County Market and ate outside in their Protea garden.  There were so many different versions that we couldn't help but take photos.

This plant is super fuzzy! 

 

Fully satiated we drove to the Pony Express Tours where we took a one hour of a ranch at 3,000 ft on the volcano while on horseback.  The horses were docile and super well trained that almost zero help was needed from their extremely inexperienced riders.  Dave was initially nervous; not that I blame him, they are animals that could at any moment do something beyond our ability to control them.  However, these horses needed more prodding along than holding back.  As our guide said, "they're too lazy and fat to take off on you."  Indeed.  Dave's horse was one of the most challenging as he was constantly stopping to eat and Dave quickly learned the tricks needed to make him move forward.  Also, the views from this trip were great as well.

Our final stop of the day was at Ali'i Kula Lavender farm where they have more varieties of lavender plants than I could count from all over the world.  While there we embarked on this fun scavenger hunt game they had set up to get us to walk through the majority of their beautiful farm.  Due to the hills, we certainly got our exercise for the day.  With the scavenger hunt completed, we walked into their gift shop and were rewarded with the most delicious cookies.  I was also extremely tempted to purchase one of everything in the store but I managed to make it out only $12 lighter from the lavender essential oil I purchased.

Despite it being only 2:30 in the afternoon, we were both exhausted and my eye was bothering so we drove back to our hotel.  My intention was to shower, dress, and go back out to eat but upon arriving at the room, I knew there was no way I going back out.  Instead, Dave went to Wendy's down the street and I attempted to plan out our day tomorrow.  However, I was sidetracked by food and the comfortable shoulder of Dave and ended up snuggling with him in bed watching The Nanny Diaries.  While Dave loaded the photos on to my lappy, I wrote this post out in a journal.  Now that it's typed I'm going to bed.  That's two nights before 8pm--I've entered an alternate universe.