Hawaii, day #4

Still plugging along with the catch up in the dead of winter from our warm retreat in August 2011. On this particular day, August 25, 2011, we decided to explore more of the island by heading east. 

First stop: the Iao needle.

This spot has some historical significance for the island of Maui as a big fight took place here hundreds of years ago. The history is almost as cool as the beauty of the  landscape.

We saw a wild chicken on the way... weird! I thought those only existed on Kauai!

Beautiful stream...

Me with the Iao Needle behind me. We got out of the house so early that we were pretty much the only people there first thing that morning. It was pretty awesome. 

Justin with the Iao needle as his backdrop. 

One more shot of me...it got a little cold and windy up there!

We continued north along the western part of Hawaii and found a hike that we wanted to do. It was sort of desolate so we weren't really sure what we were getting ourselves into but it ended up being really cool (how's that for foreshadowing?)

We started off trekking through woods that were surprisingly like the forest we have here in Western Washington but brought out of them quickly to stumble upon this view. 

Justin with the awesome view.

So my preparedness for this hike was not awesome. I brought hiking shoes but I didn't anticipate that it was going to be as freaking HUMID as it was. So I promptly stripped down into my bikini. And hiking shoes. That's how I roll. Justin, of course, loved it. And I got about 4 million comments on the way up and down the mountain (probably all the while thinking "crazy city girl.")

We continued to hike upwards to even more awesome views. 

And finally, about 3.5-4 miles later, we reached the end of the trail. But this was an up and back so we had to go 3.5-4 miles back down. And let me tell you- the down part? It was a challenge. At the top it was so foggy that everything was wet. Meaning: massive mud. We basically slipped and slid back down to the forest part. How I didn't eat it in my white bikini and mud, I have NO idea. Justin took some great videos though of me attempting not to. It was quite entertaining. 

A couple of hours later, we were back in the car and continued our drive around the west part of Maui. It was like the drive to Hana except on the west side of the island...and not as much traffic since most people do the drive to Hana. I'd almost venture to say that made this drive so much cooler. Still beautiful views, still a crazy curvy, narrow, steep road but you had it basically all to yourself. 

...and you got to see more of the "local" areas. This was a cattle ranch. If I was someone that had cows, this is where I'd want to raise them, hands down.

Gorgeous view right before we came upon a little village where we bought maybe the BEST banana bread I've ever had in my life. AMAZING.

And some more gorgeous views of the coastline. 

We eventually made it around the island and stopped in Lahina again where we had a late lunch at Kimos right on the water. 

And of course, we were total tourists who ordered a giant coconut with fruity drink inside. We then headed back to the east side of the island to our little "home" and had more tofu for dinner (a la the dinner from a couple of nights before) and enjoyed another spectacular sunset from our porch.