Today Diane and I took the car and left Gabe and Sam to fend for themselves . They wanted a beach day. so We headed up in to the Maui “up Country” on our way to the Haleakala volcano. It was the last thing on our list of things we really wanted to do . It was a beautiful drive.. It was 85 degrees when we started. at sea level . the temperature dropped as we climbed.. The scenery went from dry coastal desert to temperate Forrest to wind blasted alpine pasture to.. a martian landscape. By 10,000 feet is 55 degrees with gale force winds. An amazing transformation in just an hour of driving.
The observatory looked like a martian outpost ..really unexpected in the otherwise barren p ace.. The soil had a reddish color.. it truly looked like i’d imagine mars would be like
the oeak kept going in and out of clouds.. one second clear, another moment you couldn’t see.
We hiked about 1.5 miles down into the cone of the volcano.e.. we learned it wasnt actually a blast conde.. but a dome of volcanic cinder that has worn away in teh wind over the millinea. It was a dry and barren place.. interesting colors…. hardly anything living there.. a few hardy plants
The hikle back up warmed us up.. and by 12:30 we were heading home.. down from the 50’s to the 80’s. We got back to Kihea and headed for the beach. This beautiful turtle was lying in a cover near our beach. We stayed a good 50 feet away to give her space
On the way home we also took one more look at our friends the chickens.. Maui has so many wild chickens (and cats). They look so healthy and cute with their chicks. I think they are much happier than their farm raised cousins
We met up later with Gabe and Sam before dinner and had one more meal at our favorite fish place Coconuts.. Poke and Fish tacos. Yum!
What a wonderful trip this has been !
nite all, note sam
-me