Monday, April 12, 2021:

The trip came to a chaotic start due to the fact that most packing was done on the day right before we left, and I had a debate tournament that weekend and wasn’t much help. We ended up debating the entire time since we placed 2ns overall, but it meant that the early packing I did a few days ago really came in handy. We had spent a couple weeks shopping for anything we didn’t have, like shorts, and we were all set to go and really excited. It was my sister’s thirteenth birthday this week, and my spring break, so it all aligned perfectly. She’s been wanting to visit Hawaii for years, and now was the time.

We woke up around 4:15 in the morning because our Uber arrived at 5 to take us to the airport. To be honest, we probably didn’t need that much time, because our clothes were all set out the previous night and my parents woke up a bit earlier to make sandwiches for the flight, and my sister and I made ourselves chocolate chip pancakes. Full of lethargy, we lugged ourselves, four suitcases, and a boogie board into the car and set off. I remember the car was an Audi because whenever I opened the door it projected the image on the ground, which I thought was really cool. We eventuallu got to the airport, checked in, and boarded the plane. To be honest, I’ve been on so many flights at this point that planes don’t register as much. I just put my earbuds in and looked out the window the entire time, and napped and read a bit near the end. Six hours later we were in Maui, and the time difference meant it was only nine in the morning. Due to COVID restrictions there would be no island hopping, so this was where we were staying the whole time. We sped through the airport, having already gotten COVID test results before the flight, and while my dad went to beat the rush and pick up a rental car, we waited for our luggage and so we could change our clothes. You can tell that you are in Maui the moment you exit the plane, to be honest. It’s way hotter, and the airport is a small outdoor one, so birds are perched everywhere chirping and flying around. In fact, I don’t think the constant bird chirps died away at all in Maui; they were a welcome background noise. We first stopped at the Costco right next to the airport to pick up a crate of water, and at the food truck in the same complex to pick up a quinoa salad. To be honest, I’m not much of a quinoa salad person, but this one was amazing. The feta cheese and balsamic vinaigrette really brought it together, and I think it was the best salad I’ve ever had.

From here, our plan was to head down the Road to Hana and stop in Hana for the night, before returning the next day after having explored numerous areas along the scenic, 30 mile drive. One thing we should have done was bought an app for the Road to Hana, like the one we used on our Grand Canyon trip, to point out all the interesting areas on the road and where to stop. We didn’t realize this until we were already several miles out, and by then, there was no data or wifi for us to use. One thing to watch out for on the Road to Hana is the mile markers. They start out near like 12, but they reset as you keep going and from there the mile markers for Road to Hana really start. The drive itself is gorgeous, even if you stop nowhere. It is full of greenery at all areas, overhead and next to you. Banyan trees with vines swing everywhere, and there are gorgeous flowers across the treetops that you don’t see back home. The birds are always chirping, and you get glimpses at the ocean at spots. Near the two mile marker we stopped at a food stand. This is also a spot that many people use to hike to the Twin falls, but we didn’t. My parents took the hike many years ago when they came and said that it wasn’t worth it because there was hardly any water there at all. The food truck had amazing food; a website my mom visited said that the food trucks in Hawaii are the best, and I have to agree. I had a really good smoothie made out of pineapples and sugar cane juice which I loved, especially since the sugar cane juice added just the right amount of sweetness without being overpowering. They even had popsicles where the popsicle stick was made of a sugar cane stick, which I thought was not only ingenious but biodegradable. From there, the waterfalls started. Almost at every turn we had to cross a bridge and there would be a waterfall on the mountainous side, cascading down. We stopped at a few of the prettiest for photos, and we even hiked down into one to experience the water spray. The waterfalls were a lot better than when my parents had come because it was spring instead of winter. After rain, there was a lot more water, and the nature is far prettier. One thing I will note is that the driving isn’t for everyone. The road was ready narrow and at times, it solidified into a single lane during the turns, and the drivers regulate themselves to make sure they take turns crossing the bridges and turns from both sides. At one point we even had to slip past a large delivery truck, and I actually got chills at how close we were to each other. I could have touched the truck if I wanted. At the 10 mile marker, we paused at the Garden of Eden, which is a gorgeous arboretum my parents stopped at years ago on their trip. We didn’t spend long there, just relaxed and picked up a passion fruit smoothie. I remember that the birds were so domesticated over there because they were crawling near our feet looking for good without any fear. After that, we set off again. As we got further into the Road to Hana, more and more banyan trees were seen along the side of the roads. Banyan trees have hanging roots that grow down to the ground and then create a new tree. You can have entire banyan forests out of just one mother tree, in fact, and they were gorgeous. I’ve never seen one in real life before, and it was worth the experience, even if they don’t look like how I imagined based on the descriptions. I connected my phone to the car around this point so that we could listen to music as we drove, and it really set the mood, even if my mom isn’t a huge fan of English music in general. Based on the notes we took, there was supposed to be a great lookout right after the 14 mile marker, but we drove past it and didn’t see it. Eventually, we decided that we missed it and took a u-turn on the narrow road. We found a dirt road right after the 14 mile marker that we took, and started driving. The issue was that the car wasn’t prepared at all, and we really needed a heavy duty one for it to be safe. We did it in our medium SUV, but the big trucks had an easier time. I was super nervous about it all since I was the one who remembered the little side road I saw and prompted us to take the u-turn and find it. Another car even followed us, and we had to slow down and pull to the side to let them pass us. It was incredibly bumpy, and there was a huge pothole that we narrowly avoided. At the end was a tiny, empty, black sand beach. We didn’t have any of our swim gear at the time, and weren’t in the mood to swim, but the views of the ocean were great. We ended up leaving early after we looked to the side and saw the corpse of a dolphin washing up the on the shore. It just kept rolling and rolling limply with the waves and it made me nauseous, looking at the beautiful creature being battered against the rocky beach. On the way back it was even harder pushing up the dirt road and past the ditches and the plants that brushed up against the car, but we made it and I have to say, the experience was great. As we kept driving, I saw that the shore was made of a lot of black pumice rock that is made of dried lava, and also the sort of stuff that people use to scrape dead skin off of their feet. Our next stop was going to by Aunty Sandy’s Banana Bread Shop, which is said to have famous, delicious banana bread. This shop was at mile marker 16, and we had to take the exit off of the Hana Highway straight to Keanae and go from there. The shop is only open from 8:30-2:30 and on really busy days, they run out of banana bread completely. Everything there is made completely fresh, and we came just at 2 for their last batches of food. The banana bread was totally worth it, in my opinion. Regardless of the kind of isolated location, we had to stand in a line to get the bread, but the piping hot, fresh-out-of-the-oven, sweet banana bread was delicious. We also got some egg salad sandwiches and ice cream for snacks, and while the egg sandwiches were really good, especially on our empty stomachs, the ice cream was kind of average. There’s a glittering blue beach on the other side of the shop that we watched, and I noticed that the water here is just so blue compared to at home, when there is always a hint of dirty brown and green in the water. It doesn’t feel as clean back home, to be honest. I was also plastered in sunscreen at this point, and I felt kind of like a greased weasel. I told this to my parents as we got in the car and left Aunty Sandy’s Banana Bread Shop and my dad made this amazing joke about how that means I just look like a weasel on a normal basis. Eventually, near mile marker 2, we stopped again to play in some of the waterfalls. One near a bridge, there was water trickling down a wall that I got a bit damp near from the mist for fun, and at another, my sister and I did some proper swimming. It was freezing and I had to change last minute into my swim clothes in the car, but it was totally worth it to swim in the waterfall, and we dried off quickly. Our final stop for the day was the black sand beach on the Haikuni camping grounds at mile marker 32. We had to book a spot in advance and get a reservation for our time slot, but the beach is very protected in a small cove, and the water is warm ocean water, not freezing like the waterfall. We were all really tired, especially since we had to wake up at 4 in the morning, so we just sat and sunbathed on the beach, and did some people watching. I would say my biggest pet peeve was that when I walked across the beach to dip my knees into the water, I noticed that the rocks were pretty bug and it hurt to walk across them barefoot. The actual soft sand parts were rather miniscule, and it wasn’t fun crossing them. It was probably good for the people in the ocean, who didn’t have to worry about sand getting everywhere, but not for us. Finally our day was over, and we drove straight to our hotel, the Hana Maui by Hyatt, also called the Travasa Hyatt. It’s a five star resort, the first five star resort I’ve ever stayed at, and just based on our beginning tour, it was definitely worth it. They had an infinity pool, spa, tennis and basketball courts, a fitness center, free yoga classes, large bungalows with ocean and non-ocean views, and nearby, if you walk a bit down the main road, a lot of food trucks for dinner and a restaurant too. The room itself was also huge, with so much empty space, and a separate hot tub from the shower. We ended up spending the entire evening at the poolside; my mom went early to spend time in the heated pool and jacuzzi while my dad, sister, and I changed, and then went to get dinner from the food trucks. We picked food up from multiple trucks, including cheese and onion quesadillas, an impossible burger, bamboo curry, and vegetable stir fry. I’d say my least favorite dish was the impossible burger; those things were not made for vegetarians. We picked up the food, headed to the poolside, and ate while watching the sunset before spending time in the jacuzzi until we were the last people there, swimming in the lit up pools and surrounded by the stars.

Tuesday, April 13, 2021:

It rained at night. I remember because I was half awake when I heard the noise, and ended up just drifting back to sleep. It turned out that it actually did rain, and when my parents ended up waking us up around 6 AM, while my sister went back to bed, the rest of us decided to take a walk to watch the sun finish rising. Technically we were supposed to wake up at 5 to see the full sunrise but I was too tired and went back to bed, so we only saw the final parts as the sky filled with color. There were others on the chairs that dotted the shore of the beach, and we took a set of three, wiped the water off of them, and sat down to bask in the quiet that was only interspersed by our quiet conversation and the ever present bird chirps. It even started raining at some point, but in the middle of the ocean, and we had the opportunity to watch the torrential downpour begin abruptly, and even hear it. After that peaceful wakeup, we headed back and I took a quick shower and did some packing before joining my sister and dad at the hammocks that swung between palm trees near the pool. My friend has one in her backyard, so I already know how to use it, and I easily got on and spent some time relaxing, not worried about the sun since I put sunscreen on before leaving the room. My only issue was that the hammocks were made of knotted rope, and so when I got off almost 20 minutes later, my calves were stained with red ligature marks. After some time there we left, met our parents, and walked to the Hana Ranch restaurant, which is across the road from the food trucks we ate at the night before. The food was great—we all shared a veggie omelette, french toast, a papaya fruit bowl, and an avocado toast, which was probably the worst of the four. After breakfast was a leisurely walk back and we checked out, before heading to Hamoa beach. Now, I’m personally not much of a beach person, but I loved my time here even though I accidentally forgot my swim shirt in the car. We went boogie boarding for the first time, and in the warm waves and on the beach, it was amazing. I had a lot of fun with it too, bouncing up and down with the water and letting it wash me to shore. After about an hour I was done, and I remember my mom being completely fed up with my sister because she wasn’t cleaning the sand off of herself in the water properly. That’s the annoying part about beaches—sand gets everywhere. It was amazing though, even if I was tired after an hour of boogie boarding and swimming. From there we drove a bit further, winding around, up, and down the Haleakala volcano. We ended up stopping at the Wailua falls for a bit, and my mom even took a dip in the waterfall to dry off the salt water and freshen up a bit. We didn’t, because it was way too cold for us, not to mention that it started raining for a bit at the waterfall. That high up and on that side of the mountain, it rained pretty often and irregularly just because of how much water gathered in the clouds. From there it was a direct route to the Haleakala National Park so that we could hike in to O’Eho gulch to the Waimoku Waterfall and visit the 7 Sacred Pools. The first interesting thing I learned using the podcast my mom bought on the Road to Hana at the hotel about those pools was that even though they’re called the 7 Sacred Pools, they aren’t sacred, and there are more than seven. I was still super excited, especially since there was supposed to be a bamboo forest there, but we did the hike to the waterfall first. The hike is amazing. Most people recommend leaving 2-3 hours for it, and the websites my mom checked out said it can take anywhere from 1-4 hours. For us personally, it took us just a little over an hour. Even though it’s an upwards hike to get to the base of the waterfall, which is 400 feet tall, there isn’t that much ascension. I think one of my favorite parts was the huge banyan tree we saw part of the way through the hike; it was gigantic, and we even climbed on a few of the branches for fun. The waterfall itself has two settings: lots of water, and little water. When there is little water, like there was for us, we could safely pass the sign that says “Danger: Do Not Pass” and keep going until we were at the literal base of the waterfall. A lot of people were going there too, and I even saw a few swimming at the very base. When I first got there, my first thought was “tall”. I looked up at it, and then up, and then up, and then just a little more up until my neck was craned a full 90 degrees. It was gorgeous. We had more than enough time to soak it in as after we took pictures, we sat down and ate our snacks before heading back. On the way back, we spent a lot more time in the bamboo forest, which was honestly amazing. It was completely green and our pictures looked like something amazing out of an aesthetic board on Pinterest. When the wind pushed against it, you could hear the bamboo clacking against one another at the top, creating a quiet symphony. At the bottom we took the really short, fifteen minute hike to the seven sacred pools, which just have sea water washing up into them. The view wasn’t as good there as at the waterfall, in my opinion. After using the restroom at the bottom we loaded into the car and got ready to go, done in just three hours with the entire park. On our way back to the area we came from, instead of tracing our way back through the road of Hana, we went around the backside of the mountain to the dryer area so that we could see new sights. It’s actually shorter than retracing the Road to Hana, but the main feature is that there are no waterfalls, and instead we got an almost unobstructed view of the ocean. The drive was a lot hotter and sandier on this side. We passed some dry streams, multiple cattle ranches, and even a few mountain goat. We stopped on the side of the road at some point so my dad could take pictures of my mom in the middle of the road and I ended up joining them so we could hike down a bit to the cliffside and take some photos in front of a distant rock arch. We could vaguely even see some people fishing from on top of the rock arch. As we kept driving we passed a mountain that looked exactly like the sleeping Te Fiti mountain from Moana, and a few areas where we could see how a flood had brought rocks down the mountain and destroyed parts of the road. There were also a lot of dumped cars on the sides of the road, probably because on an island it’s hard to actually dump something, even if car dumping is illegal in Maui. We were almost at the hotel at this point, even though it was pretty late in the evening thanks to all of our stops, and we stopped at a Safeway to pick up some snacks, like cold pasta and a Starbucks mocha, and use the restroom. At this point I was navigating to get us to the hotel because at the previous resort, I had downloaded the offline google maps of the entire island to keep us going. My mom kept making fun of us for how we did the directions, because I had to keep popping in every five minutes just to reassure my dad on how many miles were left to a turn. We kept driving from there until we reached a gorgeous main road that was literally at the edge of the ocean, there was maybe 5 feet of sand before someone could jump right into the warm water. The sky was gorgeous too, with layered clouds that were red at the bottom that I couldn’t help but stare at. We checked in at around 6:30 or so in the hotel, and I remember I messed up when I accidentally took the cart that the bellhop was supposed to bring up to our room for us—kind of embarrassing. Our room was nice, but not nearly as nice as the other hotel, with all the free space in it. My favorite part of the room was the balcony though, because we were able to watch the luau, for which tickets usually got at a hundred dollars or so, completely for free from our room. We didn’t even need a reservation! The coolest part was when they started to play with fire and swallow it in my opinion; I’ve never seen something like that, and they were tossing the flames around like it was nothing. The music and dancing from before was pretty too, but it was the fire swallowing that enchanted me.

Wednesday, April 14, 2021:

I woke up early today for a snorkeling adventure that we had booked a couple of weeks ago. One being thing about Maui was that we had to book everything in advance because otherwise, all the good stuff would be sold out. My sister and I had picked up some sweets at Starbucks yesterday that we didn’t finish, so I finished up my blueberry scone and she finished her chocolate croissant. There was also some left over quinoa salad my parents had gotten us for dinner that we finished, though it wasn’t as good as the food truck quinoa salad from the Costco complex before we set off on the Road to Hana. I quickly got dressed in my swimwear and slipped a dress on top, and then we drove to the wharf. There was a guy there who was taking photos for us, and after we got that, we got in line for the ship and sat down to wait for our time to board. We were pretty early to be honest, plus they gave us an early time to show up so that anyone who was late wouldn’t miss it. My sister and I played a word search game on my phone as we relaxed in the sunlight, wide-brimmed hats on to stop us from tanning like crazy, even though we still left Maui a couple shades darker. Finally, it was time to board the ship, which was called the Quicksilver, and we got on! I was a bit nervous, because the last time I was on a ship like this for so long was in Puerto Vallarta, and I got seasick. I had taken a Diamox that morning, but I was still uncertain, and I ended up on the top deck near the front which in hindsight, wasn’t the best plae to be. Nevertheless, my sister and I took our seats and picked up breakfast, which was a large muffin and some fruit, and the ship set off. The captain of the ship kept up a constant commentary on the history of the different islands of Hawaii and where they were which I personally found fascinating. For example, Target Island is completely abandoned because the US military used it for target practice for bombs and nukes in the late 1900s, and now no one goes there except to start to clean it up and make it inhabitable again. Or, another island really just has one town and the locals hate the expansions of any tourists whatsoever. At some point, when this guy wanted to expand the two hotels he owned, he literally paid the locals not to work so that they wouldn’t protest the expansions. The locals even jumped into the harbor at some points to stop unauthorized ships from docking! As this was happening the crew was passing out the snorkeling gear and getting our sizes for everything, so that once we reached the little bay that we would be snorkeling in about an hour away, everyone was geared up and ready to go. My favorite part on the ride there was when we saw a whale. It spurted some water up and then flipped its tail in the classic whale position before diving down, which was so cool since I’ve never seen a whale before.

The snorkeling was amazing, in my opinion. All the fish and the coral reefs were gorgeous, and even though the reef wasn’t the most high quality it was worth it because the best reefs are crazy crowded and we’d hardly have any space to swim. The fish were gorgeous, as was the coral, and even if it was kind of scary to be looking directly into the water I really enjoyed it. I had a Go-Pro with me for taking photos and videos too, and there was a photographer swimming in the water to take photos of us snorkeling. My sister and I got a set of photos done together, as did my parents. Unfortunately, it turns out that I do get seasick no matter what on boat rides that are too long, and the turbulence of the waves I was snorkeling in along with the boat ride kicked in. I had to get back to the ship ASAP and out of my gear because I was feeling terribly nauseous, and one of the crew helped me find a seat and got some ginger-ale. It was to no avail, however, because I still ended up vomiting my entire breakfast over the side of the ship half-way through my ginger ale, which I then finished. I stayed in the sun as people slowly trickled in and dried up, and eventually my sister came back from snorkeling and got my stuff from the upper deck so that I could change out of my swimshirt and back into my cover-up dress. By the time we were heading back I was feeling much better, even if I wasn’t able to eat the lunch that was available just yet, and I went through a second glass of ginger-ale. The wind picked up like crazy as we headed back, and even bundled up in my sweatshirt I was shivering and the sea-salt water was getting everywhere until a nice crewmember helped me move to a warmer, more sheltered spot in the sun. I stayed there and basked in the sun at the very back bottom of the boat until I was feeling much better, and as we neared the island of Maui, we saw a pod of dolphins! There were hundreds of them swimming all around us, and they were jumping and skipping in the water. They were total showoffs and I loved it. I even managed to walk to the front of the boat, though I was still a bit dizzy, so I could get a better view of the dolphins circling our boat, and the captain let us circle around the pod a couple times so we could spend time with them. I also learned that apparently, some of the snorkelers had a chance to snorkel with a black reef shark, and once we were done with the pod of dolphins, we saw a turtle near the front! We pretty much struck wildlife gold on this trip, though the dolphins were my absolute favorite. I was feeling really good near the end, and even managed to have my burrito and chocolate-chip cookie that was for lunch before we left the boat. After we got off the ship we drove back and showered before relaxing for a bit. My parents took a nap, and my sister and I got dressed before I took her to hang out at the pool and explore the hotel. My favorite part was seeing an entire flock of flamingos near the waterfall, to be honest. I’ve never seen flamingos in real life before. There were also some parrots in cages, which I vehemently disagreed with because while the other wildlife like the fish were free to roam in their pools, the birds were just cooped up in the small cages with no place to fly, and they didn’t get taken out into an aviary either, which was rather cruel. After the pool time we went back and after my sister showered, went back to the downtown area of Lahaina near the wharf to shop and hangout. I wanted to get a shaved ice first because I’ve heard that it’s way better in Hawaii, but while they did have some unique flavors like dragonfruit, or mango-orange, they didn’t put nearly enough syrup in the shaved ice and we ended up throwing half of it away because it was just ice. We also stopped at a little booth that did henna and hair braiding, and while my sister got her hair braided, I picked out a henna tattoo. The henna here wasn’t traditional henna made of the henna leaf that I usually get for Diwali, but it was made of the blue jagua fruit and stained the skin a deep, navy blue that looks like a real tattoo. I got a large mermaid on my forearm with Ursula hair, because she’s one of my favorite Disney villains, and my sister got a turtle on her ankle. The girl who did my tattoo was really nice too, but what surprised me was that she was only 19! She got married when she was 18 and they are working now. Coming from someone who has always planned to go to college, it was really eye-opening to talk to and get to know someone who wasn’t going to go to college, but instead does the henna work for a living and is already married. I mean, I’m hardly a couple years younger than her and I can’t even imagine marriage. I also picked up a pair of earrings from the booth opposite the henna area, one of the long golden chains that go through the back of the ear, before we all headed back. My sister and I had to be very careful to let the henna gel set because otherwise it would smudge everywhere, but we were good about it. I remember that on our way back to the car we saw a couple guys sitting under a “No Christianity” sign, and a tourist got into an argument with them! It was hilarious to watch, to be honest. We finished off our evening by getting dinner at the restaurant Moku Roots, which I really liked. It’s a vegan restaurant in Lahaina that has the best food, hands down. The burger, the burrito, the snacks were all amazing, and even if I couldn’t have all of the dips due to nut substitutes, it was still great for me. We discussed veganism and capitalism and mythology the entire dinner and were exhausted once we got back. I quickly washed off the blue jagua henna, leaving my skin bare and knowing that in 24 hours the blue would slowly fade in, and went to bed.

Thursday, April 15, 2021:

I woke up early again today because I had a surfing lesson from 8am-9am. I finished my breakfast muffin from the day before and quickly got dressed in my required rash guard and swim shorts. My henna tattoo turned out amazing; it was a deep blue that looked like a real tattoo and put together, I was really feeling like I was on vacation. We drove to downtown Lahaina near the wharf again, because our lesson was also over there, and we were the first ones there. Another family showed up as we were getting fitted for our water shoes, and a few others too. To be honest, my sister and I both felt really out of place not just because we were the only girls, but also because we were the youngest ones there. There was another pair of high school boys who it turns out go to Pioneer High in Los Gatos, super close to where I used to live, but they looked a lot older. It ended up being my sister and I, the Los Gatos boys and their dad, and one other older guy in the group. Once we were all fitted with watershoes we went through some dry-runs on land on how to stand on a surfboard, and then we walked to the beach. To be honest, the dry-runs were kind of awkward for me because my mom and dad were taking photos, but we have evidence of it all now. At the beach, we tied the ankle straps for the surfboards on and then headed out, paddling on our stomachs before dismounting. The beach itself was perfect for beginning surfers like us; the waves were small, and most of it was super shallow, so we could stand up and only be about shoulder deep. The taller guys in the group were only waist deep at certain spots on the beach. From there, we took turns with the instructors paddling out and catching the waves. They would position and help push us, and then we would stand up and balance for as long as we could. To be completely honest, my sister and I are both quick learners. Some of the other older guys were having a lot of trouble even near the end, but after the first 3-4 rounds we had it down. My mom said that when she watching, she noticed that we looked bored by the end, and we didn’t have the exert nearly as much effort to balance. I still had a crazy amount of fun though, especially since I had never surfed before. Once the lesson was over we trekked back to the truck that held the boards, balancing the heavy surfboards on our head until they could be loaded in. Our teachers abandoned us, funnily enough, to hitch a ride in the back of a truck of a friend of theirs while we finished the short walk back, and there, we returned the water shoes, hosed down, and changed into coverups. We caught a proper breakfast in the food court in Lahaina of omelettes that my dad picked up while my sister and I changed and reapplied sunscreen, and from there we headed back to the hotel to shower.

Our plan for the rest of the day was to hike at the Haleakala Volcano, which is currently dormant. First came preparation: while my dad and I stopped at Safeway to get gas and pick up snacks like chips and cold pasta, my sister and my mom were at Moku Roots getting us a lunch. Moku Roots is a completely clean store in that they don’t give disposable take-out containers. You pay ten dollars for a steel container, and get your ten dollars back when you return the container so that they can reuse it, which I think is an amazing concept, especially at a time when disposables are becoming more and more common due to COVID. This packing of food and pre-planning was necessary since Haleakala is a full day trip from Lahaina, since we were leaving at like 11. Once we had all of our food, I set the directions into my GPS, and we drove and drove and drove. It took us about an hour and a half to finally reach the visitor’s center at Haleakala and to be honest, the drive up the mountain was totally worth it. The path was really windy, which was hard to drive through for my dad, but the mountain is 10,000 feet tall. As we kept driving, we drove through and then above the clouds until it was like we were looking out of a plane. There was a sea of clouds stretched out for as far as I could see, fluffy and white, and we were above it all. It was like being in a plane, but I could see the raw thing instead of looking out a slightly dusty window and feel the windy, fresh air at the top of the mountain. After changing into warmer clothes at the visitor’s center, kind of like the stuff we wore in Norway, we drove a bit further up before parking at the Leilani viewpoint to eat lunch. Lunch was amazing again, and I went straight through my vegan taro tacos, as did everyone else with their snacks. We also went through the chips that we got from Safeway: jalapeño chips and cheeto puffs, which in my opinion are absolutely addictive. I’m pretty sure cheeto puffs are more addictive than crack. We got amazing views while we ate too: the bright sky, the carpet of clouds, the waving trees and the wind. Lunch done, I hopped off the car and helped clean up before we drove a bit further, all the way to the summit of Haleakala volcano. The parking lot was mostly empty and we quickly parked before wandering around to take photos and take in the views. I could see a space station in the distance on a road that we didn’t have access to. Apparently, this area is so clear of pollution that it is the third or fourth best place in the world to study the skies. The mountain itself is rocky and kind of red, with a lot of black igneous rocks in areas. I was really excited to be on an actual volcano, even if it wasn’t spewing magma, and took photos of literally everything. My dad was feeling tired and so after we drove a bit lower to the second visitor’s center, and the place where the hikes start, he and my sister chose to stay in the car and take a nap while my mom and I headed out to hike for a bit. The marking for the trails is a bit confusing near the beginning, and we had to ask for directions, but once we got properly into the trail it’s really well marked. We took the Sandy Trails hike, which is a hike into the volcano. I repeat, INTO the volcano. I had to stop early because I was more tired than my mom, but it didn’t matter to me. The hike was amazing, it sloped downwards into the hole of the volcano and a person could keep hiking forever, all the way down I think. I hardly went for half an hour before stopping to rest, while my mom went a bit further, and I took the time to look out at the sky. I was a lot more level with the clouds at this point, and it felt like I could reach out and hug them, or walk through them. The walls of the mountain were in different shades of sandy yellow, red, and black, kind of like this snake I saw one time in a national park. My mom caught back up with me after 20 minutes and we finished the hike up, which was a lot more strenuous than the hike down, kind of like the Grand Canyon hike we did into the canyon last Thanksgiving. I ended up overtaking my mom because once I get going I can’t stop, and I pushed myself all the way to the parking lot. I paused to give directions to another group of tourists, and then after I used the restroom, I relaxed in the car and waited for my mom. Once she was there we drove back up to the summit to watch the sunset, and this is where we realized our mistake. It was packed. I mean, packed. People were parked in no-park zones and even double parked, and the easy parking spot we had before was gone. We should have stayed up here in the afternoon and just walked down to the hiking area, and then we would have been much better off. Instead, we just ended up parking in a no-park zone with like three other cars and leaving to watch the sunset. My sister and I grabbed some towels from the trunk to sit on and a blanket and settled down on the ground, cold pasta and forks in hand so that we could eat dinner while we watched the sunset. It was… amazing. We saw the sun dip below the horizon on our own, and we could see it moving and turning the sky dozens of different warm shades and letting the darkness of the night slowly take over. When it went below the clouds there was a huge cheer from everyone, and then more than half of the crowd departed, having seen what they came to see. We stayed, however, spending more time watching the sky get darker and darker until it was a bit too cold, and we slipped back into the car, dinner done, to get a proper parking spot and watch the stars. The sky was so incredibly clear we could see the Milky Way galaxy itself, and the dusty sprinkling of stars that made it up and looked like someone had dusted powdered sugar across the sky. My mom and sister had both downloaded apps on their iPhone and iPad respectively that would identify constellations in the sky based on our location, and I took full advantage of my mom’s app to find Orion’s Belt, which I could see even without the app due to the three stars being very distinctive, Taurus, Capricorn, and more. It was amazing, we spent more than half an hour just star gazing in a way we would never get to do at home. The observatory was also hard at work, projecting a line across the sky as they did whatever the astronomers over there do. This activity was mostly for my sister, since she wants to be an astronomer one day, but we all enjoyed it. I remember we kept yelling whenever someone started the car or opened a door because it would turn all the lights on, making it harder to see the stars and stopping our eyes from adjusting to the darkness. We eventually finished and drove back, but I was so tired that I fell asleep and my mom just turned the directions on out loud for my dad.

Friday, April 16, 2021:

Today was my last day in Maui. By this evening I would be back home at my house, alone. I woke up late, exhausted from the night before like my sister and parents. My parents had woken up a bit earlier to go on a walk, but my sister and I stayed happily in bed for a bit longer until I finally crawled out of bed and changed, calling my parents to figure out what we were doing. The plan was to get breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then I would pack and get ready to go to the airport. My parents took a while to get there, but by then I had woken my sister up and she had gotten ready too. We met our parents downstairs near the couches and walked to the restaurant before ordering, and the food was really good. There was a regular papaya acai bowl, and a banana bread that my mom said was amazing but I couldn’t eat since it had walnuts, but my favorite was the apple pie french toast I ordered. I’m a french toast fan in general, but this one had apple pie filling on it and it tasted absolutely divine, even if it was rather fatty. After breakfast we wandered back to the room and I showered and finished packing. I was really excited to fly alone for the first time, but also kind of nervous. I didn’t want to sit next to a stranger, to be honest. I was among the first group to board though, so I was staying hopeful for a mostly empty flight. I went down with my dad and bought a mango-dragonfruit refresher at Starbucks, which was amazing, and then we all loaded into the car. The refresher finished in hardly 5 minutes, with my entire family taking sips of the sweet, fruity drink as I packed last minute items I had forgotten into my backpack like snacks and wipes. My mom got out at the airport with me and for the first time ever, I went through the entire process on my own. I got my own boarding pass. I went through security with my student ID and ticket. My mom ended up following with a special pass that allows adults to accompany minors temporarily, but she left right after security. It felt freeing, really, and was fun. I picked up a second mango-dragonfruit refresher at the airport Starbucks before using the restroom and heading to my gate, where I had some sushi from Safeway as a snack and waited for the flight to be called. As one of the first to board, I lugged my suitcase into the racks above, wiped the seats down, and took the aisle seat. I placed my backpack on the window, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best. Luckily for me, I got it. They announced that the flight was only about three-fourths full, and I ended up getting my little row of three seats to myself. From there, I’ve been on a lot of plane flights. A lot. I moved to the window seat, kicked back, and relaxed for the next few hours. I had cold Safeway pasta, the snacks that Southwest handed out, water, and my phone. After the flight I hadn’t checked anything in, so I just waited for my family friends to pick me up and drop me home where I almost immediately dropped to bed, knowing that I had to wake up at five the next day for the national debate tournament, the Tournament of Champions.

Overall, the Maui trip for me was an amazing experience. I got to do so many new things and learn so much about Hawaii. Having not travelled in a while due to the COVID, it was really nice to see the world getting back into the swing of things. We were safe and cautious the entire time, and it all paid off in the end.