Today was our Road to Hana day. I probably scheduled it for our first full day because this was my can’t-miss activity, my most anticipated day. I wanted good weather and fresh eyes, and I knew we’d have both on Saturday. I wanted rainforests and vines and waterfalls; they’re what I picture when I think of Hawaii, even though on much of Maui and several other islands it’s very dry. But the west side of the island has all of these things, so off we went.
Not, though, before our first stop, a 7-11 so legendary we were told we had to visit it. And sure enough! This was a very special 7-11. Located as it is between Asia and the US, it’s full of the usual 7-11 fare, but also 7-11 foods from Japan and Korea. In addition to hot dogs and taquitos, they sell hot dim sum dumplings. They have Slurpees…lychee Slurpees. Never been to a 7-11 like it, and it was great.
These were my favorite purchases – salty ume plums, and ube crinkle cookies (ube tastes like chocolate), and a melon Slurpee.
And then we were off! There’s a moment in Portland where you head into the eastbound tunnel on 26, drive into the forested suburban West Hills, and pop out into a fully articulated downtown Portland, just like that; it’s magic. On this Road to Hana, we rounded one turn like any other turn in the dry northern landscape, and popped out in the middle of a rainforest – it was that sudden. Fantastic.
The route was immediately gratifying, and the turns hairpin. We passed by a small grove of giant rainbow eucalyptus trees, but ended up filled with regret that we didn’t stop for photos, and (spoilers), even more filled with regret when we missed them again on the way back. We did stop at the Garden of Eden Arboretum, a very gratifying hour in the most amazing trees. Here’s a photo of their much smaller and younger rainbow eucalyptuseses:
The entrance from the parking lot into the good stuff:
The wild forests are starting to be overrun with bamboo, but this one seemed to be behaving itself:
I have tragically forgotten what this gorgeous and enormous tree was called…iberian something? Ibiza? Sorry Reading Public, I am useless. Gorgeous though. I bet Dan remembers.
Turns out if it’s a houseplant, it started its journey into American homes as a Hawaiian rainforest plant. My mom gave me money for a plant when my beloved cat Barnacle Pete died in 2019, and I bought an anthurium that thrives to this day. My mom is watering it while I’m gone. Here, they just grow in the forest.
Yellow hibiscus! It’s absolutely everywhere, the red ones too.
Just look at these fan palms! Jurassic! Dan for scale.
The arboretum had jaw-dropping views of the valley.
On the recommendation of our sweet neighbors Jon and Miriam, we had enlisted the Shaka Guide app, an audio tour that miraculously always knew where we were and whether we needed to find a bathroom. On the advice of this extremely helpful and educational guide, we went on an unplanned detour to Keanae Peninsula, with its lava rock flowing into the ocean, and got a fabulous loaf of banana bread at legendary Auntie Sandy’s.
Warm banana bread does taste better in a place like this:
From the road, we were able to overlook the peninsula, which had been obliterated in the 1964 tsunami that inundated Crescent City. Dan loved checking out the taro ponds.
On we drove to hospitable Hana. We were looking for a park or beach to eat our packed lunch – yesterday’s garlic noodles and more of today’s banana bread. In this place, we found both.
Check it out – their beach even had some fairly black sand! Turns out that makes it extra hot to walk on.
We went swimming and had the best time in the waves. Turns out this was the only black sand beach we would see; we did have the required reservations at the famous state park nearby, but we didn’t get the timing right and would have had to wait a long time to use our reservation. Resigned, we passed it by, and headed home from Hana.
But on our way home, we did stop at this fantastic waterfall that people could actually swim around under! Just gorgeous.
It even had this enchanted rainforest path that looked like something out of a video game.
We drove on and on, and only got one person who honked at us angrily. In 45 miles of 180 degree turns and one-lane bridges, that felt like a pretty good track record. And then we emerged from the forest as quickly as we had entered, and were back on the dusty road to Kahului.
But not before a quick stop in Paia. It’s a very cute town, and I hope we make it back for a longer stay.
Then on the way back we saw the craziest thing! One of our park reservations is for Iao Valley, this crazy steep valley in the mountains between Kahului and Lahaina. From our Shaka app audio guide, we learned that it’s called the Valley of the Enchanted Cloud, and today it showed us why. It was raining in the valley, backlit by the sun, with rainclouds above. That perfect V is the valley with its lit-up rain.
And that was our trip to Hana. It was such a fantastic day.
Sidebar: We started and ended our day on the fabulous west-facing lanai of our AirBNB. We did not get up at 5am with the intention to watch the dawn break; we intended to get an early start to Hana. But for maybe the only time on this trip, we were up for the sunrise, and it was beautiful. Yoga and meditation on this lanai are a feast for the ears – wind in the trees, waves on the rocks, many pleasant birds, and roosters. The dawn was beautiful, and D captured some of it:
And it looks like we will never take a sunset dinner cruise on this trip, because no boat can compare to the tranquility of sunset lanai dinner in your jams – Thai coconut chicken tonight. I hope we do this every night.
What day could be better than a day ending like this?
Tomorrow – Snorkel tour! Thanks for riding to Hana with us.
