On the island of Maui, there’s a route called the Road to Hana and it’s fairly well known. I had read that it was pretty challenging, so asked a few friends about it. One replied,”The road to Hana? Oh, it’s easy now that it’s paved!” Paved? At one time it wasn’t even paved? So glad I missed that.
My friends agreed that we would drive for a little while to see what it was like, then turn around if it was too much. I took the wheel and soon discovered what all the fuss was about. Around just about every bend, we saw views like this:
and this:
The problem was, you had to traverse a LOT of bridges like this one:
What you can’t really see in the photo is that the bridges are only one lane wide. That meant we had to watch for oncoming traffic and let them cross first. It wasn’t too bad, but sometimes the other cars would be in the shade and hard to see until we got right to the bridge.
Did I mention the curves? They were constant. I have never seen so many on one road in my life. [I just read on Wikipedia that there are 620.] My speed was from 10-15 miles per hour almost the whole way. Although there were some daredevils on the road, it’s supposed to take eight hours to do the entire roundtrip to Hana and back. Five hours if you make no stops.
Along the way, we saw a lot of cars pulled over to see a guy with a bunch of parrots. I took this photo of a family posing with the birds, then was told I’d better stop or get yelled at by the guy. He’s supposedly charging for photos so he can set up a refuge for the birds. Glad I didn’t get yelled at. I do like that the blue bird seems to be posing for me. 🙂
Our next stop included a woman making baskets out of palm fronds. She was so nice about having her picture taken!
Her baskets:
On to more twists and turns and beautiful views. . . .
We especially liked all the African Tulip Trees with their beautiful orange blossoms against the blue Pacific. . . .
Later on, there were blossoms all over the road.
Here’s a close-up of some blossoms:
To be continued. . . .
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Pearls & Prose 
Gorgeous views. Certianly a place I’d love to visist one day. Too bad it’s quite far away.
I really like that last close-up blossoms picture.
Thanks, Caroline. I feel the same way about Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Would love to visit, but not sure I could stand the long flights.
I was in Hong Kong. 🙂 Loved it… It was long but not as long as Australia.
Oh, I envy you that, Caroline.
Hawaii is so beautiful. I hope to take a vacation there some day soon.
It really is. Thanks for stopping by!
Wonderful photo essay about the Road to Hana. Can’t wait to see and read more of your trip. Selfishly, I’m thrilled to have you back and blogging again! I missed your ‘voice’. You have a wonderful weekend too.
Aww, thanks, Cheryl! It’s nice to be back, although the cold weather is a bit of a shock. I got used to eating outside at night and miss that. Can’t believe they had snow in the Northeast! Did you get some of it?
Yes we did get a little of the white stuff but it didn’t last. The cold weather is a drag and it keeps dragging on. I am more than ready for more Spring!
We’re warming up here this week, so hopefully you will too.
Maui is such a wonderful place to visit. I went years ago and seeing these photos makes me want to go back.
Maui and Kauai are my favorite islands. I do want to see more of Oahu some day, though.
Great post and such beautiful photos! I’ve never been to Hawaii but I would love to visit someday! Thanks for sharing your lovely pictures and taking us along for the tour! 🙂
Glad you liked them! I have plenty more up my sleeve. 🙂
I remember driving that road many years ago. All of those hairpin turns made me feel almost seasick, but the scenery was well worth it.
So true. Hey, are you back from the Netherlands??
I am! Just got back this week. It was a wonderful trip. Looks like you had a wonderful trip as well.
Can’t wait to hear about it!
Fun to see the breathtaking views again. I loved that drive. I loved the coffee plantations on the hills in Maui.
I would have loved to spend more time up country, but we just didn’t have time. Welcome to the blog!
From what I’ve seen, Hawaii looks to be a veritable riot of texture and color! It must wreak havoc with your ability to decide where to focus.
Honestly, you could photograph just about anything in Hawaii and get a good shot, Patti. It is almost overwhelming, but you just have to take what you can. Pretty challenging when you’re driving and there’s nowhere to pull over!
Ah! Gorgeous – love the blue bird.
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