Happy Near Year 2008! It's a new day and a new year and I'm hoping for a better one than last. We opted to skip New Year's Eve celebrations and watch the first sunrise of the year from the top of Haleakala, over 10,000 feet above sea level. After only 1 1/2 hours of sleep we were awake and waiting for our shuttle at 2:15am (the earliest pick-up time listed on the website). Finally, we were picked up at 3:40. We would have been able to sleep much longer if someone had answered the phone to tell us our exact pick-up time! Nevermind, we were on our way to the highlight of our trip! A quick breakfast at base camp and a safety briefing and... what was that? We're not going to the top? You've got to be kidding me!!! We booked our tour earlier than anyone else there; but the company failed to contact us to let us know they had lost their permit to go into the park. A woman had recently crossed a double yellow line on a blind turn and was hit and killed by a van. So I'm stewing and fighting back tears the whole drive up to only 6,800 feet. We did get a nice view of the stars from the mountain and Venus stayed bright in the sky through sunrise.
We rode down the mountain in a lot of mist and water on the road, which I discovered gets thrown up under your helmet and into your face. This on top of having glasses on, and not being able to take both hands off the bike, I was a mess when we finally stopped.
One of the many blind turns down the mountain.
Our "cruisers".
Taking a break, Kerry's eyes are the same color as the suits.
We stopped at a Protea farm for breakfast. These gorgeous flowers were everywhere.
Our guide found this little guy in one of the trees next to our picnic tables.
Our ride ended here at Holy Rosary Church.
Memorial to Father Damien, a priest who took care of the lepers on the island of Molokai.
1 comment:
The flowers!
Hope y'all are back into a school routine over there. Looking forward to the photos tom come!
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