Hana is the gem of Maui. The very wet rainy side that is lush and GAWGEOUS! I have many friends who just take of to Hana every other weekend for some R&R. Most know it as the "Road to Hana" trip. It takes a few hours of driving to get to the actual town of Hana. Not much is going on in Hana, it's the ride there that is the best part. If you want to do it right, get a Maui Excursion book or buy a CD for the Road to Hana and play it while you drive and it will point out little spots to stop "Pull over at mile marker 11, go down the path to find a waterfall" kind of thing :) I just asked around to get some pointers before we went this time.
The road is fairly narrow, one-lane in many parts, and has LOTS of twists and turns. There's a Hawaiian song about the Road to Hana called "54 Bridges to Hana Town." It's a sweet, upbeat song- check it out sometime :) Each bridge is one lane. A little tip: The rule in Hawaii for one lane bridges is to yield and let the entire lineup of cars to go and then you and the line of cars behind you, none of that stop sign one-car-at-a-time from each side nonsense. On the drive to Hana, much Aloha is involved, be courteous, but don't take forever to turn around the corners or the pass another car closely, you usually have way more room than you think you do.
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| Stopping at an Arboretum along the road |
We wanted to try something different and special this time. So we booked two nights in a two story tree house, 3 levels including the ground floor. We stayed at Hana Lani's Tree Top Tree House. They also have an extremely poor kept "tree house" that you DO NOT want to book. We went there first and Jon said to me... "I would PAY to not stay here..." But luckily we found our "Tree Top Tree House" and were very excited. They also have a much larger Tree House that holds many people with an enclosed bathroom and half enclosed shower. And a B&B for something with electricity, fridge, fully enclosed, etc.
But wanted an adventure, an experience. And we got one
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| The road to get to the tree house requires a 4 wheel drive or at least a car that is higher off the ground and has tires WITH tread to navigate the "Banana Road." My car got stuck and with my luck with cars, I didn't want to push it. So we created our own parking spot on the side of the one lane road and hiked up to our tree house |
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| In any case, you still need to walk a small foot path to get to the Tree Top Tree House. Jon's got our food, wine, and camping supplies all loaded up hehe |
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| There it is |
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| Ground level. The Kitchen/Dining Room. Complete with a rusty burner, an ice chest that doesn't work, a fire place, and a tiki torch to light your way at night |
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| A short footpath to the bathroom, open doors, ONE with nature ;-D |
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| The second level is the bedroom that is all open air but has screens on the windows, and a mosquito net because DAMN those mosquitoes are huge and vicious. Mosquito candles were provided as well |
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| Stairs to the second level, and then a ladder up to the third level, my favorite level |
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| Top Level, a great view of the ocean, a palm tree roof (not ideal when it rains though), and two lounge chairs |
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| Celebrating our successful drive to Hana and finding the Tree Top Tree House (eventually) |
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| Of course that involves wine, cheese, bread, and hummus |
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| We cruised down to a Hamoa Beach |
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| ...and played |
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| There was a red sand beach along the walk there (not THE red sand beach of Hana, that comes later) |
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| Sunset from the Tree House. I couldn't get a good picture with my phone :( and the good camera died on the car ride over (go figure) |
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Jonny at work on the steaks for dinner. Tip: bring your own firewood.
The firewood provided is too moist. And Extra coals.
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| Dinner and a game |
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| and a few bottles of wine |
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| We woke up to birds chirping. That's it. Nothing else. No car alarms, garbage trucks, kids screaming, etc. Just birds singing and talking |
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| Promoting local businesses. And they had damn good coffee |
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| We started off our day the the Venus Pools. A little known secret, tricky to get to, I'm not sure if it is even in the guide books. It was deserted when we got there. ZERO people. Given, it was raining. |
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| It had rather high winds and was almost storming. When Jon went off exploring and didn't return, I found him cruising at this 360 degree view of the ocean crashing on random lava rocks sticking out of the ocean. It was a powerful and beautiful place. |
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| Then the clothing optional Red Sand Beach. It is hidden, you have to know how to get there, but much more people know about it so it's not so much a sweet little secret anymore |
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| The Beach was carved out of the lava cinder side of the cliff giving the sand the red dirt color. |
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| Jonny recognized the Chicago Bulls player Joakim Noah nearby on the beach. There was also a naked hippie I unfortunately saw peeing on the beach by us. Ugh, go in the water at least... haha |
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| And then the Black Sand Beach at Wainapanapa |
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| Lava tube cave. Where the lava flowed out into the ocean creating these tubes, some big enough to walk in. |
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| More large waves splashing up at us :) Started and ended the day the same way |
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| What's a more relaxing place to do yoga than in a tree house overlooking the ocean with birds chirping all around you... |
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| Pupus |
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| We put up Jon's hammock, a gift from his bruddah Casey |
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| We created a naught version of scrabble, much more fun |
A summary of our trip
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| Some Hana Banana Bread for the ride home, when on a Maui road trip, you just have to. |
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| "...54 bridges till Hana town.... Up and down and all around, that's the way to Hana town...." |
It's like visiting a whole other island when we go to Hana. A definite spot for a "stay-cation" as we call it here. Hopefully we will be taking these more often... But until then, we'll have to live off of the high of this beautiful 2-3ish day trip to Hana :)
Maui No Ka Oi
Hana is the gem of Maui. The very wet rainy side that is lush and GAWGEOUS! I have many friends who just take of to Hana every other weekend for some R&R. Most know it as the "Road to Hana" trip. It takes a few hours of driving to get to the actual town of Hana. Not much is going on in Hana, it's the ride there that is the best part. If you want to do it right, get a Maui Excursion book or buy a CD for the Road to Hana and play it while you drive and it will point out little spots to stop "Pull over at mile marker 11, go down the path to find a waterfall" kind of thing :) I just asked around to get some pointers before we went this time. 
The road is fairly narrow, one-lane in many parts, and has LOTS of twists and turns. There's a Hawaiian song about the Road to Hana called "54 Bridges to Hana Town." It's a sweet, upbeat song- check it out sometime :) Each bridge is one lane. A little tip: The rule in Hawaii for one lane bridges is to yield and let the entire lineup of cars to go and then you and the line of cars behind you, none of that stop sign one-car-at-a-time from each side nonsense. On the drive to Hana, much Aloha is involved, be courteous, but don't take forever to turn around the corners or the pass another car closely, you usually have way more room than you think you do.
