Since we’re waiting on tropical storm Guillermo to decide where it’s going, we have decided to put off until Friday the “Road to Hana” drive or seeing the sunrise at Haleakala.  So today we did some other things.  After bagels, peaches and pears (coffee too) we headed up to a Hawaii state park (Iao Valley State Park) to see the Iao Needle.  This is a geologic feature that the early Hawaiians considered important.  Got a few pictures of clouds and mountains.  A couple of geocaches, too.  Got a lot of “stairs” on our fitbits what with all the climbing up to the view points.  Got geocache..

After finishing the Iao Needle we drove down the mountain a short way and visited a Kepaniwai Park Heritage Garden.   Saw some monuments for the various immigrants that had influence in Hawaii over the centuries.  Got a geocache.

Then on to get a geocache at a Hawaiian sacred site overlooking the harbor of Kahului.  Got the virtual cache and some so so photos of the clouds and the mountains.  We then decided to go on over to the town of Paia which is famous for surfing.  We found the park Ho’okipi, parked and ate the lunch Joyce packed.  Bought a couple of sodas and chips to go with the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Tasty!

We got out our long lenses and photographed a few surfers from up above.  But some nice folks pointed out the sea turtles that were on the beach below.  We took a few photos from high up and then decided to walk down closer to see if we could get some better ones.

Along the way we got another geocache near the guardrail between the upper and lower parking areas.  Then on to photograph the sea turtles.  What a treat to see these large turtles close up!

Joyce wanted to photograph a building in the town of Paia that had its gps coordinates painted on the building.  She missed them on the first pass, so we turned around and went back to get another chance.  Success!  Of course, by this time the traffic was getting jammed up on the two lane roads that intersected at  the one traffic light in town, but we made it back out in just a few minutes.

Tried to find another geocache on the way out of town, but had no success.

Returned to our condo about 4-ish after touring the local shopping centers by car to see what choices we had for restaurants and other stores.  Put our devices on charge as they were very low on battery.  Then spent about an hour logging the geocache finds today and updating the family blog.

We plan on spaghetti for dinner and hopefully a beautiful sunset to photograph.

Sunday Aug 2, Monday Aug 3 and Tuesday Aug 4

Well, Sunday we visited with Aunt Janet in the morning.  Rhonda came over too–coffee and computer technical support.  Gary fixed up her access on a new hp notebook that has a detachable screen.  Got her on Aunt Janet’s wifi and also got her Office 360 activated.  We had a nice visit.

Then we packed a little lunch and walked on the beach walk along the ocean.  Through the fancy hotels.   Found a couple of geocaches and ate lunch at a covered trolley stop where it was shady.  The sun is ever present here on Maui.  Warm too!  We walked about 2 miles and got a lot of our steps for the day.  Upon return, Gary took a short nap while Joyce went to the nearby park and spent time in the ocean.

When Joyce got back we had finally persuaded Aunt Janet to try getting on facebook.  So, we helped her set up an account and make the privacy very restricted.  Then got her children and Joyce on as friends.  It took a while for Joyce’s first post to be seen, but then Aunt Janet had a call from Kurt when he got her invitation.  So we showed her around some more on facebook.

Sunday evening we went to the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel to watch Rhonda’s daughter Courtney (and Aunt Janet’s granddaughter) hula dance with two others and a live Hawaiian band.  Had some pupu (appetizers….!) and a pizza along with the local beer Bikini Blonde.  Mom was disappointed in the beer and said she hoped if we got something else it was a bit more robust!

Bedtime came early again.  Then it was Monday morning!

We took a walk on Monday morning to the nearby park to show Aunt Janet what this geocaching thing was about. We had scouted out the one in the park and knew we could find it.  Although Aunt Janet has no intention of geocaching, she had her curiosity satisfied.

On the way back we stopped at the Farmers Market to get a pineapple..  The guys doing the selling were very good at working the crowd and we also got some coconut macaroons for our travels on down to Kihei (key-hay) where we will spend 10 more days as we explore Maui.

Gary spent a while updating Aunt Janet’s old Vista computer to make it work some better.  Did Windows updates and set up her Google Chrome browser to make it easy for her to get email and facebook access.  Also put on a shortcut to my photography web site so she can easily find the family pictures.

We left about noon for the drive to Kihei stopping along the way to get a couple of geocaches and see what passes for a lighthouse on Maui.  Got to our condo rental a little early and so we checked out the nearby shopping center.  Had lunch about 2:30 PM. BLT for Gary and tuna salad for Joyce.  Walked back to the condo and unloaded the car and get settled in.

We had decided on the way down to go to Haleakala to see sunset from the volcano. The drive up was nice and winding.  It’s about 45 miles from where we’re staying and took about 90 minutes.  Had plenty of time to check things out, get a couple of caches on the way up , eat our dinner and see some clouds and a sunset.  The drive back down was in the dark with only a couple of other cars seen.  They wanted to go faster, so we let them pass by pulling of into a view area..

It was late when we finally called it a day–almost midnight after watching the weather and the Tonight show.

More on Tuesday later.

We finally got moving about noon today.  Rhonda came over for a cup of coffee and to visit this morning.  After a quick bite of lunch we decided to drive north along the winding road in seach if a few geocaches.  Found 3 today!

Got backaround 5 PM and had another quick dinner of cheese, bread and grapes before heading back to ttry and capture a sunset. Started to rain as we headed back yo the windy road.  Not a beautiful aunset tonight.  Still have more time to get one.

Back to Aunt Janets  for red wine and dessert aand more conversation.  To bed at 10 PM.  All in all, a very nice day.

Up since 5 AM local time.  Heard the rooster crowing again this morning!

We did stop at the local Safeway on our way back from Lahaina yesterday afternoon…. but not before trying to find a third cache for the day.  After a couple of failed attempts due to muggles we finally had success at the small sugar cane railroad exhibit located at the last remaing smokestack from the sugar cane industry.  A magnetic keybox on one of the small steam locomotives.

At the Safeway we picked up some fresh fruit, bread, cheese and wine.  Arriving back aat Aunt Janet’s we had lots more catching up to do. Joyce’s cousin Rhonda stopped by around 6 and we had lots of good conversation while we enjoyed the results from the Safeway stop.

To bed about 10 PM last night.  Now we have to see what is in store for today!

The 6 hour time difference messed up our sleep last night.  Awake several times after retiring about 8:30 PM.  Finally did some email and logging geocaches at 4 AM.   Back to sleep for a while.  Finally “up” around 7:30.

We visited with Aunt Janet for most of the morning while having coffee and breakfast. After quick showers (enhanced by small hot water tank) we decided to take a short ride to get a geocache, scout Lahaina and get some lunch.  After checking out a few places menus, we opted for a burger at the Lahaina Fish Co.  Watched out to the water from their deck.

Next stop the grocery store for meals the next few days.

After the 3 hour delay and 7-1/2 hours in the air we finally arrived  on Maui around 5:30 PM local time.  That would be 11:30 PM Eastern.  Atopped to do 1 geocache on the way to Aunt Janets.  We visited until about 8:30 and then decided it was bedtime having been up since 4 AM ET.  Something like 22 hours!  Maybe we’ll sleep late in the morning….

But we decided on a beer since we still have an hour before  boarding.  Irish pub in DFW Terminal D.

Up at 4 AM this morning to catch the shuttle to the Philly airport.  Quick ride and easy check in.  Passed without trouble through Security.  On time departure and early arrival in Dallas.

Originally supposed to depart at 10:50 AM  local time.  Due to a maintenance problem they took the plan we were supposed to board out of service.  They had to find another plane–one inbound from Frankfurt

Now we have a 2 PM departure!

Tomorrow is “H” day when we depart for Hawaii via USAirways to Dallas.  Then on to Maui for two weeks and the Big Island for one.