One upside to arriving at the rental car place at 3:00 A.M. is that all of the economy cars have already been taken, leaving us with a hard top Jeep. We heard great things about the Road to Hana, but the Jeep cinched it for us - we had to spend a day road tripping.
From our hotel, it took us almost an hour to actually reach the road to Hana, but even the drive down Honoapilani Highway was stunning. Our first stop on the Road to Hana was a popular pull off by mile 6. We were hopeful that all of the cars parks on the side of the road meant we had reached a patch of the famed painted eucalyptus trees, but instead we found a beach that was hosting a local surfing competition. We watched for a while, then returned to the road.
Our next stop was a pull off by mile 10 where we read in our Lonely Planet that we would find the trail head for a popular hiking spot. That's not what we found. Instead, we stumbled on the real Hawaii where residents were fighting for Hawaiian nationalism and revolting against US colonization. This was interesting to see because we have spent a lot of time thinking about and discussing Hawaiian politics.
We went back on the road until we reached mile 22, where we found a fresh fruit stand. We each downed fresh pineapple and banana smoothies, coconut snacks and banana bread and learned about a short hike to twin waterfalls. We also found a secluded swimming hole that was so secluded that it was too tricky for us to find the route to.
Giving up on swimming at the swimming hole, we headed back to our hotel, the Aston Kaanapali Shores to spend the rest of the afternoon laying out at the beach. Before reaching our hotel though, we stopped at a scenic area, Ho'okipa Beach Park, to climb down the rocky coast to witness of one of the most beautiful views thus far.
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