Maui Sunrise Bike Tour

We arrived in Maui late Saturday afternoon and first thing Sunday morning we were waking up to a 2:15 am wake-up call. Yes, intentionally! We were out the door by 2:45 am (7:45 am Dallas time - see, doesn't sound so bad now, right?) and headed to the home base of our Haleakala Sunrise Bike Tour. We rode a bus up the winding roadways in the pitch dark with 6 or 7 other lovebird couples and half a dozen adventurous 20-something-year-old Australians who were stopping off in Hawaii and then headed stateside for more adventure. What were they most excited about visiting? Las Vegas!

Once we arrived at Haleakala's 10,023' summit, we bundled up as it was about 40 degrees and windy, and looked out.  This is what we saw. The sun was not rising above uneven terrain...

...it was rising above the clouds. The color changes were fascinating.

Finally, we see the first glow just barely peering over the moving clouds.

Spectacular. If only our camera could catch the large mountains, craters and textural details all around us.

What made it even more interesting is that we had the sunrise on the east and the "supermoon" on the west. I'm tinted red from the bright sunrise in front of me. And do you see the blue peak in the background? That is a shadow on the island from the mountain behind me!

This is part of the crater we were surprised to see just below us once the sun came up. The 3,000' deep crater is 7 miles long, 2 miles wide and 21 miles in circumference. Big enough to contain all of Manhattan!

Time for our self-guided 23 mile bike ride! No sweat. Seriously though - it was all downhill from there. ;)

Having just arrived in Maui the evening prior, this was our first good look at the island and some of its vegetation and interesting characteristics.

About halfway down our bike ride we stopped to eat a delicious breakfast at this cute upcountry restaurant called Kula Lodge. We overlooked their sloping green tropical gardens, the clouds above and the oceans below while we munched on macadamia nut pancakes and homemade french toasts.

We were done with our bike ride down Haleakala Highway by 10:30 am and stopped to watch the surfers on Maui's north shore.

There was a tiny "private beach" nearby that Keith designed with a "P" made out of rocks for Payson. We captured a special photo for each of the kids while on the trip.

Then we began our open jeep drive along the "notoriously narrow and twisty county-maintained section of the Kahekili Highway" along Maui's northwest coast. While we don't have any pictures of what this "highway" looks like, it will forever be etched in my mind. One writer describes it as a "narrow one lane road, no guardrails, little reflectorization, and a long way down into the gulch should you wander over the edge." It was super spectacular and super fun. And the views were incredible!

If you're wondering if the waters really look this blue the answer is yes! No editing needed. This place has coves, capes and coastlines that will blow you away.

Where's Waldo?

Now this is what Hawaii is all about!