Our last full day on Maui. We tossed around ideas of what we wanted to do. We hadn't been able to fit in our sunset sail on Kaua段, due to weather and timing, and felt like we really should do that because it was on our honeymoon itinerary. Amy felt we should really get out on a boat, as we hadn't done that yet and we both love being on the water. She also wanted to do more snorkeling, maybe going on a snorkeling trip, which would also take care of the boating desire, plus maybe see some different and more exotic sea life than what we saw just off the beach in Kaua段. But since this was our last day and we had already done some snorkeling, a snorkeling trip got vetoed. We could do some hiking and see some of the waterfalls and rainforest Hawai段 is so known for, but Damon wasn't in the mood for hiking. Then we remembered that we had wanted to take the famed Road to Hana that so many people had talked about. The only thing about that is that it would probably take the entire day and thus would be the last thing we would be able to do on our vacation. So it was either that or finding something else to do during the day and finding a sunset sail somewhere later on. We finally reasoned that the trip to Hana is probably what we should do. We could go on some kind of sunset sail at home if we wanted to. It wouldn't be as exotic as doing it in Hawai段, but at least we could do it. The road trip to Hana is something we couldn't do anywhere except Maui, and too many friends of ours had talked about it before we left for this trip. We'll just have to do something fun when we get home so that our friends who bought us the sunset sail won't be too mad. Hana, here we come. Hana is a little fishing town on the east end of Maui - about 50 miles from our condo. This was a clear cut case of the thrill not being in the destination, but in the journey. Although the town was only 50 miles away, we first had to drive the 15 or so miles north to the airport and catch the Hana Hwy. The road to Hana makes a nice little circle around Haleakala (the very same volcano we rode bikes down two days prior), and as suggested in our travel books, we took it clockwise. Later we would find out why that was great advice. As we got farther along our way, we couldn't imagine that we even considered not doing this. The north coast was breathtaking, lots of waterfalls and beautiful foliage, twisty-turny narrow roads and one-lane bridges. We stopped a number of times to take pictures, skip rocks, and collect guava. The town of Hana itself was uninteresting. We stopped by the harbor and walked around in the black sand a few minutes before getting back in the car to continue on our way around the eastern and southern coasts of Maui. We stopped one more time at Seven Sacred Pools, a huge and rocky waterfall area where a river meets the sea. Usually this is a great swimming area, but on this day we were advised that swimming was not permitted due to strong ocean surges and rough waterfalls. It was a bummer that we couldn't swim, but it was still beautiful to see. As we were leaving the area it started raining on us. In fact, it had rained on and off throughout the trip. The rain only seemed to make the day even more extraordinary. We were, after all, in a rainforest. We ran back toward the car, and, after a brief pause for shelter under a small structure where two strange ladies showed us how to eat a lilikoi fruit, got in and plodded on.

The road back along the south end was quite an adventure. The twisty-turny narrow roads and one-lane bridges we had already traveled along before Hana WERE NOTHING. Although we were on a highway, there were major portions of the road which were gravel and mud and potholes and seriously only big enough for one car. Yet we were undeniably in two-way traffic. Now we could see why the rental car companies "don't allow" their vehicles to be taken to these areas. There were a couple of occasions on which it looked like the road had shrunk down to looking like someone's unfinished and neglected driveway. Through many of the 180-degree uphill turns we had to sound our horn to alert any oncoming drivers that we were coming around the corner. Rock cliffs going straight up on our right, centimeters away from the passenger door, foliage and rocks and trees dropping off on our left. If we had been going in the opposite direction, the drop off would have been on our side of the road. Thank you "Ultimate Kaua段 Guide Book"! Back and forth, up and down the mountain we went, white-knuckling the steering wheel, making our way for miles and miles like this at about 15 mph around to the south end. The views again were breathtaking. We watched the landscape change drastically from rainforest to arid desert in a matter of minutes, now driving through rolling hills, yellowish, short grass and scattered small rocks and seeing the ocean to our left off in the distance. Quite a contrast to the north and east ends' lush jungles. Towards the end of our trek we had a great view looking down over South and Central Maui, both sides of the "neck" of the island in plain sight, as well as the towns and the "head" in the distance.

Finally reentering civilization, we saw that the whole trip took us about eight hours. We were rather hungry when we returned and the daytime snacks didn't really satisfy us (we had had some cheese and crackers and other stuff during our road trip). Since Wailea is almost exclusively hotels we went just north into Kihei. Kihei had a nice shopping center (and the Roy's restaurant) near the highway. We decided to take the beachside road to look for a nice little restaurant to get a quick dinner right on the beach.

The Maui Revealed book warned about staying in Kihei (and reported the flak they received for warning of such) but the complaints mainly centered around the unclear water and annoying bugs. We found other reasons to avoid Kihei. The town was born out of the 70's and 80's due to the exploding popularity of Wailea. As a result, Kihei became the ugly stepchild of Wailea. We went to a little fish and chips place called Alexander痴 based on a recommendation by a couple of ladies we stopped and asked. It was just an indoor counter with condiments and outside seating. The lady taking our order was missing about 6 of her front teeth and was really impatient and annoying. They had no business, but when Amy took a second to ask about the different types of fish she kept sighing and rolling her eyes. Quite an attitude for having no teeth.

We got our food and stepped outside. The tables and chairs were quite dirty (along with the ground) and flies were everywhere. We opted to cross the street into the park on the beach.

The food from Alexander痴 was bordering on awful. While constantly waving off fly's we ate as much of the food as we felt safe doing so. Damon's not sure which part of the chicken he was given, possibly the neck and head. Amy's fish wasn't bad, but the fries were dry sticks of felt.

The park was a true piece of work, also. We approached the beach to find some smelly guy with his bike (and most of his belongings, we fear) sitting on top of a picnic table drinking a beer. The park had no beach, just a gradual rock wall. Approaching the wall revealed a nasty smell and lots of flies. We aborted the park visit and headed back to the car. We took a detour after finding some homeless guy stopping to pee about 50 feet in front of us (and facing us, not the building he had ducked behind). The whole dinner scenario felt sacrilegious after the nearly spiritual mission we had just undertaken and almost damaged our calm! All said, it was quite a memorable day. But avoid Kihei until a hurricane comes along to wash it into the pacific.

When we returned to the condo we played around in the pool for about an hour, Amy breaking open the champagne Jeff sent her to celebrate our last night in lovely Hawai段. We dove for keys and pennies and raced and splashed while the sun set, then wandered back to the condo for laundry and packing for our trip home. We relaxed to the movie, "Garden State," before one more night's sleep away from home. Tomorrow we would jump on four separate airplanes before landing in Orlando.