Top of the World

Thursday morning we got up really early and I do mean REALLY early. We had to drive about 40 minutes to a town named Haiku and be there by three o'clock in the morning. We then caught a ride up to the top of Haleakala, to watch the sun rise over the volcano's crater. My friend Linda suggested the trip and I am so glad she did. It was a blast!

Up on top of the volcano was very windy and really cold. We talked to a ranger who was measuring the wind at 37 mph. But the sunrise was gorgeous, the view spectacular and the crater was amazing. We took many pictures but I will just share a few.


When we were ready to come down off the mountain, we got on mountain bikes and pedaled our way down. To tell the truth, there wasn't that much pedaling going on since it was all downhill! There were just a few spots where you had to go under your own muscle power. I was so nervous at first, but it was so worth it. As we traveled down the mountain, we saw some beautiful country. At the top, it was pretty barren, but as we got closer to the ocean the vegetation changed to trees, beautiful flowers and meadows and now and then it smelled like heaven. We were on back roads so it was so fun to pass through all the small communities and their fruit and flower stands.


We arrived back at the bike shop just after nine and found a fun local spot to have some breakfast.