Maui (part 3)

On our second morning of the cruise, I woke up at 5:30.  Once again Ron had no problem sleeping in until 7 when I woke him.  After all, we have places to go, things to see.

After breakfast, the four of us climbed back in the rental car for the drive up to Haleakala National Park.

You can see the reddish cinder cones and the black of the latest lava flow.

At 10,000 ft. elevation, it was considerably colder than at sea level, but we came prepared with extra clothing.

It was a weird feeling to be above the clouds and watching them roll in.

The native silversword (āhinahina in Hawaiian) is a life lesson that beauty is fleeting.  It goes from the gorgeous plant in the foreground to the shriveled up remains in the background after blooming.

We also drove into the lush  ʻĪao State Park.  I loved the tropical feel of this valley.  This, to me, is Hawaii.

Isn't this a house plant?

The surrounding sheer valley walls were spectacular.

Just like any good tourist, we had to do a little shopping.  Oh, great!  A Savers!  (For the uninitiated, Savers is a thrift store selling used treasures.)  I figured this would be a great place to buy those Hawaiian shirts that we'll never wear at home.

Ron pretended to be interested, but actually refused to participate in the impulse buy.

On the other hand, I bought two!  Cool!

After returning the rental car, we still made it back to the ship in time for the lei making class.

For dinner we went to the Italian restaurant on board to celebrate Diana's birthday with her favorite food.  Here she and Phil model the Kukui nut leis that we made.

That evening the main entertainment (there are always choices) was a tribute to Hollywood Musicals.  My favorite was the guy who preformed the classic Singing in the Rain number.  It takes guts to imitate the incomparable Gene Kelly, but he did a great job.