Maui Day 4: Sunrise Up High
This day started very early. I was up at 3 AM in order
to head for the top of Haleakala and watch the sunrise. It was quite a
drive up, especially when the switchbacks started and there was so much
dark off to the side all of the time. Except for occasional lights from
the towns down in the valley. For some reason, this bothered me a great
deal while driving up the mountain.
A quick look at the thumbnails below shows that there
are no pictures of the sun rising from the top of the volcano. When I
reached the top, the view of the sky was beautiful. The number of stars
shining in the clear sky was amazing. But by the time the sun came up,
all there was to see was the inside of a cloud. It was cold, wet, and
windy. Fortunately I believed the places that said it got chilly at the
top and was prepared. But that did not help me see the sunrise.
Going back down the mountain was very different from
going up. I stopped several times to take in the view and take some
pictures. The views were great but not worth getting up that early.
After checking out of the hostel, I went back to Lahaina and just walked around the town. I did stop in and eat at the Cheeseburger In Paradise
restaurant. I recommend a window seat if you can get one. The sand
crabs on the beach below were putting on quite a show. But after that,
it was off to the airport and heading back home.
I did have an interesting experience at the airport
when I attempted to board my flight. The attendant asked me to step to
the side because I was supposed to have been searched at the security
checkpoint. She had to call for a TSA guard to come and search me. He
showed up and used a wand on me, then unpacked my backpack and went
through it. He informed me that my boarding pass had an indicator that
I was supposed to be pulled aside at the security checkpoint for a
random search and it had not happened. The fact that I had not been
searched appeared to bother him, and he wrote down the line I had been
in. Someone probably got into a bit of trouble for that.
Contents copyright © 2004 by Thomas Brincefield. Use of any contents is prohibited unless specific permission is given.
Created by Tom Brincefield on March 09, 2004