Today we decided to take on part of the Road to Hana. For those that do not know, The Road to Hana is a legendary, winding highway that goes along the northeastern coast of Maui. The drive is famous for the lush rainforests, remote villages, cascading waterfalls and beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean. With over 600 curves and 50 bridges, the journey is as much of the experience as the destination.
Because we have done this drive many times, we have tried to implement learnings from the past:
#1 – pack up the car with food and drinks. There are only a few places to stop to get something to eat and drink
#2 – gas up before starting the road. There are no gas stations along the drive
#3 – if you come across a bathroom, use it.
#4 – use the GuideAlong app. This is an audio commentary that is triggered by your phone’s GPS. It is like having your own personal tour guide in the car with you.
Once we got everything together, we were on the road by 10:00am. If you were going to do the entire drive, you would want to leave much earlier. The starting point of the road is the town of Paia and it took us about an hour to get there from the condo. From that point, the drive became much slower because of all of the twists and turns the road takes. The one thing that you should always do is if you see cars behind you, pull over when it is safe to do so. The locals that drive this road every day are frustrated with the congestion due to visitors.
Our first stop was at Kaumahina State Wayside Park which was about an hour from Paia. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs and to use the facilities. See Tip #3 above.
It was only about a 15 minute drive to what was going to be our final destination of the day, the Ke’anae Peninsula. It is a slight detour from the road but well worth it for two reasons. Reason #1 is Aunty Sandy’s Banana Bread which has been sold here since 1983. When Karen and I ordered our banana bread, we were told that it would be a 20 minute wait because they were making a fresh batch. There is nothing better than hot, fresh baked banana bread. Damn it, we forgot to pack butter.
The second reason for stopping here is the scenery. The peninsula offers breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean crashing against volcanic rock formations. We enjoyed our lunch, especially the banana bread while sitting in the car and watching the waves. After we finished, we walked around taking in the stunning views. We left around 2:00pm and we noticed that Aunty Sandy was closed. Looks like we got the last batch of banana bread of the day.
We were going to head back to the condo at this point but Karen earlier saw on the Google Maps that Uncle Harry’s Marketplace seemed to be not too far away. It is a nice stop since there are a couple of cafes, shopping but more importantly the best coconut candy on the island. The only problem was we did not know exactly how far it was since we had no cell service. But we decided let’s go anyways. One hour later, we finally arrived. We thought the place we wanted to stop at was Uncle Harry’s but in fact it is Nahiku Marketplace. Oh well. I did manage to pick up a bag of coconut candy but it was not from the old guy who happens to also be called Harry and has closed up his shop and moved to Arizona since the last time we visited. Now it was time for us to head back.
We got back to Paia around 5:00pm and wanted to have dinner at Flatbread Company but they were closed for a staff party. So instead we walked around the town and did some shopping. On the way back, we picked up dinner from The Fish Market which we enjoyed back at the condo. We have an early day tomorrow so we were off to bed by 9:30pm.
?? Maui, it’s been too long. Thanks for the posts it brings back good memories ?