After our "plank of death" experience, Lord V and I gave up on any attempts to hike to hidden waterfalls for the rest of our road trip.
As I told Lord V, " Meh, it's water falling on rocks, really not worth dying to see!"
As it turns out, we didn't have to hike to see waterfalls. Right around the next bend was a waterfall we could happily see from our car. (freakin' guidebook) I scrambled out of the car and got a close up shot and we took off again.
The best part of our "Road to Hana" trip was "The Garden of Eden". OMG, Peeps. This was totally worth the trip (and the plank of near death experience!)
It was a paradise of tropical plants, trees and flowers with a smattering of wild peacocks, ducks and parrots living amongst it.
I can't remember now how many acres this garden was--but it was too vast for me to walk it all.
It was muggy and we were still exhausted from our failed tromp to the "hidden waterfall" so Lord V and I sat at a picnic table and munched on grapes, sipped water and flipped an occassional grape to a sassy mother peacock and her baby who climbed up onto our table to scope out what goodies we had.
I left Lord V sitting at the table and headed out with Chanda. I must have taken 300 pictures and I still couldn't capture the total beauty of this place.
I saw a sign labeled "Look out point" and followed the winding path. I broke through the gorgeous foilage and stepped into a magical grassy clearing that overlooked the emerald colored waters of Maui which was beautifully framed by towering palm trees.
There was a little stone bench perfectly positioned for one to sit and drink in the scene. I dug in my pocket and took out the momento I had taken with me to Maui. A little Pittsburg Steelers emblem of Mikeys. I knelt down and dug a little hole under that bench and buried the emblem there.
"Here ya go, Mikey." I whispered. "Best view on the island. Enjoy buddy."
I patted the ground and stayed a moment sitting on that bench. If there is an after life, I knew Mikey would be grinning his famous grin I wish I could see one more time.
When I walked away, I felt the heavy sadness that I had been holding inside myself since Mikey's and Guido's death shift. I felt sadness but it was a resolved sadness that was tempered with peace. Like a scar that remained after a wound had healed, forever there as a rememberance of what was.
I hiked back to the picnic area to meet back up with Lord V. We hiked over to the view of a twin waterfall where we watched a family of tourists decide if they really wanted to fulfill their island fantasy of bathing in a waterfall pool in Hawaii. The water looked a bit murkey from what I could see from my viewing perch way above them which might have contributed to their fantasy fulfilling hesitation.
We headed on the road again. Pressing on to Hana. We stopped at a rest area for a few minutes. A sweet lady was making jewelry there. Lord V purchased one her her necklaces for me. (You can read more about that stop and see a picture of her
HERE).
Our next stop was the famous "Halfway to Hana" snack shop. Lord V ordered a shaved ice cone with icecream underneath and I picked up a hunk of ice cold pinneaple which was devinely delicious!!
We were tired and we were only halfway to Hana, but we gamely pressed on.
Many twists and turns and stops followed by more turns and twists and stops later, we finally pulled into Hana.
We stopped at the Hana Beach park for a bathroom break and then took off for the town of Hana.
Which.
Was.
One restaurant.
And.
One ancient general store.
!!!!!!!
We drove 70 miles. 4 hours of winding 25 mile an hour tourist clogged road.
For a restaurant.
and an ancient general store.
It's like a bad country song.
"It's not the end result, it's the journey."
Freakin' road to Hana...
While Lord V and I sat at the restaurant and munched burgers I frantically sorted through ideas in my mind of how we could magically transport our car and us back to our hotel without having to make the windy drive again.
But alas, I could not think any escape and we climbed our weary bodies back into our car and headed back down the "Road away from &%! Hana" and the comfort of our hotel.
The drive was spectacular.
The Garden was totally worth the trip.
The memories Lord V and I pocketed inside ourselves, priceless.
And...the shot I took at the end of the Hana road?
Worth. The. Entire. Drive.
To be continued...
More pictures can be seen at http://akatseyeview.blogspot.com
