An Exhaustive Review of Our Exhausting Hawaiian Adventure

[saffy22]

Wow what an effort, much appreciated by the way, how did you have time to holiday? It appears you must have been taking lots of notes. Thank you so much, we leave in 2 months and getting so excited. Also my husband has gone off to bed sulking, as I said I just had to read this review. And my 7 month old Lab chewed up a shoe, that was almost broken in to be my cruise shoes! As I was a bit distracted. Loving the photos also.

Cheers

Saffy

[kwbound]

Thank you for the review so far. I am looking forward to the rest. I know from your mini review that it is really a well balanced review.:)

 

I am really enjoying the pictures. I haven't looked at any besides the ones posted so far, but will check out your Picasa links as soon as I can.

 

Hey Ginny - Thanks for your support. I'm going to do my best. Now I'm back to work so the review may come along slower during the week, but I hope to get at least one installment a day posted.

[kwbound]

Wow what an effort, much appreciated by the way, how did you have time to holiday? It appears you must have been taking lots of notes. Thank you so much, we leave in 2 months and getting so excited. Also my husband has gone off to bed sulking, as I said I just had to read this review. And my 7 month old Lab chewed up a shoe, that was almost broken in to be my cruise shoes! As I was a bit distracted. Loving the photos also.

Cheers

Saffy

 

Hey Saffy - Thanks for the kinds words. I am pretty organized on vacay. I have a multi-pocket folder, and each pocket has an envelop pocket on front of it. It's kind of hard to explain but basically there is a pocket and a half for each day. (I may take a picture of it and post later.) In each day's pocket I keep that day's itinerary along with any confirmations, tickets, maps & directions, etc that we may need for the day. In the envelope pocket I put anything collected during the day - ticket stubbs, brochures, receipts, key cards, business cards, etc. So when I get home and go back through the folder, it is easier to remember what we did when. Also, when taking photos it helps if you take a lot of pictures of signs - town signs, store signs, museum signs, etc. If you take a sign picture indicating the location you are in first, and then pics of that location, then all of your photos should be in order and it is easier to remember where each photo was taken. At the end of each day I try to make notes on the itinerary about the day, but usually after the first day or two I'm either too busy or too tired to make too many notes. I was able to get a lot of the review typed up yesterday while sitting with a sick relative in the hospital. It will go slower now, so I appreciate everyone's patience.

[KimS.]

Your review is probably one of the best I've read so far, I can't wait for you to post more. Your pictures are great. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for the rest of us still counting down the days! :)

 

 

 

POA Feb 19, 2011

[kwbound]

Your review is probably one of the best I've read so far, I can't wait for you to post more. Your pictures are great. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for the rest of us still counting down the days! :)

 

Awe Thanks Kim! I'm glad to be helping some. I'm actually finding that doing the review is a nice way to sort of extend the vacation by reliving all the memories.

[bdaycruisers]

Awe Thanks Kim! I'm glad to be helping some. I'm actually finding that doing the review is a nice way to sort of extend the vacation by reliving all the memories.

We have found your review and another on a blog, but do these ever get transferred over to "reviews" which is where they will stay for a longer time and are helpful to people trying to get general information about specific cruise lines, ships, etc.?

[kwbound]

We have found your review and another on a blog, but do these ever get transferred over to "reviews" which is where they will stay for a longer time and are helpful to people trying to get general information about specific cruise lines, ships, etc.?

 

My plan is to finish the review here first and then do a much more condensed version on the review section, which will include a link to this thread.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I love the multipocket folder idea. I will have to check for one. Did you get it at a specialty store? Usually I have everything in a manilla folder in the order that I will use it. However, this cruise is going to be crazy with all the car rentals, confirmations, pre and post cruise stays, etc. Plus having a place for everything at the end of the day makes sense. It is what is natural to me. I like the way you think!:cool:

[kwbound]

I love the multipocket folder idea. I will have to check for one. Did you get it at a specialty store? Usually I have everything in a manilla folder in the order that I will use it. However, this cruise is going to be crazy with all the car rentals, confirmations, pre and post cruise stays, etc. Plus having a place for everything at the end of the day makes sense. It is what is natural to me. I like the way you think!:cool:

 

My folder is kind of like this: http://www.amazon.com/Esselte-Ess-5740404-Oxford-Binding-Pocket/dp/B000V9CQ1Q/ref=pd_bxgy_t_img_a

 

Except mine is clear, and the bottom portion of each pocket is an envelope. It is a pretty heavy gauge plastic and I have been using it for several years. DH saw it somewhere and thought it looked like something I would like and picked it up for me. I wish he had gotten several. I remember he paid like $7-$8 for it and at the time I thought that was kind of excessive for a folder. Now you'd have to shoot me for it! I keep my eyes out for something like it all the time and have never found another one. The nice thing about it being clear is on the inside pocket you can make a "cover" with a photo or details relating to your trip and insert it so that is the front of the folder.....I know, I know...I'm obsessed!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

My folder is kind of like this: http://www.amazon.com/Esselte-Ess-5740404-Oxford-Binding-Pocket/dp/B000V9CQ1Q/ref=pd_bxgy_t_img_a

 

Except mine is clear, and the bottom portion of each pocket is an envelope. It is a pretty heavy gauge plastic and I have been using it for several years. DH saw it somewhere and thought it looked like something I would like and picked it up for me. I wish he had gotten several. I remember he paid like $7-$8 for it and at the time I thought that was kind of excessive for a folder. Now you'd have to shoot me for it! I keep my eyes out for something like it all the time and have never found another one. The nice thing about it being clear is on the inside pocket you can make a "cover" with a photo or details relating to your trip and insert it so that is the front of the folder.....I know, I know...I'm obsessed!

Great! Thanks for posting that. I have until May so I will begin the search......:D

[GypRasc]

Ok, this may sound like a rediculous question as it doesn't pertain to your review (which is great btw) but can you tell me how you're able to put the different smiley face images in your text. The only 2 I can seem to do is a smiley :) and a frown :( both by typing in the colon and parenthesis. The others I'm at a loss!

[kwbound]

Ok, this may sound like a rediculous question as it doesn't pertain to your review (which is great btw) but can you tell me how you're able to put the different smiley face images in your text. The only 2 I can seem to do is a smiley :) and a frown :( both by typing in the colon and parenthesis. The others I'm at a loss!

 

Where you enter the text, to the right is a box of smilies. You can click on any one of those. Also, in the formatting area above the text entry box there is a smilie face. You can click on that at it will give you more options.

Edited October 25, 2010 by kwbound

[ctnecruisers]

Great review so far. My DW and I are considering a 20th anniversary cruise in 2012 so I am interested in your review. Thanks.

[GypRasc]

Where you enter the text, to the right is a box of smilies. You can click on any one of those. Also, in the formatting area above the text entry box there is a smilie face. You can click on that at it will give you more options.

 

I'm not sure why but my smilies are at the bottom and whenever I click on them they only appear at the end of the title. I did figure out where to look them up to get the codes so I can now type the codes for them to appear. Thanks for the help.

[kwbound]

Day 3 Continued – VNP – Thurston Lava Tube

The Thurston Lava Tube is a very, very popular stop, with limited parking, a great deal of which is taking up by tour busses. There is another lot about ~1/2 mile away that you can park at and either walk along the road or take a trail back to Thurston, but that was too far a walk for DFH, plus it was raining. So we drove back and forth a few times until we were able to snag a parking place near an entrance to the tube. The lava tube is definitely in the rain forest and it is beautiful. You have to walk down a pretty steep path to get to the tube, and it can be slippery. We had brought flash lights so we could go in the unimproved section of the tube. I was not loving that part of the tube. It was SUPER dark. It seemed like the darkness just soaked up the light from the flashlights. And I certainly didn’t want to be at the back of our group. I’ve seen too many movies – I know what happens to the poor sucker in the back! At one point we all turned out our flashlights. That was the darkest dark I've ever experienced.

 

Here are some pics:

 

Rain forest in the rain.

 

Entrance to the tube.

 

Inside the lit portion of the tube.

 

 

Roots hanging down in the unlit portion of the tube. The light in this pic is from flashlights and the camera flash.

 

The intrepid explorers made it through the Thurston Lava Tube!!

 

Coming up: Richardson Beach Park in Hilo

[kwbound]

Day 3 Continued – Hilo – Richardson Beach Park

 

Richardson Beach Park is a nice little black sand beach that is close to the pier, but not close enough to walk. It is supposed to have the best snorkeling on that side of the island, but the weather was not good and the surf was too high for us to venture out in it when we were there. To the right of the beach area there are a lot of lava rocks and little tidal pools that were fun to climb on and around. If the weather was nicer and the water calmer, it would have been a nice little beach to spend a little time at. But I wouldn’t put it on the must-do list, especially if you are going to see other black sand beaches. It was convenient to the ship and the rental car return though and easy to visit on the way back from VNP.

 

Here are the pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

Coming up: Dinner...and a few problems...

[kwbound]

Day 3 - Dinner…and some problems

I left something out about the beginning of the day, and if you read the mini-review, you know what it is. This was the morning (our first morning on the ship) that DH killed a roach crawling down the wall from behind the folded up bunk. I know, anywhere regardless of how clean, could have a random bug…warm, tropical climate, bugs thrive, etc, etc. I live in Texas and DH owns a pest control company so I’m pretty familiar with insects. However, as I said in the mini-review, in all the cruises and land vacations that we’ve taken, all to warm areas, this is the first time I recall encountering a roach in our room. It didn’t upset me enough to even report it, because I knew the ship was full. There wouldn’t have been anywhere else to put us. The only other thing they could have done would have been send someone to spray the room, and I didn’t want to be in that closed up space after chemicals had been sprayed. I didn’t even report it when we came back at the end of the day and found this guy:

 

 

I’m sure I would have seen him if he had been there in the morning. Idk what killed him, maybe grieving over his buddy DH killed that morning. I didn’t report the bugs, because I didn’t want the hassle. However, I did list the problem in the post-cruise survey NCL asked me to complete. And coupled with the poor housekeeping we received, I did think it warranted mentioning in the review.

 

When we returned today, the room had sort of been cleaned. Actually the bed had been made, the ice bucket did have ice and they had emptied the fridge. They hadn’t vacuumed the dead bug, tho he could have crawled out after housekeeping left. They didn’t do anything that we could tell in the bathroom. In fact, there was a wad of tissue on the bathroom counter that DH and I neither one remember seeing before we left, and it wouldn’t be like us to leave something like that on the counter. The plates and silverware we brought down from breakfast this morning were all still sitting on the desk. I set those out in the hallway. I don’t remember how long they sat there before being picked up, but it was a while.

 

But the bugs and poor housekeeping were not what annoyed me most. What was most annoying of all to me was that once again there was no Freestyle Daily!! On every cruise we’ve been on the day’s schedule has always been left in the room the night before. When we didn’t have one when we got back from dinner on Sat night, I didn’t think too much of it because we were going to be leaving first thing Sun morning and I assumed that they would put one in the room while we were gone. Wrong!! I’m not sure what it says about me, that I didn’t report finding two bugs in the room, or dishes not being taken away, or the grime on the nightstand that I actually wrote in, but I did go up to guest services to ask for a Freestyle Daily and complain because this was the second time I had had to track one down. That night while we were at dinner they did leave a Daily in the room and we got them every night after that.

 

And speaking of dinner…once again we ate in the Skyline dining room. The food was marginally better tonight than the previous night (it would have to be). Altho by the time we got our food we were so hungry we might have eaten anything. And unfortunately the service had taking a drastic downturn and it wasn’t great the night before. Our waiter was so overwhelmed. The poor guy just looked completely frazzled. He never even had time to tell us his name. It took us about 2 hours to finish dinner tonight. All of the tables around us were taking just as long. At one point an assistant waiter brought out plates and set them all down on our table. By now we weren’t even sure anymore what we had ordered. The party at the table next to us was looking over because they had been there even longer than we had. The poor asst had set their dinners on our table. It wouldn’t have been good form to just transfer them over to their table since we’d already poked at them, so he had to take them all back. Both tables were laughing saying it doesn’t matter who ordered what, we would just take anything at this point. I thought all of the parties at the tables around us maintained pretty good attitudes considering the service. Honestly, the wait staff was so overwhelmed that we felt too sorry for them to complain. But if we’d received the same service at a restaurant at home, I would have asked to speak to the manager and would have probably left. I think they had some serious staffing problems this night, because when we left we passed a lot of empty tables, but there were a lot of people waiting to be seated. I guess it wouldn’t do any good to seat them if there weren’t enough staff to take care of them.

 

Once again, these were our experiences. Other people on the same ship may have had totally different experiences. In fact, I hope everyone else's experiences were better, and that no one else encountered any bugs. Considered separately, each incident may not seem like that big of a deal, but bundled together they did not leave with me with an especially warm fuzzy feeling for Pride of America or NCL. I’m not trying to discourage anyone else from sailing with them. I’m not even saying I wouldn’t sail them again, but it might take some convincing and a really, really good deal. I do think this ship definitely has a great itinerary for people wanting a taste of Hawaii. I am just trying to present our experiences as honestly as possible so people don’t get their expectations up too high.

 

On a couple of bright notes, I will not be complaining about the food for the remainder of the review and the next installment will be the lava sailby.

[riofriotex]

I have a multi-pocket folder, and each pocket has an envelop pocket on front of it. It's kind of hard to explain but basically there is a pocket and a half for each day. (I may take a picture of it and post later.) In each day's pocket I keep that day's itinerary along with any confirmations, tickets, maps & directions, etc that we may need for the day. In the envelope pocket I put anything collected during the day - ticket stubbs, brochures, receipts, key cards, business cards, etc. So when I get home and go back through the folder, it is easier to remember what we did when.

 

I do something very similar. I buy two-pocket folders with fasteners (similar to these except that I usually get the ones made of cardstock that are usually on sale at back-to-school time) in different colors, one for each port or destination. I put as much stuff as I can in the three hole fasteners, use one pocket for maps and stuff that won't fit there, and the other pocket for things I collect (although I like your idea, kwbound, of sticking a large envelope back there for that, or at least for the little stuff). Just wanted to offer an alternative for those who might have trouble finding what you use.

 

Also, when taking photos it helps if you take a lot of pictures of signs - town signs, store signs, museum signs, etc. If you take a sign picture indicating the location you are in first, and then pics of that location, then all of your photos should be in order and it is easier to remember where each photo was taken.

 

I do this too. It also saves a lot of time in my photo albums/scrapbooks later as a lot of the info I might put in captions is in the photo.

 

At the end of each day I try to make notes on the itinerary about the day, but usually after the first day or two I'm either too busy or too tired to make too many notes.

 

I did all the driving so was not able to take as I would have liked (and like you was very tired at the end of each day), but was blessed with a mother who took copious notes throughout our Hawaii cruise!

 

Really appreciating your review and regretting now that I did not have the time to write up one as detailed and interesting as yours has been!

 

Question - was there a particular reason your cruise went to Hilo first rather than Maui, as most of the PoA cruises do? I know the order gets changed up around the time of the Ironman World Championship in Kona - was that the case for your cruise?

[kwbound]

The Lava Sailby

 

TIP - For the lava sail by you will need a good pair of binoculars, a jacket or sweater, and a camera with a good zoom if you have one. And you will need to know how to get to a prime viewing spot, which I can help with. For the best view, go to deck 13 at the front of the ship, walk around to the left. About 1/2 way down there will be some stairs that go up one more level. Take those. You will be right below the ships radars and antennas. We watched from there with less than a dozen people. On the deck below people were stacked several deep around the railings. When they turn out the ship lights, make sure you look up at the sky. That was the most stars I've ever seen. When you are here, you will be right above what was called the Lana'i Bar on the ships map, and the Martini Bar in the Dailys. (Idk why it has two names.) If you go down and ask them, the waitress will come up and take orders and bring drinks. I would recommend checking out my instructions before the sail by, just to make sure I am remembering how to get there correctly.

 

We enjoyed the lava sail by so much. I don't even know how to describe it. Even tho we were a pretty good distance away, it still felt like we were seeing something that most people are never going to see. DH, who is a gadget guy, has several good pairs of binoculars that he never gets on a ship without. The binoculars made all of the difference. The Daily said the viewing would start at 9:45. We went and found our spot right after dinner, about 9pm. We could already see the glow. As we neared the flow, they turned off the ships lights, which totally changes the mood. The Hawaiian Ambassador narrates what you are seeing, talks about Pele, etc. It's just really a memorable experience.

 

We tried to take a few pics, but our camera didn't do it justice. The ship photographers take pictures and those pictures are available for purchase the next day. They were $12.95 for 4 shots. You had a choice of several different shots. I am going to post a couple of our shots, and then the purchased shots. The purchased shots are what it looked like through our binoculars. BRING BINOCULARS!

 

The first two are from our camera:

 

 

The next 4 images are from the ship's photographers, and this is what it looked like through the binoculars:

 

 

 

 

I apologize for the fingerprints on the purchased shots...I obviously need to clean my scanner! (How embarrassing!)

 

Tomorrow I hope to start on the Road to Hana.

 

Aloha!

[kwbound]

Really appreciating your review and regretting now that I did not have the time to write up one as detailed and interesting as yours has been!

 

Question - was there a particular reason your cruise went to Hilo first rather than Maui, as most of the PoA cruises do? I know the order gets changed up around the time of the Ironman World Championship in Kona - was that the case for your cruise?

 

Don't feel bad. You have shared a ton of good information on this board! Unfortunately my mother is in the hospital, so the hours I spend sitting with her I am putting to use on the review. So it is helping me pass the time, and also helping me remember pleasant times and keeping my mind occupied with good thoughts.

 

I think that you might be correct about our schedule being altered because of the Ironman. The Ironman was held Sat, 10/9 in Kona, which was the day we boarded the ship in O'ahu. DH participates in triathlons, though he has never done an Ironman distance. I'm trying to encourage him in that direction tho...I certainly would mind going back to Kona!

[jjduck]

Wow, a triathlete. Impressive!

 

DH and I are "just" senior runners, Jeff Galloway type. Too bad I'm afraid of the water and can't ride a bike. LOL!!!

 

We don't make it to the neighbor islands too often (expensive!),but once we were in Kona on a cruise and it was the day before Ironman. Oh, it was so exciting. We couldn't resist jogging on that sidewalk area near the pier that's part of the course. *dreaming*

 

Your review is excellent. Have you done travel writing? Good way to pay for your trips. :D

 

Stay well and keep running.

 

Aloha,

Noreen.

[kwbound]

Wow, a triathlete. Impressive!

 

DH and I are "just" senior runners, Jeff Galloway type. Too bad I'm afraid of the water and can't ride a bike. LOL!!!

 

We don't make it to the neighbor islands too often (expensive!),but once we were in Kona on a cruise and it was the day before Ironman. Oh, it was so exciting. We couldn't resist jogging on that sidewalk area near the pier that's part of the course. *dreaming*

 

Your review is excellent. Have you done travel writing? Good way to pay for your trips. :D

 

Stay well and keep running.

 

Aloha,

Noreen.

 

 

Noreen - You are so funny...I'm going to use "Fluffy Runner" as my nickname the next time I do a pub crawl! I run Galloway style too. I'm lucky to live in a really active running community and my clique all run using the Galloway method. We usually run 5 min/walk 1 min. There are about 25 of us going to San Antonio next month for the RnR half marathon. Several of us are hoping to do a womens sprint tri in May. The swim is what gives us all pause. We are planning on taking some group swimming lessons this winter. I'm not afraid to be in the water. Being fluffy gives me extra floating abilities. I could float from Texas to China. It's the putting my face in the water that I don't like. They won't let me use a snorkel! When we were in Kona, DH swam about 300 yds of the Ironman swim course and that was a high point for him. I'll post some pics when I get to that day of the review.

 

And wouldn't I love to be paid to write travel articles!! Where do I sign up for that job??!

[kwbound]

Here is a link to all of the day 3 photos if you would like to see them:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/dmbryals/Day3HiloVNP?authkey=Gv1sRgCM3T19_A0Y_TTA#

[kwbound]

Our originally schedule itinerary:

Monday, October 11 – Maui

8am Disembark, pick up Jeep Wrangler from Thrifty.

Once again, prior to disembarking, we may want to throw together some sandwiches/snacks from the buffet/room service.

 

8:30a-6pm? Road to Hana, and beyond if road is good

Below is my list of suggested stops on the drive. I have these marked in the Maui Revealed book, and the Hana Highway book. I based these suggestions on the ratings given in the books and only picked the stops with the highest ratings. I tried to pick a variety of stops, and also include several with restrooms. I’m listing about how much time we will probably spend at each stop.

 Garden of Eden Botanical Arboretum – MM10 Hwy 360 - $10/pp http://www.mauigardenofeden.com/ Restrooms and waterfalls. 1 hr

 Kaumahina State Wayside Park - Just past MM12 Hwy 360. Views of Ke’anae Peninsula and Village. 15 min

 MM14 Lookout. 10 min

 Ke’anai Peninsula – MM16 Hwy 360. 30 min

 Halfway to Hana stand – past MM17 Hwy 360 – Banana bread and snacks. 20 min

 Upper Waikani Falls (3 Bears) – MM19 Hwy 360. 30 min.

 Pua’a Ka’a State Wayside Park – MM22 Hwy 360. Restrooms and mongooses. 20 min

 Wai’anapanapa State Wayside Park – MM32 Hwy 360 – Location: In Hana at end of Wai‘anapanapa Road off Hana Highway (Highway 360), 52.8 miles east of Kahului Airport.

Black sand beach, caves, sea arch, blow hole, restrooms. 1 hr

 Hamoa Beach – Haneo’o Rd off Hwy 31 – Hamoa Beach is on Haneo'o Road, which is about one mile beyond Hana (towards the Pools at O'heo and Kaupo) on the Hana Highway. Turn left onto Haneo'o Road and drive until you see a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road. Of course, if no one is at the beach, you'll have to look more carefully for the stairs or the small pavillion-like structure on the side of the road. Park and walk down to the beach using the staircase. Named one of the best beaches in the world. Oprah has a home near this beach. There are restrooms and showers. We can snorkel here if the surf is not up. 1.5 hr

 Wailua Falls – MM45 Hwy 31 15 min

 The Pools of ‘Ohe’o & ‘Ohe’o Gulch – MM42 Hwy 31 – end of Hana Hwy. Restrooms. $10/car Ask Rangers about road conditions ahead. If conditions are good, we will continue around the other side of Haleakala and back to the ship. If Rangers say road conditions are bad, or if the road is closed, we can turn around here and go back.

 

Below are possible stops beyond the Pools of ‘Ohe’o:

 Kipahulu Coastline – MM40 Hwy 31 10 min

 Kaupo Store – MM35 Hwy 31 – last place to get snacks 15 min

 Kaupo Gap Lookout – MM32 Hwy 31 – Can be some of the strongest winds in Maui. 15 min

 Manawainui Gulch – MM28 Hwy 31 – 10 min

 Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Park – MM 18 Hwy 37. Great views, especially if we are here at sunset. 30 min

 

This is what we actually did:

We were up early and having breakfast on the Aloha buffet patio again this morning. Once again we took items down to the room to make our picnic lunch. There was a Thrifty shuttle waiting and we were picking up our car in no time. Today we upgraded to a 4-door Jeep...no more climbing into the backseat thru the front door for the DWs! It was an expensive upgrade. Total for 2 days rental was $201.85, but we were much more comfortable.

 

There is a lot of controversy about whether or not you are allowed to take rental cars all the way around the complete Hana loop. I can tell you that there is nothing in the contract that specifically prohibits it. The only thing I see that might apply is the standard statement in the prohibited uses section that lists "the unauthorized use of vehicles on other than regularly maintained hard surface roadways", but I think it would be difficult for them to apply that statement to the Hana loop. The unpaved portion of the road was hard pressed dirt and gravel and smoothly graded. Also, when the rental agent asked me for my cell phone number I asked her if cell phone service was good on the entire island or if there were any areas where I might not have service. She said that if we go over to some southeast part of the island that is not as developed we might lose service there. She didn't tell me not to go.

 

To me the worst part of the drive was the section between Hamoa Beach and The Pools of ‘Ohe’o. The road wasn't in bad condition. It was just so narrow, with so many blind switchbacks and 1 lane bridges. Those were the most nerve-racking miles to me. When got to the Pools, we asked the ranger about the road ahead, if she thought it would be better to make the loop back to Kahului or to turn around and go back. She said it would definitely be better to keep going and make the loop, that a few miles weren't paved, but the road straightened out and you make better time without the so many blind curves. It was about 4:30 when we arrived at the pools so we knew it would get dark on us going back. No way did I want to go back the way we came in the dark. So after the Pools, we pressed onward, brave adventurers that we are.;)

 

It may take me a while to finish this day. I will post a few thoughts and photos from each stop we made, and I will list the time stamp from the photos to give some idea how long it took us to get to each place.

 

Here we go....

[kwbound]

We picked up the rental car at 8:36am according to the time on the receipt. We stopped at a Shell station for drinks and additional snacks. Which reminds me -

 

TIP - Make SURE you get some Maui Style potato chips while in the islands. They are the best potato chips ever and I'm not even a big potato chip lover. They are sort of like Kettle chips, but there is something different about them. I like the onion flavor best.

 

We spent more time in the Shell station than planned. It didn't look like all that much from the outside, but they had some interesting things inside. But soon enough we were on the road. We didn't stop in Paia but it looked like it would be a lovely town to spend a little time. The first thing we came to that we wanted to stop and take pics of were the painted Eucalyptus trees. You will come to a grove of these all planted in a line, and you will want to stop but there is no good place to pull over here. If you keep going a little ways the road curves to the left and there is a pull over on the right. There are some more trees across the road here. They are not planted in a nice straight row like the first ones you see, but the bark is just as pretty. We took these photos at 10:10am.

 

 

 

 

If you are going to stop at the Garden of Eden, which I consider a must-do, you will see the trees there also.

 

Time for work:( I hope to review the Garden of Eden this evening.