Road to Hana-Day 2

One of the main things we wanted to do in Maui was the road to Hana. We had a blast doing it and spent an overwhelming 12 hours on the road. Our tip to you-do it in 2 days or drive all the way up and DON'T stop at all on the way up, then stop on the way back down. I say this because the best things were definitely at the end and we ran out of time. As happy as I am that we even got to see what we did I just wish we would have had more time to see some things we missed and to spend more time at others. So don't make our mistake. Plan 2 days or start backwards, you won't feel like you missed anything if you come back down.
With all of that said I am so happy we got to do what we did. Here is our day in pictures:

Favorite Beach for surfing and wind surfing in the afternoon.

Bamboo trees

Hiking in to a waterfall

Had to cross the river and wade through it (picture later)

Welcome to Twin Falls

The roots were amazing

The wade, we did it to the falls and back. It went up above the knees.

Cool maze of trees grown together.

Random stop that was lots of fun. I held all these birds a couple different ways by myself with no pictures then we decided to grab some pictures together with a donation.

Yep I kissed a parrot.

Gorgeous views along the whole drive of over 620 curves and 59 one way bridges (very scary drive)

Super pretty cove we did a quick stop at.

Only took us about 4 hours to go 17 miles.

We grabbed a quick lunch here and some yummy banana bread.

The wall was a live waterfall, thousands of streams of water were falling down it and the plants were thriving due to it.

Crazy dangerous hike to the waterfalls.

The 3 bears since it is one fall that looks like 3 at certain times of the year.

Right before we jumped in to swim. (picture is lower and out of order)

This was our next stop at a pool. Brian and I swam in this one too. We had bad luck with running into huge rocks when we got to the waterfall. This one was gentle enough to swim under.

Even Kaden and Spencer went out to the waterfall. Jan didn't like the fish in the pond and never made it all the way in, she did try though.

Looking down from the top of a waterfall. It was hard to picture for fear of dropping our camera off the bridge we were on.

A look down the river the waterfall flowed into.

Lava Tube. We ran into a down pour and this was the perfect place to stop and wait out the rain while Kaden napped.

Random hole in the ceiling.

Chocolate....or at least that is what they called it.

Area we crawled under to get to the end of the tube

Brian "licking" the chocolate.

Hit the end of the tube. It was fun to see because it reminded Brian a lot of the mine he got trained in last year. So we got to talk about that together. Believe me it was dark enough to be a mine.

Looking down from the top of the stairs into the tube.

Us at the top.

They had a little maze here. Can you spot Brian?

Above the Black Sand Beach

On the beach. It was probably the prettiest beach I have every seen in person.

Playing in the waves.

Although this beach was pretty its sand was sticky and didn't brush off well. It was a long walk back to the car.

Hike to Red Sand Beach. This is best to go at a lower tide since the scary trail becomes the easiest trail ever.

Red Sand Beach, So Pretty!!

It is inside a cove. So might be a scary place to swim but it was pretty.

Called Red Sand but definitely more like Red/Black rocks. It really hurt to walk in your shoes after.

On the red sand.

Last waterfall on the road.

The Pools at the State Park at the end.

We had high hopes for a hike through a bamboo forest but due to time (needed 4 hours) we were unable to do it.

We will visit the other side of this national park tomorrow.

Our local recommended the "faster" way back home. We saw a gorgeous sunset but had some scary back roads. I am sure our road to Hana was probably worse but it was quite the adventure.

The boys driving the crazy road and helping each other by rising up and checking for which way the road was going since it was a crazy road.

 The rest of the pictures.....if you haven't noticed they are out of order but at least they are all here.

First part of the day.

Twin Falls

3 Bears

There is Brian and I swimming.

Closer picture.

Together and falling off the rock.

So pretty!!

Love the blue with the red.

 Overall we remember just the fun time we had exploring and that we hit basically all that was on our list. I think we missed like 2 or 3 spots is all. If you go to Maui I wouldn't miss doing this. I might not do it again but it is definitely worth doing once. The funny thing was that it took us a lot longer then we planned and we all had to get up super early the next morning.

The last picture of the last stop just after Hana.