Today’s goal was to travel the famous Road to Hana. The Road to Hana is a 64-mile stretch of road that covers almost the entire east/southeast side of the island of Maui. There are signs everywhere that say it includes 620 curves and 59 bridges… and what they don’t mention is that these curves aren’t a slight deviation from a straight line – no, they are 180° switchbacks AND almost every single one of those bridges are one lane.

The Road to Hana is famous not just because of the views but famous for the quirky stops along the way. Our plan was to conquer as much of it as we could, but there was absolutely no way we could have anticipated the number of twists and turns that awaited us. (Today’s travel taught me one important lesson… all the boys are going to have to be more involved in the planning of activities, because while I don’t suffer from motion sickness, I planned 2 activities back-to-back that made my guys feel terrible.)

Choosing to focusing on the positive: We definitely saw a different side of the island.  When you move away from the coast, Hawaii looks a lot like the eastern side of California. But as you started making your way to the eastern coast, the tropical views returned.

Our first spot of the map was the cute little town of Pa’ia.  It was like Key West (without the drunks) meets small town America. Really cute town with lots of shops and restaurants. Our first actual get-out-the-car stop was at the Twin Falls. So far the road hasn’t been too bad, but these guys were ready to explore.

One of the falls was closed due to too much water, so we made the best of the smaller falls.

Frankly, the upper falls being closed was probably the good Lord looking after my boys because as soon as we got to the falls, they saw some locals guys cliff jumping, and guess who had to join in? 🤪 At least they did come ask permissions first… and then proceed to climb one foot higher with each jump!

Back on the Road… the curves 🤢and the views 🌺 continued… It was really becoming a trade off… we wanted to see the views but these roads and bridges were rough on my guys.

All along the Road, there were several spots called “Wayside Stops” with not a whole lot there other than restrooms and a small trail or two. But in hindsight, I think they are stops to allow your equilibrium to get settled on solid ground…

The views again were picture perfect. We felt like we were in the opening scenes of Jurassic Park so much so that if a pterodactyl had flown out, we wouldn’t have been surprised.

Our next stop was the Hana Lava Tube. What’s a Lava Tube you ask? Well, lava tubes are formed when the hot lava flows underground and creates a roof and walls in the earth. The crust on the outside cools, and hot lava continues to flow in the center through the tube. The Hana Tube is the largest one on the islands and the 18th largest one in the world. The official name is Ka’eleku Caverns… and you know I love to find some caverns to explore.

At one time, the tubes were going to be used as a fallout shelter, although with only space and supplies for up to 16 people, that plan was abandoned pretty quickly.

They gave us each a strong flashlight and off we went…

The Lava Tube is privately owned, and you can explore right up to the property line… well, technically underneath the property line of the owners. Everything beyond this fence is owned by US government, and we could go no further. Gotta admit, I’m a little curious what going on on the government side of the fence.

Next (and final) stop was only 5 miles away, and thankfully it was well worth the journey. Welcome to the black sand beaches of Wai’anapanapa State Park. It was gorgeous!!!

A friend of ours suggested we get water shoes before coming on this trip, and I will never be able to thank him enough! What Hawaiians call “black sand” is really rocks – extremely smooth jet black rocks. I am hoping the sound comes through when the waves crash into the shore.

These waves were crazy and the seas were rough and crashing against the rocks along the sides. It was so rough that the boys said they thought they’d skip a swim here. As we walked down the beach and toward the cliffs the “sand” changed a bit, but it was still little tiny rocks.

We walked up to one of peaks surrounding the beach. The waves were slamming into the rocks and creating some awesome spray! It looked like fireworks made of water!

We stayed up there forever just watching the waves and trying to catch the perfect photos ♥️

We scooted over to the other side and snapped a few more pictures.

Leo found a heart shaped rock for me ♥️ but Mike convinced us we might get some bad voodoo from the Wai’anapanapa tribe so I snapped a picture instead.

As cool as Wai’anapanapa State Park was, we were anxious about the return trek back on the Road to Hana. Michael kept saying “surely there is another road?” And technically there is, BUT its a road considered sacred and they do not want tourists on it. So no, there isn’t any other way home. We took it nice and slow, and thankfully the sun put on a show to distract us.

We can mark Road to Hana ✔️ with a promise from mom to not make them get on any boats or crazy roads tomorrow 🤭