What a memorable 4th of July from 10,000 feet! When we woke up, the sky was already changing colors, so we quickly jumped out of the car and trekked up to the viewpoint to take our seats for the sunrise.
It was freezing, we were exhausted and we looked lovely, but the views in front of us were worth all of it!
It wasn't long before the sun started appearing over the horizon and peaking into the blue sky!
Everyone was silent as they took it all in
and it was one of the most peaceful experiences.
We stayed a little past sunrise to watch the sky continually change colors
and then made the trip back down. It was such a pretty drive down! The landscape went from lava rock up top, to meadows, to forests as we made our way back down to Kahului. We attempted a trip to Makawao for stick donuts, but they were closed for 4th of July.
So we took Andrew's advice and tried Leoda's in Olowalu. Yummy! I had banana bread and an iced coffee, while others tried the egg sandwich and coconut french toast. We also took an apple pie to go.
We went back to the room to change into bathing suits and pack a cooler for the day. We spent the afternoon at D.T. Fleming's beach in Kapalua. Matt loves it for the shade, but the kids weren't so thrilled by the waves and sticks lying all over the beach. We made the best of it and the kids had fun playing Darian's Olympics!
Matt made sure to pack a flag and kept it up on our balcony for our entire stay.
Taylor was wiped out from her 1 hour of sleep on Haleakala, so she stayed behind tonight. The 3 of us went to dinner at Maui Brewing Co and then went up to the Lahaina Bypass to watch the fireworks over the harbor. The rest of the group parked just a few cars down from us so we got to see them too.
It was a pretty good fireworks display and you couldn't beat the weather or the view. Happy 4th of July!
