Favorite Places in Hawaii

[Care4all]

Maui...the whole island! Especially the small secluded beaches we found, the wonderful snorkeling opportunities, and the spectacular views on the drive to Hana, with cliffs, and waterfalls with swimming pools to jump in and cool off.... black sand beaches, the smell of flowers in the air...ooooooooh and the Hawaiian bread.....roasted pork......yummy!

Best vacation we ever had!!!!

BUT it was a long ass trip getting there from Florida!

Maui has a very wide variety of attractions to offer, that's for sure. Yeah, I guess from FL it would be around 10-11 hours in total flying time. The advantage of the west coast is that we're only 5 flying hours each way and just a few hundred $ round-trip.

I'm curious, did you drive on the long Hana Highway and its glaring, otherworldly tropical scenery? Everyone rates it in the top 10 scenic drives in America. Maui's Hana area also has one of Hawaii's biggest black sand beaches, Waianapanapa beach if I'm not mistaken.

I was a Shoe Buyer for Dillard's dept stores, and out of the 78 buyers they had in the Florida Division, I won "Buyer of the Year", and my reward was an all expense paid vacation for two, to anywhere I wanted in the USA, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands.... for 10 days....the hubby and I struggled in choosing....and got it narrowed down to either an Alaskan Cruise, or Hawaii.... we chose Hawaii/Maui....

We also had a Mustang Convertible for the whole trip and took the trip on the Hana Highway to Hana..... a breath taking drive, but also the scariest drive the hubby and I have ever driven on....parts were just one lane, with cars or trucks coming at us from the other Direction, and wicked and windy turns with a drop of 200 feet on one side.... in parts we were only going 10 miles an hour and I was telling the Hubby to SLOW DOWN, and he would say, "I am only going 10mph!", and I would scream back, "Then go 5mph!!!"

We were only married about 8 years at the time, but knew when the whole trip to Hana was over, that if we could make it through that STRESS and yelling and screaming at each other, and still love each other when the whole trip was over, then our marriage would last forever!!!! And it has...

but anyway, it took us over 6 to 7 hours hours to make the trip and there was no way in hell we were going to take the same way back to the Embassy Suites with it getting close to dusk or complete darkness , so we followed a map to go home on the opposite, shallow or fairly shallow side of the island, that warned you should have a 4 wheel drive car to make that trip on that side...the roads were dirt roads.... we had the convertible and not 4 wheel drive, but we took the chance and went the back way home anyway....because there was no way it could be scarier than the Hana Highway side of the island.....

And it worked out fine.... a little scary in parts but otherwise a fairly easy drive, with no one around....though we ended up running in to another couple on the road, who were on their honeymoon, and who were staying at the Embassy suites as well, and ended up making friends with them and hanging out with them the rest of the vacation and did a lot of things with them like a helicopter ride over Haleakala volcano etc and a Luau or two....and happy hour at the hotel every night....

The best and most beautiful pictures from our vacation, outside of the snorkeling/beach pictures, were taken on the trip to Hana....looking back on it and looking at the pictures from it....it was a stunningly beautiful trip, and since we lived through it and were not killed, (and didn't end up divorced)...I suppose we would do it again....

 

[Ridgerunner]

^^^^ What a great and accurate story... I remember my first excursion to Hana was back in the early 80's and I also was freshly married (3 or 4 years) and had a son in his terrible 2's and my Mother and Dad... What sticks in my mind is I kept repeating "where is the freaking guardrail?"

 

[Care4all]

Going there, it took around 16 hours, Tampa, to Dallas, then to LA, then to Honolulu, and then to Maui.....it was long....but got there right around dinner time, due to the time change....

 

[Care4all]

^^^^ What a great and accurate story... I remember my first excursion to Hana was back in the early 80's and I also was freshly married (3 or 4 years) and had a son in his terrible 2's and my Mother and Dad... What sticks in my mind is I kept repeating "where is the freaking guardrail?"

The road to Hana, as said, was the scariest drive of our lives!

I can not imagine what it would have been like with a 2 year old in tow!

 

[harmonica]

Waimea Bay

yes--great
I was there for 4 years on the taxpayer
we would go there when it wasn't busy and dive off the rock--
the ''Thousand Steps to Heaven'' is closed now I think
as you go higher, the sides get steeper
The Notoriously Illegal Haiku Stairs a.k.a. Stairway To Heaven In Hawaii Is Pure Insanity

 

[harmonica]

....behind our base was a rain forest...we would go on runs there with the unit and off duty
..we would run up the trails and then hike down to tunnels and streams
..there were 5 waterfalls and swimming/diving areas

 

[Care4all]

....behind our base was a rain forest...we would go on runs there with the unit and off duty
..we would run up the trails and then hike down to tunnels and streams
..there were 5 waterfalls and swimming/diving areas

the pictures are not showing???

 

[harmonica]

Maui...the whole island! Especially the small secluded beaches we found, the wonderful snorkeling opportunities, and the spectacular views on the drive to Hana, with cliffs, and waterfalls with swimming pools to jump in and cool off.... black sand beaches, the smell of flowers in the air...ooooooooh and the Hawaiian bread.....roasted pork......yummy!

Best vacation we ever had!!!!

BUT it was a long ass trip getting there from Florida!

Maui has a very wide variety of attractions to offer, that's for sure. Yeah, I guess from FL it would be around 10-11 hours in total flying time. The advantage of the west coast is that we're only 5 flying hours each way and just a few hundred $ round-trip.

I'm curious, did you drive on the long Hana Highway and its glaring, otherworldly tropical scenery? Everyone rates it in the top 10 scenic drives in America. Maui's Hana area also has one of Hawaii's biggest black sand beaches, Waianapanapa beach if I'm not mistaken.

I was a Shoe Buyer for Dillard's dept stores, and out of the 78 buyers they had in the Florida Division, I won "Buyer of the Year", and my reward was an all expense paid vacation for two, to anywhere I wanted in the USA, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands.... for 10 days....the hubby and I struggled in choosing....and got it narrowed down to either an Alaskan Cruise, or Hawaii.... we chose Hawaii/Maui....

We also had a Mustang Convertible for the whole trip and took the trip on the Hana Highway to Hana..... a breath taking drive, but also the scariest drive the hubby and I have ever driven on....parts were just one lane, with cars or trucks coming at us from the other Direction, and wicked and windy turns with a drop of 200 feet on one side.... in parts we were only going 10 miles an hour and I was telling the Hubby to SLOW DOWN, and he would say, "I am only going 10mph!", and I would scream back, "Then go 5mph!!!"

We were only married about 8 years at the time, but knew when the whole trip to Hana was over, that if we could make it through that STRESS and yelling and screaming at each other, and still love each other when the whole trip was over, then our marriage would last forever!!!! And it has...

but anyway, it took us over 6 to 7 hours hours to make the trip and there was no way in hell we were going to take the same way back to the Embassy Suites with it getting close to dusk or complete darkness , so we followed a map to go home on the opposite, shallow or fairly shallow side of the island, that warned you should have a 4 wheel drive car to make that trip on that side...the roads were dirt roads.... we had the convertible and not 4 wheel drive, but we took the chance and went the back way home anyway....because there was no way it could be scarier than the Hana Highway side of the island.....

And it worked out fine.... a little scary in parts but otherwise a fairly easy drive, with no one around....though we ended up running in to another couple on the road, who were on their honeymoon, and who were staying at the Embassy suites as well, and ended up making friends with them and hanging out with them the rest of the vacation and did a lot of things with them like a helicopter ride over Haleakala volcano etc and a Luau or two....and happy hour at the hotel every night....

The best and most beautiful pictures from our vacation, outside of the snorkeling/beach pictures, were taken on the trip to Hana....looking back on it and looking at the pictures from it....it was a stunningly beautiful trip, and since we lived through it and were not killed, (and didn't end up divorced)...I suppose we would do it again....

my brother won a trip there....he did a sunrise bike ride
I also snorkeled and scuba dived
young with $$$$ in Hawaii!!!!

 

[harmonica]

....behind our base was a rain forest...we would go on runs there with the unit and off duty
..we would run up the trails and then hike down to tunnels and streams
..there were 5 waterfalls and swimming/diving areas

the pictures are not showing???

dammit--thanks ...IDK??!!
I scanned to my desktop...then I copy, then I can't paste to USMB
so I copied address and inserted.....????

 

[harmonica]

they show on my USMB screen....
??

 

[007]

I've spent the past 23 years visiting Hawaiian islands anywhere from a week to over a month (as well as Tahiti & the Cook Islands but that's another story for another time). It's my running travel joke that I'm a Polynesian trapped iinside a white man's body, because I enjoy remote Pacific islands so much.

At any rate, I love Kauai's North shore, especially the glaring, scenic drive from Hanalei to Ke'e beach. I also love Maui's Hana Highway area to the 7 Pools State park, with a waterfall shaped like a set of stairs. I really, really love the rainy, Hilo side of the Big Island. The area is full of unique, intense volcanic scenery and so much rain, the windward parts of these islands have the most extravagant, lush scenery and huge, hefty waterfalls all over the place.

You gotta be kidding...

 

[WillMunny]

^^^^ What a great and accurate story... I remember my first excursion to Hana was back in the early 80's and I also was freshly married (3 or 4 years) and had a son in his terrible 2's and my Mother and Dad... What sticks in my mind is I kept repeating "where is the freaking guardrail?"

The road to Hana, as said, was the scariest drive of our lives!

I can not imagine what it would have been like with a 2 year old in tow!

It's a bit of a precarious drive, full of extreme hairpin turns and narrow bridges, but I still think the glaring, technicolor scenery is worth it. Not to mention so many beautiful waterfalls, coastline and beaches throughout that section of Maui. And those green, leathery, loppy-eared banana trees all over the place! Hawaii's small bananas taste better, more unique and far more tart than the S. American bananas we usually get. I remember eating a lot of them in the Hana area.

 

[WillMunny]

I've spent the past 23 years visiting Hawaiian islands anywhere from a week to over a month (as well as Tahiti & the Cook Islands but that's another story for another time). It's my running travel joke that I'm a Polynesian trapped iinside a white man's body, because I enjoy remote Pacific islands so much.

At any rate, I love Kauai's North shore, especially the glaring, scenic drive from Hanalei to Ke'e beach. I also love Maui's Hana Highway area to the 7 Pools State park, with a waterfall shaped like a set of stairs. I really, really love the rainy, Hilo side of the Big Island. The area is full of unique, intense volcanic scenery and so much rain, the windward parts of these islands have the most extravagant, lush scenery and huge, hefty waterfalls all over the place.

You gotta be kidding...

That depends, what parts of HI have you been to? The quiet, rural spots in Hawaii that I ranted about have about the cleanest air, massive rain water, and clean ocean waters of most Pacific islands. Rural Hawaii has very pristine conditions.

 

[Care4all]

^^^^ What a great and accurate story... I remember my first excursion to Hana was back in the early 80's and I also was freshly married (3 or 4 years) and had a son in his terrible 2's and my Mother and Dad... What sticks in my mind is I kept repeating "where is the freaking guardrail?"

The road to Hana, as said, was the scariest drive of our lives!

I can not imagine what it would have been like with a 2 year old in tow!

It's a bit of a precarious drive, full of extreme hairpin turns and narrow bridges, but I still think the glaring, technicolor scenery is worth it. Not to mention so many beautiful waterfalls, coastline and beaches throughout that section of Maui. And those green, leathery, loppy-eared banana trees all over the place! Hawaii's small bananas taste better, more unique and far more tart than the S. American bananas we usually get. I remember eating a lot of them in the Hana area.

I lived in Puerto Rico- Ramey AFB.... for 3 years, almost a year, we lived off base before we got in to Base Housing, and the home we rented off base was filled with fruit trees...we had a few of the real little banana trees there and man oh man, were they tasty!

To this very day, even with the big commercially grown (tasteless) bananas, I only like them when they are slightly still green....which is kind of similar to the flavor and tartness of those small bananas that I grew to love!

 

[harmonica]

my buddies say Waikiki/etc are super crowded now compared when we were there in the 80s

 

[Likkmee]

Hawaii is a joke. I live in Central America. More nature, more tropical, less Jews( claim to be)I was stationed at Pearl Harbor. Mierda

 

[WillMunny]

^^^^ What a great and accurate story... I remember my first excursion to Hana was back in the early 80's and I also was freshly married (3 or 4 years) and had a son in his terrible 2's and my Mother and Dad... What sticks in my mind is I kept repeating "where is the freaking guardrail?"

The road to Hana, as said, was the scariest drive of our lives!

I can not imagine what it would have been like with a 2 year old in tow!

It's a bit of a precarious drive, full of extreme hairpin turns and narrow bridges, but I still think the glaring, technicolor scenery is worth it. Not to mention so many beautiful waterfalls, coastline and beaches throughout that section of Maui. And those green, leathery, loppy-eared banana trees all over the place! Hawaii's small bananas taste better, more unique and far more tart than the S. American bananas we usually get. I remember eating a lot of them in the Hana area.

I lived in Puerto Rico- Ramey AFB.... for 3 years, almost a year, we lived off base before we got in to Base Housing, and the home we rented off base was filled with fruit trees...we had a few of the real little banana trees there and man oh man, were they tasty!

To this very day, even with the big commercially grown (tasteless) bananas, I only like them when they are slightly still green....which is kind of similar to the flavor and tartness of those small bananas that I grew to love!

Yeah, but I'll bet slightly green Hawaiian bananas are still better because that HI lava-gravel soil is so young (geologically speaking), it's probably packed with tons of rare-earth minerals that get packed into the banana trees that grow in the world's youngest land.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Apple Bananas - Hawaiian Crown

 

[007]

I've spent the past 23 years visiting Hawaiian islands anywhere from a week to over a month (as well as Tahiti & the Cook Islands but that's another story for another time). It's my running travel joke that I'm a Polynesian trapped iinside a white man's body, because I enjoy remote Pacific islands so much.

At any rate, I love Kauai's North shore, especially the glaring, scenic drive from Hanalei to Ke'e beach. I also love Maui's Hana Highway area to the 7 Pools State park, with a waterfall shaped like a set of stairs. I really, really love the rainy, Hilo side of the Big Island. The area is full of unique, intense volcanic scenery and so much rain, the windward parts of these islands have the most extravagant, lush scenery and huge, hefty waterfalls all over the place.

You gotta be kidding...

That depends, what parts of HI have you been to? The quiet, rural spots in Hawaii that I ranted about have about the cleanest air, massive rain water, and clean ocean waters of most Pacific islands. Rural Hawaii has very pristine conditions.

It doesn't depend on anything, what I posted speaks for itself.

 

[harmonica]

test--do you see the pics now?
deep into the forest where no civilians go too much
tunnels

rain forest trail

one of 5 waterfalls