Hawaii, day 2 - Haleakala Crater

Day two of our adventure to Hawaii started very, very early. We left our rental house at 3:30 in the morning, though thankfully our bodies still thought it was 7:30 Utah time. We left in the dark to follow a long, winding road that carried us up higher and higher. As the sky was beginning to lighten we were dropped off near the visitor's center for Haleakala Crater. I had never been on the top of a volcano before, and the only time I have ever been so high is when I'm in an airplane. We were actually above the clouds, and I have to tell you, it was COOLLDDD!!!! 

There was a huge crowd of people there to greet the sunrise, and right as the sun started peeking through the clouds, someone started singing in a native Hawaiian language. There is no way to describe this experience, you simply must go see it for yourself. The Hawaiians regarded this spot as sacred, and it is easy to see why, there was a definite spirit there.

After the sun was up, my Marquis climbed to the highest point he could find to take some pictures. Can you see him in this picture? He's the crazy one wearing shorts in the freezing cold.

Next stop was Costco. You see, because our family can never just have a normal trip, we had not one but two hurricanes headed our way. As a tourist in this situation, it was hard to decide what to do. Should we stock up on water and food and hunker down? Or just grab the minimum amount of stuff needed and pray for the best? We decided to take the middle ground and grab some water and enough food to last us a day or so, just in case. Apparently everyone else on the island had the same idea, because the line to check out went all the way to the back of the store!

We then went back to our rental house for lunch on the lanai (check out that view!) and to suit up. 

We found another lovely beach where we spent a very pleasant couple of hours swimming and enjoying the sand. Well, most of the rest of the family swam, I enjoyed the sun, sand, and beautiful view. More on this to come later. 

Nearby was the cutest little church that was fun to explore. We found so many tiny little churches all over the island!

That night we checked out Da Kitchen. I tried another kind of fish with some brown rice and a salad, and it was delicious!

Day three is coming tomorrow!

Day one of our trip is here, day two here, day three here, day four here, and day five here.