Our Weekend in Maui: Part 2.

The next morning was a bit cloudy. I didn't fall back to sleep too well after returning home from dinner. Sometimes, due to cerebral palsy, my legs can tense up and hurt a bit. It's been less of an occurrence on the Hawaiian islands, but incidents do happen from time to time that I've grown to live with. Usually, my legs will tense and my muscles will be painful into the next day. I was determined to visit new sights though, not see the inside of my hotel room. I would see plenty of hotel rooms through travel in my lifetime, and sleep on lots of cushy beds and pillows, but walking around Maui would be a rarity. Popping back two aspirin, I waited until my spasms dulled, then headed to get free breakfast.

I was quite surprised at their breakfast selection. It wasn't the dry toast and cold cereal you see at a typical hotel. Downstairs, there was an actual diner, and guests of the hotel get to pick a free breakfast meal, have fresh squeezed juice and coffee. There, Auntie and I planned an itinerary for our day. First, we decided to visit The Lavender Farm:

The Lavender Farm is on the way up the Haleakala Crater. (more on that later) The property is owned by Alii Chang. He died this year, but a husband and wife team (as well as his co-workers) have taken over running the farm and keeping his dream alive. There are guided tours, an adorable gift shop and you can walk along beautiful trails, all speckled with lavender. When I entered the gift shop, there were all kinds of organic products made purely from lavender and all natural ingredients. Soaps, necklaces, earrings,  food products and teas. After purchasing a bunch of stuff for family back at home, I walked the trails.

Everything is kept immaculate. (in fact, one of the groundskeepers kept his distance to allow me to take pictures for this entry. I didn't even ask. It was so nice and thoughful of him. Oh and he probably didn't want to be on this blog or something like that. I will give a shout out to him anyway though. Thank you. You're the one who keeps this place beautiful.)

When Aunt Lynn and I grew tired of the Lavender Farm, she told me we were going somewhere else, but she couldn't tell me where. Soon, I realized why. If she told me where we were going in advance, there was a good chance I would have chickened out. When she began to drive, Auntie announced we were going to drive up the remainder of the Haleakala Crater. The Haleakala Crater is a dormant volcano that you can drive up around 10,000 ft. She didn't tell me how high we were going either. That was also probably for the best. At first, I was nervous as she drove up the winding roads.

But soon the view became more and more enthralling that I forgot to be nervous. Except when she teased me and would announce where a new cross was placed at every accident site we came across. Thanks a lot Auntie.

There are little stations you can stop at to take breaks on the drive up. FYI, this is probably a good idea, since the air changes the higher you go. If you start at the bottom and drive straight up without stopping to adjust, you could get altitude sickness. When I felt a little woozy, we pulled over to a rest stop, and I saw this view:

The blue beyond the clouds is NOT the ocean. Just the sky. Rain was happening below us, but we were up so high that we were above the storms.

Before we left to continue our journey, I had a funny idea: it took a couple of tries with my camera, but we managed. Can you fly? We did.

There's much more, but that will have to wait until my next entry. Until next time everyone!

Recently, one of these guys paid a visit to me.

This my friends, is a Cane Spider. They are only found on the Hawaiian Islands and Austrailia. 

When we were in Maui, Auntie and I discovered one on the wall of a restruant we were eating at. (Nope, it wasn't an awful restruant. In fact, it was a fancy steakhouse. I guess the spider wanted steak too.) You know when, in a nightmare, you open your mouth to scream and no sound comes out? That was me.

The spider on the wall? His name is George. I named him George so I wouldn't cry. I figured if they have a name, they can't be TOO scary right? Right. Note, these are NOT George's pictures, just ones I found online of his friends, because I was too frozen in fear to take out my camera.

They are as big as you think they are.

Now, onto the big question: Are they poisonous?  Answer: Nope. Just scary as hell. They do eat the bugs though, including the roaches.

I think I'd rather see a roach.