Day 3: The Road to Hana and a full day of complaining

We're in Hawaii. What could there possibly be to complain about? For my mom and grandmother...everything. Wake up and complain because the pillows are too fluffy. Go to breakfast and complain that the eggs are too runny. Get on the car and complain that its too hot and then a half hour later and complain that its too cold. Complain that there are no waterfalls because its too dry. Complain that the ham in the sandwiches you bought is too salty. Complain that you weren't paying attention at got wet on the black sand beach. Complain about the construction and the traffic. Complain because you've never gotten to go to the arboretum. Complain that we aren't going to get back in time to make it to the hospitality suite. Complain about the number of calories in the ice cream bar you just bought. Complain because my dad is driving too close to the edge of the cliff. Complain, complain, complain.

For anyone that doesn't know about the Road to Hana, its a 53 mile road full of 600 curves and 54 one lane bridges and usually takes 2 and a half to 3 hours to drive. It's full of pretty scenery and waterfalls and ends at Haleakala National Park and the Pools of Ohe'o. You get a CD that you play along the way and it tells you about things you're seeing, the history of Maui and local flora and fauna. At one point it was talking about eucalyptus and my grandmother says "oh yeah, I can smell it. Really strong...can't you smell it?" It didn't smell like eucalyptus at all. But my grandma also asked me at one point what ocean we were in. When I answered Pacific she said "It comes out this whole way?" OK, grandma, sure it smells like eucalyptus.

Also, there are normally a ton of waterfalls (most of the bridges go over them) along the way but apparently there hadn't been much rain lately. Every time we would go over a dried up or barely trickling waterfall, my mom would say "wow, look how dry it is" or "man, that's dry." Until after the 30th waterfall, I freaked out and said "OK, we get it...it's dry. You don't need to say it after every waterfall."


A little more than halfway through the drive, we ended up at the black sand beach and had lunch at the picnic tables there. Then we walked down to the beach. My mom and grandma had there backs to the ocean and totally got their legs soaked. (is it evil that I saw it coming and didn't say anything except to turn to my dad and say "watch this"? I think it is).

At one of the bigger waterfalls there were a bunch of vendors selling stuff. My grandma bought a woven basket made out of palm leaves...just what she needed. Can't wait to see where in her house she puts that wonderful piece of artistry.

We get to the Pools of Ohe'o and the National Park and my parents decided to do the 2 mile hike up to Waimoku waterfall and the bamboo forest. I've done it before. I passed. I didn't think its that great. Though my dad loves the bamboo forest. "After the Great Wall of China, the bamboo forest is the second greatest thing I've ever seen." Honestly, that's what he said. While they were doing that, my grandma and I stayed at the Pools of Ohe'o. And even though the water was cold, I went swimming in the water underneath the waterfall along with a bunch of hippies.

Then we found out we had to drive back the way we came instead of going the whole way around the end of the island...so we had to complain about that some more.