SUNDAY MEMORIES
Judy Wills
We had planned for our next adventure to be to drive to see the Haleakalā 
Crater. It was a long drive, and we stopped several times along the way just to take in the island beauty. We saw lots of sugar cane fields, and a few pineapple fields, as well.
We stopped at the Visitor’s Center at 6500 feet up. This most unusual Silver Sword plant grew all around that area. We were told that the Silver Sword plant only grows in that area near the Haleakalā Crater – nowhere else in the entire world! Gorgeous!
We stopped again on the way up to get some pictures, and were amazed that the ocean color is really as blue as it is in this picture! Beautiful!
The summit of Haleakalā Crater is 10,023′ and the air is thin and 
quite cool. We were glad to have our sweaters and jackets! Silver Sword plants were quite abundant there. Inside the pavilion was a legend telling about “The Life of a Volcano.” Interesting.
We arrived at the summit about 10:00 a.m. – and the FOG rolled in! We were told we needed to be there for sunrise to see the crater. Someone should have told us that before, right? On our way up, we were passed by a man and his sons on their way down. His comment as he passed us was, “Best view of the clouds you’ve ever seen, right?” So we had to content ourselves with pictures of fog – and 
postcards of what we would have seen at sunrise. A very impressive sight, to be sure. Since we are known for being directionally challenged – we totally missed Kula, so we drove on down to Kahului for lunch. On our way after that, we stopped and took some gorgeous pictures of Molokai in the near distance. Really a beautiful island.
When we finally drove into Lahaina, we stopped at the Lahaina Cannery Mall, thinking to have a light supper. But somehow we found that, if you go through the mall, to the other side, and then outside, across the street is a unique outdoor restaurant, called the Aloha Mixed Plate. Nothing fancy, but the food was delicious! As a side note – when we returned to the mainland and told Fred’s sister about this little restaurant, she had never heard of or seen it! Something for them to explore on their next visit to Maui.
~~~~~More to come~~~~~
Next, we went into Lahaina proper to see the city and all it holds. One of the most interesting sights is a huge banyan tree. It was planted in 1873, and has grown so that it’s limbs cover the entire city center. Many of the limbs need to have supports so they don’t drag the ground. It is over 60′ high, and covers more than 2/3 of an acre. It was planted to mark 50 years of Protestant missionary work in Lahaina.
Old Things R New 