THE ROAD TO THE HANA- Day 7- Dec 20th

Posted by Fidelity in Christmas Break 2011, Hawaii 2011

December 20, 2011

The Road to Hāna . The Road to Hāna ... sounds ambiguous enough right?

Wrong.

As I embark to recapture mine and my family’s day yesterday let me start with a disclaimer: “Warning: Images and Situations are much larger and scarier than they appear”

Kinda like a disclaimer that the state of Hawaii should put up before anyone ever tries to make this trip up this mountain.

But instead this is how Hawaii advertises this trip: “The Road to Hāna: the most scenic tour on Maui,” or “Top Hawaii Tours”

After meticulous researching, I finally found an accurate depiction of this trip.

With winding roads, blind turns, constant traffic, distracting views,

narrow one-lane roads, cliffs, and wet conditions,

Hāna Highway has proven its worth

as a danger with many fatalities.

Here’s a few examples of my own in case the PR advertisers or marketers of Hawaii are reading this: “Warning: You are about to travel on a very unstable, low visibility, one way, uneven road for 10 hours!!!!!” or “Danger: this is your last chance to turn around for 700 miles and 4,000 curves” or how about “Caution: many will try but only the few carsick/close to heart attack/ tidal wave dodgers will survive”

Now that you’ve been fully warned… here we go.

7am we wake up, bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to get into this super fun and pretty trip. We all knew we were gonna be in the car for a long time, but thought we were going to get to take often pit stops where we jumped in the water and hiked up sweet trails.

8:30am we hit the road jack on this long highway that connects the town of Kahului to the town of Hāna in east Maui. Hāna is one of the oldest and isolated communities in the state of Hawaii. There is only one windy road that leads up there and the same windy road that goes out.

10am and beyond After being in Hawaii for almost 8 days we have learned that rain is not a stranger to the average day out here. A few drip drops, a little mist, and a slight downpour here and there are bound to occur. So as we left that morning we didn’t think much of the wetness hitting our car. After about two hours of it and it didn’t stop we started to get a little worried. Mom was upset that since the clouds were out it was going to ruin our whole trip. Or that if the water was the slightest bit “not see-through” she wasn’t getting in the water (she can be a little dramatic sometimes). J But we carried on, and despite the semi-car sickness looming we were all having a great time and seeing some of the most luscious rainforest I’ve ever seen. It was like we drove straight through the most beautiful flora and fauna ever! We joked about it that morning that it felt like we were filming a new scene from Jurassic Park 4. As we listened to our handy dandy snorkel Bob cd, we learned that the first Jurassic Park’s were both filmed on this part of Maui. Little did we know that joke would later become reality.

In between Snorkel Bob’s corny commentary and incessant use of the word beauteous, we managed to find some sweet waterfalls and hiking trails. I think it’s safe to say that at this point we were all having a great time.

1:30pm when things went sour…

We were 3 miles away from the top of our destination: the town of Hāna when we stopped at the cutest little town off Nahiku Road. Mom found this fine arts jewelry shop and dad found… well some indigenous coffee and random chickens. This stop was perfect for us to all stretch our legs, use the bathroom (I mean overflowing port a potty), and see some cool local crafts and food. About an hour later, mom was still in the same spot she was when we first stopped there (the Hakiki jewelry store) and dad’s impatience was coming out in full force. Mom was at the register about to buy her sweet findings: a Hawaiin flower necklace for Jazz’s vball gift exchange person, an awesome flower and turtle sterling silver ring for me, and this awesome turtle plate and bowl made out of some crazy materials by some crazy process; when dad decided to take Jazz and go for “a walk.”

Mom gets back to car, looks for dad. Miaje, who’s been sitting in car for past hour, informs mom that dad took Jazz for a walk despite her saying no that’s stupid. Mom starts her baby freak out. “Go for a walk in the middle of an island. We’re on a one way cliff highway; he can’t just go for a walk. He doesn’t know the terrain here. They could have slipped off the side of the road and how would we ever find them again. What was he thinking, why would he take her. There’s no trails right here. Why is he so impatient we were just about in the car.”

Miaje and Bree tell mom to take deep breaths and sit in the car while we go walk to find them, because they couldn’t have gotten too far. We walk, I step in poop, get to some volcano and the locals tell us to get off their private property. Everywhere we looked they weren’t there.

We get back to the car, mom is trying to calm down, we drive up the road to look for them. We drive about 10 minutes up and don’t see them. Assume they couldn’t have gotten any further than that. Freak out is about to settle in on all of us at this point.

We go back to the little shops in case dad and Jazz finally went back there. I walk into the shops asked anyone if they’ve seen them. No one had. I give a lady my number to call and leave me a voicemail if she sees them because get this… NO cell phone service at all.

She tells us that locals rarely let anyone walk up this road and someone probably offered to give them a ride. A ride to where my mom screams? What is he thinking????

We drive to the botanical park in hopes of finding them there.

We find ourselves on an abandoned, muddy road with no sight of them.

We turn around. Lost. Confused. Not knowing what to do.

It’s been an hour an half and no sight of them.

3:30pm it gets dark around 5:30. This idea is not calming mom’s nerves at all. Mom verbalizes every scary thought in her head. Bree can’t take it. We all just have a moment and break down.

Imagine not knowing where your dad and baby sister are on an island for almost 2 hours.

Let’s just go play hide and seek… ON AN ISLAND

With no cell phone service

In the rain

…as you can tell I’m still a little bent out of shape about this whole incident

Good thing is, there is a happy ending (as long as my dad promises to never do anything like this again)

I feel obligated to mention this is not the first time my dad has just taken my little sister and “gone for a walk.” We were at the dollar theatre this past summer. Mom, Bree and Ajee watch a movie. Dad and Jazz watch a movie. Dad and Jazz’s movie finishes before ours. Mom, Bree and Ajee get out of their movie and can’t find Dad and Jazz. We call dad and he doesn’t answer. Much later he answers and says they walked home. “You walked home,” mom shrieks. “On busy Bear Valley Street, at night, with my child that has a hurt knee. Mike what were you thinking?!”

Now you see why this is all too much like déjà vu.

4:00pm We drive and drive all the way up to Hāna. There in the distance are two figures walking towards us laughing their butts off, and dad says “it took you long enough to find us.” Boom. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. It set off the fire gasket and I, yes, let dad know how much that freaked us all out.

4:30pm We make amends and dad apologized to all of us. I think he finally learned his lesson this point. Unfortunately we were so worked up and mad at dad that we drove right through Hāna without noticing a thing. And mom was sure to remind us that it was about to get dark. Now, let me tell you now this is when the trip just started to get interesting. The morning sightseeing, the hikes, the cute shops, the fear of losing my dad and sister, was all baby stuff until now. This is when it all got real.

Lights dim, as the producers of Jurassic Park start zooming in on our whereabouts and surroundings. The creepy music slowly fades into the scene as the focus illuminates the five suckers who took this trip: the Hubbard’s.

We realize that we didn’t get a chance to do anything since we stopped at that park near the town of Hāna so we stop at Oheo Gulch at Kipahulu Park to see “the seven sacred seas.” Me and Jazz were trying to convince everyone to go for a quick ten minute hike to see the pools, or as dad calls them “muddy water holes.” While the two hesitant mommy’s stopped at the first sign and were convinced to turn around. Apparently the sign at the entrance had a picture of a man and a child standing in complete calm and then seconds later being swept away by a tidal wave. It said this could happen at any moment because flash floods could occur any time. Literally seconds later it started pouring so we ran and got back in the car all spooked out and pictureless.

in between here mom said "the sun is going down, and the sun is our friend"

5:00pm The never ending highway with appearances from “The Others” (see the tv show Lost).

An hour or so after this we (all) heard a random "yeehee" Michael Jackson noise in the car. I didn't imagine this because we all heard it at the same time. All of our cell phones' were in the trunk and the only radio station you could get on the radio was static. It was so spooky! We still don't know where that noise came from...

8pm this is right around the time I threw up outside the car, then in the car, then on the car. This might have been an all time low point for me.

9:00pm we arrive safely at Maui Kaanapali villas. Literally we all felt spent emotionally, physically and mentally. Once we got back everyone plopped in bed and me and mom headed for a nice long hour of relaxing in the spa.
9:30pm spa reflection time

All in all, the day left me with so many memories that I don’t think I could forget if I wanted to. I saw some sights that I had never imagined seeing and then being alive after experiencing it. So for that Road to Hana, I am grateful. I saw my mom say some of the funniest things of my entire life and completely lose it when she thought there was no hope for us to get back.

The main thing taken from this entire trip was that although bad things happen in life, we must take the bad things and find the good in it. In life, we're gonna get mad at each other for doing stupid things, or get scared and maybe want to blame it on someone or take our anger out on someone. God used this trip to grow my family's faith. It was really scary and I found myself praying throughout the day for my family's safety and to keep us all sane and together in that little car. Although no one is perfect, and life is not perfect. We can't control ever situation in life. Mom planned the perfect vacation for us to get away but that doesn't mean every day and moment in life is going to be perfect. We have to de-pride ourselves and see that we ourselves are not perfect, and find ways to get along and make peace with those in our lives.

And the other important thing I learned is that I would never ever pick my mom to be stranded on an island with me. ;) haha just joking mom, but really... there is no way that she could make it anywhere where you can’t turn the on button for electricity, cable, or heat (haha).

closing quote: "IT'S CREEPY, THIS IS SCARY."