A Family Christmas Exploring Maui, Hawaii

When out kids were young, we had a fairly predictable Christmas pattern. For Christmas Eve we would go to a church service and then to my wife’s parents for dinner and presents. On Christmas Day it would usually be time to join my family for a celebration, and in the afternoon we would go see a movie. However, as the kids grew older, and family dynamics changed, Christmas became less predictable. In 2013 our kids said they wanted to have Christmas in Maui for a change of pace. We agreed.

The first challenge was finding a place to stay. The kids wanted to be close to the beach. Of course that meant that the properties were more expensive. The choice wasn’t easy. There was give and take on both sides. We finally settled on a condo that was right on the water. However, it only had one bedroom. That meant the kids had to sleep out on the couches in the living room. Fortunately there were two bathrooms so that helped the situation. However, the views more than made up for any inconveniences.

We were there for about a week, but there were four specific activities that I recall from that Christmas of nine years ago. The first was a road trip. One of the main activities that anyone traveling to Maui experiences is driving the Road to Hana. This is considered one of the classic road trips in the United States. The road is windy and narrow in places, but not as challenging as some of the reports seemed to make it out to be. One of the frustrations is seeing all the spectacular views and not being able to stop to really take it in.

There were many places along the way to stop. However it is impossible to see everything in one day which was all we planned for, so one has to choose where to stop. One stop was the Keanea Arboretum. Here we were able to see some of the tropical plants that grow on the island. There is no charge to visit so even if you are not a plant lover, it’s a good place to stop and take a break from the road.

Another place that we stopped was Waianapanapa State Park. Along with a black sand beach, there were also lava formations going out into the water that were quite unique. It was interesting to see how the vegetation eventually grows on the hard rocks.

We did not drive the entire road. We reached Hana, which is a pretty small town, and continued on to a visitor Center which is an arm of the Haleakala National Park. The road past there is a little more challenging so we felt this was a good place to turn around and go back. We did enjoy the scenery and views from this part of the island, however.

Here are a few other sights and views we encountered along the road including the Wailua Falls, one of many waterfalls along the road.

Since this was a Christmas trip, we did follow our tradition and attend a Christmas Eve service at a local church. It was a fun service as the musicians and children used ukuleles in parts of the service. That was a unique touch to a Christmas service for us and enhanced our Maui experience.

We didn’t stay up too late on Christmas Eve as we had plans to get up early on Christmas morning, very early. I don’t remember exactly what time we got up, but I think it was about 4:30. The plan was to go to Haleakala National Park to watch the sunrise. This wasn’t just a whim of ours, it is actually a very popular thing to do in Maui. As we approached the park, we could see the line of cars winding up the mountain early in the morning. The destination was the Kalahaku Overlook. We found parking and the wait began.

On top of the mountain it was cold. In fact Andrea brought along a blanket to wrap herself in. I had a light weight jacket, but I certainly could have used something warmer. Waiting for the sunrise is an interesting test of patience. From the dark one begins to see the hint of light. I kept thinking any second that the sun would pop over the horizon as it got lighter. I kept taking picture after picture. Put all together they might have made an interesting flip book, but side by side they barely register any difference.

Finally the sun’s edge was visible and then it seem to rise fairly quickly into the sky. Someone offered to take a photo of us as a family which was nice so we have that picture to remember our Christmas morning on Haleakala. Once the light was up, we could also see more into the mouth of the volcano that we were standing on. Unfortunately we didn’t take advantage of our location and hike around the area and explore it more. I think we were all too cold and hungry by this time to consider that.

The rest of our Christmas was fairly uneventful. We wandered around the town of Lahaina, which was near our condo, looking for an afternoon movie to watch. One of the interesting sights in the town is a spreading banyan tree which covers a very large area. On Christmas Day they were having artists out selling their work under the tree. However the interesting event happens at night when myna birds come back to the tree to roost for the night. They are very loud as they return as if telling their stories of their day. At the time I thought it was quite unique. However, here in Bothell we have crows that fly home every night. They don’t go to a single tree, but they make quite the racket as they gather back together in various trees.

In the evening a walk along the marina made for a peaceful end to the day.

We still had a few more days and adventures ahead on Maui. Next week I will share about those. In the meantime I want to wish all my readers a Happy New Year. I hope your year has gotten off to a great start, and you are looking forward to great things in the year ahead.

Credit: Some of the photos of people were taken by Silvette Lee