Hawaii, the Road to Hana

One of the touristy things I wanted to do was the Road to Hana.  I had to slightly convince Adam we had to go (since we were having the best time just staying local) and he was happy to do it.  We were told to go straight to the end of the sightseeing tour (to see the biggest waterfall) and work our way back depending on how much time we had left.  There are plenty of waterfalls to see along the way and most need a bit of hiking in to.  So we did just that; we drove to the biggest waterfall I have ever seen.
And I thought it was absolutely spectacular!
And while it consisted of hiking in towards the inland for 2 miles the kids were fantastic!
And it was all for the Waimoku Falls:

(can you see Adam and Finn?)

Honestly, this pic doesn't do it justice!  We couldn't even fit the whole fall in the lens.  The water drops 400 feet and lucky for us, the recent rainfall added to it's power! Sydney wanted to go close to the waterfall, they both got wet from the mist even being this far from it.  It is just to the left of them right now, you can only see the mistiness from it:

Part of the hike was covered in this bamboo forest.  Dang cool:

Adam is such a rebel! He broke through the wire to see another waterfall that had been closed off.  I took this photo of him as proof! Can you see him on the rock? Supposedly there are some natural pools you can soak in right before it drops.  Too bad it was closed off! 

And THEN, he offered to take the girls...be still my heart.

 And one of the weanie waterfalls on the drive home:

Adam playing the shell.  He did amazingly well, not surprised at all though are we?  Kirra had a go and made some cool sounds too!  The kids each picked out a shell souvenir.  Sydney bought dangly earrings and Finn and Kirra both picked out keychains.

Stopping for another waterfall just off the road.  So pretty!

The view with this drive along the coast.  Pure, beautiful, raw Hawaii:

 

So at the end of the day we were exhausted and a teeny bit carsick.  We were really proud of the kids for doing so well considering when we got to the end, the State Forest woman informed us of no swimming due to too much rainfall :( Darn!
But it did take us 13 hours from beginning to end and then the kids zonked out and we missed Mama's Fish house for dinner.  Double darn!
Isn't it amazing how tired you get from riding in a car?  Adam and I discussed a lot on the drive home and I always enjoy having quiet time in the car with him.
We also agree to disagree on our perspectives of doing the Road to Hana.  Maybe next time we would stay a day in the area so we can truly appreciate it's glory?   We didn't get to see a huge portion of it, but what we did see was amazingly beautiful and it makes me grateful to have done it!