day 17 - the last day

our first priority today was packing up for our final leg back to the mainland.  even though we had an 11pm flight, we had to check out of the resort by 11am.  we sadly said our goodbyes to this beautiful piece of paradise.

with the car loaded, what were we to do for the next 12 hours? first, we made a stop at one of the country's largest banyan trees, planted in 1873. it stands at over 60-feet high and is the size of an entire city block.

we got photobombed by a roaming chicken!

then we headed towards haiku, where daddy & the girls had signed up for a zipline adventure in the early afternoon.   we had a picnic lunch of various leftovers and snacks upon arrival as we waited for their appointment time.  after waivers were signed, it was time to get all geared up and head out.

as observers, it was nice that the grandparents and i could walk along the zipline paths and view their rides from the ground.  i was happy to have my fancy camera along and tried to catch all of the action.

there were several towers and the participants would zip from one to another in an orderly fashion.  i think there were 6-7 lines total.  as they arrived at the end from the last line, observers were given the opportunity to spray the zippers with water using toy water guns. it was funny because none of the riders were expecting it!

after posing for a quick photo, the adventure was over.

still too early to go to the airport, we drove around looking for a beach to wander around at for a bit.  we ended up at one that had turtles beaching on the shore.  we were not able to get very close but it was neat to see.

grandma & grandpa had surprised us with first-class seats for the journey home, but with the flight being an overnight, we mostly enjoyed the larger seats, legroom and quick exit from the plane.  after so many days of adventuring, we were mostly just ready to get home.  we landed in los angeles at 7:26am (technically day 18) and had to switch terminals and airlines, before boarding our final flight home at 8:55am.  thankfully, all of our luggage made it, and grandpa was our friendly ride from the airport around 2:00pm.

today's step count: 10,204

day 16

today was our last full day at the resort. we did some more souvenir shopping. little sister got a hoodie at hilo hattie’s, where i could not resist taking a pic of the “2nd” largest aloha shirt.

the girls went with their grandparents to an escape room while daddy & i enjoyed some quiet time.

we did our last bit of boogie-boarding, swimming in the pool, and then enjoyed a cool treat from the vw bus-turned-shaved-ice-stand situated between the pool & beach - (something else

we could charge to the room credit!)

we ended up gifting the boogie board to a family we rode in the elevator with, since we were not planning to check it and bring it back home with us on the plane.

our last dinner was at leilani's on the beach, with a view of the beach and ocean.  we were able to watch the setting sun and see all of the boats coming back in to shore to drop off passengers and then head back to the marina.

today's step count: 6,353

day 15

the day began with feeding the koi and flamingoes in the resort lobby.

then we loaded up for our drive across the island to today’s destination: haleakala national park, home to maui’s highest peak.

rising 10,023 feet above sea level, haleakala means “house of the sun” and is where demigod maui lassoed the sun, slowing its passage so people had more time to dry kapa (cloth) and grow food.  the dormant volcano’s “crater” is actually a valley carved by erosion.

along the way, we stopped at the bailey house museum, home to a large collection of hawaiian artifacts.  the girls had fun seeing a mango tree up close and were amused by a free-range chicken roaming around in the fields around us.

we continued on the road to the house of the sun, which started to switch back and forth the closer we got.  it sure was a great view the higher we got. 

after a brief stop at the visitor center, we headed up higher until we reached the top of the clouds. the views were like from another world we had never seen.

it was much cooler at the higher altitude but the warm sun helped a bit to make it seem warmer.  we started in the gift shop and then soaked in the incredible views.

we saw some of the few silversword plants that we had read about as being endangered at the visitor center.  they too looked like there were from another planet.

on the way back to the resort, we stopped off in waikapu to try to locate the parcel of land owned by great-grandpa.  we had the gps coordinates to guide us, and the warning from grandpa that it would be difficult to locate.  the coordinates took us as close as we could get by having us drive thru what looked like private property with several houses built very close to one another.  daddy ended up getting out of the car to look around, and was soon met by one of the homeowners, inquiring about his suspicious-looking visit.  long story short, daddy explained why we were there and they had a good laugh about the oddity of the situation.  i took a few videos to show grandpa once we got back home.

we enjoyed dinner by the pool and another gorgeous sunset to end the day.

today's step count: 7,343

miles driven: 130