Maui Day 5 - Sunrise

Our 5th day started out SUPER early. We left our hotel at 3 AM (yes, by choice) to head to the top of Haleakala, the volcano, to see the sunrise. It was a 2 hour trip to the top of the 10,000 ft volcano, for which Max slept the entire time. The forecast called for a clear morning - perfect for the sunrise! When we reached the top, it was freezing (just like for the sunset) and there were a lot of people gathered for show God was about to put on for us. And what a show it was. Amazing, gorgeous, beautiful.........The sun peeked up over the top of the volcano with a burst of colors from burnt orange to gold and slowly began illuminating the earth and warming our frozen faces. So worth waking up at such an early hour! Once the sun was shining we were able to see the crater of the once-active volcano, which is home to many unique volcanic rock formations, and not much else. We also hiked out to an overview for a closer look which made us feel like we were walking in the clouds. What a great morning. After our drive down, it was time for Mom and Ash to risk their lives zip-lining, something they were very excited about and had a blast doing! There are fun pics of their excursion below. Very cool stuff! Click here to visit the zip-lining website to get more of a feel for what they did. After we picked them up, we went to one of my favorite places, The Sunrise Country Market, to hang out for a little while. We admired their beautiful flowers and enjoyed a snack. Jeff and I stocked up on our favorite coconut candy! We made it back to our condo about 12 hours after we left it, exhausted but happy! Max took a LONG nap! That night Jeff, Ash, Ricky and I went out to dinner while Max stayed with Mom and Dad. It was a VERY full, fun day and I think we all slept HARD that night. Vacations are the best.