When we travel, we usually have early mornings…however, this morning was a VERY early morning, even for us. We woke up around 3am for a once-in-a-lifetime sunrise! We headed out of Hosmer Grove Campground and drove back up to the summit. Yesterday we spoke to a park ranger at the Haleakalā Visitor Center to get her advice on the best spot to watch the sunset and sunrise. She told us the sunset would be best at the summit, but the sunrise would be best near the visitor center. We were a bit surprise by her response because, like most, we imagined the highest point (the summit) would be the best for either. She went on to explain that because of topography and angles, the volcano’s crater would actually be in shadow for a sunrise from the summit.
We were one of the first vehicles to arrive at the visitor center, which wasn’t a surprise to us. We only had to drive up 3,000ft, which took us about 20 minutes…whereas most of the visitors were going to be driving up 10,000ft over 2+ hours. We set up our camp chairs at a spot with unobstructed views (right up against the railing and the visitor center). We didn’t stay out there right away because it was pretty cold (~40°F) and pitch black, so we decided to hang out in our campervan and cut up a fresh Hawaiian pineapple for breakfast.
By the time we finished our breakfast, we began noticing all the massive tour buses arriving. Dozens of people began to unload out of the buses to find their spots along the railing of the visitor center, so we decided it was time to head to our chairs.
As the sun came up, the crater views became clearer as each moment passed (we weren’t even able to see the crater yesterday due to cloud coverage). The sunrise was just as beautiful as last night’s sunset, but in such a unique way it’s hard to explain. Words can’t do it justice, but we now know why this is such a popular activity in Maui. We definitely recommend catching a Haleakalā sunrise if you’re ever in Maui, but come prepared for the cold weather and the advance reservations needed to enter the national park (it was also nice to have camp chairs and not have to stand). After the sunrise (and the tour groups dispersed), we had the entire area to ourselves. We decided to hike the Keonehe’ehe’e trail (sliding sands trail), which brings you down into the crater valley.
Today is actually our last day here in Maui, but we have a pretty late flight, so we hope to squeeze in a lot of things that are still on our to-do list! One of the things that we’ve made multiple attempts to try is Ululani Shave Ice. We’ve tried two different locations this week and both were closed. Once we got back down to sea level, we drove by a third location, and it was also closed! This time they had a sign saying a fourth (nearby) location was open, so we were finally able to try the famed Ululani Shave Ice. We ordered the sunset beach shave ice, which came with passionfruit, orange, guava, and mango!
Another famous aspect of Maui and the other Hawaiian Islands is the locally grown cacao fruit, so when we decided to continue our sweets adventure, it was a no-brainer to stop by the Ku’ia Estates Chocolate factory. It was a really awesome shop. They offer a variety of experiences, which range from local tastings to a half-day farm tours. We’ve been on a few farm tours on previous adventures, and with this being our last day in Maui we opted for the more intimate chocolate tasting flight at their shop. We got to taste their local Maui cacao and even some of the flavored varieties they offer. Before we arrived at the shop, we knew we wanted to take some chocolate home with us, so what better way to narrow down our options than to taste them all!
After enjoying our sweets, we decided to relax at the beach one last time. We chose Ukumehame Beach Park because it’s right off Honoapiilani Highway, but also because of the beautiful sand and calm waters. We couldn’t resist taking in the salty Maui air one last time before heading back to the mainland!
We still had some time to kill, and another stop on our list was actually on the way to the airport, Hula Cookies. Hula Cookies is known for their homemade and unique cookie flavors, but they also make ice cream cookie sandwiches! We ordered a half dozen cookies to-go that we plan on enjoying during our travels and beyond.
Our last stop before returning our home-on-wheels was a recommendation from Guy Fieri. The restaurant is called Da Kitchen, located in the south Maui town of Kihei, and they’re known for their Fried Spam Musubi. Spam is pretty popular in Hawai’i, but Keeshia grew up on Spam because it’s also popular in Filipino households. The original Da Kitchen location actually closed, but they now share a space with Piko Café. It’s actually a really great story that involves both restaurants coexisting. Piko serves breakfast and lunch (until 3pm), and Da Kitchen serves dinner starting at 4pm. We ordered the musubi to-go and enjoyed the crispy midday snack in our campervan for one last time. It was everything we hoped for…fried, delicious goodness!
After this quick stop, we drove back to the campervan warehouse to return “Maui Wowie” by the 5pm deadline. It was a bittersweet feeling since we came to love her, but it’s definitely encouraged us to start thinking about our own campervan built one day.
It was still a bit too early to head to the airport for our 10pm flight, and we still had a few more stops in mind before ending our Maui adventure. We took a quick Uber to the nearby Costco for a few boxes of the famous Mauna Loa macadamia nuts. Now you can definitely get these nuts anywhere in Maui, but Costco sells them in bulk and at a much lower price…macadamia nuts are expensive!
Right across Costco is a food truck park that we stopped at earlier this week (for some delicious poke). During that stop all the other food trucks were closed because it was early, but this time around we wanted to try some of the different food trucks (like Kalei’s Lunchbox and Geste Shrimp). We ordered the hot and spicy shrimp meal from Geste and spicy furikake crinkle fries from Kalei’s…both were incredible. If we had a bigger appetite, we would’ve tried some of the other food truck options, but these two left us satisfied for the long trip ahead.
We took our time finishing our dinner because we weren’t in a rush to arrive to OGG airport too early, but when we did finish, we took a quick Uber to the airport. We were truly sad to leave, but we know it won’t be our last time here in Hawai’i. So far we’ve visited Oahu, Kauai, and now Maui, so there’s one main island left and we have plans to visit the Big Island of Hawai’i soon…so make sure to stay posted. Mahalo for following along on our journey!