Hawaii Cruise Day 3: Haleakala Sunrise and Bike Ride
Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 12:30PM
Michael Amstein

It's Day three on the POA and we are up at 02:45 am. A fact that is made a little better by the very cool Lavazza coffee machine that is in our room.

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The plan today is to drive to the top of the mountain to watch the sunrise.

When we get there about 5, the stars are absolutely amazing. you can see the Aurora Borealis across the top of the sky. The weather is cool but not freezing as we were warned, a sweatshirt is all we need.

At 6:04 am God himself shows up and and provides the below vista.

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Slowly the sun rises and begins to frame the mountain.

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once light hits, the crater is visible.

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eventually you can see the whole top of the mountain.

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 The top of the ridge

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Looking down into the old creator 

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next it's off to the bicycles for a 28.2 mile ride down to the beach.

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All bundled up to ride to the bottom

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At the breakfast stop 1/2 way

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Some of the amazing flowers we saw on the way down  Geeks will recognize this as the flower that sprayed Spock in the Garden of Eden episode.

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Made it to the Beach.... 28.2 miles and I think we only had to peddle 3 or 4 times

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Colleen is a bit frazzled by the experience....

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Here we are on the bike, a few less clothes than we started at the top with.

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Our fantastic guide, Travis

Tomorrow, we are done with Maui and move on to the big island.  Hope to see a live volcano!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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