Iao Valley National Park

The Needle

Iao Valley National Park was on the agenda for our afternoon.  It was a fairly quick drive to get there and after we parked everyone was eager to get out and see the famous Iao Needle.  The weather was gloomy but that didn't damper our moods.

First, we had a look at the botanical garden, which the Baby seemed to like. The Brothers? Not so much.  But they cheered up a bit when we began to make our way to the top.  As we walked, we saw the water gushing by in the stream next to the trail.  Mother and Father were thinking of letting us swim in it but still hadn't decided.  After the zipline,we were recommended by the people who work there to wear swimsuits in case we wanted to play in the stream, evidently this is something the locals enjoy.  But this was no ordinary stream.  It was gushing deathtrap!

The Stream

It was very interesting seeing the battle grounds of where the Battle of Kepaniwai took place.  According to the information posted in the garden and other areas, the bodies dammed up the stream and the water was red from blood. It was also interesting to know that if this battle hadn't happened Hawaii might not be unified and that I was standing in a battle field where so many soldiers had died and suffered the hardships of battle.

Group photo!

Luckily, the only hardship we had to endure were the stairs.  According to Brother #4, there were about 132 steps.  The view was very pretty and there was a man there painting the scenery.  We rested a bit on the seating area provided before heading back down, stopping by the stream.  By now, there were many more people swimming around and Mother was definitely uneasy about going in after she saw a teenage girl slip on the slippery mossy rock.  After discussing it over with my Father, they decided that we would find better places to swim.  So we went back to our car, but Mother didn't want to head straight back home, so we decided to go to a bird sanctuary.  On the way, we spotted Whole Foods and Mother slammed on her brakes to go check it out.  It's definitely smaller than the one near our house in West Palm Beach, but it had just about everything we would need.  There isn't a Target in Maui but Whole Foods...

After a brief stop at Whole Foods, we made our way to the bird sanctuary,  but we couldn't find an entrance, and what we saw of it looked depressing despite the glowing reviews in the guidebook.  We just began to head back to the room.  When we got there, Mother went out to buy some post cards while the rest of us went to the pool.  After a little bit of playing around, I went back to the room where Mother had returned.  We need to head to bed early tonight for tomorrows early wake up call to go snorkeling at the crack of dawn!