We woke up early. We had our leftover honeybuns from Target and drank the last half gallon of orange juice. Sharon dutifully made our sandwiches as the Road to Hana had very limited food selections and all expensive.

As I loaded the car I noticed two people hanging around my rental car. I am usually paranoid about getting robbed or having my car broken into. They just keep talking as I loaded more and more stuff in the car.

Then they seemed to follow me into the hotel. But instead they opened up a walled partition showing the coffee shop next door. They were there to get the shop ready, and couldn’t get in until the person with the key showed.

We actually hit the road at around 6:09AM, much before any of the crowds. We were going down the narrow winding road to Hana. Our guide was Gypsy App Sharon had purchased before our trip. The app has access to our location and tells us when to turn.

Paia was the town we stayed in. And come to find out there isn’t much at all to the town. Just several densely packed shops and restaurants, then nothing. Sharon and I figured it was some hippy town where young people go just to hang out

Our first stop was Twin Falls. It was on private property but the owner allows folks to venture on the property to view the waterfalls. The owner provides portapotties, with a strong recommendation to donate a dollar to use them. Apparently it costs around $9000 to keep these potties up and running, or so the sign on the inside of the door said. The owner also has a food stand which I’m sure he makes money off of. Regardless if this person owns land in Hawaii, I’m sure he can afford to have tourists on his property.

The falls themselves were a bit difficult to find, but once you walked the entire trail you could see it, obscured by vegetation. We took some photos and headed back to the car. I was pleasantly surprised that the car wasn’t broken into considering the dire warnings we were told over and over again by the guidebooks, not to leave valuables in the car.

The commentary said the fun of getting to Hana is the journey, not the destination. So we were in for a long ride with getting out at stops in between winding roads. The first part of the road to Hana isn’t that amazing. We settled into the music on my iPod coupled with the commentary provided by the Gypsy app.

We stopped by a rest area with a restroom. Nearby I saw two cats, one of which let me pet. But Sharon said I needed to wash my hands afterwards.

Next was the Arborotorium, a free attraction with “painted” trees where the bark flakes off it reveals other colors like green and orange. Once we found where to part we walked the .9 miles of the stretch among beautiful rainforest. Sharon took macro images of flowers. I was amazed at the interesting trees and other vegetation.

We got to the painted trees and found many of them had been defaced by people carving there initials in them! It literally makes me sick to think people take it on themselves do this thereby causing ugliness for the rest of us when we try to get a good photo. Meanwhile Sharon and I tried to get a good photo of the painted trees, but there seemed to be an impromptu photo shoot by a group of teens and/or young adults. I seem to see this a lot these days. People tend to hog a beautiful spot for photo taking, not just one photo, but multiple photos and multiple poses. Sharon and I did get a chance to get a selfie on our way out.

Immediately after the arborotirum was an interesting beach. It had rocky area and a few crabs in the rock pockets. Sharon and I stayed to take photos of the majestic beach.

After a bit of driving on some winding roads we made it to a beach park – Wia’anapanapa – with camping facilities, picnic tables, trails, and a black sand beach. Sharon and I decided to go ahead and eat, even though it was only about 10:30AM. Nearby a curious cat hung around, and then hung around some more once I gave him a bit of some ham from my ham and cheese sandwich.

Sharon and I investigated the beach, hiking down to see the natural arch created from erosion of the sea. We gasped as two girls jumped from a rocky island.

I decided to get in the water, while Sharon rested at the top of the viewing area. After I got to the bottom I sat my hat and cell phone on a rocky shelf. After a while of leaving my sandals on (two right foot sandals – but that is another story for a different day), I sat them near the beach. Unexpectantly the tide came in and washed them out. I grabbed one and another young girl grabbed the other one. So the say was saved and my mismatched shoes could be worn again.

The black sand it from volcanic rock being softened up by the waves. I had been to another black sand beach on the Big Island in 2008, but my fascination had not dwindled much. After I had my fill of the waves knocking me down I took a sample of sand back to Sharon who seemed fascinated by it, but not enough to keep it, so I threw it back.

We then drove into Hana, a sleepy town invaded by tourists daily. We passed by the elementary and high school and several road side fruit stands and meal trucks before heading to our next attraction.

We took some more winding roads to another waterfall where it seemed like chaos. One is that you had to dodge people getting selfies in front of the waterfall. Another is that you had to cross the one lane bridge and find a parking space amongst all the cars around you going both directions. We managed and got out to take a few photos. Sharon said that I should walk (or in this case climb) the trail to get better photos, which I did.

Next was to Pools of Oheo National Park. Luckily I had bough a national park yearly pass at the lighthouse in Kauai. Sharon and I walked the trail and saw the rocky pools. While walking the trail Sharon’s lense on her beloved macro came out. But I was able to fix it. It was a tough climb back to the visitor’s center but we made it.

We decided to take the 30 minute journey back to check in at the hotel – Hana Inn. It was a laid back place with shoes being taken off by guests at the door. We shared a bathroom with others on our wing, as well as a kitchen. It seemed like a house which we were in, it the clerk said it had always been a business.

Sharon and I laid down and rested before considering our next plan of action – getting a meal for supper. While Sharon was on a video call with her sister I headed out to the general store to get orange juice and water (Sharon seemed dehydrated) and a couple of barrios from a food truck.

The Hana General Store seemed dirty and unkept, but what did they care, they were the only shop in town. A bottle of water, Sprite and orange juice cost me $10 an some change.

Then it was on to I Lava Taco, part o a food truck minimall. It seemed to take extra long to get my and Sharon’s burrito. It made longer when the cook realized he put veggies on my burrito. All the while a family of latinos hung around adding continuously to their order, Hippies with dreadlocks and drunk locals started showing up, and I finally got my food.

I took it back to Sharon and we ate our large burritos while we pondered our next move, which eventually was to go to the nearest beach for a sunset walk.

As we walked and sat we remembered the good things about this trip, how we want to go again and how we will feel once we get back to the chaos on the mainland. We have had a great trip and I would not want to spend it with anyone other than Sharon.