Haleakala National Park and other parts of day 2

Haleakala National Park 

On our first full day we all got up at 1:45 and left our hotel at 2:30 AM! Scott read somewhere that it is good to do the sunrise on Mount Haleakala the first full day since we were still on EST. So 1:45 really felt like 7:45 am. I can honestly say it worked perfectly. Even our girls had no trouble at all getting up and out.

It took a few hours to drive there and it sure was a windy road once our car was at the base of the mountain. Back and forth, back and forth in the pitch dark. 

By the time we got to the summit it was still dark and around 4:45 am

We parked and walked up to the look out - got there just in time to grab a good spot and begin to watch the sun rise starting around 5:15 am. 

And then it was just the most spectacular sight I could ever imagine.  

We were above the clouds which made it a sight to behold. And boy was it cold! We honestly shivered though the first hour until the sun was all the way up. 

After the sun was fully up we hiked around up there - there are cool hiking trails everywhere! 

It was now around lunch time (for us time) but breakfast time in Hawaii - I found an adorable Hawaiian food truck. We ate yummy food and had mango black tea! 

We drove about an hour back to the hotel and then finally got into that ocean, ate icecream and relaxed!