Saturday, April 7, 2012

Aloha to Maui - Haleakala



The winner from last week's posts is Kathy!   I'll mail Kathy a surprise package from RT in Chicago!   I'll be offline during RT so I'll resume blog posts here on Wednesday, April 18, spotlighting travel from Honolulu - Vegas - Chicago (and back).


If Lahaina is the "Jewel of the West", Haleakala is the crown of the entire island.  "House of the Sun" may be a tourist destination but Haleakala remains a spiritual retreat.  




The Haleakala National Park (at this link) cares for this sacred mountain from its peak to the sea.  The two pictures above are the silversword - a rare plant that only grows on Haleakala. 




Haleakala is a dormant volcano - its crater looks like the moon.  The fog moved over the crater as I was taking photos!




Many tourists drive up Haleakala to watch the sunrise ....




... and they leave with an awakening.




Driving further up the mountain, we could see the Pacific Ocean beyond the rolling clouds.




Notice the elevation - 10,023 feet!  Yes, it was a bit chilly!




The crest is the perfect location for satellite tracking, weather monitoring, and space exploration!


 


Driving down, we spotted the Hawaiian state bird, the nene.  Brought back from near extinction, the nene seeks sanctuary on Haleakala.  Have you visited a mountain or another high place?  One randomly selected commenter from this week's blogs will win a book choice from my convention stash.   This giveaway is open to all readers.  Comments are open through Saturday, April 21, 10 pm in Hawaii.   I'll post the winner on Sunday, April 22.


Mahalo,


Kim in Hawaii



April's month long giveaway is CLEAN OUT MY CONVENTION STASH. I will select one US reader, one Canadian reader, and one International reader from all my blogs posts in April at SOS ALOHATHE READING REVIEWER, and ALOHA ON MY MIND. The US winner can select up to 10 books (to fill up a small flat rate box) from my current convention stash to make room for new books coming from RT 2012. The Canadian and International readers can select one book, too! 

CLEAN OUT MY CONVENTION STASH is open through Monday, April 30, 10 pm in Hawaii. I'll post the winner on Tuesday, May 1.




19 comments:

  1. Only mountains I've ever visited is the ones we drive past whenever we go from WV down to South Carolina. The view, while driving, is absolutely BREATHTAKING!!!

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  2. We went up to the top of this as well. it was amazing.

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  3. never visit mountain bf ehm.. for high place i think only hotel with many levels/floors

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  4. I've been very fortunate to have visited a number of mountains. I was born in the Catskill Mountains of New York and lived most of my life in the shadow of the Adirondack Mountains in New York. I've been to the Sacramento Mountains in New Mexico and the Franklin Mountains in El Paso, TX. And the Taconic and Green Mountains in Vermont.

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  5. Cool have fun , been to yosimitendfunn
    Kimh

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  6. We've been to Bear Mountain.

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  7. Yes I have been to Table Mountain in Cape Town and the view from up there is simply stunning !!!

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  8. I've been to the top of Mt Rainier in Washington when I lived there as a little kid.

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  9. We have a place called Eagle Rock Reservation here and the view lets us look out over Manhattan and the view at night is beautiful. As far as a mountain, only passed by the Smokey Mountains and they themselves looked unbelievable.Happy Easter and hope you have a ball in Chicago.
    Carol L
    Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

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  10. I walked part way up Mt. Hood in Oregon.

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  11. We visited a place in the Eastern Sierras called the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. It is also at 10,000 feet (yes, cold!) and it is really interesting. Some of the trees are 5000 years old. Truly amazing. Some of them look like they are dead, but they are actually still alive.

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  12. When we visited Haiti we took a horse ride up a mountain to see The Citadel - it was up in the clouds.

    Loved the pics, especially the silversword. Have fun at RT.

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  13. Perhaps because I grew up in such a flat area I've always loved visiting mountains. Everything is so different and beautiful. Great photos.

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  14. Here in KY there is a tourist attraction/landmark called Natural Bridge. It is a rock bridge way up in the air that you can walk up to, look out over the surrounding areas, and walk across. We used to have family reunions there each summer and walk up it. Not good if you were scared of heights, lol.

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  15. Been on lots of mountains--Austria, Germany, Greece, Japan, Maryland, Virginia, New York and even Hawaii, but yours beat all.

    Have a wonderful trip.

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  16. I've visited some mountains in the US.

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  17. Fantastic looking plant! I have been on Pike's Peak (it was also very cold). Pretty hard to breathe with the thin air.

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  18. Yes I have! Locally, I've been to Mt. Seymour for snowshoeing a couple of times and I've also been to Whistler to ski as well :)

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  19. I went to St. Helens, Or one year and i drove up a mountain. We went into Portland and i remember there being no road blocks on the side of the road and hundreds of trees. I remember being able to look over the road and seeing endless ground and thinking, 'please dont let us go over'. Very scary!

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