Not long after 7th grade started our family decided to go on a vacation to... Hawaii.
It was just what I needed. More than anything, I needed a trip to someplace relaxing and sunny. Little did I know that "Relaxing" was one of the last words that would be used to describe our vacation.
On Saturday in Maui (after spending 5 days already on Oahu) we woke up at a normal time between 7 and 7:30 am, pretty much adjusted to Pacific Time. It was December 20, and I was already homesick for Christmas in Minnesota... and snow.
In Upcountry Maui we stayed in a city called Ulupaluaku, in a house in the middle of the woods in "no where". My mom complained about hearing rats running around during the night, and finding spiders everywhere. At breakfast we had to have plain english muffins because there was no toaster or normal peanut butter in the stores. I felt really awkward, since this run-down house had been my own doing. I had been the "Travel Agent" of the trip, and had booked it myself.
Over breakfast we chatted about the sights we'd seen snorkeling the other day.
"I swear, I saw a green eel!" My sister cried.
"More like a piece of sea-weed." My brother snorted.
"No, I swear to whatever you believe in, it was an eel!" She argued.
"Shhhh!" I shushed them, looking out the window. A college-aged man was walking through the grove of mango trees and glancing at our house. He was creepy- he tended the fruit trees here.
After breakfast we headed out to see the sights, and then in the afternoon headed to Haleakala crater, a "must see" on Maui. My dad turned on the radio and we listened to random Hawaiian Christmas songs about Santa coming in his canoe. Gee, Hawaiians don't know the true spirit of Christmas.
We passed open, rocky country and turned right at the Haleakala sign. We started up along, winding road up to a dark brown crater. As we got higher the air seemed to get thinner. At one point we even drove through a cloud. We had no idea that we were about to come upon one of the biggest adventures in our lives.
We stopped once or twice for a break on the road before we came to the top of the crater, past the 10,000 foot high point. When we stepped out of the car we were shocked that, although we were wearing shorts and t-shirts, the temperature was under 30 degrees! Brr.
I was freezing, but at least I had remembered to wear closed shoes. Haleakala looked like a bunch of sandy craters about the clouds. We decided to hike down a short trail called Keonehe'ehe'e: Sliding Sands. It was 5.8 miles total (but we didn't know that).
There were only a few other people hiking, but most of them were coming back up the trail. A loud group of college age kids pulled up a green jeep, music blaring, and jumped out and started jogging. My brother, sister, and I decided we wanted to keep up with them. So, we began to jog too.
We jogged 2.4 miles down hill.The trail was occasionally rocky and steep and twisted back and forth. We stayed behind the college students the whole time. One of the college girls slipped and her foot was covered in blood, but she kept going as if nothing had happened. My long legs were an advantage, especially going downhill. It took no energy at all! A few times I stopped and suggested we waited for our parents, but my brother kept egging me on, saying, "Oh, I thought you were in Cross Country running. Or are you just fat and lazy?" (I'm not).
It made me so angry that I kept running. At 2.4 miles we finally reached the bottom crater. I was a bit tired, but the air was cool and kept me from overheating. At the crater I was scared to look down, fearing that the crater would just keep going to the bottom of the earth. My brother, though, climbed down to the bottom of it, and it was hardly far down at all.
After sitting next to the crater for 10-15 minutes waiting for our parents, I asked, "Are you sure Mom and Dad are coming?" We looked around nervously. We hadn't seen a sign of them, and if they were coming, they would of been here by now, right?
"I'm not sure Dad could make it down here with his bad leg." I said.
"Well," My sister said, "if we start going back up again, then at least we'll meet them on their way down, if they're coming."
We agreed this was the best plan, so I threw on my camera bag and we began trekking back up. Suddenly we noticed the sun was sinking lower in the sky- almost to the horizon point. Not only that, this place was famous for its stargazing because it gets SO dark. Oh 'swear word'! We were so stupid!
On the way back up we realized that it was WAY steeper than going down. We could hardly walk fast, not to mention jog. I felt burning anger. This was all my brother's fault. It was rocky and there was no way we could make it to the top (2.4 miles away) before the sun sank. I was so exhausted and tired I could of dropped dead from exhaustion and dehydration. I just kept going, numb and without feeling, breathing heavily. It was almost a straight-up trek. Never had I been so tired in my life. It was getting cold, too, but I was warm enough from trekking that it didn't bother me. Worries filled me. What if we fell over from dehydration? What if the park closed and we were stuck here overnight? What if we got lost? What were our parents thinking? Where were they?
I was filled with panic and wanted to either cry, scream, or drop dead. Finally, I decided that I was sick of winding back and forth on the trails. It was pointless and was a detour! So, even though it was illegal, I cut across a trail past the rare, endangered, 100-year-old Silver Sword plants.
"Christine, no! It's illegal!" My sister cried.
"I don't care. It's not like a ranger is watching." I snapped. Although I still looked around nervously, as I cut.
We walked in a haze of pain and fear. It was so dark we couldn't see the trail. All we could see was a small light in the distance that kept us moving on. We hoped it was in the right direction. I half hoped a search party with ATV's and horses would come rescue us. Except the terrain was probably too rough.
Each step hurt my legs, and I groaned when I saw the light in the distance flicker out. That meant the park had closed. I followed the sound of my siblings' footsteps. I was tired and hungry and wanted a flashlight. I began wishing that I could swap my siblings' for a superhero that would carry me to the top.
On the positive note, at least there was no chance of me dying. There were no dangerous beasts that would eat me, no heat that would give me a heat stroke, and not enough coldness to give me hypothermia. The only danger was my dehydration.
I wished I had some sort of extra energy super power to get me up. I was so exhausted I won't even bother explaining it. I was pale, my skin pasty, my breathing in rasps, and my throat hurt from dehydration. Every once in a while my stomach would let out a deep growl, and I would try and pretend I was back home asleep. We were still about 2 miles from the top of the crater when suddenlly, there was Mom!
It was the best things I'd ever seen. My brother started crying and I felt like I could start bawling.
"I'm not exhausted, I don't know why they are." My sister said, her breath rasping, as she spoke in a superior tone. I wanted to punch her, but I didn't want to take the energy to do it. I tried to explain what had happened by my mom simply said,
"Don't talk. We'll talk about it in the van."
I knew at least we were getting a good workout. My mom said a search party was planning to come get us if we didn't come up within an hour, and that the college-aged joggers had waited for us to come into view (about 10 minutes ago). I felt a rush of compassion for them.
I don't know how I walked the rest of the way to the top. We were too tired too talk, it was too dark to see, and my breath came in rasps. The palce was so dark that I could see millions of sparkling stars above us. When we eventually reached the top my dad called off the search party and didn't even yell at us. I guess he figured we had learned our own lesson.
We piled in the car and then just closed our eyes. A ranger escorted us out of the park down the windy trails, and unlocked the gait for us. As we typed in our rental home coordinates in the GPS we were led in circles for hours. I almost got sick. We got lost and when, past 11 pm we finally had dinner, the meal was $65 per person, so we didn't go there. We were all drowsy and fatigued. The winding roads and twistiness made me almost throw up. We finally went past a store and bought chocolate chip cookies for dinner. I felt so sick I was hardly hungry anymore. My dad looked so green he didn't eat at all, he just kept driving. My dad looked very ill, and I was worried about letting him drive in that state. When we finally took the hairpin turn back to the mango groves and to the rocky road that led to our house, we were all zombies. I don't even remember going inside the house. I just know I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow. I didn't even bothering changing into pajamas.
Tomorrow, we would certainly sleep late.
It was just what I needed. More than anything, I needed a trip to someplace relaxing and sunny. Little did I know that "Relaxing" was one of the last words that would be used to describe our vacation.
On Saturday in Maui (after spending 5 days already on Oahu) we woke up at a normal time between 7 and 7:30 am, pretty much adjusted to Pacific Time. It was December 20, and I was already homesick for Christmas in Minnesota... and snow.
In Upcountry Maui we stayed in a city called Ulupaluaku, in a house in the middle of the woods in "no where". My mom complained about hearing rats running around during the night, and finding spiders everywhere. At breakfast we had to have plain english muffins because there was no toaster or normal peanut butter in the stores. I felt really awkward, since this run-down house had been my own doing. I had been the "Travel Agent" of the trip, and had booked it myself.
Over breakfast we chatted about the sights we'd seen snorkeling the other day.
"I swear, I saw a green eel!" My sister cried.
"More like a piece of sea-weed." My brother snorted.
"No, I swear to whatever you believe in, it was an eel!" She argued.
"Shhhh!" I shushed them, looking out the window. A college-aged man was walking through the grove of mango trees and glancing at our house. He was creepy- he tended the fruit trees here.
After breakfast we headed out to see the sights, and then in the afternoon headed to Haleakala crater, a "must see" on Maui. My dad turned on the radio and we listened to random Hawaiian Christmas songs about Santa coming in his canoe. Gee, Hawaiians don't know the true spirit of Christmas.
We passed open, rocky country and turned right at the Haleakala sign. We started up along, winding road up to a dark brown crater. As we got higher the air seemed to get thinner. At one point we even drove through a cloud. We had no idea that we were about to come upon one of the biggest adventures in our lives.
We stopped once or twice for a break on the road before we came to the top of the crater, past the 10,000 foot high point. When we stepped out of the car we were shocked that, although we were wearing shorts and t-shirts, the temperature was under 30 degrees! Brr.
I was freezing, but at least I had remembered to wear closed shoes. Haleakala looked like a bunch of sandy craters about the clouds. We decided to hike down a short trail called Keonehe'ehe'e: Sliding Sands. It was 5.8 miles total (but we didn't know that).
There were only a few other people hiking, but most of them were coming back up the trail. A loud group of college age kids pulled up a green jeep, music blaring, and jumped out and started jogging. My brother, sister, and I decided we wanted to keep up with them. So, we began to jog too.
We jogged 2.4 miles down hill.The trail was occasionally rocky and steep and twisted back and forth. We stayed behind the college students the whole time. One of the college girls slipped and her foot was covered in blood, but she kept going as if nothing had happened. My long legs were an advantage, especially going downhill. It took no energy at all! A few times I stopped and suggested we waited for our parents, but my brother kept egging me on, saying, "Oh, I thought you were in Cross Country running. Or are you just fat and lazy?" (I'm not).
It made me so angry that I kept running. At 2.4 miles we finally reached the bottom crater. I was a bit tired, but the air was cool and kept me from overheating. At the crater I was scared to look down, fearing that the crater would just keep going to the bottom of the earth. My brother, though, climbed down to the bottom of it, and it was hardly far down at all.
After sitting next to the crater for 10-15 minutes waiting for our parents, I asked, "Are you sure Mom and Dad are coming?" We looked around nervously. We hadn't seen a sign of them, and if they were coming, they would of been here by now, right?
"I'm not sure Dad could make it down here with his bad leg." I said.
"Well," My sister said, "if we start going back up again, then at least we'll meet them on their way down, if they're coming."
We agreed this was the best plan, so I threw on my camera bag and we began trekking back up. Suddenly we noticed the sun was sinking lower in the sky- almost to the horizon point. Not only that, this place was famous for its stargazing because it gets SO dark. Oh 'swear word'! We were so stupid!
On the way back up we realized that it was WAY steeper than going down. We could hardly walk fast, not to mention jog. I felt burning anger. This was all my brother's fault. It was rocky and there was no way we could make it to the top (2.4 miles away) before the sun sank. I was so exhausted and tired I could of dropped dead from exhaustion and dehydration. I just kept going, numb and without feeling, breathing heavily. It was almost a straight-up trek. Never had I been so tired in my life. It was getting cold, too, but I was warm enough from trekking that it didn't bother me. Worries filled me. What if we fell over from dehydration? What if the park closed and we were stuck here overnight? What if we got lost? What were our parents thinking? Where were they?
I was filled with panic and wanted to either cry, scream, or drop dead. Finally, I decided that I was sick of winding back and forth on the trails. It was pointless and was a detour! So, even though it was illegal, I cut across a trail past the rare, endangered, 100-year-old Silver Sword plants.
"Christine, no! It's illegal!" My sister cried.
"I don't care. It's not like a ranger is watching." I snapped. Although I still looked around nervously, as I cut.
We walked in a haze of pain and fear. It was so dark we couldn't see the trail. All we could see was a small light in the distance that kept us moving on. We hoped it was in the right direction. I half hoped a search party with ATV's and horses would come rescue us. Except the terrain was probably too rough.
Each step hurt my legs, and I groaned when I saw the light in the distance flicker out. That meant the park had closed. I followed the sound of my siblings' footsteps. I was tired and hungry and wanted a flashlight. I began wishing that I could swap my siblings' for a superhero that would carry me to the top.
On the positive note, at least there was no chance of me dying. There were no dangerous beasts that would eat me, no heat that would give me a heat stroke, and not enough coldness to give me hypothermia. The only danger was my dehydration.
I wished I had some sort of extra energy super power to get me up. I was so exhausted I won't even bother explaining it. I was pale, my skin pasty, my breathing in rasps, and my throat hurt from dehydration. Every once in a while my stomach would let out a deep growl, and I would try and pretend I was back home asleep. We were still about 2 miles from the top of the crater when suddenlly, there was Mom!
It was the best things I'd ever seen. My brother started crying and I felt like I could start bawling.
"I'm not exhausted, I don't know why they are." My sister said, her breath rasping, as she spoke in a superior tone. I wanted to punch her, but I didn't want to take the energy to do it. I tried to explain what had happened by my mom simply said,
"Don't talk. We'll talk about it in the van."
I knew at least we were getting a good workout. My mom said a search party was planning to come get us if we didn't come up within an hour, and that the college-aged joggers had waited for us to come into view (about 10 minutes ago). I felt a rush of compassion for them.
I don't know how I walked the rest of the way to the top. We were too tired too talk, it was too dark to see, and my breath came in rasps. The palce was so dark that I could see millions of sparkling stars above us. When we eventually reached the top my dad called off the search party and didn't even yell at us. I guess he figured we had learned our own lesson.
We piled in the car and then just closed our eyes. A ranger escorted us out of the park down the windy trails, and unlocked the gait for us. As we typed in our rental home coordinates in the GPS we were led in circles for hours. I almost got sick. We got lost and when, past 11 pm we finally had dinner, the meal was $65 per person, so we didn't go there. We were all drowsy and fatigued. The winding roads and twistiness made me almost throw up. We finally went past a store and bought chocolate chip cookies for dinner. I felt so sick I was hardly hungry anymore. My dad looked so green he didn't eat at all, he just kept driving. My dad looked very ill, and I was worried about letting him drive in that state. When we finally took the hairpin turn back to the mango groves and to the rocky road that led to our house, we were all zombies. I don't even remember going inside the house. I just know I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow. I didn't even bothering changing into pajamas.
Tomorrow, we would certainly sleep late.
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