Maui - day 11

Today we decided to take our friend's advice to leave the beach behind for a day to drive 7,000 feet up to see the Haleakaka Crater. In a word, awesome. It's my understanding that as the crow flies it's only 12 miles to the top, but at 25 miles per hour and constant switch backs, it took almost 2 hours. Of course we had to get out frequently along the way to enjoy the beauty.

We started our day with Malasadas, which are Portuguese donuts. Oh yum. Apparently the Malasada bakery is in Honolulu and is called Leonard's...just an fyi. :) Then we started our drive. This incredible plant was bordering someone's house, err, estate.

Shopping, and snacks...

I was so excited to see the famed Silver Sword plant. These plants live 50 years and apparently only bloom once and then die. They are so protected by Hawaii that to tamper with one in any way, shape or form is a HUGE fine. It was really, really spectacular.

As we were driving down the mountain we were passing lots of fields with farm animals when I noticed this sheep dog sitting in the middle of his field guarding his goats. It was the cutest thing I think I've ever seen, him sitting right there, panting, almost like he had a smile on his face. Jon turned the car around so I could get this picture and when he saw us slowing down he started walking slowly to the fence, assuming we were there to cause trouble. Then he ran back and forth barking, trying to get us to leave. So CUTE!