Maui, Hawaii
Although I've been to Honolulu at least a dozen times, I've never visited any of the other Hawaiian Islands until this trip to Maui. Our first night in was quite eventful, due to a run-in with the local Gestapo, but other than that, it was a nice change from Oahu/Honolulu.
Any part of Hawaii is scenic - lots of tall, pointy mountains. On Maui, the mountains reach to 10,000 feet.
... just a building at the commercial dock. The population on Maui is small, so there isn't a lot of industry. Besides tourism, agriculture (pineapples, sugar cane, etc.) seems to be the basis for the economy.
There is a dormant volcano that forms Haleakala National Park. You can drive right to the top, and I thought I was being super-original by doing this instead of going to the beach. It turned out I wasn't that original.
There are actually warning signs at the top reminding you just how thin the air is. Honestly, walking swiftly did seem like work. Interestingly, there were cyclists who managed to make it all the way to the top.
The view from the top was better than I imagined. There are several lookouts that you can stop at that give you amazing views inside the crater.
It is hard to describe how big the crater is, but you can see some clouds inside it here.
As you go up the mountain, the vegetation changes, until you get to this moonscape at the top.
More from the top. You can see a trail in this picture - there are several hiking trails throughout the park.
Here's a crater within the crater. This place is so big.
Because of the altitude, we actually ended up above the clouds, like being on a plane.
Sunset - blah.
