Tuesday January 22, 2019: Haleakala Sunrise, Lavender Garden, Seven Turtles

We woke up super-early Tuesday morning to drive up to the crater on Haleakala.  The drive was steep and dark.  My sinuses were acting up all week, so the pressure going up and going down wrecked havoc on my nose and ears.  But it was so worth it!  It was cold and windy at the time.  We brought a couple of blankets to stay warm, but they weren't enough.  We should've had at least two blankets per person.  Some people at the top were in full winter gear!

Once we snapped our pictures and enjoyed the moment, we got in the car and turned up the heat and drove down the mountain a bit.  We made another pit-stop at some craters, before winding our way to the lavender garden.

We had visited this lavender garden before.  There isn't anything too special about it, but it is a nice place to visit, stretch your legs and enjoy the silent breeze and sweet smells.  We ate a bite at the tiny cafe that sold t-shirts and lots of lavender products.  We also walked around quite a bit and sat in the gazebos and enjoyed the view.

After the lavender garden, we headed back to the place to take a nap and sit on the beach.  When we arrived at the beach, we saw seven turtles!  They had all washed up on the sand and were sleeping in the sun.  It was so neat to see so many turtles sleeping on the beach.