We went upcountry last weekend - to the slopes of Haleakala.  Our primary purpose was that an artist friend has a showing in Viewpoints Art Gallery in the quaint town of Makawao, and we wanted to see his paintings.  A side benefit was that we get to experience a bit cooler weather.

​On our way to the road to Haleakala, we saw a lot of sea turtles gathering near the shore.  The sea turtles are one of our favorite things to see in Maui.  Years ago, it was pretty rare to see them, as they are very tasty and easy to catch and kill.  It used to be a common thing to do to go scuba diving, catch a turtle, and roast it over a bonfire on the beach.   Now, sea turtles are an endangered species and are protected, so they are making a comeback.   At left is a picture we took of a sea turtle playing in the ocean next to the roadway.  He seems to be enjoying himself, doesn't he?

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that is very popular with the Maui locals, Da Kitchen.  The food is delicious, but the portions are enormous.  Well fortified for the rest of our trip, we continued upcountry.  Sure enough, we did see Jacaranda trees.  The season seems to be a bit early this year, so a few trees were starting to lose their blooms, while others were still in full bloom.  These trees line both sides of the road, and in places it looks like you are driving through a purple tunnel as the trees arch over the road until they meet.  Our artist friend is Michael Clements.  He is a very well known artist on Maui.  We works in pastels and oils.  His art exhibit was very nice, and several of his paintings on display had the Jacaranda trees in them.  He lives upcountry, and at this time of year lots of the scenes he wants to paint will have Jacarandas in them.   There were a couple of other artists that we know who were also showing their work there, so we had a very enjoyable afternoon.