Hawaii

Our trip was amazing. Seriously, amazing. The extra money spent for the ocean front condo was well spent. You walk into the lobby of our condos and were met with a giant all glass wall and an endless ocean view. Our room had the same giant glass wall and endless ocean view in both the living room and bedroom. You can't beat that! The wind in Maui is insane, it was so windy the entire time. We had what we lovingly referred to as the wind tunnel in our room. If the sliding glass door was open, when you opened the front door you were met with INSANE wind. I dried my hair in the wind tunnel one day because it was too hot for the blow dryer. No seriously, I really did.

View from our balcony. I drank and read a lot out there.

Our first day there we got in too early to check in so we ate a local, gourmet lunch of McDonalds chicken nuggets in the condo parking lot then went swimming on the ocean outside our condos. The beach was rocky, therefore the water was rocky and not a great swimming beach. But once you swam out past the break it wasn't so bad. After about 15 minutes of swimming we noticed a few people pointing to something in the water and I look over to see two GIANT sea turtles swimming maybe five feet away from me. Amazing. We were friends. As long as they didn't try to snap at me, we were friends. We checked in, got dressed and went to dinner at the Maui Brewing Company which originally, I was SO excited to learn was within walking distance. It was a total disappointment. The menu was tiny and overpriced and the beer was okay.

Our roadside beach!

Next day we took the approximately 10 minute drive South to Lahaina with all intentions to do surfing lessons. But once we got cruisin the shops and eating shaved ice we decided we didn't want to stop, so we just kept on walkin and shoppin. We went to a small, hard to find beach at the North end of Lahaina that had incredibly clear water and TONS of coral with fish swimmin around. What it didn't have, however, was any sort of waves. There was a rock wall about a hundred feet out in the water, I assume to protect the coral. We spent about an hour there before we got bored with it and went in search of another beach. Maui had these random beaches on the side of the highway. You'd be driving along the highway then see cars parked on the side and people on the beach. So we decided to stop along one of these random highway beaches and it ended up being our favorite beach of all. The shorebreak was a little rough but once you got past it the swimming was easy and water was crystal clear. We saw ANOTHER two sea turtles swimmin along at this beach too! It was really nice that no matter what beach we went to, it was never crowded. Im used to the beaches in San Diego where you have about two feet of beach to yourself. Every single beach we went to was us and maybe one or two other people.

At least Brandon looked handsome at the luau

The next day was our anniversary so we went to breakfast at this little place we randomly found on Yelp called the Gazebo. We found out later this restaurant is uber popular and ended up waiting a good half hour for a table. The wait was well worth it. Banana and macadamia nut pancakes? Yes, please. After breakfast we packed up some snack and some beers and headed back to our favorite roadside beach. We lounged and swam ALL. DAY. LONG. Heaven. We went back to the wind tunnel and got ready for our Luau. We booked the Old Lahaina Luau because I had heard many different places that this was the best one to go to. The most authentic luau on Maui. I was less than impressed. I guess the raving reviews made my expectations too high or something. The spread was pretty small (my plate was still half empty when I reached the end of the buffet line), the drinks were extremely sweet and weak, and the performance was pretty average. For the money we spent, I was not impressed.

Road to Hana. See the waterfalls and one lane bridge sign?

The next day we got up early and headed out to do the Road to Hana. Possibly the best day of our trip. When they say that Hana is a rainforest... THEY AREN'T KIDDING. Holy jungle. I've never seen anything like that in my life. And random waterfalls on the side of the road or up on the mountain sides just made the scenery that much better. We ended our trek at the 7 Sacred Pools (Oheo Gulch) where we hiked up to the top pool and swam. The water was COLD. Like, literally take your breath away when you jump in cold. And when you swam out to the center of the pool, hurt your skin cold. Never ever ever get used to it no matter how long you swam for cold. The lower pools were warmer since they were smaller and further from the "source" but they were crowded and we were alone in the top pool, so we stayed. I swam underneath the waterfall and OMG. The pressure and power from the waterfall took my breath away all over again. But an experience I wouldn't trade for the world. The drive back, even without making any stops, took 2.5 hours. The road is SO CURVY that you can't drive faster than 20mph. And even 20 is pushin it, the speed limit was 15mph. And SO MANY ONE LANE BRIDGES. A little bit scary! We were gone from 7am to 5:30 pm. A FULL day.  We went to dinner at this little, local place called Aloha Mixed Plate on a recommendation, best dinner the entire trip. Authentic, DELICIOUS food.

The next day was our last. We went into Lahaina and got some waterfront breakfast. Went to the other side of the island to experience some other beaches and found a beach that was cloudy water (strange, from our experience) but the water was so so warm. We swam a little, ate a little, just kinda hung out. Brandon was feelin a little sick from our breakfast (his crab was extremely fishy tasting and a little suspect looking) so we went to the airport a little early and just hung out until our flight. The trip home was a nightmare, but I'll spare you the details.  Instead I'll just share pictures :)

Sunset from Lahaina

View point turnout on the side of the highway. Breath taking views.

One of our first stops on the road to Hana, a black sand beach. We did some exploring and climbing on some lava rocks

I swear i'm not doing a thumbs up. I'm making fun of Brandon for his hang loose

HAHA this sign was along a little path we were hiking on. Wasn't plannin' on it, no worries!

Waterfalls and shorty shorts. I didn't realize how short those shorts were until I went back and looked at pictures.

Just past the "dont shit here sign" How 'bout here? Can I shit here??

Swimming in the 7 Sacred, freezing Pools

Swimmin under the waterfall

The depth in these pictures is decieving, that waterfall is a good 20-25ft tall.