Hawaii
"Unreal" - Word of the day everyday in Hawaii
"This looks fake" - Phrase of the day everyday in Hawaii
How i was lucky enough to travel to this beautiful place not once.. but twice this summer is mind blowing to me. This post is a little late but i figured its fitting because school has officially started up and I'm just reminiscing the most amazing summer! If you'd like to hear and see more about my amazing adventure in Maui, stick around and i will tell you all about it!
Just a few months ago I arrived in this unearthly place with my handsome man for a business trip (aka- two 3 hour meetings and the rest of the week to explore). Conveniently enough, Logan's best friend works at the financial firm so we got to spend the week with him and his girlfriend (Austin & Miranda). While the rest of the party stayed at the Marriott in Wailea (which was insanely beautiful) we opted for the more budget friendly option and rented an airbnb 2 bedroom condo for the week and it was absolutely perfect and had the most beautiful view. Not to mention in was only a half mile away from the marriott, the beach, and shopping complex! Because this trip was packed full of adventures and experiences and there are soo many photos i want to share I'm going to break this post down by each day so its a bit easier to follow! Make sure to use the arrows to slide to the next photo under each day!
Day 1
Day one was an adventurous one let me tell ya! Pretty positive this morning we all slept in a bit because the time change was a bit drastic at 5 hours behind our normal schedules. The down time didn't last long though, around the early afternoon we were headed off to our first excursion of the trip! We headed to a marina about 20 minutes away and hopped on a catamaran to snorkel the crater just off the coast of maui called molokini! It was such a cool experience (so much so we did it again later in the week)
That evening we headed off to our next adventure and took the 2ish hour drive up the dormant volcano of maui called haleakala which makes up 75% of the island of Maui. The drive alone was nothing i had ever seen before.. about halfway up you literally are above the clouds! When we got to the tip top we found a parking spot, jumped out of the car, and immediately realized we did not dress properly for the altitude.. IT WAS FREEZING.. i was FREEZING in HAWAII... never a statement i thought i would say while we were there but apparently at 10,000 feet above sea level gets pretty chilly. This was without a doubt the most incredible sunset i had ever seen and will most likely ever see in my life. We got to watch the sunset ABOVE the clouds, one of the most magical sights i swear. Not being prepared once again, we packed zero snacks for this little trip and were all starving so mcdonalds was the pick for dinner that evening (only because it was the absolute first place to eat on the treck home).
Day 2
This day started extra early! Logan and i got up at the crack of dawn to walk to the beach and watch the sunrise and of course so he could get some amazing shots for his hawaii film. It was so so peaceful and relaxing. I'm not an early riser naturally but let me tell ya, every early morning on maui was more than worth it.
Now at this point in the trip, being such a foodie and not being able to control myself around amazing food, i was already feeling so stuffed and bloaty so logan and i decided to go for a run around the area. We ended up finding the cutest beach to take a break at and my run quickly turned into a walk on the way back.
Our afternoon was spent in the cutest town called Paia where we had made a late lunch reservation at a restaurant called Mama's also known as one of the top ten rated restaurants in the US. It was such a cool experience and the view alone was absolutely amazing. After lunch we took a drive on Hana Hwy (AKA road to Hana) and found twin waterfalls and explore around those for a bit. We didn't end up driving all the way to Hana because its quite a long drive on some scary roads and it was a bit late to start the hike. We ended up stoping at a beach near paia to watch the surfers and the sunset (yes, we watched the sunset every evening and they were all incredible). And of course we ended the night with some gelato!
Day 3
Today was the first day the boys had meetings so they were up and gone by 7am and miranda and I got to sleep in! You would think at only day three we would have everything together.... Nope, the condo was a disaster! Miranda and i spent the morning picking up the place but about 5 minutes after the boys got back from meetings it went right back to messy. Anywayyy, pretty much as soon as the boys got back we threw on our swimsuits and headed to the marriott to have a beach/pool day with everyone else on the trip!
A few hours later we were back at the condos for showers and naps before we had to get ready for the opening dinner at the marriott with all the other quests! It was an absolutely amazing dinner set up on a small year area with the most amazing view (and of course the sunset was freaking beautiful). The food coma was real this night, so we went right home and straight to bed.
Day 4
This day may have been the single most memorable and dreamy day of my life to date.. wanna know why? I got to go horseback riding on the most dreamy coastline in Maui🙊 I quite literally may have pinched myself a few times because it surpassed my most magical sleepy dreams.
The day started extra early with a sunrise photo/video sesh with Logan at the Marriott wailea infinity pool! After that the boys were off to their morning meetings and Miranda and I Ubered to the cutest and most talked about local cafe for breakfast. After we walked right across the street to the park to admire the beach with all its surfers and incredible view!
Just a few hours later we headed to what I claim as the most incredible 2 hours of my life (not kidding one bit). We arrived at Mendez ranch, a 300 acre ranch off the north shore of Maui, chatted with the crew and other riders for a bit and then were given our horses for the day! Apparently I was the only experienced horse back rider in the group that day so I made friends with our guides real quick! They ended up giving me the fastest horse of the bunch because I was so extremely excited to just run! The ride lastest about 2 hours and was filled with pretty views, historical background on the ranch, trail rides, and some races😉 (yes, buck and I won) and shoutout to ran bans because somehow my cute little sunglasses survived a horse stampede at one point. Speaking of falls... at one point our guide, butch, took us 4 off on our own to get some footage for the content Logan was providing them, he had all 4 of us run up the hill on our horses (these horses were so dang fast I had never riden like that) Logan and his horse were in front of me to start but Buck, being the Fastest in the bunch, caught up real quick! As soon as we passed Logan, I turned back to say something smart but soon realized Logan (along with the saddle) were hanging on the side of his horse😂 luckly she slowed down and Logan slid off so no one was injured but what a sight! I did not want this experience to end trust me, it was a hard goodbye.
Day 5 Okk just another perfect day really... lolol but really the day started with a walk to the marriott with Logan to enjoy the buffet breakfast and the gorgeous view. For most of the morning into early afternoon we relaxed by the pool in our condo complex, took some cute photos, some very memorable photos (that included a speedo), and just enjoyed the sun.
The second half of our day was an absolutely, ridiculously amazing experience... We got to bike ride down haleakala (the dormant volcano/crater).... not going to lie it was a tad scary to start. The beginning of the ride was on the windy roads of the cattle lands just outside of the national park and it freaked me out just a bit because i had never been bike riding in that kind of environment but after feeling it out a bit it was such a extraordinary experience. If i remember correctly it was a 25-30 miles ride down the mountain but we stopped frequently so logan could film some things because again he was trading the excursion for photo and video content. Our guide and owner of Maui Bombers was truly a hilarious, entertaining, and passionate person and he made the experience all that much better!
Because the ride ended ride in the town of paia, where we had been the a few days back, we had dinner at the most delicious mexican restaurant in town and of course ended the even with gelato again because there is always room for ice cream!!
Day 6
Today started before the crack of dawn because it was today that we got to go snorkeling again at that same crater... but at sunrise! We had to arrive at the beach where we loaded on the boat at 5:45 am but it was oh so worth it. This snorkel trip was a little different because it was a much smaller catamaran with a lot less people and we were also the only boat in the crater the whole time! Not only did we get to snorkel the crater for about 45 minutes but they also took us to turtle beach were we got to snorkel for another 45 minutes and ended up seeing at least 4 different sea turtles! they fed us amazing food, the staff was absolutely incredible and it was such a relaxing yet extraordinary experience.
After snorkeling we drove around town to find some lunch, where logan and i found the most delicious acai and pataya bowls. Miranda and Austin opted for what are supposedly the #1 burgers on maui. Im pretty positive when we got back to our condo after this we all passed right out for a few hours before we had to get ready for the closing dinner with the rest of the group on the trip. So the night winded down with the big group dinner at a resturant in the local shopping complex where lots of food and pina coladas were consumed.. at this point i was full fledge food baby (still recovering from this week filled with delicious food). We ended the night shopping around the stores and heading back to the condo to pack and clean up!
Day 7
The most dreaded day of all vacations... the last one. The day ended up being a full one because our flight was until 11pm but we also had to be out of our condo by 11am so it was very well spent! Once we were all packed up and our of the condo we headed straight for the Maui Ocean Center Aquarium where logan was way too excited to see the glow in the dark jelly fish. After that we headed to the west side of the island to Lahaina, specifically front street which is a stretch of shops, restaurants, galleries, and all the in between. We spent a few hours here, strolling around shops and historical buildings and even stopped at the highly recommended Lahaina Pizza Co. On the way back we stopped at a few different stops just to enjoy the view and use up some time before we headed to return our rental car and shuttled off to the airport! ( Whoops didn't take any photos this day)
Since you've read all about this trip of mine, why not see for yourself! To watch this amazing week in action watch the video below that my talented man made!
While sitting and writing about my week in hawaii and reflecting on each day, it has made me realize how incredibly blessed I was to have the opportunity to experience such a beautiful place and to experience it with such beautiful people. Every second of every day was just magical. For any of those who plan to visit the island of Maui in the near future, i have all the amazing excursions, restaurants, and sites to see below:)
Excursions
Four Winds Maui - Molokini snorkel https://www.fourwindsmaui.com
Mendez Ranch - horseback riding http://www.mendesranch.com
Maui Bombers - Biking tour https://mauibombers.com
Kai Kanani Sailing - Sunrise snorkel https://www.kaikanani.com
Resurants
Mamas fish house- rated top ten restaurants in the US
Paia gelato
Milagros Food - mexican resturant
Hawaiian moons natural foods - acai/pataya bowls
Humble Market Kitchen - in Marriott wailea resort
Honolulu coffee
Kihei Caffe- breakfast/lunch
Threes bar and grill
Lahaina Pizza Co
Sites to see
Haleakala sunset
Paia town
Molokini
Lahaina Front street
Road to hana
north shore drive
Ioa valley national forest