Hawaii - Day 8: Lahaina, Maui

Sunday, April 28
We woke up pretty early and were on the move! Today, the whole group of friends and family + the bride and groom had planned an all morning snorkeling trip! I had been dying to see some sea turtles, so I was super excited for this trip! I mean, we had seen just about everything else!! We all met at the Whaler's Village in Lahaina, checked into our tour group, and then had some time to walk around and look into the shops. Melissa and I had been talking about hemp tattoos, and we actually found one here...so we did it!

We finally got on our boat at 10 am. It was awesome! Normally, whale season ends in March. This was April. Whale sightings are pretty rare this time of year. The cool thing about this area of Maui is that the whales come to this specific location, mate, have whale babies, feed, and then when the babies are strong enough they make the trip back to Alaska to eat all summer long. At a certain time in December (I think), the whales make the trip back to Maui to do the above mentioned again. It's a rotating cycle for the whales and the Maui community. How cool is that?? Well, while we were waiting for our boat on the beach...we saw some WHALES! They were quite a ways away, but we could see them blowing water from time to time!

As soon as we got on the boat, the captain gave us the safety speech and then informed us that we were going to go whale watching first! We actually "chased" down the whales. The captain and crew then explained to us what we were seeing. There were 8-10 whales in the group that we were watching. No one has ever witnessed actual whale mating. It's very private, apparently. So this group of whales we saw is called a competition group. There is one female, who swims in the front of the group, and could care less about what's going on behind her. Following the female, was a group of male whales competing for her. When I say competing, I mean beating each other up...for DAYS...until there is one dominant whale who "wins," There are 2 theories about this competition group: 1) the male has already mated with the female and he is "protecting his investment" and/or 2) the males are competing to mate with the female. How cool is that?!? And we actually got to see this!! It was so exciting. By law, we had to stay 100 ft. away from the whales. 100ft. So we were pretty close to them!

After our whale watching, we soaked up some sun and enjoyed the boat ride. Gorgeous! We even rode right by our villas! Once we got to the snorkeling spot, the captain threw over the anchor and away we went!
 
Just imagine this...swimming in the bright blue water, looking at all of the gorgeous coral and colorful fish, holding the hand of your spouse...it was like a movie moment! We swam right over the coral, saw all kinds of tropical fish, and even 2 sea turtles sitting on the coral below us!! While we were watching, one of the sea turtles started to swim upwards. He floated near the top of the water getting some air. We were about 5 feet away from it when it went a few feet under water, swam right towards us, and then dove below us. It was AWESOME! Seriously, one of the best parts of the trip! I was like a kid in a candy store. I love this stuff!

When we were done snorkeling (for about 2 hours), we got back on the boat, headed towards the landing area, and enjoyed some lunch and a few drinks! After we were back on land, it was time for the bride and groom to head out. We said our goodbyes and talked about our next visits! Happy Honeymoon Melissa and Joe!!! Brad and I had checked out of our villa, but had stored our stuff in Melissa's brothers villa. We stopped back there, cleaned up, and hung out with the 4 of them for a while. While we were sitting on the porch, we saw turtles down below us in the water!! We headed down to the trail to the water and watched about 5 sea turtles eating right below us. I got some pretty cool pictures!

These were our last pictures taken in Hawaii. After saying goodbye to Jeff, Lesleigh, Jason, and Jess we headed to the airport and started the trip home. We flew out of Maui at 10:30 pm, landed in La at 6 am, flew to Denver, then Cedar Rapids! Sister Beth picked us up and we drove back home. We walked in the door at about 5 pm on Monday. What. A. Trip.

We are so thankful that we got to go to Hawaii, have a perfect Honeymoon in paradise, and be a part of Melissa and Joe's wedding. We are blessed!

Hawaii - Day 7: Lahaina, Maui

Day 8 in Hawaii was one of my favorites. Why? You ask? Because...

My Best Friend married a Man who loves her more than himself.
On the beach. In Hawaii.

What could be better than that?

Hawaii ~ Day 7: Lahainam Maui

Saturday, April 27 

After getting up and getting ready, Brad dropped me off at Melissa's Villa. I spent the rest of the morning with my best friend as she got ready for her wedding. Priceless. She was so beautiful and glowing. These are the memories that mean the most to me. Spending time with the people I love during the most important times in their life. Gorgeous. Just simply gorgeous.

The wedding took place at Old Lahaina Luau. There was an arch set up in front of the beach. There was just enough sand and grass to create a beautiful setting. Gorgeous! Melissa's 2 brothers, Jeff and Jason, walked her down the aisle ~ *tears*. The wedding was short, simple, and incredibly intimate and heart felt. I cried. It was so sweet and my bff got married!! To see more pictures from the wedding, click here.

After the wedding, we ate some cake, had a champagne toast, and took a million pictures! Hopefully, I will be able to get some of the professional wedding photos from Melissa at a later date! She was gorgeous.

After all of the celebrating, it was only 11:00 am! Melissa and Joe went off to spend some "time" together while the rest of us entertained ourselves! Brad, Effie, and I went to get lunch at Bubba Gumps. I've never been and I had been wanting to go! What a fun and yummy place! We visited the little shop attached to the restaurant after we were done eating. I heard Brad and Effie cracking up, so I went to see what was so funny. Please remember we were still in our wedding clothes. One of the workers from the shop had pointed told Brad, "Hey, you look like something that is in the this shop. Where is it?.....There it is!" and handed him a teddy bear. Dressed like Forest. It matched Brad perfectly! Hahahahaha! Too funny! We got a good laugh from that one...and of course pictures!!

That night, Melissa had planned for us all to attend a HUGE Luau in Lahaina for the "reception." The luau was at the same site as the wedding. We got all dressed up in our Hawaiian finest and hopped in the Taxi's to go to the wedding reception/Luau! (Seeing as how the Luau was an open bar, everyone opted for the taxi vans.) The Luau was so much fun! We ate a ton of food, tried every drink on the drink list (Mai Tai's and Pina Colada's being our favorites), and watched a fantastic story about Hawaii and the volcanoes. We also got to experience what a Hula Dance competition would be like. All of the dancers were great!

We were all pretty wiped after the Luau was over, so we got in our taxi vans and headed back to the villas. We had to be up pretty early for the Snorkeling Adventure the next Day!

What a Wedding Day!

Hawaii - Day 6: Lahaina, Maui

The next few days in Hawaii were all about the bride and the groom ~ my best friend Melissa and her soon to be husband, Joe!! Melissa and I have been best friends for...forever. She's my longest, closest, best friend. She was my Maid of Honor and I was so glad to be able to share her wedding with her as well!

Hawaii ~ Day 6: Lahaina, Maui

Friday, April 25

Friday morning we woke up and had planned on taking the Road to Hana tour. Welp, the bridal party decided they didn't want to sit in a car for 5 hours - mainly because they had just been sitting on a plane for 8 hours the previous day. So, we all kind of "did our own thing." Melissa, Effie, and Brad and I went to "explore" the coat line right outside of Melissa's villa. We had bathing suits on under our shorts and shirts, so we climbed on the lava rocks, walked through the water, climbed up and down "cliffs" and enjoyed the amazing scenery and views of the ocean.I'd say we got some pretty awesome BFF pictures :) I sure do love that girl! I mean...who else would climb all over the place with me?

Oh and while we were out climbing on the lava rocks and the coral...I did this! Awesome right? No. This thing caused quite a few problems for the next week or so including, but not limited to: trying to walk in heels, trying to walk in general, snorkeling, infection, swelling, not being able to run for a week, etc. Gag.

After we climbed around and explored, the girls headed out for some lunch, shopping, and the bride's last hours of single girl time! Brad and Melissa's brothers and their significant others all went to the beach. The girls ate lunch at Captain Jacks, which was delicious! We shopped in all of the little adorable shops along the beach, got some gelato (yum!!), and enjoyed our girl time!

We headed back to the villas to clean up and head on over to the pool next to Melissa's villa. Instead of having a rehearsal dinner...we had a "rehearsal grill out" by the pool! It was fabulous. We took pictures, grilled kabobs, ate a hearty meal, and of course had a few drinks and some good conversation. We all called it a night around 11 pm since the Wedding was at 10 am the next morning!

Hawaii - Day 5: Lahaina, Maui

Wednesday, April 24
Brad and I flew into Maui around 4 pm. We grabbed our luggage and went to get our rental car. Brad had been sweet enough to reserve a Jeep Wrangler on each island, but had mentioned wanting a convertible at some point. So, we decided to go ahead an upgrade to a convertible Mustang! Brad picked a red one. So. Much. Fun!! Pretty sure Brad was just a little happy about driving that ride around!

We drove to Villas, which were about an hour away. This part of our trip was still for us, but we were meeting up with my childhood best friend and her family eventually so that we could be a part of her wedding! Everyone else wasn't getting into Maui until the next night, so we had plenty of time to do some exploring ourselves!

Let me tell you about the place we stayed. Oh. My. Stars!! It was amazing! The Kapalua Villas are on the beautiful beaches of Lahaina. Here is the link to their Resorts website. Amazing!! We checked in, got the keys to our villa, and went to check it out! Our Villa overlooked the golf course and you could see the ocean behind that. It was beautiful. We had our own covered parking space, a living room, a fully furnished kitchen, 2 bathrooms, a spacious mater bedroom, a deck with lounge chairs and a deck set, washer/dryer, and so much more! It was fantastic. Everything you need to stay a while and relax!

After we got all "moved in," we got ready and headed out to dinner. Our concierge recommended a few places in town. Once she said, "Maui Brewing Company," we were hooked! We drove less than 10 minutes and sat right down! Um, this is our new favorite place! It was sooooo good!! We got an appetizer there that I am planning on trying to create. It was called "baked brie", but it was fried brie that came with baguettes and this creamy pineapple sauce. We thought we had died and gone to foodie heaven. Yum!! Seriously, it was amazing.

Thursday, April 25
Seeing as how we were in this beautiful Villa, we took full advantage of sleeping in, making breakfast, and eating out on our private deck. We laid out there talking and enjoying the quiet and the scenery. Perfect! After we had a few cups of Hawaiian coffee, we got dressed and headed to the Resorts Spa/Fitness Center. As soon as we got there, we were greeted by the staff who gave us the grand tour. Holy Cow. Can I live here please?? The gym was amazing, the spa was so peaceful, and the ladies/mens areas had everything you needed to get ready except clothes and your makeup! We felt very fancy there. We worked out, got a smoothie from the juice bar, and headed back to our Villa. We ate a light lunch and then headed out to beach. Our Resort's beach is very well known in the area, so that was an easy choice! We enjoyed laying on the beach for the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon! The beach...my favorite place!

We spent most of the day on the beach. When we got back to our Villa, we cleaned up for dinner, and met everyone at the Maui Brewing Company (the groom's choice! but we didn't mind) for dinner. Everyone from Melissa and Joe's family finally made it around 9:00 pm! After dinner, drinks, and catching up, we all went back for a decently early night. Let the wedding festivities begin (the next day)!

Hawaii - Day 4: Hilo, Hawaii (the Big Island)

Tuesday, April 23

On Tuesday, we slept in just a little. We had a pretty busy day the day before and we were on our Honeymoon after all! After we grabbed some breakfast, we headed out to the beach. Hilo is not known for their "gorgeous" beaches, but they do have some black sand beaches. This trip was all about getting as many experiences as we could. So, we thought a black sand beach was fitting! My friend Joey told us what beaches we should visit, so we drove about 10 minutes from our hotel to the beach.

We've never seen a black sand beach and I don't think you can find a beach in Hawaii that isn't gorgeous! We laid in the sun, climbed the, and saw some amazing scenery. It. Was. Gloriously relaxing.

After cleaning up from the beach, we went to get some lunch at a local place called Blaine's Drive In. Joey told us that if we wanted to get some of what locals eat every day, that's where we should go. So we did! I was a little skeptical, but it was actually really good! After we ate, we ventured off to find Rainbow Falls. We had read about it and wanted to see it, so we found our way there. Um, gorgeous. The falls were so picture perfect. The only bad thing was, there was a guard rail, so we couldn't really get too close. We took pictures of the fall, walked/hiked around the side of the fall all the way to the top of the fall. We climbed on the rocks to get out into the stream and take some pictures. It was so pretty!

After the Falls, we shopped around town, got some REAL Hawaiian Shaved Ice, and I found a dress for the luau we were going to go to on Saturday night! After shopping, we headed off to the airport. Next stop...

Maui!

Hawaii - Day 3: Hilo, Hawaii (the Big Island) Part 2

Since Part 1 of Day 3's post was so long....

Hawaii ~ Day 3: Hilo, Hawaii Part 2

After Brad and I got back from horseback riding, we grabbed a quick lunch, changed, and headed out to the Volcano National Park. Yep, I said Volcano. The National Park was about a 30 minute drive away. While we were driving there, the clouds started looking pretty grey. When we got there, it was sprinkling just a little bit and it was very foggy/misty. This kind of interrupted our volcano hunting. However, the park has quite a bit to see in it so we talked to a park ranger, grabbed a map, and headed out. Here's what we saw!

The first place we went to were the Steam Vents. The trail we followed leads you to the edge of a crater. The ground water flows over the hot volcanic rocks and creates heated steam! We stood by the fence and felt the hot steam coming out of the crater. That was an experience!

The second place we went was a Lava Tube. A couple hundred years ago, live lava flowed through this tube in the ground and emptied out into the ocean! It was pretty cool to walk through. The floor and the walls of the tube were kind of bubbly looking and feeling!

The third place we stopped was a lookout where you could see hardened lava and a deep crater. We walked around this area the most. It was unbelievable to be walking on lava and think about it coming out of a volcano! The crater is a mile long, 3,000 feet across, and the floor is 400 feet below the overlook. Cool!

The last area we stopped at was the Jagger Museum. The Jaggar Museum is a museum on volcanology with displays of equipment used by scientists in the past to study the volcano, working seismographs, and an exhibit of clothing and gear from scientists who got a bit too close to lava. The museum also told the story of Pele and how the volcanoes came to be in a pictorial and written display. The overlook outside the building had an incredible view of the volcano, one of the world's most active volcanoes!!

After our awesome visit to the park, we stopped in town at this amazing restaurant called, Pineapples. I would probably fly back to Hilo just to go to this restaurant again! If you're ever in Hilo...go to this place!

We were pretty worn out after Day 3! It was busy, but fabulous!

Hawaii - Day 3: Hilo, Hawaii (the Big Island) Part1

Brad and I flew from Honolulu, O'ahu over to Hilo, Hawaii. When we were making our plans our trip, we wanted to see as much as possible, so we decided to go to 3 islands total. I'm glad we did!! One of my good friends from college, Joey, is form Hilo, so we got all the "native" information for Hawaii.

Hawaii ~ Day 3: Hilo, Hawaii

 

Brad and I flew into Hilo, Monday night. After we landed, we got our rental Jeep and checked into our hotel. We were kind of tired from being up so early that morning, so we went for a run and then went out for a light dinner. Between the airport and getting to our hotel, we were able to schedule a horseback ride for the next morning!! I adore horseback riding and it was something Brad really wanted to do as well.

Tuesday, April 23

Well, it was another early morning. We were up at 6:00 am to get ready and drive an hour and a half to the Waipi'o Valley (Valley of the Kings) on the north east side of Hawaii. The drive up there was so beautiful. We definitely felt like we getting to see "Hawaii" on the Big Island. Honolulu had been gorgeous, but it was very "touristy." I'm glad we decided to come to Hilo as well! 

Once we reached the meeting spot near the valley, we were introduced to our Horseback Riding Tour guide. We chose to book a horseback riding tour from  Na'alapa Stables. Our check in time was 9:00 am and we left at 9:30 am!! It was AMAZING!! There was only one other woman on the tour with us. Our tour guide was great! I would highly recommend this riding tour. The scenery could not have been more gorgeous. 

We had to drive down the side of the mountain (literally) in a 4-wheel drive van. We also had to leave the side door of the van open so that we could jump out of the van if we fell of the road. Our guide told us NOT to buckle our seat belts for this reason as well. Apparently, they put the guard rail up on this little road in 1993 because so many people had driven off the side of the mountain! The road fit one vehicle and had some wider areas for vehicles to pass each other. That was an adventure by itself! Holy cow. 

When we got to the bottom of the mountain, the tour guide told us that only about 50 people actually live in the valley. Most of the people who live there have taro farms. Taro is kind of like a potato, but it grows in water. The natives use taro to make lots of different things, but mostly they make poi out of it. Interesting, right? Our tour guide told us so much about the valley, the natives, and cracked a joke in just about every sentence. He was awesome!

During our 2 and 1/2 ride, we saw untouched scenery, banana, avocado, and mango trees, wild horses, and so many other things! Oh! and during our ride, a spider dropped from a tree and fell on me. That caused some screaming and total freaking out. Brad lost his sunglasses when his horse tried to lay down in 4 feet of water. The cutest part, the ranch has 2 dogs that followed us and ran next to us the entire ride! They were pretty funny and entertaining. Here's the pictures!

I'm pretty sure the horseback riding was our favorite thing from the trip! We looooved it! We also decided that we need to buy some land and some horses. I mean...it's possible in the future...

This post was long, so I am splitting up Day 3 into 2 parts! Next post coming...

Hawaii - Day 2: Honolulu, O'ahu

Day 2 in Honolulu was something that both Brad and I were looking forward to. Visiting Pearl Harbor.

You see, my Papa (my Mom's Dad) was in World War II. He was in the Army. When I was little, Papa would tell us a few "memories" from the War. He would sing songs that he learned in the Army and he also had memorabilia from that time in the basement. My Dad was also in the Army and is a Vietnam Vet. So, patriotism runs pretty deep in our family. I could not be more proud of my Papa and my Dad. Both Brad and I had learned about Pearl Harbor in school, but going there, seeing it, and learning more about the War made it so much more real to us. We knew we couldn't go to Hawaii without visiting Pearl Harbor.

Hawaii ~ Day 2: Pearl Harbor, O'ahu

Monday, April 22
We got up pretty early in the morning so that we could pack up, leave our bags at the front desk, and head out to Pearl Harbor ~ early...as in 6:00 a.m.. We had to drive about 30 minutes to get to Pearl Harbor so that we could get in line for tickets to see the USS Arizona Memorial. The tickets are free for the Memorial, you just have to get there really early to get your tickets. They go pretty quick! We got in line at 7:15 a.m. and we were given tickets for 9:45 a.m.. See what I mean?

Since we had plenty of time before we got on the boat to view the Memorial, we decided to take an "Audio Tour." This was probably the smartest thing we did. You can buy an Audio Tour for $7.00. They give you a headset, a "remote", and a map. The Audio Tour takes you through the entire Pearl Harbor Memorial. Jaime Lee Curtis narrates the tour, as well as Pearl Harbor survivors. I'm telling you, this was awesome. As you listen to the narration, you follow the map to 28 buildings or site where memorabilia, artifacts, and models are displayed. The narration started with pre-war events, explained the war, detailed moments leading up to the attack, and then described the aftermath of the attack. This was the most informative and heartbreaking tour we have ever been on. (To read more about the Audio Tour, click here.) I teared up. This was very emotional! I am very, very thankful that we had the opportunity to see this Memorial and learn more about our countries history and brave soldiers.

The most emotional part of the tour was the USS Arizona Memorial. This memorial was built above the sunken USS Arizona, so it was like visiting a grave. In this case, over 700 graves. Many men on the crew of the USS Arizona still remained entombed in the ship. The Memorial is build 8 feet above the sunken ship, so you can still see many parts of the top of the ship. Talk about getting hit with reality. It makes you very thankful for all of our service members and for everything they have sacrificed.

I took tons of photos while we were there. I am planning on showing them all to Papa when I see him this summer. We also got him a t-shirt from the Memorial's store. I am pretty excited about showing him all the photos and listening to what he has to say!

We spent a total of 4 hours at Pearl Harbor. Since we got done earlier than we had thought we would, we decided to head back to Honolulu, get some lunch, and check out the shopping in Waikiki. We ate lunch at "Duke's." Apparently, this place was started by one of the original "famous" surfers in Hawaii. We loved it. It was on the beach, had amazing food, and was a fun place to eat at! Right before we walked in to eat, we saw some parrots. I HAD to hold them! The man who had them put one on my shoulder and the other in my hands. It just laid in my hands like a little baby. Fun!

After lunch, we still had some time before we had to leave for the airport (to fly to Hawaii - The Big Island). Brad's parents had told us about the International Market Place in Waikiki and it happened to be right across the street, so we walked over there and looked around. It was kind of funny to see the Marketplace in the middle of all of the extravagant shopping in Waikiki. The International Marketplace had little booths and stores set up all throughout this section. Vendors sold just about anything you could think of and you could barter with them. I'm too nice and not so good at the bartering, so Brad took care of it! We got a few things and then walked around Waikiki some more before we left for the airport!