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| we ended our time in maui right with one last beach session, a couples massage in an outdoor hut overlooking the ocean, and our all-time favorite meal of the week at mama's fish house. this was definitely not a vacation where you feel ready to be going home at the end. we're still working out the details for moving there permanently. |
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| waking up at 2am to be shuttled to 32 degree weather with negative temperature winds at the top of a volcano is probably not a typical honeymoon activity. it seemed like it took way longer than normal for the sun to rise that morning, but when it finally did, it was such a spectacular view. if only the bike ride down felt like it lasted as long as the wait at the top. |
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| kayaking was another slightly scary but amazing exploration. we came 50 feet from a humpback whale the size of a semi-truck while sitting in a small plastic kayak. talk about feeling helpless. as always we ended the night with sunset photos at the beach and a delicious fish dinner. this time at leilani's, despite bob's forewarnings. |
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| after a lazy morning in our green-screen of a backyard, we geared up for a trip out to what we now call "death rock" for some snorkeling. maybe i should start out by saying that i am already oddly afraid of underwater creatures, but i'm not one to pass up adventure either. by the time we swam out to the rock, tides had changed and the rock that we had seen earlier from our backyard was almost entirely underwater. let's just say, if it weren't for ryan's inspirational pep-talking abilities, i would have beeen underwater as well. thank goodness for sansei round 2. |
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| upgrading to our tacky-yellow t-top jeep was worth every cent just for the road to hana. we were definitely "that couple" that stopped at EVERY waterfall for one more picture. i would have loved to spend the entire day at black sand beach. there was something magical about the stark black rocks adorned with piercing green foliage, not to mention the WARM ocean temperature there. but we saved all the long stops for the bamboo forest hike at the halfway point & it was well worth it. i'm so glad we didn't backtrack on the way home because the second half of the drive winds along the ocean on a very bumpy, slow-going dirt road. it was kind of eery but we felt like we were legitimately at the end of the earth. |
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| day 3 was a game of us against the clouds. we drove north in search of the sun and instead, found a FULL rainbow and rolling hills that looked like they belonged in ireland. we even snuck in a little backyard ocean time when there was a break in the clouds followed by a complimentary honeymoon pineapple upside down cake at pineapple grill. |
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| our first day was a rainy one that consisted entirely of flying & driving, but i remember, as i was climbing into the yellow t-top jeep loaded with all sorts of tropical attire & goodies for the week, thinking how crazy and exciting it was to be on vacation with just the two of us. |
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| day two was also pretty low-key. we couldn't get over the fact that we had an entire fully-upgraded villa to ourselves with a private beach as a backyard. can you blame us? |
