HONEYMOON PART 1... MAUI

Our wedding was pretty much perfect, so it makes sense that our honeymoon would be practically perfect in every way. Scott surprised me with the destination... 4 days on Maui, 3 days on Kauai.

This was after we landed in Kahului, Maui. I'll explain how we got to sit in the cockpit... the pilots play an in-flight game with the passengers called 'halfway to Hawaii' where everyone tries to guess the exact time at which the plane will be halfway to Hawaii. Scott and I geeked out 9th grade math style and calculated what we thought would be an accurate time. So of course we won. I went to talk to the pilots after the flight to find out how close we got to the actual time (within 40-something seconds. Our middle school math teachers would be so proud) and they let us snap this photo before we left. I don't care how old I get, I still think it's fun to say hi to the pilots.

This was the view from our room at the Kaanapali Hyatt. We left the balcony door open all the time so we could hear and smell the ocean.

We went to an incredible luau in Lahaina called "The Feast at Lele". The food was amazing (they served a 5 course meal with dishes from all over Polynesia -Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa, & New Zealand-). The Feast was a little on the pricey side, but we totally recommend it.

This was the first time Scott and I had tried poi... it wasn't bad, but it wasn't awesome. I can see how people could grow to like it though.

Those that know me well know that I am capable of ingesting ridiculous amounts of food. The Feast at Lele crossed my threshold. This was after course #4. We thought our bellies were going to burst, but kept eating because the food was SO delicious.

We ate breakfast at this yummy place in the hotel every morning. Best Eggs Benedict EVER. Also the view was great.

We woke up at 3AM to watch the sun rise on top of Haleakala. It was STUNNING! You absolutely have to do this if you go to Maui. A word of caution: the top of the volcano is a semi-arid 10,000ft, which is ridiculously cold at dawn. So definitely take a warm jacket, gloves, and a hat (I know, it seems crazy to bring cold weather gear to Maui, but you'll need it if you go to the top of the volcano) and take a blanket from your hotel. We are SO glad we did because it was still cold even with our blanket and layers of clothes.

We were seriously so cold. But the beautiful sunrise was worth it.

Scott imitating a sun worshiping monkey. I can't remember the story very well, but apparently there are some monkeys somewhere that raise their palms to the sun every morning. I just think this is a cool photo.

The visitor center sign says, "House of the Sun". After seeing the sun rise over Haleakala, I would say the sign is fairly accurate.  If I were the sun and had to choose somewhere to call home, I think Maui would be a top contender.

This crazy looking plant is a Haleakala Silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense macrocephalum). It's part of the family Asteraceae -the sunflower family-, which at first doesn't make any sense because, to me, it kind of looks like a Chaparral Yucca. However, upon closer inspection, one can see that the flower heads closely resemble those of other members of the Asteraceae family.  I am a huge nerd.

I was SO fascinated by this plant!

As we were driving down the volcano Scott said, "I smell eucalyptus!" And, sure enough, we were driving through the middle of a huge eucalyptus forest. It was gorgeous! I had no idea it could grow so tall.  Scott served a mission for our church in Cali, Columbia, where these plants grow all over the place. It was a nice little nostalgic moment.

We spent lots of time on the beach. I can't remember which beach this is, but it was just as gorgeous as all the others we visited.

We also spent loads of time snorkeling. We saw 3 turtles and lots of crazy looking fish. My back got SO sunburned. Well worth it, but I now have a really crazy looking tan line that will likely last most of the winter.  It'll be a great reminder of how awesome Hawaii was.

We ate SO much fabulous food on Maui. The restaurant scene is incredible, a foodies paradise!  This is at a great little seaside place called "Mala".

Just in case you were wondering, Jesus is coming soon. No worries.

We stopped to take some photos of the Banyan Tree in Lahaina before leaving for the airport. It was a huge bummer to leave Maui. However, little did we know, Kauai would be more amazing than we could ever imagine.  Let me put it this way:  I want to go back to Maui, but I NEED to go back to Kauai.  I'll post photos soon.


This tree is so big that it doesn't even fit in one photo. Wild.