the blog

I don’t know if I loved or hated putting this blog post together!? I loved getting to look at all of the gorgeous-ness we experienced on our honeymoon…but I also hated that we’re not there anymore! :/ Going through them and finishing up the post, I even remembered how we felt returning our rental car and heading for the airport. It was so sad! Two weeks is long enough to forget about home and responsibilities and really settle in! I think I’m ready to go back now!…

This is the Twin Falls Farmstand…the start of the Road to Hana. But it’s much, MUCH more than just this farmstand. Which, by the way, had amaaazing pineapple smoothies made with fresh pineapple and sugar cane. YUM! Behind this stand is actually a HUGE farm full of lush greenery and a ton of waterfalls! We actually came here before taking our trip to Hana because we knew we’d probably spend most of the day at this stop alone.

Waterfall #1 of a gazillion. 🙂

This is about when we veered off the main course, because apparently I’m too good to go where the rest of the tourists go. I kept telling Calvin we were trailblazers…then we got lost. Whoops! Reality check…we are tourists, so going off track=not smart.

Waterfall #?/1,039,383  But LOOK! We found other people, so at least we weren’t completely off track! 🙂

Self timer actionnnn!

This. Ahhh This was heaven on earth. The top of Haleakala at sunrise, 10,000 feet in the sky, above the clouds!  It was amazing…and definitely an experience! To get there, we had to wake up at 2:00 a.m. The drive to the bottom of the mountain was about an hour and a half, then another hour up the mountain on narrow winding roads. Oh, and we were warned that it would be cold up there, but we severely under estimated how cold it would be! I think it was about 55 degrees. I had pants and a light jacket, but with the wind…that definitely wasn’t enough! But the torture was worth it to see this sight!

If you look closely, you can see the clouds rolling over the peaks of the mountain.

Needless to say, the day that we went to Haleakala was a little bit of a day off. 🙂 After our trip up Haleakala, we went straight back to our hotel and took a little nap. Once we were finally up, we just did a little more sightseeing around the island, looking for beaches to snorkel!

This is the start of our trip to Hana. The BEST investment I made the whole time, by far, was the Road to Hana GyPSy Drive Tour Android app. It was just $5.00 and worth it’s weight in gold! I downloaded it while we were still in an area with service. Then you just open it up, hit start, and your GPS determines your location. From there, it doesn’t matter whether you have service or not! As the GPS tracks where you are, it’s literally like having a tour guide in your car with you! This guy points out all the landmarks, talks about the history of Maui, lets you know about all the pitstops along the way and which ones are worth stopping at. I know without it, we probably would have missed some of the spots that probably were the best places we went the entire time! Also, knowing the history involved in each of the stops made the experience that much more fun!

This waterfall we actually stumbled upon…. We pulled over, got out of our car, then quickly made our way back when we realized we couldn’t really see it. But thankfully another couple stopped us and convinced us that we had to go check it out. They told us where to go (which honestly, had they not just talked us into, I would have never ventured down into. The ground was a bit muddy and at some points, you were literally on the edge of the mountain. My photo doesn’t do this waterfall justice, but they were right…it was worth it! It was by far the biggest waterfall we saw the entire time!

Oh and there were chickens everywhere.

The village of Ke’anae…such a gorgeous, quaint spot. I think if the locals would accept me, I’d live right around here. It wasn’t too far from the main part of the island, but tucked away enough that it felt untouched by all the commercial growth.

Ke’anae’s church… Seriously, how perfect?!

Calvin enjoying his Kalua sandwich at Aunt Sandy’s before we got back on the road! 🙂

This is Wai’anapanapa (I love saying this and Haleakala. ha) This was another favorite stop we made! The bright greenery, blue water, and black rocks made for the prettiest color combination. It was like nothing I’ve seen before! It felt like something from a movie!

Black sand beaches! It was so strange…I’m not sure how I feel about it. 🙂 It was definitely a lot more fine than other white sand beaches I’ve been to.

Oh look! Another waterfall! 🙂

The Seven Sacred Pools…We finally made it! About 6 hours after starting our trip on a 68 mile road…we made it to Hana. Well, actually this is past Hana. Minor details.  Luckily our GyPSy warned us that the Seven Sacred Pools is as far as we should go on that road. I was contemplating continuing on the road which appeared (on the map) to loop back around to our starting point. But it warned us that most rental car companies restrict renters from going on that road because years ago a tsunami wiped away the roads. They’ve attempted building it back, but now it’s blocked in many areas by big boulders and apparently a pretty treacherous track. SO, we turned around and went back the way we came! Thankfully the GyPSy had all new commentary, giving us the entire early history of Maui up to the point that Hawaii became a part of the United States.

This shot is from a point in our trip which is a perfect example of why I wish we had a GyPSy for the entire island of Maui! My navigation skills are pretty adventurous which is….probably not a good thing. Calvin wanted to go to a fish & tackle shop that I found was towards the middle of the island. When I used the GPS it told me to go a route that we had been almost everyday…so I turned the GPS off and made my own route to make sure we got the scenic tour! 🙂 It was quite the scenic tour. We’re driving along a nice highway that suddenly goes from two lanes (one each way) to one single lane winding around the mountain, at many points where you couldn’t see where you were headed, which was super fun because you didn’t know whether someone was coming your way. The views were GORGEOUS, but we finally got behind another car, and I refused to stop for pictures at that point. I was so nervous that we were going to have a head on collision, that I wanted to keep that car in front of us! So, unfortunately, this is the only photo I got during that little hiatus. On the edge of a mountain was a random white horse.

This is Honolua Bay, one of the most popular landmarks on Maui…and a great spot for snorkeling!

This was on the path down to Honolua Bay…trees like this were everywhere covered in vines. So pretty!

Enjoying the sunset in the town of Lahaina where we stayed during our visit on Maui… 🙂 After seeing all of our options while we were there, this was definitely the best spot to stay! We were just a block from this spot in Lahaina. It was the cutest little town with a TON of art shops which we really enjoyed. Plus there were plenty of restaurants to choose from for dinner, not to mention a gorgeous view. I wish we were there again.. :/

Ohhh Calvin…creeping on the commercial fishing boats! For a few days, we had to go to the marina to see what the catch of the day was! Calvin does a lot of deep sea fishing out of Hatteras and was apparently unimpressed with Hawaii’s fishing. Doesn’t bother me! …Got me out of going fishing on our honeymoon! 🙂 My stomach and deep sea don’t get along so well. haha

A monk seal chilling near the marina! That is the life! Thanks to the man who pointed her out to me! I would have walked right past her, but he stopped me and whispered ‘pregnant monk seal!’ Later in our conversation he pulled out his handy notebook to show me the data that he had recorded about this seal and the other seals he follows. (due date, location, number of pups, etc.) It was pretty interesting! ….Then he mentioned that he can talk to the seals telepathically…queue my exit. Haha

My boo! I think I told him to do something, so he gave me variety. 🙂 The rest of these are from our last day of our honeymoon. 🙁 Our flight didn’t leave until the evening, so we were able to check out this last spot and make a few stops to stock up on souvenirs for our families.

Take me back NOW. Please and thank you!