We spent 6 days and 5 nights in Maui at the Royal Lahaina Resort just north of the city of Lahaina. Maui was absolutely gorgeous...by far, the most beautiful place I've ever been!!!! It surpassed Cancun, the Bahamas, and Jamaica combined!
While there, I made some goals for myself. Things that I think need to happen in Hawaii. They were as follows:
1) Drink from a pineapple
2) Make a lei
3) Learn to hula dance
4) Swim in a waterfall
I accomplished three of the four. You'll have to continue reading to figure out which ones!
Here are some of our day-by-day highlights!
Day 1 on Maui - We arrived around 5:30 on Saturday the 2nd after a quick, 25 minute flight! It was the best flight ever...once we stopped ascending, we immediately began descending. First up, getting our rental car, a Mustang Convertible! (Nearly all the rental cars in Maui are either Mustang Convertibles or Jeeps.) We headed towards our resort, which was about a 45 minute drive. The drive reminded me of what you see on tv and in the movies - along the coast nearly the whole way! It was so pretty - the mountains, the water, the sunset, the trees. Words can't even describe the beauty of Maui!
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| Our car for the week! |
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| Love their license plates! |
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| Bad on the hair, but definitely fun! |
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| There are my parents behind us |
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| Mountains |
Day 2 on Maui - We woke up early to go on a snorkel tour. Unfortunately, when we got there (after a 45-minute drive), we realized they had misinformed us and we weren't scheduled until later that afternoon. We talked them into letting us come back two mornings later instead. On our way back to the resort, we stopped at a scenic lookout point and snapped some photos courtesy of the tripod and the grocery store. (Food/alcohol is crazy expensive in Hawaii and we thought we'd save some moolah by making our own turkey sandwiches. Even our groceries were three times higher than we would have paid here!) That afternoon, we spent some quality time at the pool and beach and later that night went to the Royal Lahaina Luau. A luau is definitely something you need to do in Hawaii, but I would never spend the money again. $90 per person!...but it did include all you can eat and drink. After the luau, we walked along the beach with my parents and then headed to bed.
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| Random ukulele player at 7 in the morning |
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| The "Rainbow State" lives up to it's name |
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| Just can't get enough of these drives! |
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| Gorgeous! |
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| Scenic lookout |
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| Had to try it just once! |
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| Our groceries |
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| We're classy like that! |
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| Beer and rum, too. Duh. |
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| I. Love. Palm trees. |
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| Our little "bar" |
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Toes in the water sand, ass in the sand, not a worry in the world... |
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| Pool time. Another mai tai. |
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| I love how they put a fresh slice of pineapple and umbrella in every drink! True paradise... |
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| Here comes the pig |
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| Learning how to hula dance, heck ya! |
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| So proud of myself for going up on stage! |
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| The pit where the pig is roasted |
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| The food complete with purple potatoes. Weird. Food was okay. |
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| My fave picture from the whole trip |
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| Cheers to free drinks! |
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| My parents |
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| Chllin' in the hotel lobby |
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| Late night walk along the beach |
Day 3 on Maui - Day 3 also happened to be the 4th of July! We took off mid-morning for a drive north of our resort. This may have been my favorite day yet, as the scenery was stunning!! We parked along the side of the road a few times to explore and one time came across a private beach where we snorkeled. We also grabbed a beer on our way back at the Maui Brewing Company, and headed to the streets of Lahaina that evening for the below-average fireworks (seriously, they're better at Kauffman stadium on a random Friday night).
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| The view from our balcony |
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| Looking towards the parking lot |
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| Private beach |
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| Just some random chickens |
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| More ukulele players |
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| Why do I always look so scary in snorkel gear?? |
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| Mmmmm beer |
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| Fried brie cheese with pineapple dipping sauce = AMAZING! |
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| This icy ledge was pretty cool! Meant to keep your beer cold. |
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| Back at our resort pool |
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| I was cold |
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| Streets of Lahaina on 4th of July evening |
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| This was the finale - that's why it looks so great! |
Day 4 of Maui - We awoke early again to head to our actual snorkel tour with the Pride of Maui. They fed us breakfast, lunch, and had an open bar after snorkeling at two different locations. Too bad Craig got seasick...he wasn't in any mood to drink and neither was I after watching him puke off the side of the boat. We still had fun snorkeling and even saw a big sea turtle! Later that evening, we found a restaurant right on the water for dinner, Seahouse Restaurant, and then had some wine on the beach back at our resort.
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| Heading to our first stop: Molokini Bay |
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| Wetsuits to protect us from the sun |
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| This slide was pretty fun! |
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| 2nd stop: Turtle Town |
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| It lived up to its name! |
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| There he goes! |
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| Pretty big waves that day |
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| Dinner at Seahouse Restaurant |
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| The yummy food |
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| So-so dessert |
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| More mai tais |
Day 5 on Maui - Our last full day was spent traveling the Road to Hana. Basically, it's a narrow, winding road leading to the town of Hana (on the east side of Maui). There are numerous stops along the way where you can park and take a hike, often leading to a waterfall. The only down side--there are no signs, maps, or travel guides telling you where to go. Luckily, my parents had taken the trip the day prior and kept good notes for us. We didn't make it all 60+ miles to Hana; in fact, we didn't even go half way! But still made a full day out of the experience, as we hung out at each stop for quite some time. Later that evening, we headed back to Lahaina for dinner at Bubba Gumps with my parents.
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| It was pouring by this point so we hid out under the cave below this waterfall |
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| See how wet my back is? That's from trying to protect our bag with phones, camera, and towels! |
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| Heading in! |
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| Here I go! The water was FREEZING! |
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| Check it off the list: I swam in a waterfall! |
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| Waiting his turn |
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| It finally stopped raining. Here's the waterfall from the front |
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| Time for lunch |
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| We got lost in this bamboo forest. It was scary! |
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| Crazy guy jumping |
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| Dirt road to the Black Sand Beach |
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| Black sand |
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| On our balcony before dinner |
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| Mai tais at our resort before dinner |
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| Dinner at Bubba Gump |
Day 5 on Maui - This was the dreaded way when we had to head home. Other than missing Kinnick, we were not ready to leave! Our plane didn't fly out until 8:00 that night so we had some time to relax at our resort first.
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| Finally got my pineapple drink! $12 and all! |
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| Good-bye Hawaii...until next time! |
And that concludes our most amazing vacation ever! We WILL be going back someday!
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