Adventures in Maui!

I am so excited about today’s post! It’s my first travel post for the blog and I’m hoping to do a lot more in the future. If you’ve read my blog for the last few months then you’ve heard about our Hawaii trip a lot. Ha! And since I talked about it so much, I thought I would blog all about our fun time!

Our time in Maui ended up being even better than I imagined. We ate the most delicious food every day. We went to a few restaurants I was told were a must and they did not disappoint! Every day was a new adventure with sight-seeing, beach fun, drinks, food, and lots of laughs with our friends who went with us. 

So sit back and enjoy a ton of pictures and stories about our adventure!

We booked our rooms at the Hyatt Regency in Lahaina. Lahaina is on the west side of Maui and filled with lots of amazing hotel resorts all along its beach. We couldn’t have picked a better hotel, in my opinion. The Hyatt was really amazing.

It was so beautiful, as you can see. The property was gorgeous and had all kinds of animals and birds all over it. It was like a tropical zoo! 

Not only was the resort property breathtaking but the lobby was as well. There were tropical birds and the most beautiful flowers.

Our room view was really pretty too. We booked a partial ocean view to save a little money.

Monday evening we flew in, so all we had time for was to check-in to the hotel and grab a quick bite to eat before heading to bed. We were exhausted.

Our first official day in Maui was Tuesday, and we started off with breakfast at the hotel! This is where we ate breakfast every morning. The food was great and the view wasn’t too bad either. 😉 

 There was a giant net blocking the inside of the restaurant to keep birds and whatever else from coming in. But it did not block our amazing view at all.

 A breakfast buffet every day was a part of the hotel package we purchased. I’m always hesitant to eat at buffets, but this was not like any I’d ever been to. The food was so delicious and every day offered new things to eat.

This plate was my first day’s breakfast. Coconut french toast, potatoes, bacon, a Denver omelette and cheesy tortellini bake. It was delish and I ate every bite. 😃 

 After breakfast we headed to the beach. Yay for beach time! We swam with the most colorful fish I’ve ever seen, drank Pina Coladas, and relaxed by the ocean the entire day. It was a blast!

 

At lunch we went over to one of our hotel’s restaurants called, “Umalu“. Their food was terrific! Kale and I shared this Maui Jack Steak sandwich. It had thinly sliced steak, pepper-jack cheese, horseradish cream sauce, and caramelized Maui onion on a ciabatta roll. It was so good!

After our beach day we crashed hard that night. For the second day we planned to drive the Road to Hana. We knew it would be an all day adventure and boy was it ever!

The road to Hana is a long and windy road with steep ledges and one way lanes and bridges. I was scared out of my mind driving on that thing! It was kind of crazy and almost took us 3 hours to reach the Black Sand Beaches, but it was well worth it! 

This is one of the many waterfalls on the road to Hana. We stopped a few times a long the way to look at waterfalls and the scenery. We also stopped at the halfway mark to buy the Best Banana Bread in the world from a cute little food shack. I forgot to take a photo of it, but it was really good bread!

This is the Black Sand Beach I believe is off mile marker 42 on the road to Hana. This beach was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in real life. The sand really is black, even though it looks gray in the pictures. 

We walked and hiked all over the beach area. There were tunnels and caves. So cool!

There was a giant cliff out in the water that little kids were jumping off of! It was scaring the crap out of me. Kale and Jared wanted to do it but at that point we didn’t have enough time. I’m secretly glad. haha 😉 

After the Black Sand Beach we drove down a few mile markers and stopped at the Lava Tubes!

It was beautiful there and the maze was really cool to see, but I have to admit, the lava tubes scared me too. I am really claustrophobic so being in a dark tunnel isn’t ever on my to-do list. I reached the halfway point and had to turn back around. But I’m proud of myself for how far I did go. The rest of the group went the whole way and said it was really cool. 

By the time we left Hana and drove back to our resort it was late and we were pooped! I think we ate dinner at our hotel and then crashed. I was so tired I don’t even remember for sure. Ha!

After some sleep, we were ready for more adventure the following day! We first drove to the Maui Winery on the south side of Maui. To say that place was amazing would be an understatement. Just the drive’s scenery alone was so green and gorgeous.

Once we arrived at the winery it started raining, so I grabbed an umbrella (the only one on the tour that did. ha!) and our guide walked us around the vineyard and told us the amazing story of how it started.

Below are some pictures of the property around the winery. It really was beautiful- especially in the rain. 🙂

After the winery we drove over to the Lavender fields that were just a few miles away. It was amazing there too!

I have never seen such unique and beautiful flowers and plants in all my life. They almost look like they’re from another planet! Stunning! 🙂

After the Lavender Fields we headed back to the resort to get ready for the Luau we had booked. It was held at our hotel and called, “The Drums of the Pacific Luau.” I didn’t take many pictures there because I wanted to enjoy it.

The Luau was so much fun and entertaining. The host of it was cracking me up. He was a funny character and told such a great history of Hawaii. My favorite part was when Kale got called up on stage to learn the Hula dance! 😂 That was great. My hubby is so shy, so I know it was hard for him. But he did great and was a good sport!

 The following day was Friday. We only had 3 days left of our vacation so we decided we needed another full day at the beach! The waves ended up being really high and forceful that day, so it was only the guys that ended up paddle boarding. 

They did really good for first timers, until Kale got wiped out by a huge wave. It was scary. He got pretty bruised and banged up too. So that ended the paddle boarding fun.

Saturday we had booked a Kayaking and snorkeling tour but it got cancelled because of how high the tides were. We were bummed but made the best of it. We went shopping at a cute outdoor mall and just relaxed that day. It was nice.

Saturday night we went to one of the restaurants at the hotel called, ‘Japengo‘. Great food. They serve steaks, seafood and sushi. I can say it was one of the most delicious meals my taste buds have enjoyed. (Sorry for the bad food pics. I took them with my phone and it was dark.)

Kale said this was the best sushi he’s ever had!

I wish I had better pictures of this meal- because it was so incredible. This corn below was amazing. I chowed down on it. It had onions, lavender and honey in it. Yum!

Our view at dinner. Not too bad, eh? 😉

 Sunday we went over to Turtle Bay so we could swim with sea turtles! The tide was still really high that day so only Kale and Jared swam while we watched and sun-bathed for a bit. I couldn’t believe how many sea turtles we could see from the beachside and Kale said they swam with a ton. 🙂

Turtle Bay was beautiful. I wish I had taken more pics!

We ate lunch at a cute little restaurant off Turtle Bay over looking the ocean, but I can’t remember the name of it! I ordered a Grilled Monte Cristo Sandwich. It was yummy.

We ate at the Lahaina Pizza Company for our last dinner in Maui. Their pizza is AMAZING! I was too busy scarfing it down to take any photos of it, but I did take one of my cocktail. 😄

We honestly had the most incredible time in Maui. Those 8 days went by so fast! If it hadn’t been for missing my kids so much I would have tried to stay longer. There were so many wonderful things we did and I’m sure lots we didn’t even do. Maui is unlike any other place. There aren’t enough adjectives in the world to describe how truly awesome it is.

I can’t wait to go back one day! ❤️