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adventure, travel, Uncategorized

Our beautiful trip to Maui

February 25, 2020

We got back last week from a beautiful trip to Maui to celebrate Keith’s 50th birthday! It was definitely a trip for the record books. My best friend since the sixth grade has lived on the island for ten years now with her husband who grew up there, so I think we got the insider’s tour of paradise. Aside from being amazing adventurers, Sarah is a realtor in Maui with Keller Williams and they also own and operate both Maui Spearfishing Academy and South Maui Spearfishing so they know the entire island like the back of their hand and were so giving of their time in sharing their home with us for the week. We had the good fortune of staying in my friend’s guest bedroom whenever we wanted to, so we alternated a couple of nights staying with them with a couple of nights in hotels. We definitely got the best of both worlds.

Can I share a bit of a guide for our week in Maui with you?

To Do:

Our vacation style is definitely laid back. My idea of a good time is chilling on the beach or by the pool during the day and then going out for dinner at night. I might venture to include a day trip on some trips, but honestly I’m quite content to keep it low key. Keith is pretty much the same, though I do think he has more of an adventurous side than I do. Because this was his birthday trip and because our friends are much more active than we are, we packed quite a bit into this trip while still leaving some time for the pool and relaxation. It was a good mix, heavier on the adventure than usual for me, but I have no regrets.

Here are a few things we did that I highly recommend::

Snorkeling (with a pro): It’s not hard to understand the mechanics of snorkeling, but getting a lesson from a pro totally changed the experience for me. In the past, I would get a bit panicky when I was in the water because I couldn’t get used to breathing through the snorkel and I would freak if I went too far from shore. Learning from people who are highly experienced made all of the difference. They gave us a lesson, took their time with us, watched out for us, answered our questions and guided us back to shore at the right time. Plus, they could point out all kinds of cool stuff on the reef (including an octopus!) that we definitely would’ve missed. Also, snorkeling with flippers is a MUST. We were fortunate to use our friend’s equipment and expertise, but there are many snorkeling tours available throughout the island that I’m sure are awesome. If you’re more experienced snorkelers and just want to rent equipment, All About Fish Maui is great.

Whale Watching (if the right season): Yes, we were the youngest people on the boat by many years, but age brings wisdom and those retirees are onto something. Seeing a magnificent whale flap its tail in the water a hundred feet away from you is going to make you giddy regardless of your age. We went with Ultimate Whale Watch and they were awesome. Be sure to tip well, friends. It isn’t cheap to live in Maui.

Hana: I have mixed feelings about Hana because it’s such a long, tiring day trip, but it’s undeniably beautiful and, ultimately, worth it to go at least once in your life. My favorite stop is right at the beginning at the Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees at Mile Marker 7. You can pull over along the three hour drive to eat lunch (if you don’t get car sick!) at any number of roadside stands and then spend your afternoon in Hana seeing the sights. We visited a black sand beach, a red sand beach, Hamoa Beach and then came home along the back side of Haleakala. If you rent a car, I don’t think you’re technically able to come home via the back side, so be prepared. It was an exhausting but super fun day, especially because we took our lives in our hands and made the journey while sitting in beach chairs in the back of our friend’s truck. What a view! Oh, and we also went swimming in a lava pool which is a crazy water cave but the one we visited was technically considered trespassing so I can’t really share the details here if you know what I mean!

Lanai trip: We didn’t get to squeeze this one in on this trip, but I went in the past and I loved it. Sailing on a catamaran to a remote island and eating lunch is my idea of a good time, okay?

To Eat

Let’s be real, the best part of travel for me is the food. We were lucky that we received some amazing home cooking at our friend’s house (ummm homemade Octopus Poke was a real treat), but we also had some pretty delicious meals out as well. Here are a few of the highlights:

Monkeypod Kitchen in Kanaapali: Get. The. Mai. Thai. If you do nothing else, get that drink! It’s SO good. It comes with a passion fruit foam on top of it that just takes the entire drink to flavortown. We also got the chicken wings, marinara pizza and the chocolate pie. All awesome and affordable if you come in for happy hour. We sat at the bar and had a great time heckling the bartenders.

Fish Market Maui: Don’t let the fact that this fish market is in a strip mall scare you away. The Fish and Chips is epicly delicious and this is coming from a person who is a bit meh on seafood in general. My friend also vouches for the Fish Burrito. The portion sizes are LARGE, so feel free to share. We got take out and ate while watching the sunset. Heavenly.

Da Kitchen: As soon as you get off the airplane, drive over to Da Kitchen and get your grub on. I got the Poke, Keith got the Chicken Katsu and my friend got the Loco Moco and it was all delicious. Large isn’t a big enough word to describe the portion sizes here, so come hungry or be prepared to share.

Sansei Maui: This is a LEGIT sushi restaurant that offers 25% off basically the entire menu from 5-5:30 weekdays. The food was amazing. Highly recommend, but make sure you have a reso or line-up at 4:30. It gets packed.

Shaved Ice: I couldn’t mention a trip to Maui without giving a shout out to the shaved ice. This isn’t the shaved ice you grew up eating, so it’s worth it to try it at least once. When I first went to Maui, I raved about Ululani’s. They’ve since sold the chain and the quality definitely isn’t there anymore, but the entire experience of shaved ice is worth it in general. Let me know if you find a great spot.

To Stay

The Westin: I can’t deny that I’m bad and bougie, so it probably doesn’t surprise you that I’m glowing over the one night we spent at the Westin Kaanapali for Keith’s actual 50th. The pool grounds were so beautiful and the views were out of this world. The service was impeccable. They delivered the birthday treats I arranged ahead of time (Champs + Giant Cupcake!) right on schedule. My best friend loves the Westin because they have a big slide for the kids (in reality and at heart). She talked me into going down a couple of times and I won’t lie, it was completely thrilling. I was shrieking the entire ride down. We also got lucky and scored a free cabana while we were there, so we really enjoyed our time poolside.

Honua Kai: We also stayed a couple of nights at Hanua Kai. This is the place to stay if you have a family. All of the rooms are suites with full sized appliances, including a washing machine and a entire kitchen. The pools here were lovely as well, but I didn’t really enjoy our stay as much. The property is a hotel and residence and I just didn’t feel like the other folks staying there were very kind or friendly. As an interracial couple, we just didn’t feel that comfortable here. There weren’t any incidences that I can point to as to why, but it just felt off energetically. You know what I mean?

Now that I shared the details with you, here’s a little photo diary of our trip. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Our flight left at like 7 in the morning. Fun fact, we almost missed it because we arrived so early and I was zoning out on instagram instead of paying attention to our gate! Keith was so happy! I was tired…

Our first sunset in Maui. This is where we ate the epic fish and chips. Well, I did. Keith was too excited to eat. It may have been his 50th birthday celebration, but he was as excited as a little boy!

Celebrating at the Westin before going to dinner for his bday. Yes, that is a Rent the Runway dress 😉

I’m wondering how many sunset pictures I can add before y’all stop reading….

Pretty please, get the Mai Thai at Monkeypod Kitchen. It’s just SO good and I honestly never even liked Mai Thai’s before I had this drink…

Is it bad that the highlight of my trip was probably the nap I took in this Cabana at the Westin?

The shaved ice! It wasn’t even that good and it was still good, you know? Get the ice cream on the bottom.

The rainbow trees! They’re so freaking cool.

Keith obviously loved them.

I really think they’re just so cool

My friend Sarah’s dog Hiccup got his model on at the rainbow trees, too. He is so cute.

These are the views on the Road to Hana. I mean, seriously. This makes the long day worth it.

I wasn’t lying when I said that we road in the back of a truck. Keith and Sarah rode back there the longest.

And, honestly, this was my primary view of Maui. NO ONE takes documenting a vacation as seriously as my love does. He records the entire trip on video and goes live on Facebook in the weirdest places. It’s too cute.

The black sand beach in Hana. So pretty.

Can you tell I watched Cheer on Netflix right before this trip?!

Even Keith did it! He claims it was his ‘I’m on top of the world’ moment, but I think he was inspired by Jerry just as much as I was….

This was the treachery we had to survive to get to those TOP SECRET lava pools.

After the TOP SECRET lava pools.

The backside home from the Road to Hana.

And, last but certainly not least, the most epic whale watching trip. We saw a whale flap its tail like this for several minutes + saw a baby calve breach multiple times. It was amazing.

If you made it to the end of this post, I must say thank you, thank you, thank you. I appreciate you so much for following along with this epic recap. It makes me so happy to document such special memories in this space.

Have you been to Maui? Where should we go next time we visit??

adventure, travel, Uncategorized

Going to Cabo and we’re….

May 28, 2019

cabo beach wedding

GONNA GET MARRIED!

October 2020, Keith and I are going to tie the knot on a beach somewhere in Cabo San Lucas.

Cabo is our happy place. We love vacationing there. It’s a quick and relatively cheap flight for us here in California. In just a matter of hours, we can be at an all-inclusive resort, basking in the sunshine, eating our weight in tacos, whiling away the entire day at an infinity pool bar with new friends and the most breathtaking view of the ocean. It makes us so happy to be there, so we’ve decided to do a destination wedding in Cabo.

This weekend, I booked a trip for us to go down and ‘do research’ for the wedding in this upcoming October which I hope will consist of us visiting a couple of hotels and putting down a deposit. I also reached out to a wedding planner that I hope can help us bring our pretty simple vision for the event to life. Basically, the photo above is my entire vision. Simple beach wedding + tacos +  music to dance the night away.

How do you feel about destination weddings? I am super into them even though I’ve never been to one. I only wish that I had enough money to cover the flight + accommodations for all of our guests as I know it’s a lot to ask.

adventure, just for fun, travel

Take me away to Stinson Beach

February 10, 2019

stinson beach 2

I went to Stinson Beach for the first time for work a few years ago. I worked on the Barefoot Wine & Bubbly brand and we did a whole lot of beach imagery in our social content, so Stinson was our popular place here in Northern California for video shoots. I remember driving to the beach and literally pulling my car over to allow myself to look at the views off of Highway 1. Gosh, it was so beautiful.

Ever since then, Stinson has had my heart. It is literally one of my happy places that I think about when the going gets tough, like when I’m freaking out at the dentist’s office and need to transport myself to somewhere peaceful.

I’m craving a getaway this morning so I found myself on VRBO looking at the cute little cottages on the beach. I want to go for a long weekend. I would love to wake up in the morning to the sounds of the ocean, to cook delicious meals with Keith over an aperol spritz, to take long walks on the beach to watch the sunset and then spend late nights in the hot tub. How perfect does that sound?????

stinson beach

I found this lovely little place that has my name on it. Just had to share with you all in case you’re interested in a little mind getaway this morning.

stinson beach 3

Can you imagine how fun it would be to cook in that cute kitchen?? I’m all heart-eyes emojis over here, guys.

Have you been to Stinson? Are you dreaming of a getaway, too? Where do you want to go?