Caleb and I stayed at the Four Seasons Wailea - an unbelievable resort on Maui - for the first 5 nights.
The view from our room was amazing.
and the views surrounding the resort were just as beautiful.
One of our favorite places to eat was Ferraro's. The restaurant abutted Wailea Bay and we always managed to get a great table (and great food.) Caleb still talks about the fruit smoothies they served.
One morning, after yoga on the beach, we went out for an outrigger canoe lesson. We managed to keep dry and get in a nice upper body workout.
We received lots of insider info from Steph and Paul on where to go/what to do. We enjoyed a nice dinner at Nick's and scheduled it perfectly with sundown.
During our third day in Maui, we drove the road to Hana. I was certain I would get car sick, but much to my surprise, I toughed it out. Thank goodness. We saw some amazing sites with the help of our "Maui Revealed" guidebook (which told us to ignore warning signs and to crawl over fences.) We successfully maneuvered through this fence and found some great waterfalls. Yes, the skull on top of the sign was a little intimidating...
We found the famous Black Sand Beach and enjoyed a picnic.
We also stopped for a self-guided tour of some Polynesian Botanical Gardens. We steered clear of the coconut trees, as the coconuts fell often.
When we arrived in Hana, we hiked to the Red Sand Beach. Imagine an oceanfront Sedona, Arizona. Beautiful!
While on Maui (even though the whole trip was to celebrate our anniversary), we planned our anniversary dinner at Capische?. Truly, the best risotto I've ever had! We had the best table and saw a perfect sun setting over the ocean.
Post-Maui, we headed to Lanai, an 18 mile long and 13 mile wide island. With the economy in the dumps, we were two of only a hundred or so visitors on Lanai. There are only three hotels on Lanai: the Four Seasons at Manele Bay, Four Seasons at Koehle and Hotel Lanai. We chose the first, which was nestled into Manele Bay.
Again, an outstanding view from our lanai. I caught the moon heading down in this pic.
During our stay on Lanai, we rented a jeep to explore the island. We stopped at the "Garden of the Gods" - an eerie location with eroded rock formations. We felt like we were on Mars.
Next on our jeep tour, we drove to a beach only accessible via 4-wheel drive. After 30 mins of fighting whiplash, we were happy to see we were the only ones around.
Here is a full view of the beach and our footprints. You can see the island of Molokai in the background.
We then headed to another beach, Shipwreck Beach. Just off the shore is a grounded WWII oil carrier. Apparently, the military tried to sink the ship but it got caught in coral, so they just left it in the Pacific Ocean. Makes for pretty cool pictures!
While on Lanai, we checked out the Koehle Lodge. This lush resort, surrounded by pine trees, was a 10 minute drive from the arid beach.
We ate lunch at the clubhouse. Caleb had the "best burger" on the island. It was a really good burger. I'm sure the scenery didn't hurt either.
We explored the resort and found a greenhouse full of orchids. Caleb snuck a kiss just after I set the camera timer. He's so sweet.
One morning we took a short hike off of Manele Bay. The trail led us to Sweetheart Rock. The sun was just coming up and the ocean breeze refreshing.
Caleb talked me into playing 9 holes of golf on a championship course. Luckily, we were a two-some and no one else was around. My golf game wasn't so great, but I felt like a kid on Easter, searching for eggs - but this time golf balls in the bushes. Caleb was impressed when I'd walk out of the brush with 6 new balls in hand.
Oh, and beer and golf mix well.
We relaxed the remaining days on Lanai and finished our books by the pool. We took some goodbye photos before heading to Oahu on a puddle jumper.
With four hours to kill before our flight home, we toured Oahu. I finally saw sea turtles - giant sea turtles!
And lastly, we toured filming sites of "Lost" (one of our favorite tv shows.)
We had an amazing time and are trying to figure out when we can go back!
Next time, we plan to take Emmy along. She had a great time while we were gone though.
Church with Grandma...
Playing in the fountains at Kierland with Grandpa...
Picking out flowers at the nursery...
Eating at Haus Murphy's with the Greats...
and getting her first tooth!
MORE VACATIONS PLEASE!
