4 Days in Maui

Well it's been a while and I realized I never recapped our quick trip to Maui! As soon as Southwest started selling tickets, we jumped on the crazy low fares and booked a nonstop flight from San Jose to Maui! We've been to Maui and few times, but honestly, there's so much to see (and re-see)!

We watch Stranger Things on the flight and arrived 6 hours later! I had also found a great price on a convertible a few days before we left that ended up being cheaper than a regular car, so this was extra fun.

We stopped at Costco (of course) for wine, poke, and water, and we set off to our AirBnb in Lahaina. I had to grab a shave ice that first night (at Local Boys), we saw a great sunset, had a quick dinner and then went to bed.

The next morning, we woke up super early because of the jetlag and went off to get some Malasadas (Hawaiian donuts) before leaving for the Road to Hana. Ok, so this is actually our THIRD time doing this, but we still found lots to explore! 

We stopped to get a pineapple juice and check out the views, stopped at the rainbow Eucalyptus trees, and had some fabulous BBQ in the first few hours.

Next, we drove to the Red Sand Beach in Hana (one of our favorite beaches ever!), climbed 2 hours through the bamboo forests to get to the waterfalls in Haleakaka National Park, and ate some FABULOUS pineapple banana bread along the way.

That evening, we made our way back to Lahaina and had dinner at Lahaina Fish Company. It was a long day of driving and hiking, so we called it a night!

Our last full day, we grabbed some breakfast and drove north to drive along West Maui's "rugged shores". We stopped at Nahalele's blowhole, saw the heart rocks, and held our breath as the roads were indeed rugged and narrow.

After we made our way around the to top the island, we had lunch at Da Kitchen. Spam Musubi is my new obsession - SO GOOD!!!

Once we got back to Lahaina, we decided to head to the beach to catch some sun. Baby Beach ended up being PERFECT! Our AirBnb provided towels and an umbrella, so we brought those and some wine and relaxed in the calm shores for probably 6 hours.

For dinner, we had a fabulous pizza at Lahaina Pizza Company and went to bed. The next morning, we went back to Baby Beach for a few hours before we had to head to the airport to catch our flight home.

Now that we're living on the West Coast, we've decided that Hawaii is too easy to NOT do every year. Next time, we're thinking Kauai (once SWA starts their nonstops) and Kona is probably in our near future as well.

Mahalo Hawaii - we'll be back!

Mai-Tais & Makena {Maui, Part 4}

What is Maui without a little relaxation? I've definitely saved the best post for last - beautiful beaches, strong cocktails and an infinity pool with a view. Perfection! 

We spent the large part of 2 days just sipping drinks, reading and relaxing at the Wailea Marriott's pool.  We stayed at the same hotel for our honeymoon and they were nice enough to provide us with a free bottle of Cava as their gratitude for our return visit. 

Another thing was that we were in Maui at the peak of whale season, so we were able to watch them from the pool and even hear them when we were snorkeling!

We made one of our favorite stops on our last full day. We spent almost the entire day at Big Beach snorkeling, drinking pineapple wine, sunbathing and getting tossed around by some insane waves. You can't really tell from the pictures below, but it would be calm and all of a sudden, random swells would come in at 6-7 feet!

While staying in the Wailea/Kihei area, we ate at some delicious places. Our favorites were: Big Beach BBQ (pulled pork sliders on taro buns), Coconuts Fish Cafe (delicious fish tacos), Local Boys Shave Ice (don't forget a snocap!), Kumu Bar & Grill, Fabiani's and Wow Wow Lemonade (acai & pitaya bowls).

We BARELY made it back to Texas due to weather cancellations and delays, but somehow we did. It made us realize how much easier standby travel is in a sense. We called to see if we could move up our booked flight by one day from Maui to LAX and were told that it would be $400 to change! No thanks Hawaiian Airlines. Standby would have strangely made our lives much easier in this instance. 

I really think 9 days is the perfect amount of time to spend in Maui. We were able to explore the whole island while also getting in plenty of relaxation time. Maui is pretty amazing in the sense that there are STILL things we want to go back and do! Jason may have shed a few tears on our drive to the airport, so I know we'll be back. Mahalo Maui!

Up Next: We'll be headed to Toronto for a long weekend with friends! I am beyond excited to see them both! Pray we don't freeze!!