Lahaina & Sea Turtles {Maui, Part 1}

We had such an amazing vacation exploring Maui. We both had the best time and that was the whole point...to start Jason's 30th year on a great note.

For our first 4 days, we stayed at a placed called 'the ilikahi' which is about a 10 minute walk into downtown Lahaina and a 2 minute walk to the beach. It was nice to have our own kitchen for a few days too. We didn't love loud neighbors that played music at 5 in the morning...don't worry though, the manager squashed that pretty quickly! 

Lahaina was such a cute town.  We loved staying in this location in West Maui - next time we'd probably venture a little further north to Kapalua.

We were able to buy some snorkeling gear and check out a few areas in West Maui - Black Rock & Kapalua Bay. Black Rock was fun as it was along Ka'anipali Beach - one of the best in the world! We also got to swim with a green sea turtle here, so that was amazing.

Kapalua Bay was our favorite snorkel spot though. We saw tons of fish, eels, coral and Jason saw a turtle here as well. It was honestly surreal to listen to sounds of the humpback whales under the water. We really wanted to snorkel more in the north side of West Maui...next time!

I will have to say that West Maui has the best food. Our favorite were: Star Noodle, Betty's Beach Cafe (watch whales breach while you eat brunch and drink $2 mimosas), Lahaina Fish Company (overwater deck), Sunrise Cafe, Aloha Mixed Plate, Ululani's Shave Ice and all of the food trucks along the road!

We went to the Old Lahaina Luau last time we were in Maui and really enjoyed it, but we just didn't feel the need to make a return trip this time - it's pricey! We definitely recommend it though if it's your first time on Maui!

Everyone that has been to Maui has a preference - West Maui or South Maui. Well, Jason's and mine is both West Maui! We can't wait to return!

Up Next: Some of our favorite things in Upcountry and North Maui!

We're Off To: Maui, Hawaii

Jason's birthday is approaching, and in order to celebrate his move to a new decade (eek!), we've decided to start it with a trip to his favorite place in the world - Hawaii! 

We went to Maui for our honeymoon and fell in love with the amazing scenery and the aloha spirit, so we're super excited to be going back. Here are some pictures from our trip 5 years ago to give you a taste of what we'll be doing and seeing in Maui.

We'll be spending half our time in Lahaina and the other half in Wailea. We're excited to go revisit some of our favorites (Pineapple Winery - Road to Hana - Makena Beach) and we're ready to explore plenty of new places as well.

If you want to see way too many pictures of sunsets and yummy cocktails while we're gone, follow me on instagram! 

Sedona, AZ

With the beautiful red rocks and mythical vortexes, Sedona is one of those places that we've had on our radar for a while.  I really only had two things on my to do list for my birthday weekend - go hiking and enjoy some beautiful vistas. 

Before we left Phoenix for Sedona though, we had to make a stop at Matt's Big Breakfast. We remembered it being one of our favorite breakfasts ever and it definitely lived up to our high expectations.

We stayed at the Sky Ranch Lodge in Sedona, which was perfectly adequate, but was really nothing special. The location, however, was amazing! It was located on top of the airport mesa and had us perfectly positioned for our first hike. We started off on the Airport Loop Trail (3.25 miles) and we were able to make it all the way around the mesa to watch the beautiful sunset. This whole area is within a "vortex". This is an area with a high concentration of positive energy - what Sedona is known for! I don't know about that, but we really did feel that this hike was wonderfully refreshing.

After our hike, we went back to our hotel, freshened up and had an aperitif in our room. For dinner, we went to Elote Cafe. We had heard the wait could be crazy (2 hours seemed the norm), but we went there around 8:15 and waited about 5 minutes to be seated. Wow, this meal was incredible. We started with the elote (Mexican street corn) and margaritas. Jason got the carne asada and I had the lamb adobo for the main dish. Incredible! One of the best meals both of us have had in a long time.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast at Coffee Pot Restaurant. It was a cute little diner with pretty yummy food! Right after, we drove over to the trail head for Chuckwagon Trail. This was a fun hike, BUT it was supposed to lead up to the Devil's Bridge Trail. We got a little lost (maybe 3-4 miles?), but eventually found our way. Devil's Bridge was definitely worth the effort and we spent a lot of time here taking in the views.

I'm sure you can see the water and clouds in some of those pictures above. Well...we got caught in a downpour after we left the Devil's Bridge, got lost, and ended up running about 3 miles back to our car. Good thing we just ran that 1/2 marathon? We got completely soaked, but we definitely had a good laugh about it (after we were a little warmer & drier)! Sedona was a great little weekend trip and a perfect start to my 29th year!

Next up: We're hoping for a quick getaway here in a few weeks - maybe Sonoma or Orlando?