This past week found me in a tropical paradise with my favorite travel buddy! We headed to Hawaii (specifically the island of Maui) for a once in a lifetime opportunity. Zack always works so hard and this trip was one he earned as a President's Club winner. We used this work-provided trip to also celebrate our two 40th birthdays which are about a year apart along with our 15th wedding anniversary that takes place this year. As you can see we have lots to celebrate in 2023 and this trip was the perfect opportunity to explore a new state and have some time just for us. A huge shout out to Grammy and Grandpa who kept our home running, the boys educated, our pup entertained and made it to all the boys' extracurricular obligations while we were gone! It was the trip of a lifetime and I can't say enough positive things about our entire experience from beginning to end. We are equally thankful to be home with our boys tonight after missing them this past week!
We left last Tuesday and spent the first day in the air traveling from the east coast to the Hawaiian Islands. The ten hour flight was tough but we were excited about the experiences we had planned for the week and got to see some incredible views outside our window as we left the west coast and headed to Maui. This was the longest flight we have ever been on and the farthest we have traveled from home. We did go to Alaska for our honeymoon so Zack and I are now joking that if we want to visit all 50 states in our lifetime, we have knocked out two of the hardest ones to visit!
We arrived at our resort around 5:00 p.m. and found a bottle of champagne waiting for us upon arrival!
Our room was on the first floor of Napili Kai Beach Resort, Keaka #1. We are the third room over from the left on the bottom. You can see our private lanai that I sat at most days reading a book!
We got to celebrate Zack's actual birthday while on vacation. We ate breakfast at the Sea House Restaurant on the resort's property. We came back to the same place for dinner that night as I had made a reservation and knew after a long travel day, we didn't want to travel far for dinner. I had a Mai Tai with breakfast, a drink of choice in Hawaii.
We ventured to the northern portion of the island during the day on Zack's birthday, admiring the breathtaking views from the tops of the mountains to the bays that were far below. Zack even went swimming in one of the bays we visited that day!
Zack's birthday dinner at the Sea House Restaurant
The next morning we were leaving the resort at 2:00 a.m. to catch a tour group for a sunrise bike tour of Haleakala. We were blown away by the beautiful sunrise at this 10,000 ft. elevation. It was quite cold, hence the wind resistant gear. Then, we headed down the mountain with all its switchbacks on bikes. One of my favorite pictures from the trip was taken about halfway down the mountain where Zack and I are sharing a bike for a pose. We also stopped in a quaint little town to get malasadas (donuts) before finishing the bike ride back to the compound where we started earlier in the morning. It ended up being a twelve hour excursion where we learned a lot about the natives of Hawaii along with seeing part of our country on bike that we normally wouldn't explore. It was incredible to bike down a dormant volcano!
We got to see our boys each day thanks to FaceTime!
The following day, we started our morning with a trail run on the Ohai Loop Trail and Overlook. This run definitely kicked my tail and made me wonder if I'm ready for a trail race with my sister at the end of April! We were able to go ziplining that day as well! We zipped on 8,500 feet of zipline and were approximately 300 feet off the ground as we soared from one line to the next. We got to walk on a suspension bridge and ride in ATVs as well. Not many pictures were taken as we didn't want to lose our phones while ziplining and the packages to buy the photos were quite expensive. Rest assured, we had a blast and enjoyed every minute of it! We finished off our day in Lahaina at Kimos were I opted for a burger (after eating seafood the last few days) and hula pie for dessert!
The next day we enjoyed some well-deserved and needed rest time at the resort. I read a book with my toes in the sand while Zack explored the bay around us. He saw a sea turtle, many beautiful fish, an eel and we watched many humpback whales jumping through the water in the distance.
That night, we went to the Old Lahaina Luau. This was probably one of our favorite events of the whole trip (which is hard to say since I think all of it was pretty spectacular)! We had a delicious dinner and enjoyed an authentic luau positioned right near the water as the sun was setting!
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