Well hello friends! It has been a hot minute since we wrote a blog post! Summer definitely took the best of us and we took advantage of every possible piece of it. Man I wish summer latest forever!
But alas to say we are back and ready to get back on track. First up, our trip to Maui! This was the trip that was planned for last year and we had to postpone it because of the pandemic. Hawaii is taking great measures to ensure the safety of the residents on the island and we signed our life away before we hopped on the airplane, but it was well worth it! I will say that the only bummer was trying to get dinner reservations. My understanding was that the restaurants were still not at full capacity but the hotels were at full capacity. A little tricky but we found some amazing places to eat despite not being able to go to Mama's Fish House :(
We are going to break this down into categories - where we stayed, where we ate and what we did...happy reading :)
Where we stayed...
As you can imagine EVERYTHING in Hawaii is expensive, especially hotels and when there is 5 of us that usually means 2 rooms, so time to get a VRBO. This place was amazing! This particular unit had the best sunset views and every room had an ocean view. It was at a great resort and we highly, highly recommend it!
Where we ate...
Ululani's Shaved Ice - the BEST shaved ice EVER and it was worth the wait! This is a MUST if you are in Maui.
Monkeypod Kitchen - probably the best fish tacos I have ever had! This restaurant is located in Whaler's Village which is a super fun area with cute shops and restaurants. We put in our name at 4:30pm (because I could not get a reservation) and we were seated at 6:30pm - we knew this was going to happen so we walked to one of the hotels near by and had an appetizer - it worked out perfectly :)
Mala Ocean Tavern - went here for brunch and the Hawaiian Taro sweet bread was out of this world! The restaurant is right on the water - well everything is right on the water, but the food was outstanding and the mimosas were delish!!!!
Manuela Malasada - donuts are my jam and let's just say I have already looked up recipes on how to make these (Malasadas are small yeast balls of dough, deep fried, and coated in granulated sugar) - we found these at a little food truck by the local gas station - there was ALWAYS a line but well worth the wait!
Down the Hatch - great restaurant in downtown Lahaina - downtown Lahaina is super fun to explore - LOTS of restaurants and the most amazing Bayan Tree right in the center.
A couple of nights we ate in and put some stuff on the grills they had down by the pool - oh and we did get pizza twice LOL - Prison Street Pizza and PI Pizzeria.
What we did...
Ziplining - ok I have to preface this by saying that it is hard to top the zip lining we did in Costa Rica (which is in the top 8 places in the world to go zip lining), however, this was so fun and our guides were hilarious! They could have made staring at a wall fun!
Surfing - this was so fun and not as hard as we thought to get up. Truthfully if you know where to go, you could just rent surf boards and watch a YouTube video and you would get the hang of it. I mean the most beginner kind of surfing but still!
Cliff jumping - ok I'm sure you heard about Jason jumping off the "Serious Injury or Death Possible" cliff - we were looking for the place to go cliff jumping when we followed some college age kids up to a "No Tresspassing" cliff and it was so cool watching them jump off, but they are young and stupid and Jason is apparently old and stupid - here's the video. We eventually found the appropriate cliff to jump off of (on Black Rock in Ka'anapali) - I did not plug my nose and let's just say I cleared out my sinuses!
Sea Turtles Sunbathing at Ho'olipa Beach Park - this is one of the places where the locals go to surf, but the sea turtles were amazing to watch.
Jet Skiing - I wasn't really into this, but the girls were dying to jet ski on the ocean so they rented two jet skis and had a blast - said it was one of their most favorite things to do in Maui - who knew??!!! Oh and they recommended goggles - this is a must according to the girls :)
I will say that my only regret is not doing the Road to Hana - we don't always do all of the touristy things when we travel - we like to find the hidden gems, however this is an all day event and I wish we would have just sucked it up and did it because there were some great waterfalls and hikes that would have been awesome to do on the way - looks like we need to go back!
Thanks for reading friends and have a fabulous weekend!!!
~Jen