Maui

Well, we're back. We had such an awesome time and took like a gajillion pictures so I am going to try to summarize but I'm afraid there are still a lot so read on at your own risk!

We flew in last Thursday and got checked in, picked up our car, got some groceries, etc. We did take some pictures of that night at the beach but in an effort to condense I'm leaving them out. Don't be too disappointed though because there are a lot more beach pics coming!

Friday it was a little rainy so we decided we would drive the road to Hana. It was BEAUTIFUL! If anything the rain made everything look more tropical and vibrant.

We had to pose for this picture 3 times. I got a rain drop in my eye here. It isn't the best one but it is the funniest:

Just one of the many gorgeous coves:
This is black sand beach (it's great to have other couples around who want their picture taken too):
This is Oheo Gulch (or the 7 sacred pools). When the water is low you can actually swim in them but if we had gotten in here we wouldn't have been around to take the rest of the pictures in the post!
We had dinner that night at Mama's Fish house which had the best location! We watched windsurfers while we ate.
Saturday we decided to hike up Haleakala Crater. On the way we passed a million sugar fields one of which was on fire:
The volcano was like a whole different planet. Nothing was growing and it was cold and super windy. You can see the individual hot spots here:
We hiked Sliding Sands trail inside the crater and were the only people around. We both felt like hobbits on the way to Mordor (I know, we're nerdy.):
After the desolation of the volcano we went to Kula Botanical Gardens. They had some amazing plants and my mom would be proud of how many I could name!
Bird of Paradise, one of Dan's favorites:
Another of Dan's favorites: (I'm pretty sure we took pictures with every tiki we saw)
Love birds!
Sunday the weather was so nice! It was our first beach day!
The water was chilly at first but it didn't stop Dan. Look how nice and empty the beach is!
We didn't want to overdo it on the sun so we went to the aquarium in the afternoon. They had a sweet shark tunnel but their facts on how shallow the sharks could swim in kind of ruined the snorkeling for me...
We stopped at this overlook (i don't actually know why) but we got there at the best time because we saw a whale! It was a little far out there but we distinctly saw it jump out of the water.
Another gorgeous beach shot
We watched the sunset almost every night on the beach. Dan didn't love getting sand in his pockets but ....
He did love the coconut pineapple ice cream we ate every night!
Monday was another beautiful day:
After more beach, we headed up to Lahaina for a lot of shopping and a luau.
We had a delicious dinner:
And a pretty good show:
Tuesday we had another morning at the beach (Still no sunburn!) and went snorkeling. I of course forgot our underwater camera on the day we saw the sea turtle! After snorkeling we went out to a blowhole. It was crazy how high the water shot out of the hole.
A cute heart rock we found:
Another beautiful coast. I love the blue water against the dark lava rock:
We headed up to Ioa Valley. It was amazing to see so many different landscapes on one island.

Wednesday, our last full day :(, we hit the beach and went snorkeling again.

We finished off at black rock watching the lighting of the torches and the traditional dive off the lava rock.
That is pretty much our trip (the condensed version). It was wonderful. We ate so much delicious food which is almost enough for the trip on its own! We traveled the whole island and got some much needed sun. We will definitely go back again if we get the chance!