The Honeymoon!

Aloha!

Two days after the wedding, J and I flew to Maui for a week.  To the people who are thinking about putting off taking a honeymoon following the wedding: DON'T!!  J and I both agree that having a week long vacation after the wedding was a total necessity.  I never realized the extent of the stress leading up to the wedding until I was living it.  Having 7 days of laying on the beach, sleeping in, drinking girly drinks poolside and eating fancy dinners out every night was such a luxury.  We turned off our phones and did whatever we felt like all week long.  If we wanted to sleep in, we did.  If we wanted to do nothing but lay out at the pool all day, we did.  It was WONDERFUL.

We stayed at the Fairmont Kea Lani on Wailea Beach.  The pictures just don't do it justice.  I have never seen such a beautiful and well maintained property.  The lobby overlooked the pools and the ocean.  The hotel had it's own private beachfront and there were plenty of lounge chairs.  It was so quiet and peaceful and never too crowded.

View from the hotel lobby

View from our private patio

We decided not to splurge on a room with an ocean front view and we definitely didn't regret it.  The grounds were so well kept and we spent all day outside at the pool and on the beach anyway.  It would have cost us almost double to upgrade to a room with an ocean view.

I believe our hotel had 3 pools, one of which had a swim-up bar

We spent most of our time lounging at the pools, but we made sure to schedule some outtings too. 

We went on a whale watch and saw a ton of Humpbacks!! 

We also made sure to go to a Luau one night.  If you ever find yourself in Maui, go to the Old La Haina Luau.  It was great!

One day we drove up to Haleakala.  The drive itself is crazy and beautiful.  You drive through the clouds and eventually wind up ABOVE them, looking down on the whole island.

We were so sad to leave Hawaii.  We really fell in love with the laid back culture and hope to return someday to explore the other islands.