Sunday, July 31, 2011

Aloha Maui

Aloha from Maui, everyone! :) 

I hope you all are having a fantastic Sunday so far!

After a longer-than-expected day of traveling, we arrived safe, sound, and very excited in Maui last night.

Usually I would be all over seeing how long our flights are going to be, planning what I'm going to do while we are on a layover, and printing out directions to our hotel.

This time around, I pretty much shut out all thoughts or planning for the trip, because I knew it would send me into distraction danger zone while I studied for the Bar exam.

So, needless to say, yesterday was not without its surprises! :)

The day started out with a impromptu workout, with us sprinting through the terminal at O'Hare to make our flight on time.

We got lost trying to find the long-term parking we had booked, and then I had the pleasure of being selected for a-little-too-personal pat-down search by the TSA, after I accidentally sent my full CamelBak through security (whoops!).

After our sprint, were in our seats, safe & sound, for the first leg of our trip.

After all of that activity, coffee was a must.

Weeeee! It's early! 
We had a 2-hour layover in Denver so we stopped to get some lunch & a vacation kick-off beverage.


As we were waiting for our lunch, I overheard a surfer-looking guy next to me talking about how we were all there having a beer to get us through the "7-hour flight."

Come again?!

Justin had just asked me how long I thought the second leg of the trip to Hawaii was going to be, to which I responded "oh...4 to 5 hours, max!"

Oh contraire mon cherie.

It was definitely a much longer trek than I thought!

I think I expected that since Hawaii is still part of the United States, it would be just a hop, skip, and a jump to get there.

A few gossip magazines, about 100 pages in my new book (The Help, I am LOVING it!), and about 3 mini-naps later, we arrived in Maui, ready to get the party started!

We picked up our rental car (my first time renting a car - soooo grown up!), stopped @ Costco for some essentials (chips, salsa, hummus, beer, and wine - priorities, people!), and made the gorgeous sunset-filled drive to our resort on the beach.

Hello, handsome! :) 

Breathtaking. 
After settling into our room, we decided to make it a simple night (we had been traveling for 18 hours by this point!), and have dinner at the Italian restaurant at our resort. 

I was so ready for a glass of Vino, and, you know, Mr. Kendall Jackson never does me wrong! :) 


After debating our menu options, we decided to be "cheap" (not really possible here, but we tried!) and split 2 appetizers since it was already pretty late and we wanted to save our moolah for Momma's Fish House tomorrow night (it's supposed to be the best seafood place around!). 

We started with the crab dip:



This was one of the restaurant's "signature" dishes.

I always try to go for a restaurant's "specialties" whenever possible, and this dip definitely did not disappoint.

It was crab-tastic! :)

This dish was super rich, and we probably could have stopped there, but that would just be no fun!

So we moved onto...


Flatbread pizza w/ blue cheese, walnuts, bell peppers, and arugula.

I loved the addition of the arugula on top, it was like a salad + pizza, all in one.

Of course we have leftovers, which are sounding pretty darn delish right about now... :)


We enjoyed our meal seated facing the koi pond & tiki torches.  Perfect first night scene.

Justin & I love to take late-night beach walks on vacation, so we headed straight out to the beach to sink our toes in the sand.

The stars were absolutely incredible.  The big dipper was literally hovering right over the ocean, like it was coming in for a big scoop.  It's amazing how it is in such a different spot in the sky over here.

We wandered to another hotel, and picked up a signature cocktail as our "dessert."


Hello vacation!

We have arrived! :) 

We loved our walk, but I was super tuckered from all of that traveling, so I climbed into our heavenly bed shortly thereafter.

We woke up this morning to the sea breeze coming in through out balcony doors, and got ready to head down to the breakfast buffet.

Our vacation package (will share more details with you later), is such a sweet deal.  We have 2 breakfast vouchers for each morning we are here, and this buffet does not disappoint.

Tons of fruit, pastries, eggs (including eggs Benedict!), bacon, sausage, potatoes, crepes, waffles, juices, and, of course...


Oats! :)

You really can't teach an old dog new tricks.

I also had tons of fruit, a little crepe, and some eggs for protein.


The papaya stole the show! :)

Justin was on cloud 9 when he saw the bacon...give this kid some bacon, and you've made an instant friend. 

We walked off our full breakfast bellies on the beach...


And I am now ready to lather on the SPF, find myself an umbrella, and spend the rest of the day reading my book by the bluest water I have ever seen! :) 

Fingers crossed I can work out this Casper situation without the lobster effect. 

xoxo & aloha (it's hello and goodbye!), 

Jess 

1 comment:

  1. yum yum i think that big coconut was full of jungle juice so beware or you will wobble back to the room

    ReplyDelete