Choosing a place to go for our honeymoon was no small feat. We bounced between Switzerland, Alaska, and Hawaii. We finally decided on Maui, mainly because the thought of escaping the North Dakota tundra to some warmth in the heart of winter sounded great since we were taking the trip in January. We decided on Maui because we had heard it was less tourist and overrun with crowds, since we have learned we don’t like being around masses of people and huge tourists traps.

Maui was such a great temperature at this time and we spent as much time as possible laying in the sun, walking on the beach, and snorkeling. We stayed in Lahaina right by Kaanapali Beach.

We rented scooters to drive around the island. We had a rental car, but scooters seemed like way too much fun to pass up on, and I would highly recommend renting some! We drove them to the beach and went snorkeling and then to get ice cream (best sorbets I’ve ever had at Island Cream Co.) and got pineapple beer at Kohola Brewing. We also went to the Maui Brewing Co. If there is craft brews and ice cream anywhere, that’s typically where you can find me. The drive from the airport to our hotel in Lahaina was even beautiful and the entire way has views of the West Maui Mountains.

Since we wanted to spend our honeymoon relaxing, we mostly spent our time going out to great restaurants, local breweries, laying in the sun reading, and eating our body weight in ice cream. We even heard of a great spot to go snorkeling so one day we took the scooters to Honolua Bay and snorkeled there stopping at hidden beaches off the road along the way, one even had a hammock to lay in.

Most days we went to Kaanapali Beach to hang out because the beach at our hotel was washed away due to high ocean levels. We went cliff jumping off of Black Rock at Kaanapali Beach which was super fun.

We did have a hike in mind called the Waihlee Ridge Trail so one morning we went there which was about an hour away. The trail is through the West Maui Mountains and has great views of the green spine back mountains leading all the way down to the ocean. Unfortunately the day we went was extremely foggy so we couldn’t see any of the views or mountains. The fog was really cool still and made the trail feel like we were up in the clouds on top of the world. We did the whole trail thinking maybe it would clear or be clearer at the top.. no such luck. To top it all off, it downpours rain on us the entire way down and was super muddy causing us to slide the entire way haha!

I was bummed I didn’t get to see the views, so the day Brady went golfing instead of laying in the sun like I had intended I went back to do the hike again in hopes that it would be clear this time. I got up there and it was clearer than last time but still too foggy to see anything. I started messing around with my drone just trying to enjoy the fog since I was there and all of a sudden the fog broke for about ten minutes and I was in the perfect spot to see the spine back mountains and the valley running between them and was even able to see all the way down to the ocean. I was so so happy!! Of course on my way back I had to stop and get more of that sorbet because I couldn’t get enough!

Brady had a wonderful day golfing a famous course he’s always wanted to golf while I got to see the trail I wanted and do two of my fave things.. hiking and eating ice cream.

The next day we did the famous Road to Hana which we were told by many people to do. The Hana Highway is extremely narrow and follows the coast along a cliff edge from Kahlului to Hana. It’s only about fifty miles long but takes hours due to traffic and the fact that it’s a two lane highway with over fifty bridges that are only one lane wide. There are recommended stops all along the way. We stopped to see the Wailua Falls and to get fresh smoothies and banana bread (best chocolate chip banana bread you will ever eat). We also stopped at Waianapanapa State Park to see the black sand beaches. We didn’t stop too much along the way as we wanted to hike the Pipiwai Trail in Haleakala National Park in Hana.

The main reason we wanted to do the Pipiwai Trail was to see the bamboo forests which then leads to Waimoku Falls. Unfortunately, Waimoku Falls was closed due to maintenance work on the trail, but at least we got to see the bamboo forest which was awesome! After the Pipwai Trail we stopped at the Seven Sacred Pools of Ohe’o. On our way back, we ate at Mama’s Fish House which is very popular and near the also famous Jaws Beach.

My sister and her husband were coincidentally honeymooning in Maui in January as well and we had a day of overlap between our two trips and we got to meet them on Front Street for dinner. Front street is this cute downtown area with shops and restaurants. We had the best lobster grilled cheese and of course…more ice cream. I even convinced Brady to do a honeymoon photo session because Kylene, my good photographer friend and business partner of The Booth Babes photobooth, just so happened to be in Hawaii at the same time as us as well! She was shooting a wedding on Oahu and flew over to Maui to take some photos of Brady and I on the beach and in front of the Maui mountains.

Overall, this honeymoon was everything I could’ve hoped and asked for filled with sunshine, beaches, snorkeling, riding scooters, ice cream, craft beer, and hiking. Maui was beautiful, but it only made me want to visit the other islands and come back to Hawaii in the future. I think my next island will be Kauai and then hopefully Oahu!