Maui

7 days in Maui was just the right amount of vacation time to relax and cut off from regular life. This was my second trip to Hawaii and my fiancé's first, but both of our first time in Maui. It's a gorgeous island, it seems there are photo opportunities everywhere you go.

Our AirBnB was fantastic, if not in the most ideal location. We'd wanted to be in Lahaina but couldn't find anything in our price range. We ended up in Maalaea, which isn't too far from Kihei and Lahaina. There wasn't anything within walking distance except a pretty nice beach.

We spent a few days hanging out in Lahaina, for shopping, dining and just relaxing. It's a cute city with Front Street being a long stretch of shops, bars and restaurants.

The food was amazing there and the only real spot we didn't enjoy was the Luau. Captain Jack's in Lahiana was super fun, good food and drinks, and all done up with a pirate theme. Great music playing there and with it being a second story spot, we had good people (and chicken) watching views.

Maui brewing was also great and absolutely huge. Great beer selection and the food was pretty good too.

The road to Hana was a lot of fun, and not nearly as gnarly as people made it out to be. It's like driving windy roads through a rainforest. Lots of great places to stop along the way and since you end up coming back the same way, you can skip spots that are overcrowded on the way in to hit them later on your way back out.

On the road to Hana, we used an app as our driving guide. It was a great experience and had a ton of Hawaii history baked into the drive. It helped point out spots to stop like the lava tube below, which would have been super easy to drive past.

Near the end of the road to Hana we found this giant rock that has a single coconut tree on it. No one knows how the tree got planted there. Wild!

We hit the summit of Haleakala, and I wish we'd gotten up to leave earlier. It often gets clouded in in the late mornings. Still, we were literally amongst the clouds up there at 10,000ft. Pretty cool to be standing on a volcano. The observatory was there and is actively used.

We also visited the Dragons Teeth on the other side of the island. A short hike out there, we got to watch parasailing along the beach. The views are phenomenal, and the lava rock is really something to see.

We stopped in at the Ali'i Kula Lavender farm, which was a bit of a let down. They had taken all the lavender out to replant so there was only the main gardens to see. Still nice gardens and some amazing views.

Back in Lahaina for dinner, we did an obligatory stop at Ululani's Shave Ice, which is apparently the go-to spot for that. I was expecting to be let down, shave ice here on the mainland is usually crap. It was actually quite good and refreshing, nice after spending a few hours walking in the hot sun.

Kimo's in Lahaina for dinner was just outstanding. The service was really great, the views amazing and the food had us gobsmacked. We'll be back here should we return to Maui.

We ended our stay with a late afternoon beach run. The beach near our AirBnB was super chill with very few people and the water was much warmer than I expected. This was a relaxing way to end out our week.