Honeymoon: Maui Style in photos

Less than 3 hours after checking in to our hotel and taking a quick nap, we got up at 1:30 a.m. Maui time to see the sunrise and ride bikes down Mt. Haleakala. First, we took a van up to the top and saw the sun rise. It's cold up there, and extremely windy (you get rain suits to start out wearing). Here we are waiting for the sun to rise.


And here comes the sun! Isn't this beautiful? We were so high up on a mountain that the clouds were below us. So no, that's not water and mountains, that's all clouds!

On our 38-mile ride down, we stopped a few times, once to take a picture of this rainbow. Unfortunately, we also got some wires and a house in the shot. The trip was great, and I highly recommend it. Just don't take a wrong turn on the way down the mountain, or it will cost you to have someone come get you. And unless you're a superathlete, you don't want to attempt to ride back uphill on the bike you get, especially while carrying all the rain gear on your back. John was a collegiate cyclist and I've done a few sprint triathlons and 50-mile rides, but I would've had to walk the bike several miles to get up the mountain - with little to no berm.

That night, we also went out and watched the sun set on the beach. This was also gorgeous. It's probably the first time in my life I've intentionally watched the sun rise and set in the same day. I wish every day were that laid back.

We also went hiking in Maui, at Iao Valley, which is beautiful. There are easy trails, but we headed off on some unmarked dirt paths to explore. John took this picture of me with our new video camera. He documented the hike quite thoroughly.

Our last full day in Maui, John learned to surf in Lahaina. That's him, below, riding the wave! I took pictures. I'm not very coordinated and really had no desire to surf. I enjoyed sitting on the beach and watching (and videotaping!)

Our hotel, in Kaanapali, was right on the beach. While we couldn't technically see ocean from our window, a step outside and a look to the right and we could. This is what "our beach" looked like. (I'm not posting any bathing suit pictures of me - and most of our other beach pictures involve me in a bathing suit...)

The lizard in our shower. I just thought this was funny, so I took a picture!

Maui has had lots of fires recently. This is a decent sized one we drove by one day we were there. That's a helicopter in the middle. It was filling up a bucket with water in a nearby swimming pool and dumping it on the fire.


We didn't get many pictures of the luau because it was dark. I posted one of us there a few posts ago, and the rest are all super dark. And we didn't take the camera when we went to the fireworks in Lahaina, which was fun - sitting on a log in the sand, watching the fireworks, while the waves came precariously close. So what you see are pretty much our picture highlights of Maui.

I'll have more pictures from Kauai. I think we have some prettier ones from there!