Maui, Day 1- October 15, 2008

On the first day, Tim and I got up at the asscrack. Try 4:30am on for size. And for the record that is 1:30am Hawaii time. This was not particularly fun but I think the anticipation of going to MAUI! made us forget about the early time. We got to the airport by 6:30ish for our 8am flight and landed in Maui after a 5 and a half hour flight at around 11am. The flight was not particularly long, I think because we couldn't wait to get out of the freezing Seattle weather and into the sun. Here are the pictures- they tell the story best:

Our first picture in Hawaii... after we got "leid" after walking off of the plane.

Look Seattle! Maui has Starbucks too. It was our first stop for iced tea. It felt SO HOT since we had layers on because when we left Washington, it was freezing.

In our POS Sebring Convertible (seriously, who buys these cars?!) and on the way to the Fairmont in Wailea. It was cloudy the first day. But hot and fairly humid. It was so nice to have a convertible.

Taking pictures while trying to get out of the rental car place.

Our view to the ocean when we first walked into the lobby of the Fairmont. Beautiful!

Our room wasn't quite ready so we took pictures while we were waiting.

Lovely. He looks totally thrilled.

We walked to the spot on the Fairmont grounds where we would be having our wedding night dinner together on the 20th. It was right next to the ocean and very secluded. So perfect.

More of the same spot without the view of the ocean.

Kissing picture down by the ocean while we were waiting on our room.

We then trekked to the pool bar for some lunch and fruity drinks. Here is Tim with a strawberry daiquiri. It was the best way to kill some time even though both of us wanted to have our room so we could be in our swim suits! And let me just mention this pool bar (and all of the Fairmont restaurants, really) were unbelievable. They were all natural, all organic. These cups are made out of corn. We felt really at home here. It was perfect for us.

Maui Mojito. Drink of the whole trip, hands down. It was amazing.

After lunch and after we got our room, it was mid afternoon and we made our way just south of the Fairmont to Makena. There is a little hidden beach down there, appropriately named secret cove beach. This is the beach that we got married on. We went to check it out on the first day. It was absolutely pristine and more than we could have hoped for.

Standing in the water at secret cove beach.

The waves here were so gorgeous. It was still so weird that first day was so cloudy.

More of the beach... in the background is Molikini Crater- a popular snorkeling spot.

More beach.

Feet in water... it was so nice to be in WARM water again!

More of the secret cove beach.

Climbing the lava rocks above the secret cove beach. Let me just say- I did this 5 days later in barefeet and a wedding dress. THAT was a riot, I am sure (well, I know... I have the pictures to prove it!) It was probably good I practiced climbing here.

Leaving the beach in the sebring.

A view of the Fairmont grounds.

A view of Polo beach at the Fairmont.

More of the Fairmont grounds. It was a beautiful resort.

There is a pathway that goes all the way from the Fairmont to the Grand Wailea to the shops at Wailea. We walked this on our first night to see the scenery and to just be on the beach. It was gorgeous. We saw huge green sea turtles along this first walk as well. And, funny enough we literally saw about 4 weddings on that first day along all of the beaches between the resorts. Apparently Hawaii is a popular place to get married... not really a big surprise given the scenery.

Our first sunset of our Hawaii trip did not disappoint.

More sunset. We walked back to the Fairmont and spent the rest of the sunset just sitting on the beach and listening to the ocean. It was the perfect beginning of our two week trip.