MAUI!! This is one of my favorite places to vacation too; I’ve been going since I was a little kid. I’ve been almost 20 times, so I’ve tried a lot of different charters and activities. When going, we always try to find a new activity to do. Here are the top four activities that we’ve done several times, and I always tell people they should do.
Don’t worry I’ll be doing separate posts on beaches, snorkeling, and where to eat as we get closer to our next trip to Maui in May.
In the last post about Washington we went to Eastern Washington, this week we are going to stay close to my current home town in Western Washington. I live on Whidbey Island, which is in the Puget Sound, about 40min north of Seattle. To do something quick for a morning hike or a short road trip we like to drive up the island to a small, short, mountain in Anacortes Washington, Mt. Erie.
In eastern Washington, there is a small Bavarian town named Leavenworth. It is a small village with tons of character. The town serves German beer and authentic German cuisine. They have a nutcracker museum, my picture may or may not be inside. My mom is a huge collector! The reason we love visiting this town in the summer and winter is that it is centrally located in the state and it’s a great stopping point during a drive or close enough to make a fun day trip. Here are a few of my favorite things to do and visit while in the town.
Happy Valentine’s day!!
I thought I would come on here and share our wedding ring tradition with you guys since we don’t do anything special for valentines day.
Our tradition is that for every vacation we get new QALO rings. It all started when we eloped to Bora Bora. I didn’t want to worry about my fancy engagement ring, because I knew we would be doing a lot of water activities. We decided to go with white QALO rings for the ceremony, and they looked perfect. I didn’t have to worry about losing my ring or putting it in the safe. For the rest of the elopement and the adjoining trip to Loreto, we had aqua and black for hubby and me. Mine glowed in the dark so way cool!
The reason we went with QALO is that we can wear these during all our activities while on vacation. I don’t have to worry about sand, sunscreen, or losing it in the ocean. We also wear these around the house when we are doing yard work or working out. They come in a cute carrying pouch, that is perfect for travel as well.
About six months later we went to Maui and decided we needed a new set for this trip. So, after scouring their website, we both decided to get the gray/silver rings. They weren’t identical in color, but they were close enough that it was cute!
We are about to go back to Maui in about three months and are trying to figure out what color we should get this year? I was thinking pink, but they don’t make a men’s pink ring unless I get him the largest women’s size! So maybe marble? Or they have new ones that you can customize and are two-toned in color? So many options can’t wait to share what we picked!
What are your Valentines’ traditions?
Not sponsored just truly love the rings!
A couple of years ago my husband and I finally made it to the island of Kauai. We went as an extension to our winter break from work, to find some much-needed sunshine from the gray Seattle weather.
Finding a deal during December on any of the Hawaiian Islands is hard to do, but somehow, I found one! We booked about 5-6 months out and were able to find a cute VRBO at a resort in Lihue town, Aqua Kauai Beach Resort. It was such a good deal we couldn’t pass it up. It had amazing views, three pools, and a long uninterrupted beach. You have to get the adult shaved ice. We didn’t realize this was an actual thing until our last day and were super sad about it, because who doesn’t love Koloa rum and shave ice!
Here are the places I would recommend for some of the best food and drinks on the island.
Yes, that’s right I said you can see all of Yellowstone National Park in 2 days. That’s exactly what my husband and I did a couple of summers ago. We were already in Boise, Idaho for a wedding, so we decided why not drive another 6hrs to Yellowstone! It was very last minute, and we were lucky we even found a room close to the park, we only had two days, so we decided to cram seeing the park into those two days. Here is a little travel itinerary, tips, tricks and photo diary of our last-minute road trip to Yellowstone.
On our first family vacation in over five years, my parents surprised us with an all-inclusive trip to Loreto, Mexico. We stayed at Villa del Palmar Loreto. It was so much fun that my husband and I went back with our parents after we eloped to Bora Bora.
Loreto is a quaint little fishing village about 3 hours north of La Paz on the Baja peninsula. Once you arrive at the airport, you are greeted by the friendly staff from Villa del Palmar. A perk of the resort was the affordable airport shuttle service.
Once you arrive at the resort, you are greeted with hibiscus tea, and the lobby looks out onto the luscious gardens and the ocean. You’ll want to make sure you book for the all-inclusive and grab your bracelets at check-in. Our first trip with the family we had three couples, so we stayed in one of the 3-bedroom suites. The suite was insane all the bedrooms had an on-suite bathroom, lanai, and view of the ocean. When we went back for the second time, we had a one bedroom, and it was fantastic with a full kitchen, laundry, and a soaking tub. With a lanai and a view of the ocean.
My husband and I eloped to the island of Bora Bora to have a private ceremony and explore the island.
When we decided we were going to elope we knew it had to be a once in a lifetime place, so obviously Bora Bora. An added bonus is that it was not as far away as many people think, it was only 8hrs from LA.
We ended up with a top 5 excel spreadsheet because I am a nerd at heart and have to make pro/con lists and map everything out. (I will share my excel spreadsheet on the blog soon!) In the top 5 were the usual suspects, the Four Seasons, The Ritz, Le Meridian, Sofitel, and The Intercontinental Thalasso. With our list together we set out a budget and immediately a few came off. It was down to the Intercontinental and Le Meridian. What sold us on the Intercontinental was the size of the huts over the water and the newer modern finishes, plus we got one of the new huts with our own swimming pool, figured it was worth the splurge since it was our wedding and honeymoon. We also preferred the InterContinental’s wedding package as well. It was very easy to customize and on the day of they had everything planned out we didn’t have to worry about a thing.
Let me just say this resort did not disappoint it was everything a 5 star resort should be (although it was our first time staying at one). There were kayaks, paddleboards, snorkeling, and they would book any other excursions you wanted. We literally didn’t have to lift a finger if we didn’t want too. The staff was so sweet and beyond helpful. All of the restaurants were very good. Our favorite meal was at the Reef restaurant, they had a braised lamb shank that was to die for and they paired it with a bottle of amazing red wine. We loved it so much we had it twice while we were there. The happy hour at Bubbles bar was so much fun they had great craft cocktails and appetizers with the perfect atmosphere.