Maui 101: Eat & Sleep

Time for a trip to the tropics! Okay, it's virtual, but hopefully you'll get the same warm fuzzies I do from looking at these snaps. Thought I'd try to sneak in some useful information in between the loveliness too, just in case you get a wild hair and decide to plan your own trip.

We had DIY sunset happy hour nightly.

Today I'll cover a bit of where we stayed, what we ate, and how we saved some cashola, and tomorrow some of the activities and day trips we did.

Fresh papaya from the local grocery.

We decided on the city of Kihei, a town known on Maui for it's fabulous snorkeling and great weather. It's on the 'neck' of the island, allowing it to be protected by the West Maui Mountains and the volcano Haleakala to the east. There are tons of hotels ready for booking, but we went the condo route and were crazy-satisfied with our decision.

Storm moves over the east - Never hit us in Kihei!

Our living room

A condo meant being able to live in more of an apartment style (something we're both all too familiar with): Separate rooms for sleeping and relaxing, a full kitchen in which to store and cook food, and laundry capabilities. Ours was a one-bedroom, but had a murphy bed in the living room to sleep two more if we had had them. We were lucky to find our digs through the owners who work for the same company as Nate and I, but some great places to look for your own tropical home base are VRBO.com and FlipKey.com. Lots of reviews from previous renters to read on both, which is always important to me!

Being able to hit the grocery store and cook our own food was an amazing way to save money, and we ended up eating out pretty rarely. But by far our favorite food spot in Kihei was Coconut's Fish Cafe. A super-small, surf-themed eatery, Coconut's was just rated the best fish taco in America by Zagat, and we can attest to the amazingness! Delicious, 100% fresh and local, and the chef-owner will come hang out with you and talk Hawaii.

To-go order from Coconut's taken to 'our' beach for sunset.

And of course you know about my shave ice addiction from this previous post. I am telling you: Amazing.

Gorgeous

We also made sure to hit the Maui Brewing Company for Nate to taste test the house-made brews, and they ended up having pretty fabulous eats as well. My hummus trio was one of the best snacks I've ever had, and Nate's beer-battered baked brie with pineapple sauce (which came on recommendation of friends of ours) is something he's still talking about.

Maui Brewing Co's 'Barefoot Blonde'

If you venture out to surrounding cities, Cheeseburger in Paradise in the nearby town (under 30 minute drive west) of Lahaina is, well, cheesy, but the food is fabulous. I can safely say the best cheeseburger and seasoned fries I've ever eaten. Really! Crowded and loud, the open air eatery proved to be worth hassling with the crush of humanity it contained.

Awkward waitress-forced photo with a fake burger...

If we were so inclined, we could have stayed in different cities around the island and eaten at a different restaurant 3 meals a day every day, but what we did really worked for us (and allowed us to put more funds toward activities instead of food). We only scratched the surface on this trip, and are already dreaming of the day we go back.

Happy Honeymoon to Us!

Tomorrow: Snorkeling, our day trips to the Iao Needle and Haleakala, and more!

Night after night: Amazing