Honeymoon Recap: Maui

Hey there everyone!  Life has been a bit boring and routine for me lately…wake up, go to work, come home from work, gym, TV, bed = BLAH.  With all ordinary life going on in my house, I have had a bit of a writer’s block.  Can’t seem to come up with any good topics.  This leads us to a recap of my honeymoon time in Maui!

The husband and I stayed at the Sheraton Black Rock on Kanaapali beach in Maui.

This is actually the fourth time I have been to Maui but the 3rd time staying in the Kanaapali area.  I have always wanted to stay at the Sheraton and it didn’t disappointment.  Great hotel, awesome pool!

Hawaiians believe that Black Rock is a spooky site, where souls leapt into the otherworld.-ka leina a ka ‘uhane

Black Rock is also a great snorkeling site.  We didn’t get to snorkel there but we did see many sea turtles snacking on the seaweed. 

The view  while standing on Black Rock looking back at the Sheraton

From the beach on Kanaapali you can see the neighboring island of Lanai. 

Each night we headed into the town of Lahaina for dinner.  We tried a couple of different places and then stumbled on Mala…we never ate dinner anywhere else after that.  Highly recommended, best food!!!!

 They have this catch of the day balinese stir fry dish that is out of this world.  If you are ever in Maui, go here!

We also did a day of snorkeling and a tour of the West Maui highway while in Maui.  After touring Oahu though, we mostly just vegged by the pool in Maui.

Ever been to Maui?  Where did you stay?

Honeymoon: Sonoma Day #2

Last night’s workout: 4.1 miles on the treadmill in 38 minutes

The husband and I went to the gym last night and for the first time in four weeks, I made it past the 4 mile mark.  YAY!!!!  I was so happy while running and excited to see the treadmill counter tick past 3 miles.  Seems to have been my barrier these past couple of weeks.  Hope my 3 mile hurdle is officially in the past 🙂

So, back to the honeymoon.  On Friday, April 1st the hubby and I set for our 2nd day in Sonoma.  The sun was shining for a second straight day and the flowers were even coming out.

We hit the road and headed over to Napa to visit Clos Du Val.  The hubby and I love Clos Du Val wine and even served it at our wedding.  Everyone loved the wine so much and the catering hall said that we had the biggest bunch of wine drinkers they have seen in a long  time! 🙂

We went to the tasting room and tried the Ariadne (we couldn’t find it in the stores and have been wanting to try).  Delicious!!!!  Clint from Clos Du Val took us on a private tour of the winery and let us try bunches of wines.  I was quite buzzed for 11am!  The vineyards were beautiful

and we even came across this little guy on our way out.

I have never seen a snail like that before.  How cool is that?

Next up we went to get some burgers at a place recommended by Clos Du Val’s Clint.  The hotel was gorgeous and had a beautiful garden with cute statues everywhere.

Second tasting stop of the day was a little further up the Silverado Trail in Napa at Heitz.

This vineyard ages all their wines so we were tasting wines from 2002.  They don’t even release the wines for a couple of years.  The hubby loved the Port so we walked out with a big bottle of that :).  Heitz also had the most beautiful flowers and I couldn’t help myself with picture taking. 

After two tastings before 1pm, the hubby and I were temporarily wined out so we headed up to the town of Healdsburg to walk around.  On the way we encountered the Napa Valley Wine Train.

In Healdsburg we stopped at the Downtown Bakery which is home of the famous donut muffin. 

I am going to give it just 3 stars…I feel like I can make a better one myself.   Healdsburg also had the cutest candy store I have ever seen.  They had every type of candy you can imagine and even had the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory playing.  My favorite movie of all time 🙂  (the old version of course)

Tasting #3 of the day was at Chateau Montelena.  The hubby remembered how beautiful this winery was from 20 years ago and it was just as beautiful today.  We did a tasting there but didn’t walk out with any wine.  The husband feels that the winery got a little too commercial.

Tasting #4 was at Meadowcroft back in Sonoma.  At first I chose to visit them because they have a bee for a logo but once we tasting the wines we were hooked.  They were so good and the hubby even signed up for the wine club!  We walked out of that tasting with two bottles of wine and one bottle of chocolate Cabernet sauce.  Yummy!  You will be seeing that show up in some recipes in the future for sure.

The day ended with dinner at our hotel, the Sonoma Mission Inn. 

What are you favorite wines from Napa?  Have you tried the infamous donut muffin?

Lack of Motivation

Saturday night’s workout: 3 miles on treadmill and 15 min walk

Sunday’s workout: 45 minute bike ride around neighborhood

As you can see from my daily workouts, I am having a bit of a motivation problem.  I think it is a combination of vacation/wedding hangover and being sick last week.  I just can’t find the motivation to run anything more than 3 miles.  Has that happened to anyone?  How do you get out of the funk? 

Right now, I am just keeping with going to the gym in hopes that my motivation just comes back to me.  I usually go thru a lack of motivation period every year but I never seem to remember how I get out of it.  Please help! Any suggestions?

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite pictures from my honeymoon.  Maybe these pics will help me get thru the boring work day :). I am still waiting on the proofs from the wedding photographer and I can’t wait to share when they are ready.

 

Honeymoon: Sonoma Day 1

I am finally feeling better and all the sinus pressure is gone now. YAY!  I am hoping to head back to the gym tonight and get my run on.  Double YAY!!

So, last Wednesday the hubby and I flew out of Honolulu and went to Sonoma.  I have never been to Sonoma before but that hubby has. He was really excited to show me around one of his favorite places!  Still a bit jetlagged from the time difference we kind of got a late start on the first day.  We talked to the concierge at our hotel and he helped map out some stops for us.  First up was Nicholson Ranch

We tasted a bunch of their wines and loved their Pinot Noir.  I just love Pinot Noir in general.

The tasting room guy could not have been nicer.  He asked why we were in Sonoma and we told him honeymoon so he gave us more wines to try.  Another gentlemen in the tasting room heard it was our honeymoon and bought us a bottle of wine!  How nice is that?  I loved Nicholson Ranch and their wine was delicious. If you are ever in Sonoma I totally recommend stopping there.  They have good wine and a beautiful outdoor setting to sit and relax. 

Next stop was Gundlach Bundshu which is one of the oldest vineyards in Sonoma.

Their wine was ok but they did have a really cool wine cave to check out

and a beautiful pond

Next up we stopped at Benzinger.  The wine guy at Nicholson Ranch told us to stop by Benzinger if we wanted a full tour of a vineyard. 

The tour was awesome!  They took us through the vineyards and explained the whole growing process.

and how they label the sections of vines and the dates they are planted.

We were able to see that the buds were just popping this spring.

The tour also took us thru the wine cave and the whole fermenting process.  The tour ended in the tasting room and the wine was delicious.  We walked out with a bottle of Muscat Canelli.

We then drove to Domaine Chandon for some sparkling wine.  There whole vineyard/winery was just beautiful and the tasting room was cool and modern. 

We were pretty wined out by the time dinner rolled around.  We ate at Mustards Grill in Napa (hubby’s favorite Napa Restaurant) and I had the braised short rib ravioli.  YUMMY!

The restuarant was small and cute and had this hilarious sign on the storefront.

Exactly how I felt at the end of the day 🙂

Ever been to Sonoma?  Napa? Favorite restaurant or vineyard there?

Hog Island

I’m back!!!!!!  We flew in from San Francisco yesterday and now its back to the daily work grind.  Honeymoon was just the best, loved every minute.  Last night we went to the gym (just to tire ourselves out because of the time zone changes) and I did the elliptical for 30 minutes.  Can’t wait to get back to my daily runs.

Saturday was our final Honeymoon day and we left Sonoma pretty early in order to drive the hour and change to Bodega Bay.  The hubby loves oysters and has been to the Hog Island Oyster company a couple of times.  Since we were in the neighborhood, we made it a definite stop on our trip.

Once you walk thru those gates, you happen upon a huge oyster farm

They bring the oysters right up from the bay and then you can buy them from a little boat hut.

You can also get wine, beer and cheese.  Once you get your oysters, you can sit and hang out in the picnic area.  It was a Saturday, so the picnic area was super crowded with everyone having a good time eating oysters

So, the hubby got a dozen oysters…

and shuck them himself.  I was too chicken to try it 🙂

How pretty are the oysters when they are finally all opened up?

I am not the hugest oyster fan but I try all food at least once.  So I managed to get two down, have to say they were the best ones I have ever had!

Once you finish, you dump the oyster shells in a bin next to the picnic tables

The place was so beautiful and we had so much fun eating oysters outside by the bay.  After this adventure, we headed down Route 1 into San Fran for the day. 

Ever been to Hog Island?  This is just the beginning of wedding/honeymoon recap posts…more to come 🙂

Last Day in Maui

Today is our last full day in Maui, tomorrow we are flying off to San Francisco to take a tour of Napa Valley!  I have never been to Napa or Sonoma so I’m excited.  Too bad we have to say goodbye to the sun and warm weather though.

As for the race, I didn’t end up running.  Both the hubby and I ended up getting sick on Friday and we spent the whole night awake coughing and feeling ill.  I was super upset about not being able to go, but I wasn’t going to run sick and not getting any sleep the night before. 😦  I have also not worked out at all because of my flu-like cold.  Kind of miserable, but can’t be too miserable because I am in Hawaii 🙂  I feel bad I let you all down by not having some pics from the run and a cool race recap…sorry!

On to the fun stuff….On Sunday we went on a snorkeling tour and got to see sea turtles, tons of beautiful reef fish and even a dozen or so humpback whales.

Dolphins also rode the wake of our boat going back to harbor.

Monday was spent on a crazy drive around West Maui.  We started out with breakfast at the Ritz Carlton in Kapalua then headed around the west side of the island.  We saw beautiful cliffs

The Olivine Pools

and the Nakele Blowhole (it wasn’t really blowing at all that day)

Then we headed further along the highway to a super narrow section that had the hubby and I sweating.  Signs like this were along the whole way.

We stopped for some delicious banana bread

and ended up in the Iao Valley to see the Iao Needle.  This is the valley where King Kamehameha conquered the island of Maui.

Dinner was enjoyed in Lahaina at sunset. 

How pretty is that?

Today is hanging by the pool and soaking up the last of those Hawaiian rays. 

See you all from Cali!

Maui Bound

Yesterday the husband and I went to Pearl Harbor.  I have been there once back in the 80s but he had never been.   The winds have been a bit crazy here in Hawaii and they shut down the boats to the Arizona Memorial.  Pearl Harbor fail.  😦

We did get to see the submarine that was parked in Pearl and took the tour aboard.

I have never been in a sub before and man it was cramped.  The husband and I were commenting on how much it must have smelled when all the guys were aboard during wartime. 

This morning (Friday) we took a quick flight over to Maui.  I love Maui.  We drove from the airport to our hotel and stopped along the way at a local juice truck.  Yummy coconut pineapple smoothie.

This evening was packet pickup for Saturday’s half marathon!  We even saw some humpback whales breaching while driving to Kahului.

Can’t wait for this run.

Pineapple Express

Today’s Workout: 30 minute elliptical and tons of walking!

The hubby and I took a tour of the island of Oahu today.  We had decided not to rent a car the couple of days that we are in Honolulu but we did want to see the rest of the island.  Enter the tour. 

The bus picked us up in Waikiki and headed out to Diamondhead.  The houses up there are super pretty and huge.  Didn’t they film the Real World Hawaii up there?  I was thinking about Ruthie et al while we were headed up the mountain.  After Diamondhead we headed to a national park where visitors can hit the beach and snorkel.  So beautiful.  The park was called Hanauma Bay.

Next up was Pali Lookout which had tons of wild chickens

and beautiful views

The tour then took us to Kualoa Ranch where they filmed Lost and Jurassic Park

after lunch it was on to Sunset Beach where the famed Pipline Surf competition is held.  The waves weren’t that big today, only 3-5 feet but the tour guide said they had 25 foot waves just a week ago.  Wowzers

The tour ended at the Dole Plantation, but I was too busy to take photos because I was chowing down on some Pineapple ice cream…yummy.

Pearl Harbor is tomorrow…anyone been to Maui?  Have any fun suggestions for activities?

Hawaiian Dreamin

Today’s Workout – 20 min elliptical and 3 mile run on treadmill in 30 min

After one heck of a long flight, we landed in Honolulu last night around 7pm local time.  Yay Hawaii!  The hubby and I were super tired and got some sushi before going to bed.  We did have a little extra visitor in our hotel room last night…yuck, a roach!

Photo Source

Nasty right?  Luckily I had the hubby to kill it them we talked to the front desk.  They were very nice about it but I thought I left that behind when I moved out of my nasty upper east side apartment years ago.  I almost barfed when I saw it race across the room.

This morning we woke up (super early of course with the time difference) and got a really nice breakfast at another hotel along Waikiki Beach.  A little shopping, a little walking, a little napping happened the rest of the morning then we hit the beach in the afternoon.

Tomorrow we are taking a tour of the island so I will have tons of photos!  Anyone have any gross hotel stories to share?  Any roaches also?