Remembering our honeymoon!

Our honeymoon was a dream come true! Eddie worked very hard and saved money to plan this perfect honeymoon vacation for him and his bride. Directly after our wedding, he had planned a romantic night at the Raleigh Hilton complete with some chocolate covered strawberries and champagne in our room. I know, he is amazing! We were both extremely tired from all the excitement of the day so we enjoyed spending a quiet first night together. We had to get up very early the next morning to begin our long journey. First, we flew from Raleigh to Atlanta and had to wait several hours in the airport for our flight to Los Angeles. The flight from Los Angeles to Maui, Hawaii was the longest either of us had ever been on, especially with nothing to look at out the windows except a large expanse of ocean. Finally, we arrived in Hawaii and due to the major time difference, it was still early in the day there. The open air airport on Maui gave us an immediate feel for the warm and refreshing air on this beautiful island. We gathered our bags but were sadly too tired to wait for our Lei. We picked up our rental car and began our first drive across the island. Eddie had planned our vacation perfectly so we were staying at the very posh and luxurious area of Maui called Wailea, and our accommodations at the Renaissance Wailea Beach Resort were first rate! There was so much to do at our resort that we didn't even have to leave it for several days. It was so relaxing to just sit by the pool and be served fruity little drinks with umbrellas. Now, that is the life! My favorite memories are of eating breakfast every day in the open air restaurant in our hotel--they had everything you could possibly want and all the tropical fruit you could eat! Eddie had even planned this part too. The only part I regret about our honeymoon is that I could never adjust to the time difference so I got very tired very early at night but was ready to get up and go very early in the mornings. I could not thoroughly enjoy any of the fabulous Maui sunsets because of this. Some of the activities we enjoyed on Maui were: our fantastic Hawaiian Luau; our trip to Hana even though we didn't go far enough to see any major waterfalls; our lovely picnic in Hana; our drive up to Haleakala, an active volcano; our dinner cruise aboard a yacht (even though I felt a little seasick); our snorkeling adventures and getting to touch a huge sea turtle; shopping in Lahaina and buying a beautiful hand-carved Hawaiian mask from a local carver; the Maui Ocean Center; and just the overall laid back atmosphere and beautiful scenery! Some things I didn't like so much about our trip: I got motion sickness on a lot of our drives so that wasn't so fun. One night, we were going to drive out to find something to eat so I took a Dramamine, but I took drowsy instead of undrowsy. :-( I had barely gotten my food before it kicked in, and I was so sleepy I almost fell into my food. I had my food boxed up so that I could take it with us, but when we got to the hotel, Eddie kindly dropped me off at the door, and as I walked across the spacious marble-floored lobby of our 5 star luxury hotel, I almost passed out and dropped my container of food (baby back ribs). In my hazy view, I could see everyone in the lobby looking at me like I was some drunk person! I awoke from my "drunken" stupor and tossed the food back into the container and made a beeline for the elevators. In my room, I tossed the container into the trash can, climbed into bed, and was fast asleep before Eddie even got to the room! We get many laughs from this little adventure now. Here are some pictures from our Hawaiian adventures:

 

A beautiful and private beach in Wailea, Maui, Hawaii

Eddie definitely looked the part of the tourist with his camera on his arm and his bright Hawaiian shirt.

Eddie on our beautiful Hawaiian beach! Of course, all of this sand was shipped in since all the sand on Maui is black from its volcanic origins.

 Eddie and Sherry at their Hawaiian luau. It was so much fun, and we actually made some friends.

Sherry is Eddie's Hawaiian girl at the Luau.

  Eddie playing peekaboo in Hana with his new bride.

  Our lovely and romantic picnic in Hana!

 Sherry is sitting on top of some volcanic rocks in a tiny cove in Hana.

  Sherry on our beautiful Hawaiian beach.

Our last Hawaiian sunset