Yokohama Bay & Kaena Point

Posted on July 4, 2020 by sandersnm

We took advantage of the long holiday weekend and drove out to Yokohama Bay and Kaena Point. Lucky for us, the beach was empty and the hike wasn’t crowded at all. Highlights from the hike (besides the unreal views) include a Hawaiian Monk Seal swimming up on us as we dangled our feet in the water completely oblivious, the baby albatrosses, spotting a baby needle fish and a sea cucumber. Quite the wildlife adventure! We rewarded ourselves with some fantastic Puerto Rican food!

Empty beach!

Such a stunning view.

Baby albatrosses!

Sea cucumber

Baby needle fish

Yay friends!

Favorite view from the day.

Hawaiian Monk Seal!

Mofongo with garlic shrimp. So good!

Safer-at-Home & A Little Outdoors

Posted on July 3, 2020 by sandersnm

Josh and I spent most of March, April, and May staying inside and distancing ourselves in this crazy world. We finally started getting out a bit more at the end of May and beginning of June with socially distanced hiking and beach days. It’s been kind of nice to explore the island without the crowds! #luckywelivehawaii

Double rainbow from our lanai.

Kailua Beach

Birthday sangria on the beach!

Kualoa Ranch

Kailua Beach

Pu’u Ma’eli’eli Trail

Red Fish Poke

Danielle & Brick Visit!

Posted on February 7, 2020 by sandersnm

Josh and I kicked off 2020 with our lovely friends visiting. Unfortunately, our weather wasn’t exactly cooperating for their trip. However, we were able to squeeze in a beach walk, lots of good food, Pearl Harbor, and a couple hikes. Ready for them to come back!

Started the New Year off with a walk on Kailua beach.

Delicious fish tacos thanks to Brick.

Waiting out the rain at Pearl Harbor.

Starting our hike around Hanauma Bay.

The waves were insane!

❤

So windy!

The most delicious acai bowl on the island.

The Big Island: Trip 6

Posted on October 31, 2019 by sandersnm

In September, our friends Andy and Anna got married on The Big Island! My immediate family all came so we spent some quality time exploring new parts of the island along with celebrating our friends!

We arrived to Kona early on Thursday. We stopped at Daylight Minds for some coffee before heading to Da Poke Shack for some delicious poke. We checked in to our hotel and relaxed for a bit. Then headed to the coffee farm where they were getting married for a BBQ.

The next day, we got up early to hike to Papakōlea Beach (also known as Green Sand Beach). This had been on our list for years and we were so excited to finally get to see it! The hike was beautiful and even though it was completely exposed to the sun, it was such a windy day that it was pretty comfortable. The downside is that we were totally covered in dust/sand from head to toe because of the wind.

We encountered some friends on the way to the hike.

The waves were beautiful on our entire hike.

Getting closer!

Picture does not do this massive cliff justice.

So beautiful!

Tom taking his panos from every angle possible.

Holding on to dear life while we got pelted with sand.

Josh wayyyyy up there.

Checking out the view.

After we hiked back, we were all very ready for lunch. We stopped at Punalu’u Bake Shop for lunch and some malasadas (which were amazing). We then continued on to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park since Linda and Tom had never been there. We saw the steam vents and the caldera (but couldn’t see the green lake that’s forming).

So amazing!

We arrived back at the hotel and took much needed showers. We then decided to go to dinner and enjoy the sunset along the coast at the Four Seasons. We were all really excited to go back as we were fortunate enough to have dinner there two years earlier. Such a beautiful sunset!

Just stunning!

On Saturday, we decided to relax at the hotel before the big celebration that night! We arrived at the coffee farm in time for cocktails with a side of misty rain and a beautiful sunset. The weather cleared up and we had an AMAZING time! So much fun eating, drinking, and dancing!

Yay!

Fam!

Sibling love.

Congratulations!

On Sunday, we spent some time enjoying the lovely view before heading to the airport to part ways. Such a fun, packed weekend! ❤

Soaking in the last few minutes with the view.

Maui: Trip 3 – Days 1 & 2

Posted on October 10, 2018 by sandersnm

For Labor Day, Josh and I went to Maui to meet up with my friend Danielle and her fiancé Brick. We started our trip by making it to the hotel just in time for an incredible sunset. After we changed and got ready for dinner, we went into Lahaina to eat at Lahaina Grill. A beautiful sunset and delicious dinner were a great way to start our long weekend!

Blue Corn Panko Crusted Chile Relleno: filled with tiger prawns, diver scallops, monterey jack cheese on roasted sweet corn relish, avocado, crème fraîche, roasted tomato-ancho chile salsa

Opakapaka Fish Special: parmesan panko crusted over risotto, grilled shrimp, and beurre blanc

On Saturday, we got up and had coffee on our lanai and met Danielle and Brick to hike Waihe’e Ridge Trail.

We had about an hour drive to the Northwest side of Maui before making it to the start of the trail. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to hike and our views were stunning. At one point, we had waterfalls on both sides of us.

We made it to the top!

After our hike, we drove around West Maui. We stopped for some banana bread and to take in the incredible views.

After quite a lovely morning and early afternoon, we went back to our hotels to rest and get ready for dinner at Mama’s Fish House.

If you ask Josh and I what the best meal of our lives is we both say “Mama’s Fish House”. Needless to say, we were pretty excited to go back and it lived up to our memories!

Cheers!

Tomato Soup

Maui Venison seared with roasted spices and honey lime sauce

Papa’s Sashimi: Ono: with lime, green chili oil, papaya and Maui pink sea salt. Ahi with ponzu, watermelon radish, red shiso and Kukui nut. Kanpachi with Maui onion-fig jam and Molokai black sea salt.

Poi

Opakapaka sauteed with Hamakua mushrooms, white wine and capers

Ono, Ahi and Kanpachi in Panang Curry with Macadamia nuts, banana, sambal and mango chutney

After dinner, we drove back to our hotels and called it a night!

Lanai: Trip 2 – Day 3

Posted on May 30, 2018 by sandersnm

Our last day started with a short hike to view Puu Pehe rock. Such a beautiful morning and we had it all to ourselves!

Decided to stop and explore the tide pools.

So beautiful!

I wasn’t ready for the picture :). But what a good picture of Josh!

Selfie!

After our hike, we went back to the hotel, packed up our stuff, and checked out of the hotel. Our last stop on our trip was Shipwreck Beach. It was QUITE windy but we had a great view of the largest shipwreck!

After Shipwreck Beach, it was time to return the car and head to the airport. We had such an amazing time and packed a TON in to a weekend!

The Big Island: Trip 4 – Day 3

Posted on November 14, 2017 by sandersnm

Saturday we woke up and had coffee on our lanai before embarking on a long haul to the Hilo side of the island for a packed day. We drove through the middle of the island and stopped at Kaumana caves first.

Exploring the caves.

After exploring the caves, we drove a few minutes down the road to Rainbow Falls. We spent some time enjoying the falls and the banyan trees.

After exploring, we decided it was time for breakfast at Ken’s House of Pancakes. The goal was to eat enough so we could make it through the day to our late dinner after our hike. We definitely achieved that goal!

After breakfast, we drove through the Puna area and stopped at MacKenzie State Park and to watch some turtles.

Such a neat shot.

We finally pulled ourselves away from the turtles so we could meet up for our lava hike at Kalapana Cultural Tours! Josh and I went with this company before and they are so wonderful. The hike was different than a few years ago (as expected) and we started by riding bikes a couple miles down a gravel road and then hiked the remainder of the way to the surface flow. We lucked out as there were quite a few breakouts. After that, we hiked back to the ocean entry to check that out before hopping on our bikes for the ride back.

Walking out through the baby palm trees to the black sand beach.

Such a pretty black sand beach.

Ocean entry

After our hike, we were all pretty hungry and ready to relax. We drove back to Hilo and stopped at Pineapples for dinner before driving back to the other side of the island. It was perfect after our long day — good food, good drinks and open air seating!

After dinner, we drove back and completely crashed after much needed hot showers…very excited to sleep in the next day!

Crouching Lion Mini Hike

Posted on August 22, 2017 by sandersnm

This weekend Josh and I decided to try the Crouching Lion Mini hike. It’s been on our list since we lived here the last time so we were excited to try something new. We ended up going the harder way up and coming back down the easier way (not on purpose). We could not have asked for a more beautiful day or better weather!

Kauai: Trip 3 – Day 4

Posted on June 24, 2017 by sandersnm

We had one day on Kauai to explore the rest of the island. We decided on breakfast in Hanalei (delicious) and then driving around the rest of the island. Our first stop after breakfast was Kilauea Lighthouse and seeing the bird sanctuary. We then made it to Waimea Canyon where we spent most of our time stopping to see the views. It looks so much like the Grand Canyon! We made it to the top of the Kalalau Valley lookout. It was so weird to think we were down there the day before. Our last stop before dinner was the glass beach. There were tiny bits of sea glass all over the beach. We treated ourselves to dinner at Duke’s in Lihue before catching our flight back to Oahu. Had such an amazing trip!

Kilauea Lighthouse

Cousin love

Josh & Kyle

Waterfall!

Kalalau Valley

Looks like a painting

Glass beach

Our view from dinner!

Kauai: Trip 3 – Day 3

Posted on June 23, 2017 by sandersnm

On Sunday we woke up early to get started on our long hike back. I definitely did not sleep well the night before as I was dreading the hike and I was worried about the little black kitten. He turned out to be totally fine, but I was still dreading the hike. Once again, at about mile 9 I think we were all pretty done. It was a gorgeous day and much hotter than the hike in so we went through all of our water and had to stop and refill at the rivers. We were thrilled to make it to the last river and see people! It meant we were almost back. I was so happy to get off that trail and see our rental car! We all took showers and had a ton of food in Hanalei. This is the second hardest thing I’ve ever done (only being trumped by the first time I did it). Such a fun experience, but we were all thankful to sleep in a real bed that night!