Honeymoon

Because of the sub zero temperatures outside I thought I would fill you all in on our honeymoon plans to make myself fell a little warmer. Now if you were to ask me about our wedding plans, I would probably not be able to tell you much about what we are doing or what we have planned so far. But if you were to ask about our honeymoon plans I could give you every detail. One of the first things we did after getting engaged was to reserve our honeymoon trip. We had been looking into some different options and we decided we wanted to have an active vacation. Instead of sitting around all day we wanted to stay active and get out and do things.

So as we started researching this we came across Backroads, which is rated as the #1 active vacation company. The next problem was trying to figure out where we wanted to go. They have so many locations to choose from all over the world so it became a semi-difficult decision for us. But after discussing our options we decided to plan the trip to go to Hawaii. The one downside to this trip is that we can't go until August 2nd, but that will at least give us some time to get settled in at home before we go and save up some money. We are also registered for this trip, so you can help relieve us of some of the cost by giving it as a wedding gift which is awesome. Check it out here.

The trip is an all-inclusive 6 day 5 night trip that takes us all over the big island of Hawaii. I will try to give you an overview of what we will be doing, but if you are more interested check this out for our complete itinerary. If your wondering what an active vacation is or what types of things we are going to be doing let me fill you in. Before our trip "officially" starts (we are getting there a day early) we plan to arrive on Saturday afternoon and find our hotel so we can enjoy the time by ourselves.

Day 1: A 17 or 31 mile bike (you get to choose the difficulty each day) for jaw-dropping views of some of the island’s most magnificent scenery passing by sheer cliffs blanketed by thick greenery and strung with waterfalls. We stay the night at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel (***) which is set on what Traveler rates as one of the Best Beaches in America.

Day 2: We begin with an incredibly scenic drive to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, home to Kilauea, the most active volcano on earth. We stop along the Hamakua Coast to visit the World Botanical Gardens and hike to Umauma Falls (see below). We then go to our lodging at The Volcano House, a collection of small houses located on the volcano. In the afternoon we tour the rough and rocky lava and meander back through the rain forest to the Thurston Lava Tube, a tunnel of lava formed naturally over 500 years ago. You can walk in this ancient formation, whose outer walls are overgrown with delicate ferns and soft mosses. Total hiking about 9 miles.

Day 3: With a choice between 24 and 48 miles this day takes us back from the Volcano through the Kau Desert to the Punaluu Beach, one of the few black sand beaches (below). The afternoon is open for us to enjoy a massage at the hotel’s open-air spa or check out the Manta Ray Super Slide and Pool—an enormous multilevel swimming pool surrounded by waterfalls and tropical foliage.
Day 4: We get a break from biking today by doing some sea kayaking in the Keauhou Bay. After heading down the bay we stop at a secluded bay for snacks and snorkeling in the crystalline water. Among the colorful fish darting in and out of the coral reef, we might see parrotfish, moorish idol, butterflyfish, Hawaiian lionfish and maybe even a moray eel or manta ray. After being transported back to the hotel we get to enjoy the rest of our night relaxing and enjoying the 4 star quisine at the Fairmont Orchid where we are staying (below).

Day 5: This should be an exciting day as we head out from our hotel with a choice of a 22 or 50 mile ride where we get to ride part of the Ironman triathlon route. We may run into some of the athletes here training as the race will only be about a month away.
Day 6: The final morning we enjoy a morning walk along the Kohala Coast to view a collection of petroglyphs chiseled on smooth black slates of cooled lava before heading to the airport to come back home.

WHEW!!! I can't wait!