The Balancing Act: The Valley Isle

To continue our journeys in Hawaii we move over to the island of Maui-The Valley Isle. Maui is an island made up of two volcano's creating two mountain ranges and a large valley in the middle. We stayed in Wailea which is on the South-Western side of the island. The West Maui mountains are one of the rainiest spots in the world, but the valley had nothing but sunshine and clear skies. In the afternoon, you could see the rain clouds coming down from Haleakala, the Eastern volcano, that stood behind our resort. The rain never fell though. It rushed quickly out to sea.

While at our resort in Maui we could see the islands of Molokai, Lanai, and Kahoolawe. Photo Credit

We set off for our short island hopper flight. This was one of the scariest experiences of my life. We were warned by a Hawaiian native in LA about the rough winds flying into Maui. When we got dropped off at a trailer for our flight I started to worry. Then they had to weigh all the luggage and all the passengers. The flight held about 8 people and thankfully was short. Flying over the islands was breath taking. The views were incredible! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera out. As we began our descent into Maui, I began my panic. As many experienced fliers know the descent is usually smooth and gradual. Ours was nothing like that. The plane would just make huge drops at a time and bounced around like Mexican jumping beans. We made it safely. We grabbed lunch at the Hawaiian restaurant Zippy's and stopped by Walmart to pick up snacks for the week. Interesting fact-Hawaii has banned the use of plastic bags to save the environment!

When we arrived at The Grand Wailea we were blown away by it's beauty. Lush flowers and waterfalls greeted us. We checked in and received a complimentary upgrade. Our room wasn't ready, so we sat down for a drink at the lobby bar. Who should be drinking across from us? None other than Randy Johnson, the famous pitcher! We ran into him later in the week and got his autograph for my uncle, a huge baseball fan.

Randy Johnson is sitting off to the left in this picture

I drank plenty of my favorite drinks, pina colada, but switched to drinking lava flows-pina colada's with strawberry mix poured in first to look like lava flowing through the drink.

The view from dinner. The first island you see is Molokini Crater, where we went snorkeling later in the week. The large island right behind it is Kahoolawe-the only uninhabited island in the chain.

Hawaiian sunset over one of the pools

I know it's weird but check out how amazing the bathroom was in our room!

The breakfast at the Grand Wailea was unbelievable! We indulged our first day and purchased the buffet to try everything that was available. Afterwards we selected a la carte.

The view at breakfast

We headed out to the aquarium our first morning there for a break from the sun. It was fascinating learning about the fish and wildlife, we'd see later in the week and learning of my husbands love for sea turtles. We returned and split our time between the beach and pool before heading to dinner.

At dinner at Alan Wong's Amasyia, Nick order many small dishes while I ordered sushi. When one of his dishes arrived, a tomato soup, he exclaimed "Erin take that cracker off, underneath there is a yin yang, right?" Surprised that he was correct, I inquired how he knew that. He shared he had seen this exact dish on an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate on the Food Network. Pretty cool! It was delicious.

The next morning, we headed to the famous spa. All spa treatments come with Terme Hydrotherapy and a sugar scrub treatment. You have access an hour before to enjoy the ammenties. Thinking Nick would be bored in the men's side, I reminded him to bring a book and suggested he go to the lanai to read. When I went to meet him, I had to have him called up. I couldn't drag him away and he went back for another hour after our treatment. It's not hard to imagine why! Check out the amazing pictures below! Since I couldn't take pictures myself, I pulled some of the promotional pictures to show off the incredible amenities.

The entrance to the spa. Photo Credit

The main area in the spa with the Western hot tub. The Eastern room based on Asian influences is not pictured.Photo Credit

My favorite the different sea salt baths of the different Hawaiian islands. Each one had different fragrances that were special to the different islands. Photo Credit

The waterfall showers (Nick's favorite) Photo Credit

We enjoyed our couples massage very much and left incredibly relaxed. We lounged on our lanai reading for the afternoon until our luau that evening.

I got Nick VIP seats for the show, knowing this was what he was looking forward to the most. He bought me this gorgeous and fragrant fresh lei. The food was delicious (except poi-but it's how the first Hawaiians survived, so I had to at least try it). The show was spectacular and informative.