checked off: #19!

i won't lie, i completely forgot that this goal was on my 30before30 list, but I'm so excited to cross it off! #19 on my list was to visit maui for our 5 year anniversary.

we got married in maui on march 1, 2011. and since the very day we got married, we said we would go back in 5 years because we absolutely fell in love with the place. shortly after luca was born, we decided to make that goal a reality and book our trip. we debated whether or not to bring him along, and after living through a 15 hour travel day just to get there, it's probably best that we decided against him. we will definitely be returning with him sometime in the next several years...when he's ready to adjust to a 4 hour time difference, and a total of 9 hours on a plane...but that time is not now!


our week was filled with lots of maui brewing company bikini blondes, delicious food, sand in ALL the places, more sunblock than two people should go through, the worst music ever in our rental car (why maui? why??? get better radio stations!), dinners and drinks with great friends, and about 20 whale sightings. we did a sunset whale watching cocktail cruise on the 2nd night, and absolutely l o v e d it. we saw lots of mama whales with their babies and they were showing off the whole time. the sunset was beautiful, and the cocktails were way strong, so we couldn't ask for a better time.
we also ziplined in the mountains of maui, and even though I thought I was going to die on the first line, I braved it and had such a great time. that's something we definitely hope to do again on another vacation!
here is an overload of pictures for us to remember what a great time we had:

see full list HERE



mexico trip 2014

time for picture overload. 

also, let's not mention the fact that i haven't posted in months. we'll just move on from that.

last week, tucker and i got back from a vacation that we had kind of been putting off for a long time. about 2 years ago (or maybe even more), we bought a groupon on a whim for a 4 night stay in baja california sur, mexico. it was one of those things that seemed like such an incredible deal that it'd be stupid to pass it up, and it turns out that was very accurate. i say that we had been putting it off, because with work, moving in to the house, other personal travel, etc, it just wasn't happening as quickly as we thought it would. but long story short: we made it to cerritos surf colony and completely fell in love with the place. it was one of the best trips we have ever been on, and we're so, so glad we finally made it out there.

this was one of the few beachy places i haven't been in mexico, so i was really happy to get to check another place off. i can say that i've never been to a beach that's as isolated as this one was - there were never more than about 20 people on the beach at a time, so it was like we had it all to ourselves. 

our little casita was right on the beach and we were lucky enough to wake up and fall asleep to the (super loud) ocean sounds every single day. 

we spent most of our time either reading on the beach, in the cute little town nearby eating shrimp tacos and looking at art galleries, or having a beer in the pool area. we were even able to get a massage on the beach right in front of our little villa! it also helped that there were 2 kitties that lived on-site, the food at the pool bar was amazing, and we found a top secret half-mile beach that we had to ourselves***. 

both of us really, really hope we make it back out here sometime in the next few years, it is definitely a place that has left a mark on our minds, and we hope it never gets spoiled!

***i have to give major props to my husband here. the picture below is the walk-in entrance to the secret beach that we found. not pictured is the mile-long hellish road that we had to drive down to get there. while i was saying "ummm maybe we should turn around?! i don't think our rental can take this road!!!" in a high-pitched voice that usually only dogs can hear, my husband politely ignored my complaints & drove like a champ over approximately 6,732 huge rocks, dips and cacti so that we got to this gem.

weekend adventures in lost maples

over the valentine's day weekend, the husband & i made our annual trek to lost maples - this is our 5th trip (4th year) out there, and it's a tradition we hope to continue forever & ever. lost maples state park is in vanderpool, texas and is about a 2.5-3 hour drive from our house, but it feels like it's forever away.

we've stayed at the same cabins every time we go, it's a little cluster of 5 cabins up a very windy, hilly road that makes you think you're not in texas at all. there's no cell reception/wi-fi except for at a general store on the way to go hike the trails in the park, which brings me to my next point - the hike is the best part of it all! the park itself is absolutely beautiful, especially in the fall, and we always go up the west trail which is about 5 miles, 3 of which are uphill.

we've become pros at packing for lost maples and have our traditions of making skillet burgers, drinking cheap beer (lone star, usually. but this time we brought along my new favorite gluten-free beer), playing cards and in the mornings we read out on the porch (swinging porch bed!) with our coffee.

 

one of the goals on my 30before30 list is to have an annual camping trip, but i'm pretty sure i'm going to have to do some editing and maybe change it to an annual glamping trip? because i really enjoy having a toilet to use.

 

texans - what are your favorite camping/glamping/hiking spots?